AUSTRALIA
 
The trip to Australiaricey.  was great. Its a BIG country and we never had as much time in any city to do all the wonderful things to do. The people are terrific , wines, excellent, food, good but not gourmet, and very pricey. All in all I highly recommend at least 6 weeks there.
The flight down was booked though AA and was on the Qantas plane. The cost was $300 less going though AA than Qantas. Its a LONG flight. 15 hours down and 13.5 back out of LAX.
   Sydney. We arrived and found a beautiful city, full of life , vibrant and fun. We started with the Big Red Bus two day with Harbour cruise in order to get oriented. Well worthy it and senior (over 60),passes were inexpensive. The Opera House is THE attraction and you must take the tour. We are so taken we booked tickets to an opera. The sight and sound is amazing and a wonderful experience.
  Carins. We fly up to Cairns, (pronunced without the "R"), and went first to the Great Barrier Reef to snorkle. As luck would have I encountered a huge Grouper who liked to be petted. Also a large turtle ( ~4'across), came for the same treatment. We then took the old railroad up to the rainforest and toured the wildwild sanctuary. We took the gondola down. well worthy the trip. Saw many critters up close and had a nice show by the local aboridigines. By emailing ahead we got "Trade Rates" for almost everything in Australia. Usually half price or better.
  Alice Springs. We next went to the "outback" and had arranged for a tour to Ayers Rock only to find that someone had bought the whole tour and we got kicked off. They gave us "free", a terrific all day tour to the local mountains and ended with a swim in a beautiful spring in a canyon with no river in or out that you could see. all underground. It was a good tour but we missed the "Rock".
   Adelaide. Wonderful, laid back easy town filled with good plavces to eat, a great market place and some of the best wines you can find. It was a delightful visit and we really hated to leave. People were so genuwine, warm and friendly.
   Hobart. Tasmania is a lovely island and a world unto itself. We stayed at Bendall's B&B and it was rustic, charming and wonderfully hosted. Only two rooms and we loved it. Transportation was sparse so we rented a car with GPS. It was cheap and easy to tootle about. We went out to the old penal colony and it was a lovely trip. In todays world you would find instead of an old prison a mega resort. Awesome beauty plus the greatr harbor. Its a national park now but you could see it would have been a premier spot. Hard to believe the prisoners did not enjoy it. we certainly did.
   Melboure. The beautiful cosmopolitian city. Full of great beaches, winery's and resturants. A terrific place to just walk about and enjoy. We took a tour of the Great Coast Road that was amazing and fun as well as a wine tour. Could have spend a month there.
   Sydney. Went back to take in the opera and really enjoyed the town. The harbour is lively with ferries coming and going as well as dozens of sidewalk cafes to sit an people watch. Pricey but great fun.