Photo Gallery

The Never Ending Day - Sunday, January 6

We left Melbourne this morning at 1:15 p.m.  Flew to Sydney and literally walked off the plane and onto the plane to Los Angeles.  Twelve hours later we landed at 9:15 a.m.  Two hours later after going through customs and getting a snack we boarded the plane for Denver.  Back home around 5:00.  Whew!  That's one long day of travel!
It was a wonderful trip!  The Aussies are so friendly and laid back.  Everyone was so nice to us and very helpful.  We're looking forward to returning in a couple of years.  Next time I'd really like to see some kangaroos, koalas and a platypus!

Wilson's Prom. and Fairy Penguins - Saturday, January 5

Back in the car again this morning after breakfast.  Last night our waiter suggested that we see Wilson's Promontory National Park instead of driving north of Melbourne to see wine country.  He was afraid that with all of the bush fires burning because of the severe heat we'd be in serious danger if a fire began.  We take his advice and arrive at the National Park around noon.  It was a wonderful suggestion!  Wilson's Promontory (affectionately known as 'The Prom.') is the southern most tip of continental Australia.  The Tasman Sea is as blue as Caribbean waters.  We have a lovely picnic lunch at Squeaky Beach - really- the sand squeaks as you walk on it!  Then we take a nice walk on Norman Beach and watch the surfers and boogie boarders.  The water is cold, but after the heat yesterday it feels wonderful. 
We leave The Prom. around 3:00 and drive to Phillip Island for the highlight of our vacation!  There's a colony of Fairy Penguins (Little Penguins) living here.  In the evening they come out of the sea and waddle back to their burrows to feed their chicks and rest.  We purchase tickets, have a really quick dinner and drive out to the viewing area.  I make sure we're two hours early so we can get the best seats to see them.  Sure enough, at 9:07 the penguins begin emerging out of the sea onto the beach.  They are very skittish and spend a lot of time running back and forth from the beach to the water.  They are very vunerable on the beach to the sea birds that are their predators.  We watch them at the beach and then walk on the boardwalks to see them as they come back to their burrows.  Their feathers are a grayish-blue and they're only about 12 inches tall.  Adorable.  Two hours later the guards are shooing us out.  I don't want to leave. 

Thredbo to Sale - Friday, January 4

After another breakfast of passion fruit yogurt, fruit and juice we're back on the road.  We are making our way southwest toward Melbourne.  As we leave the mountains we notice how HOT it's getting in the bush!  A check of the thermometer tells us it's 114 by mid-afternoon!!  Good thing our little Nissan Micra has air conditioning.  Thank goodness today we spend 7 hours driving, and only have to deal with the heat when we stop for gas or at one of the information kiosks.  At 5:00 David decides he's had enough driving for one day, so we stop in a little town named Sale.  Lucky for us there's a room available at a nearby bed-and-breakfast.  The Kilmany Mansion was built at the turn-of-the-century by a wealthy English family.  It's a gorgeous old place with 700 acres.  The interior is original, with 14 foot ceilings, floor to ceiling windows, carved woodwork and beautiful stained glass windows.  Unfortunately there isn't air conditioning, so it's a long night slapping away biting bugs. 

Kozzie - Thursday, January 3

Up fairly early this morning to climb the mountain.  Of course David won't let us take the chairlift up.  He wants us to earn it.  We climb through a beautiful forest for one hour and twenty minutes to get to the top of the chairlift (would have taken 10 minutes on the lift).  Imagine my surprise when a Wallaby jumps out onto the trail about 50 feet from us!  I only saw him (or her) take 2 hops before it disappeared into the bushes.  It made my whole day!  At the top of the chairlift the trail leveled off for our walk to the summit.  It was a gorgeous sunny day, and many many people were on the trail.  We followed it for another hour and twenty minutes and summited at 11:40 a.m.  As most of you know this was our fifth of the seven summits!  We took pictures and had a snack of cold pizza before heading down.  There was a little wind on the summit, but only enough to keep most of the annoying flies off of us while we ate.  On the way back down we took another trail back to the village via Deadhorse Gap.  Lots of standing dead trees here.  The fire came very close to Thredbo but didn't burn any buildings here.  We got back around 4:00.  Later David informed me that we hiked 30 km today - that's about 18 miles!!  No wonder my legs and feet are so tired.  Hooray!  We did it!

Drive On the Left - Wednesday, January 2

This morning we rode the shuttle bus back to the airport and rented a car so that we can drive from Sydney to Mt. Kosciusko in the Snowy Mountains.  Good thing David only had to drive on one highway for most of the day!  Driving on the left side of the road while you're sitting on the right side of the car can be mentally challenging, especially when you come to a round-about.  We drove for a good 7 hours, mostly on a narrow twisty road through Kosciusko National Park.  There are many Gum trees that were burned a few years ago in a huge bush fire.  Their burned bark has dropped off so they are pale white against a lush green background.  Very beautiful.  I hate to tell you that we saw about 7 dead kangaroos laying on the side of the road.  It broke my heart.  I looked and looked all day but did not see any alive.  But we did get lucky to see a mother Emu with eight babies cross the road in front of us and disappear into the forest.  We arrived at a tiny alpine village called Thredbo around 8:00 p.m.  Tomorrow we climb!

Happy New Year! - Tuesday, January 1

Today we toured Sydney by foot.  We began the day by taking the train to Circular Quay.  The ride from our hotel out by the airport to Circular Quay only took about 15 minutes.  Once there, we headed to a quaint little restaurant for breakfast.  Food here is extremely expensive.  After breakfast we walked through the area called The Rocks.  The buildings are built right on top of large rocks that used to be right on the water.  Many buildings are quite old and the entire area has a lot of charm.  At the observatory we watched a large ball drop at the top of the building.  This used to be the only way in Sydney for its citizens to know what the time was.  It still happens everyday at 1:00!  Next we wandered over to The Opera House.  We were amazed at how beautiful the roof is.  You can see the individual tiles used to construct it.  Then we walked through the Royal Botanic Gardens.  In one area there are over 180 different species of palm trees!  Back over to The Rocks for dinner at a German beer garden.  Delicious!  After eating we wandered more, but by then our feet and legs were ready to call it quits for the day.  Back on the train and arrived at our hotel room at 10:00.  Sydney is a beautiful city.  The harbor is just gorgeous!  We didn't take the climb up the Harbor Bridge - you know how I feel about high places.