Heading from Melbourne to Sydney

Our time in Melbourne was winding down and we planned to drive to Sydney. A number of people had asked us if we were going to do the Great Ocean Road from Melbourne to Adelaide. That drive was in a westerly direction and we needed to head east. Unfortunately, there would not be enough time. We’ve learned that to miss some things is to actually see more. Cramming too much into an itinerary only makes you forget much of what you’ve seen and miss the moments. 

Our drive to Sydney started by heading to our friends home – Chez McBing. On a river cruise ten years ago, we met Tim and Bing and have kept in touch since then. They suggested we spend a night at their home in Rye. We accepted their gracious offer and started by heading to the Peninsula Hot Springs for some soothing soaking in natural hot springs. Water logged but revived after two hours, we returned to their beautiful home and mysteriously wine bottles appeared. Then the food came. It was a wonderful evening.

Shrimps on the Bar-Bee

In classic Australian style, they “threw some shrimps on the bar-bee” and they were so good. We spent the next few hours eating, drinking, laughing and going on a few short walks with the true boss of their home, Pebbles. It was such a relaxing evening and a welcome respite from hotels and restaurants.  

In the morning, their hospitality continued and we were able to walk the national park. Just prior to leaving, a last tour of the wonderful works of art in their home, most of them by Bing herself, reminded us of how talented she is.

On to Philip Island and the Penguins!

There are stands set up and viewing areas that allow you to see them. The stands are set back so as not to interfere with the penguins or their activities. If you are in the area, we recommend you visit the site https://www.penguins.org.au/attractions/penguin-parade . You would also be encouraged to dress warmly and, If you can, take a blanket to put over your legs as you sit there watching the show. We did not and paid the price of being cold. The wind picks up and the temperature drops. It gets cold, but the stars of the show don’t seem to mind. They have feathers after all. Also, if you can, upgrade your tickets to grandstand seating vs general admission. We did this and were only about 20 meters away from the birds. General admission seats were more plentiful and were over 100 meters away.

As we drove on, we headed to Cowes, a small resort town that would likely be unremarkable except for one thing. It is the gateway to Philip Island and Parade of the Penguins. Every night, about 1,400 – 2,000 of these adorable animals comes ashore just after sunset. A group of penguins is called a ‘raft’. These rafts of 50 – 100, more or less, come back to shore to rest, feed their young and mate. There is safety in numbers which is why they ‘raft’.

How Penguins Come Ashore

About 30-minutes before sunset, the penguins, still underwater, approach land and start calling out to each other. They form a critical mass, or raft, and then start swimming around together. Then, when one of them decides, they all break for the shore and check it out. Sometimes, someone disagrees and they all go back into the ocean. Other times they all make a break for the shore, waddle across the sand and into their dens. Still, other times most will go back into the ocean and a few will make for the dens or vice versa. They are so cute waddling as a group.

There are raised walkways over the dunes that allow you to be close to the birds, but not block their passage. You can see their dens and where they go. Being that close to nature is inspiring. At the end of our visit, around 9:30 PM, we looked up and had our first view of the Southern Cross. 

Cowes to Wilsons Promontory

Australia has many national parks and Wilsons Promontory is one of the larger ones. We spent most of the day there, enjoying the pristine beaches, walks and views. In short, it was beautiful. We headed to Squeaky Beach, although we were not sure why it was called that, but the interesting name drew us in.  It turns out it is called Squeaky Beach because the sand squeaks underfoot as you walk on it.  

The sea had lovely colour, the sun shone through the brushy trees and the temperature was pleasant. It is early enough in the spring that the crowds were not oppressive although convenient parking was still hard to come by.

During our travels in the park, we spotted our first emu. This fellow was at the side of the road, minding his (her) own business and then wandered back into the woods.

Raymond Island – Koala Bears!

Our next day we headed to Nicholson. We decided to stop at Raymond Island to see if we could spot any koala bears. All over Australia, we had seen road crossing signs for koalas, kangaroos, wombats and other animals. Honestly, I think these signs are warning signs for the animals to stay away. We had not seen any. Unfortunately, we had seen a number of kangaroos on the side of the road, victims of car strikes. 

In 1953, when koala bears were very endangered, researchers introduced 25 of them to Raymond Island. There were a lot of eucalyptus (gum) trees on the island and no predators. The plan worked and the bears are thriving. There is a free passenger ferry to the island (cars have to pay) that takes about five minutes. Once there, we wandered around the island, spotting no fewer than 16 of the furry little guys.

Driving on to Sydney

The next two days we spent stopping at various beaches, historic sites, lighthouses and other places of interest. Our schedule had us driving a few hours each day to allow for stops of interest. Anything that caught our fancy. From roadside bakeries, to walks in the woods. It was a lot of fun. One thing we found, and both really liked, was-new-to us birds. 

We were fortunate enough to see a stunning tiny blue bird, about the size of a sparrow. It turned out to be a “Superb Fairy-Wren”. Not just a “fairy-wren”, but a superb one! There were cockatoo’s and so many others. The sounds they make are foreign to us, but captivating and we enjoyed searching for them as we wandered the woods, shores and neighbourhoods of Australia. 

Leaving the mainland for Tassie

Our drive was now complete and arriving in Sydney, we hopped a flight to Tasmania for a week of exploring the remote part of Australia. 

Thanks for reading, 

Cam and Meg

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” – Saint Augustine

On to Brisbane

Brisbane is 1,500 km from Cairns and flying was the logical way to go. Virgin Australia did a fine job of getting us from A to B. There was also the drive option between the two cities. It is supposed to be an amazing drive, but time, as always, is an issue. Arriving in our second major city, we were impressed with the transportation from the airport to town.  

We were able to check into our downtown hotel due to Meg’s elite status with the Mariott chain. Uber worked well and once in our room, we headed out for lunch and our first tour. I had reserved a tour of the Brisbane City Hall clock tower. https://www.museumofbrisbane.com.au/whats-on/clock-tower-tours/  This free tour runs every 15-minutes and has a capacity of only seven. It takes you up the 95-year-old tower, in an old freight elevator. As we went up, we learned the history of the building and were treated to some amazing views.

Walking Tour 

Brisbane is a major city with tons of things to see and do. The problem, for us, was we were only spending one day there. To learn as much as possible, we opted for a walking tour. The city has ‘greeters’ who will take you on a free walking tour https://www.351k.bookeo.com/bookeo/b_brisbanegreeters_start.html?ctlsrc2=rWOPDlUpc%2B4ExZdzbqwRwfCKlc6JZ9zGaAIosdvaPbo%3D&src=02n that hits a number of highlights depending on the tour. Our guide was Tina, a long-time resident who was charming and knowledgeable.

Seeing arcades, Australian for covered street shopping centres, cozy streets and bustling squares, we took in as much as we could. Tina then took us to the top of the Star building where we had a splendid view of the city at sunset. As Tina told us about Brisbane’s Expo in 1988, she mentioned that she was excited to have had her picture taken with a real Mountie back in 1988. She was even more excited to learn that I had been a Mountie. To thank her for her time, I gave her an RCMP Challenge coin which made her day.

Brisbane’s Broad Transit System 

On our tour the previous day, we learned that taking transit in Brisbane cost $0.50 AUD. That’s all. If you transfer, within a specific time, it costs nothing more. It doesn’t matter how far you travel. Two stops or 40 kilometers. In addition to trains and buses, there is an extensive network of ferry boats. To get a view of the city from the water, we ventured onto a commuter ferry and spent close to two hours on the water, going almost to the ocean. In reality, we could have done with half that time, it did drag a bit in the end. 

On to the Gold Coast

We left Brisbane and picked up our rental car to drive to the Gold Coast. As it was a Saturday, the drive was slow. Once we arrived at our apartment, we were greeted by yet another warm welcome from the host, Gary, the complex manager. He also told us he could take us up Q1 tower, the largest building in the area. As we went up the elevator, which climbed 68 stories in 20 seconds, we were impressed by the speed and efficiency. Gary walked us around the observation deck, pointing out things that we may want to do over the next few days. Since the view was so good, we decided to linger a bit and enjoy an adult beverage.   

Skipping the Beach for the Woods

Our first full day in the Gold Coast was to be high UV and high temperature. We decided that baking on the sand was not the smartest thing to do so we headed for the hills. Gary had provided a number of places to go around the Tambourine Mountain area and we enjoyed exploring them. The Curtis Falls track, along with Witches Falls Circuit provided both wonderful walks as well as refreshing swimming holes. There were a number of people using the swimming areas and I managed to climb a set of rocks to jump into the pool. It was awesome. Being up the mountain, the temperatures were a bit cooler and the breeze helped.

In the evening, we wandered around the town and had a great dinner on the barbecue at our lodging. There is something about outdoor cooking that just relaxes us. Facing our next day, we decided to go back to Witches Falls as it was so nice. We were hoping it would not be as busy as it was Monday and we were rewarded. First of all, we were able to find parking at the falls, vs walking down 300 meters from the overpark as we did the day before. The fewer cars meant fewer people and it was great just lounging in the sun, cooling off in the water and repeating. 

On to Melbourne

We left the Gold Coast, its stunning beaches and warm temperatures and headed south for Melbourne. As Canadians, when we think of heading south, it often means the warmer weather of Mexico. As Australia is south of the equator, going south makes things cooler. 

Our flight to Melbourn was fine and, after arriving at our hotel, we went out to explore the city. It has a first-rate food scene and we were keen to try it out. Our first evening we tried a gourmet pizza place that made an amazing burrata salad. The cheese was fresh and so good.

Walking Tour and Boat Tour

On our second day, we took a walking tour but it somehow missed the mark and we bailed about half way through. We created our own tour from an app we use called GPSMYCITY. If you have never tried this app when travelling, I would recommend you take a look at it before your next trip. Then, later that afternoon, we took a boat ride up and down the river with some friends. 

About ten years ago, we took a river cruise in Cambodia and Vietnam along the Mekong River. On that cruise, we met a couple from Melbourne who were about our age. Meg and Bing have kept in touch since then and we had planned to meet up with them. Bing suggested the boat tour and it seemed like a great idea. Meeting up with them, just prior to the boat ride, we carried on talking as if the river cruise of ten years ago had ended yesterday. 

Melbourne from the river is beautiful and when we return, we will look to stay outside of the downtown or CBD. As the boat ride ended, we said farewell to Tim and Bing, until the weekend, and started wandering down the walkway. We were not on our own for too long as ten-minutes later we bumped into our friends Sue and Jerry. Imagine people from home, 10,000km away, in the same town of 5,000,000 people, on the same street. Swapping notes on what to see, we said ciao to them until tomorrow.

Wine Tour – Yarra Valley

Before we left Canada, we arranged a wine tour of the Yarra Valley. Some of our options included spending a few nights in the area so we could visit a number of wineries or day tours. In the end, a day tour made the most sense and fortunately for us, we could meet up with Sue and Jerry to do the tour. On our small tour of only 11 people, we toured three wineries, met the owners of each, sampled chocolates at a factory and had a great lunch. Not worrying about my wine consumption was relaxing and I took full advantage of sampling many varieties. 

Having toured wineries in Canada, the US, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and now Australia, I can honestly say there are not many wineries that I have not liked. All of the wineries we visited were delightful. The wines were of good quality, of course the best are usually not sampled due to costs. At the end of our tour, we had the good fortune to be allowed to sample the estate’s premium wine. Wow. What a difference between a $20 bottle vs a $65 bottle. We almost had to revive our friend Jerry as he said he thought he had died and gone to heaven!

The Street Food Scene – Hardware Lane

When we returned to Melbourne, we headed out to sample some street food. Hardware Street, a foodie’s paradise, answered the call. The decision was where to eat. For such a haute cuisine area, the prices were very reasonable and we enjoyed our time there.

Thanks for reading, 

Travel while you can. Your money will return. Your time won’t.

Cam and Meg

Flying from Tokyo to Cairns seemed the easiest and quickest way to cover that much distance. Since we wanted to see a lot of Australia, we decided to start at one end of the country and work our way to the other. Cairns, being the closest to Tokyo was a natural starting point. 

Unfortunately, the only direct flight was an overnighter – :(

We elected to do this, despite the hardships on the body, as it would save over six hours of transfers at other airports in Australia. 

Clearing Australian Customs

Once we arrived, at 4:30 AM (3:30 AM to our bodies), there was customs, immigration and bio-security. The Australian government wants to ensure foreign substances are not introduced into their country. When we cleared all the formalities, we hailed a taxi and went to our hotel/apartment. Our unit, a one-bedroom apartment in a complex with a swimming pool, was across from the police station and it seemed a bit sketchy. There were homeless people and litter in many places. Arriving at 6:30AM, we went straight to bed.

At lunch time, we started exploring by going to the local grocery store for lunch fix’ns. In addition to being very hot, +33C, there was the extreme strength of the sun to worry about. Fortunately, above the sidewalks, they build a number of overhangs that block the sun. We dodged in and out of them, as did many locals, being sun smart just makes sense. The rest of our day was spent quietly, getting ready for our Barrier Reef tour the next day. 

The Great Barrier Reef

Before leaving Canada, we had booked a Great Barrier Reef tour on a sail boat. The idea of sailing, vs. engines was appealing to us. Checking in at the boat, we noticed it was small but perfect for what we hoped to do. The Captain took us out, under power for two hours to a small reef area by Green Island. There we donned our Lycra ‘stinger suits’ in case any jelly fish were about. No jellies had been seen but the suit also doubled up as a sun block. Being fully dressed in a tight black suit made us all look like divers. It also showed every bump, but hey, we were all in the same boat (or suit)! The ship provided masks, fins et al and once anchored, we were in the water.

My underwater camera was put to the test as I took photos of almost everything. Unfortunately, most of them were off centre and ended up being deleted. The onboard dive master provided a great narrative about the reef and how it is not dying, but regenerating. There were a lot of fish about as well as coral, however the colours were not what we had hoped for. Once we had been in the water for an hour, despite the +32 air and warm water, we were both starting to get cold, so back to the boat. 

Green Island

When we had been out of the water for 15 minutes, lying in the sun in our black suits, we were ready for the water again. This time we headed off on our own, but in close proximity to the boat. When the snorkeling was over, a full lunch was ready, then it was off to Green Island for a walk around. Originally, we looked at spending a night on Green Island. The hour we spent as part of this tour was more than enough. We managed to walk around the entire island, see turtles as well as birds. Back on the boat, we headed back to Cairns, both sails up, but also under full power due to low winds. 

Returning to Cairns

On our return, we had a glass of crisp, cold Australian white wine, with cheese and crackers, while sitting on a sailboat, on the Great Barrier Reef. Light breezes blowing to keep us cool. How could it get much better? Doing it with your best friend made it even more enchanting. Yes, the tour was very enjoyable, primarily due to the size of the vessel. The maximum guest number is 25. On our tour, there were only 17 people, so there was a lot of room to spread out. 

Once ashore, we headed to our apartment and had dinner, with prosecco, always a nice addition to dinner! When shopping for wine, the staff told us how high taxes were on alcohol. That was for spirits and beer but not so much for local wine. The prosecco we bought was $5 Aussie dollars. Before I purchased it, I did a quick check on my wine app and it received decent ratings. Of course, the most important rating was our opinion and it passed! $5 for a full bottle of decent prosecco…I think I could live in Cairns!

Exploring the Country Side

The next day, we rented a car for a day, with the plan to head to the Daintree Rain Forest. That didn’t quite work out. When picking up the car, the staff employee told us we were welcome to go there but it was 2 ½ hours each way to the park and then some driving around. She recommended a “waterfall” route, that was about four hours of driving, but very scenic, including some ‘swimming holes’. Given the temperature, +32C, we chose the latter.

The route was very scenic and reminded us of driving in Hawaii or Caribbean islands. We made a number of photo stops in the morning before stopping for lunch in a small classic Queensland outpost town. 

Finding Water Holes to Swim in

Then we found our first waterfall/swimming hole. It was all you could ask for. A 100’ waterfall, cascading straight down, into a beautiful lagoon. Given the topography, you could walk behind the waterfall and listen to the water crashing down. It was very refreshing and what we liked the most, in addition to how beautiful it was, was the non-overcrowding. 

We had seen similar places in Bali, but you were jammed in with 1,000’s of others. Here, there were maybe 40 people. At times tour buses came, but they only made a whistle stop for photos, no swimming. I counted four people in the water when we arrived. I would go back here in a heartbeat.

Returning to Cairns, we organized ourselves for our flight the next day and relaxed, looking at our photos from the day. Renting a car gave us so much freedom and Meg is an amazing navigator. Of course, these days, Google maps will get you to where you are going. No more trying to navigate with a 1” paper map of a city that has two roads on it. The information screen in our rental car was bigger than many maps we used back in the day. Having a great data package also helps.

 Thanks for reading, 

We travel not to go anywhere, but to go. We travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move. – Robert Louis Stevenson

Cam and Meg