30 Days Down Under
 

Thanks to you various Fodorites who gave us excellent suggestions that helped in planning our 30 day whirlwind taster of Australia and New Zealand.

We returned in the last part of October after visiting Sydney, Uluru, Port Douglas (incl. the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree), Melbourne, Hobart (incl. Port Arthur), Queenstown (incl. Milford Sound), and Auckland. (whew!)

As promised, I'm preparing a trip report ... it'll have 8 parts when I'm done. I've now posted the first 3 parts, the rest will dribble out:
1. Overview: http://leebruch.blogspot.com/2017/10...-overview.html
2. Sydney: http://leebruch.blogspot.com/2017/11...-2-sydney.html
3. Uluru: http://leebruch.blogspot.com/2017/11...t-3-uluru.html

Thank you so much fo your very interesting, thoughtful and interested Trip Reports so far.

I’m looking forward to the next chapters very much.

Following along!

Me too - we did a not dissimilar trip about 4 years ago at a similar pace though we saw slightly different things; as you say there are always decisions to be made about what to include and what to leave out. Sadly if I go back it will be by myself so I sympathise with your approach of tasting as much as you could, within reason.

Interesting statistics!

Very interesting. Never been to Uluru but it is on my list. I imagine walking around it would be an awesome experience.
Good on the Australian government and traditional owners for banning people walking to the top. Sacred sites should be kept so wherever country they are in.

I hope you do come back, Annhig.

You have a lot of friends here, who would love to eat & spend some time with you & show you bits of our lovely country that you & Bill missed last time.

Yes, Annhig - do come back - but perhaps not in the cricket season! :)

Mind ou, as Annhig never finished her trip report, we don't really know what she missed! (apart from me, that is!)

Well, she missed us, Margo - that’s reason enough to get herself back here to remedy that!

great idea! a tour to Oz visiting fodor friends. What could be better? possibly not linked to a cricket tour - perhaps a rugby one would be better! How about England v Australian Margo? [sorry, couldn't resist it!] Perhaps we could find you a better ref though.

[BTW did you see the last of the women's matches last night? - IMO honours even seemed about right in the end].

I hope that you've all got the tinnies in for Thursday morning - or in our case tomorrow night.

It’s actually not that silly, Annhig.

With C.Clifton, Northie, Peter-S Aus & others in Melbourne; , Stombird &othes in Brisbane, Gold & Sunshine Coast; Margo, Schnauzer, Cathies, here in Sydney; the Tasmanians; Huddershols in Adelaide .... and the lovely Fodorites whose names I’ve momentarily forgotten, you could bounce around & know someone wherever you go.

sounds wonderful, Bokhara. Perhaps I'll wait till the next Ashes tour and come and inflict myself on you all. We wouldn't run out of things to discuss, but we might have to avoid falling out about the cricket!

I just posted part 4 - Port Douglas: The Daintree & The Reef.

http://leebruch.blogspot.com/2017/11...t-douglas.html

Wow, I have 4 more to do if I do one for every stop. I'm going to have to speed things up by doing less background research

thanks for the post, elbegewa. Brings back great memories that DH and I did about 4 years ago; we had 5 nights in PD and it wasn't really long enough to enjoy everything the area has to offer [we never got as far as Daintree for example]

2 tips for you or anyone else reading this - when passing through Mossman [again] do not miss eating at the terrific Mojo's Bar and Grill, and spare at least one night for the Atherton Tablelands to the west of Cairns - a wonderful area for bird and wildlife watching.

elbegewa -

I'm all too familiar with time consuming trip report writing!

I'm thoroughly enjoying your report and the 'backstory' complements the experience.

Keep it coming - good things come to those who wait.

Thanks all for your encouragement.

I just posted "Part 5 - Melbourne" on my blog "30 Days Down Under"
http://leebruch.blogspot.com/

You may have encouraged me too well ... I apologize, it's long

I enjoyed the Melbourne segment. After 9 years living here, I must say you found a unique person at tourist info who could tell her Canadian accent from an American one. (I have a noticeable southern US accent and they still usually guess Canadian)

You've clued me in on something I was never aware of. I've seen the sculptures and panels on the bridge, but I've never crossed there so never knew what information was there. Next time I'm in the CBD, I'll add time for a walk across.

Clifton -

In my experience most Aussies and Kiwis hearing a North American accent tend to ask if one is Canadian first...seems many Canadians are offended if they're mistaken for American, whereas we yanks don't give a hoot if we're mistaken for Canadian:)

Of course there was the time a young man in Perth asked me if I was Scottish. Now that was musing.

<i> tend to ask if one is Canadian first</i>

Mel, that's been admitted to me as well by many Australians over the years. They always ask first, and very cautiously, if I'm Canadian.

Though IF they could tell the difference I suppose they wouldn't have to venture a guess. No one here in our group could hear the difference between my Ozarks/Texas/TN mishmash of an accent and that of my wife's relative who'd just arrived on a visit from the Yukon!