Sunday 23^rd March
Over to Darling Harbour on the ferry to watch a bit of the ‘Hoopla Festival’ which is a sort of best of the street entertainers. We didn’t get going very early so by the time we’d watched one act it was time for supper, so a short walk over to Chinatown and down into that underground Dixon food-court for some more of that sizzling ‘hot pot’ stir-fry.

Monday 24^th March
Did a spot of geocaching. Geocaching, for the uninitiated, involves going to a web-site (http://www.geocaching.com/), finding a cache that is reasonably close to your current location, getting out your hand-held GPS (Global Positioning System – they’re putting them in phones now) and trying to find a hidden cache of goodies. You need clues too, as GPSs are not accurate enough to pinpoint the location of a small box absolutely. Once you’ve found the cache you take something from it and preferably leave something behind. You then go back to the web-site and register your retrieval/deposit.

Ira and Anne have done this sort of thing in North America and were anxious to leave something they had picked up in Florida. We found the little box of stuff in a park in Kirribilli and the exchange was made.

There was a new play at the '$10 on a Monday Stables Theatre', so after a quick supper it was off to see “The Kid”. It was a bit intense to say the least.

Tuesday 25^th March
Cheap movie day, this time in Chatswood, North Sydney, after lunch in a totally Asian shopping mall. We saw the Australian movie “The Black Balloon” (good but not what you’d call a fun flick) and “Be Kind Rewind” which was a little too twee for its own good.

Wednesday 26^th March
Lazy day in North Sydney with swordfish lunch at Costis and twofer coffee at Gloria Jeans. This fellow was playing in Kirribilli near the station. The amazing acoustics are created by his playing at the opening of a tunnel which passes under the rail and road approaches to the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Thursday 27^th March
One of the popular local walks is along the shore from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach. We did it in reverse, starting with this pleasant view in Coogee

This rocky bay

Gordons Bay with their unusual way of storing boats.

Clovelly Bay which is a strange mix of rocky cove, sandy beach and swimming pool all in one.

Waverley cemetery where you get the million dollar view for eternity, or at least until it’s replaced with condos.

Nelson Bay which is smaller and less developed than Coogee or Bondi.

and these crazy guys who are actually on surf boards off a beach that’s just rocks.

Once we got to Bondi I did some body surfing in very large and scary waves.

Friday 28^th March
Took the train to Newtown and some of that vegetarian Thai stuff – no abalone though at lunch time. Then wandered round the area, before getting a twofer coffee at the Newtown Café. There’s always some appealing building like this attractive little petrol station with flower boxes.

Saturday 29th March
Carol was under the weather with a cold and decided to stay in bed, so Ira, Anne and I decided to do the things that Carol wouldn’t want to do like visit the Australian National Maritime Museum in Darling harbour.

One of their special exhibits was a collection from a French museum of toy boats (Bateaux Jouets). Sounds boring I know but these things were the very first toy boats made and very intricate such as this battleship-like strange thing.

Many of the toys were submarine-like clockwork devices that are sealed up, so x-rays were taken to see the insides.

How about this game

where you launched the clockwork torpedo against the battleship and if you hit it in the right spot the ship split in two and sank.

There were other bizarre creations many of which were one-offs.

A very popular exhibit was this ‘beer can’ boat – yes it does float, they have beer can boat regattas. Most of the beer is VB (Victoria Bitter) my favourite Aussie beverage.

This figurehead is from the sailing ship the HMS Nelson which was commissioned 1814, nine years after his death at Trafalgar. It doesn’t look too impressive in the photograph but at about 20’ long is quite something to see.

For those mechanically minded, one of their more interesting exhibits is the engine taken off what was once the ferry that used to ply the harbour before the famous bridge was built and was actually in Darwin when it was bombed by the Japanese. It’s a steam engine with three cylinders that use lower and lower pressure steam and are correspondingly larger and larger.

After free coffees at the nearby casino we headed for Mad Mex’s Mexican food where they roll you a fresh burrito on the spot, stuffed with anything you like.

Tuesday 11^th March
Probably Australia’s most famous beach is Bondi and is just a bus ride from central Sydney. It’s a very popular spot and even on a Tuesday, teeming with people. Spent some time in the surf with the other tourists.

Wednesday 12^th March
Lazy day. Lunch at Costi’s in North Sydney (Thai grilled swordfish and chips) followed by the twofer coffee at Gloria Jean’s. Back to the digs for a shower and change then off to downtown Sydney and the beautiful Capitol Theatre to see “Billy Elliot The Musical”. Super performances and incredibly well choreographed, music by Elton John.

Thursday 13^th March
Day of trip preparation, doing some washing, unloading stuff on Ira and Anne that we weren’t taking up north with us. I went to the North Sydney library for some continuous Internet access. Great twofer supper at the North Sydney Club and early to bed.

Friday 14^th March
9:25 am flight from Sydney to Cairns.

Arrived in Cairns in the rain – but it was warm. Checked into the hotel (Queen's Court - reasonably priced) and took a walk round town after the torrential rain had stopped and before it started again. Forecast is for rain until the end of the month - bummer.

Saturday 15^th March
Quicksilver do the most highly rated trip to the reef from Port Douglas. A luxury coach takes you to Port Douglas from Cairns and a big jet-boat catamaran

takes you out into the ocean (the strange boxy shaped floating thing is a semi-submersible)



to the Agincourt outer reefs and you disembark onto a giant floating two-level platform with changing rooms, showers, a bar, a restaurant and easy access to the sea and snorkeling the reef.

Lunch is a very good buffet with something for everybody and you can scuba, learn to scuba, get snorkel tours with a marine biologist, view the sea-life under the platform and take a trip in a semi-submersible around the reef. This is a picture of the inside

But it’s a poor substitute for snorkeling (or diving).

I saw fish and coral I’ve never seen before in my limited experience in the Caribbean including this tubular guy

and is not to be missed if you visit Oz. Although the weather started rather badly, once out on the reef the sun came out and there was lots of sun between rain showers.

Sunday 16^th March
We didn’t book the Skyrail in advance of the trip up north but are very happy we didn’t miss it.

Not far outside Cairns they built a 7.5 km gondola ride that takes you high above the rainforest canopy to a place they call the ‘village in the rainforest’ – Kuranda.

There are two stops along the way, the first stop at Red Rock peak offers a complimentary short guided nature walk, the second offers spectacular views of the Barron Falls which, owing the huge amount of recent rainfall were quite something to behold.

We were supposed to go in one direction by train and then back by the Skyrail but, again owing to the massive rainfall, the train track was deemed potentially unsafe that day and we ended up going both directions via the Skyrail.

We did the tourist thing in Kuranda, had lunch and bought a couple tee-shirts. Then, with a little time to kill before heading back, we visited bird world which claims to be Australia’s biggest free-flight bird exhibit. On the way in we met this little fella

Carol was in her element feeding the parrots and I did my best Long John Silver impression.



The cassowary is Australia’s second largest bird and quite rare and endangered. They are somewhat absurd looking – Carol thought they bore a certain resemblance to King Tut – but they have been known to kill people with their huge feet and sharp claw.

We headed back to be picked up by the bus and enjoyed another spectacular ride above the forest.

Monday 17^th March
The trip to Daintree we had booked in advance. Downunder tours picked us up from the hotel in this strange vehicle

which can only be described an SUV on steroids – an Isuzu Warrior. The Daintree rainforest is a couple of hours north of Cairns and is a beautiful drive along a very winding coast road, reminiscent of our trip to New Zealand.

First stop was Alexandra lookout which was just a little cloudy and misty.

Then a stop by the Daintree Discovery centre where we had our first encounter with golden orb spiders while they fed us coffee and Anzacbiscuits for our morning smoko.

They look pretty fearsome but are only lethal to their mates. We climbed a high tower with a view over the forest canopy.

Back in the Warrior and over to Cape Tribulation, so named for Captain Cook when things didn’t go too well for him. This is Cape Tribulation beach.

Back on the bus and off to Downundertours’ location in the forest somewhere where they fed us barbequed fish, steak and sausage and plied us with free wine (we, of course, not partaking of the steak and sausage!).

Giving a short time to digest lunch and then it’s off for a river cruise looking for crocodiles on the Daintree River.

Although we actually did see two crocodiles, photos were not an option because either they were two small and far away (a baby two-year-old) or hard to see (a mother sitting on her nest). We also saw a python way up in a tree.

After that another drive and our afternoon smoko (Aussie slang for a tea break) followed by a trip to Mossman Gorge where we saw a Boyd’s rainforest dragon in a tree.

By the end of this all travelers were pretty well exhausted for the drive back to Cairns.

Tuesday 18^th March
Our time in Cairns was over and at 7:05 am our bus came to drive us to Mission Beach (2 hours) and a short ride over to Dunk Island for two days at a resort on a tropical island.

After checking in at the Dunk Island Resort and grabbing a bite of lunch we went on the island walk which circumnavigates as much of the island as it is possible to walk around, starting with a climb up Mount Katolo for great views all around. This shot shows the jetty where we arrived.

During WWII the island had a radar station perched on top of the mountain (hill).

By the time we’d done the 12 or so km walk we were pretty bushed but having to pack lots in our two days I went for swim in one of the two pools while Carol did some clothes washing. They auto-book you in for supper on your arrival day at 7.00 pm. Dutifully we presented ourselves for the meal in their huge open dining area, after taking a snap of one of the hundreds of geckos that climb over all white surfaces at night.

The meal was absolutely top notch, imaginative and delicious. Very nouvelle cuisine, i.e. not a huge amount, but very very good and for 40 odd bucks for three courses along with a cheap bottle of fizzy plonk it was quite reasonable.

Wednesday 19^th March
Up fairly early for a top notch brekky with grilled mushrooms, hash browns, scrambled egg, grilled tomatoes, baked beans and freshly squeezed tropical juices (you do it yourself). There was bacon and sausage of course - if you like that sort of thing.

Then off for an informative butterfly and bird walk. The Ulysses butterfly is the Dunk Island Resort mascot, as said butterfly was first spotted on Dunk Island. However, the butterflies and birds were too difficult to photograph (small and far away).

I didn’t go very far – sitting upright with your legs out in front and bent with no back support is not easy for an old guy.

In the afternoon after our lunch of food that we secreted away at breakfast we went on a ‘reef to beach’ walk

There is some strange plant life in rainforests such as this elkhorn.

It’s an epiphyte which means it isn’t a parasite but just lives on the host.

Here’s a couple of other interesting little critters, like this unihopper

no it’s not really a different grasshopper, he just lost an antenna. Also this beetle was huge, about a 1½” long body.

Another excellent supper rounded out the day nicely.

Thursday 20^th March
Back by catamaran and bus to Cairns to catch a plane to Brisbane. Here's a shot of part of the reef from the plane - all those white things on the top edge of the reef parts (they're not islands) are boats with people diving and snorkeling.

First thing in Brisbane was to meet up with the Ewan, the son of longtime friends Ian and Sandra Martin.

He’s now married to an Aussie and working on getting his helicopter pilot’s license. We took a walk round nighttime Brisbane in search of a meal which turned out to be not that easy. (The whole of Brisbane seems to close down for Easter except for the Queen Street mall!)

Friday 21^st March
Picked up a rental car and headed for the Gold Coast which is a major destination of Australian holidaymakers to meet up with those Forrests again from Christchurch New Zealand. John, the father was off duck shooting somewhere but Jane, James and Kirsten were spending Easter celebrating their collective birthdays.

We met them at the Warner Brothers Movie theme park where we went on a few rides and watched couple of standout shows such as the Police Academy stunt show and the Shrek 4d movie.

James and I did go on that ride you see behind us

And if you want to know what it was like, this shot just about sums it up for me. In my defense the Superman ride does pull 4.2 g’s positive gravity and 1 g negative.

After a day in the theme park we all drove back to Surfers Paradise where they were staying and went to the beach to get some fish and chips. The place was somewhat crowded.

After leaving them in their apartment, we headed back down the motorway to Brisbane and our hotel, the Terraces on Wickham.

Saturday 22nd
Returned the rental car and some excellent breakfast from The Pig and Whistle on the Queen Street Mall in Brisbane then waited for the shuttle to take us to the airport and then back to Sydney and our room in the Elite.

Current progress.