2006 Australia

On a brisk February morning, we flew from Heathrow, London (UK) to Sydney, with a lay over in Malaysia. We arrived at Sydney airport at 6.00am to be be met  by long lines at immigration. Fortunately an official picked us our and fast tracked us through. Our base for our visit was the Metro apartments, we unpacked and explored Sydney central and Darling harbour.
In the evening we took a harbour cruise from Cicular Quay, followed by a Chinese meal overlooking the Sydney harbour bridge.

Day 2. Australia Day
We visited the Sydney Tower which has spectacular views of the City and experienced the "Oz Trek" and indoor ride through Australia. We strolled over to Hyde park where there were an abundance of food and drink stalls. We tried the steak pies that were in the pattern of the Australian coast line.

We then walked down the busy streets, where the locals were celebrating their National day, to Circular harbour. At the harbour there were a number of street entertainers, hundreds of various watercraft and an impressive ariel display. We move onto the Rocks district where there were four stages set up for live music and the streets were closed to traffic creating a wonderful atmosphere.

In the evening we walked over to a local park to watch a live band called "Taxi Ride" perform. 

Day 3.
Once again we made our way down to Circular Quay, had breakfast at "Jacksons on George" we then walk over to the famous Opera house. We then hopped on a ferry that took us over to Manly which is a lovely spot overlookng the sea. We had a drink at the Steyne hotel on their balcony overlooking the Ocean. We then had a lunch of fish  before catching  the ferry back to Sydney.

Day 3.
We went on an organised tour up to The Blue mountains, the drive one and a half hours until we arrived at Jameson valley. We then moved on to Wentworth falls before having lunch at the town of Leura. In the afternoon we to the Emile lookout which has views of the 3 Sisters rock formation and the blue mountains. We also took a ride on one of the World's steepest train rides.

Day 4.
We picked up our hire car and drove South on the Princess highway, we stopped off at Buli for a sandwich and coffee. We then drove to Ulladull where we found a nice motel with views of the harbour. We then tried out the local fish and chips.

Day 5.
We left Ulladulla and stopped for breakfast at Batemans bay. We carried on until we reached the town of Narooma, were we booked into a lodge that had view of the harbour. In the evening we popped over to the Narooma sports and social club where we enjoyed a superb meal.

Day 6.
From Narooma we drove onto Mallacoota which lies in the state of Victoria, stopping off in Merimbula. We arrived in Mallacoota to be met with cloud and rain. We took a drive around the lake and saw a troupe of wild kangaroos. In the evening we enjoyed a very good dinner at The Tide restaurant.

Day 7.
From Mallacoota we headed to Lakes Enterance stopping off at a town named Orburst for coffee and to fill up with petrol. Arriving at Lakes Enterance with booked into a private apartment before driving out to Raymond island via Paynsville. We caught the ferry over to Raymond island where we saw a number of Koala bears in the wild. 

Day 8.
We took a walk down to the jetty where we joined a wine cruise that set sail at 9.30 am for Frazier Island. Our boat, "The Corque" sailed slowly along passing groups of Black Swans and Kangeroos. At the winery we tasted several glasses of wine and enjoyed lunch. 
In the evening we took a walk on 90 mile beach and watched a trawler unload its catch.

Day 9.
Leaving Lakes Enterance we drove to Yarram for coffee and toasties. Our next destination was the town of Cowes. We took a walk around town and in the late aternoon we signed up to watch the Penguin parade, where on a chilly evening we watched the little birds make their way from the sea to their nests.

Day 10.
We took a drive out to the town of Rhyll where we had breakfast at the Temuku cafe. We continued on to San Remo where we went to the Fisherman's co op where we saw two huge rays in the harbour. We then watched the pelican feeding before driving along the coast to The Nobbies and Seal island.

Day 11.
Leaving Cowes we drove on to the City of Melbourne, where we dropped off our car and booked into our Hotel. We then went for a lovely walk along the  banks of the Yarra river where there were lots of Chinese stalls celebrating their New Year. We then decided to book a boat trip along the Yarra river to Williamstown.

Day 12.
We started the day with breakfast at "Speedie Nicks" and then made our way over to Observation deck at The Rialto Tower which had some lovely views over the City. We then hopped on the Old tram that does a circular tour of the City. We then spent the afternoon by the beach at St Kilda.

Day 13.
We jumped on a tram and headed out the the Melbourne cricket ground where we did the tour of this very impressive stadium. In the afternoon we caught the tram back out to St Kilda where we had rinks at Beachcombers overlooking the Ocean. As we made our way back to the tram stop we saw a sign advertising that the band UB40 were playing that night, so we poppe into the theater to see if there were any tickets left, there were, so we ended up staying for the concert.

Day 14.
We hailed a Taxi to get us to Melbourne airport, in the airport we bumped in the lead singer of UB40, Ali Cambell, who we chatted to for several minutes. We then caught our flight to Cairns using Jetstar, the flight too three hours.
We were collected at the airport and taken to Port Douglas where we booked into  Cher Du Monde.
We took a walk down to the seafront, stopped off for a cooling beer at The Courthouse hotel before enjoying dinner at The Iron she.

Day 15.
First thing in the morning we booked a rain forest tour with Bruce. We then walked down to the beach were we swam inside the protective nets that kept out the Stingers. In the evening we strolled down to The Combined services club for drinks and dinner.

Day 16.
We had breakfast at Mango Tango where we were met by Silky, our driver, who took us out to Oak Lodge in Mossman Gorge. We had lunch in the Rain forrest
by the Mossman river.
Back in Port Douglas we walked down for dinner at the Courthouse hotel, on the walk home we saw hundreds of colourful parrots in the trees.

Day 17.
We joined the Dive boat, Poseidon, for a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef.Once on board we had a safety briefing and an informative talk by a marine biologist on the history of the reef. 
We arrived at Agincourt reef, Rob joined Dive Master, Jetta  for his first dive on the reef. After a lunch onboard we both dresse in "Smurf suits" that were designed to give protection when we both went snorkeling. Rob then did a second dive with Paul and the highlight of this dive was seeing White tip and Reef sharks.