Thanks again for everyone's help with making this trip a success. I hope I this report will in turn help others.

My wife and I flew United out of Norfolk, VA on 5/16 and finally made our way into Sydney right at the curfew on 6am 5/18. We then made our way over to the domestic terminal and flew Qantas into Cairns. I don't know how to prepare anyone for sitting on 4 consecutive flights for 30+ hours, and losing a day on top of it, but you forget about how bad that sucks when you arrive. The jet lag however didn't seem to bad traveling West. We were able to adjust much better than I anticipated. We arrive in Carins at about 1pm and take a Taxi to the nearby Lakes Resort. Since we were staying four nights here, we got a pretty decent midweek special on their website. The resort is actually very nice and quite spread out. The only negatives are that it's not in the downtown area and it's close to the airport, so you do hear the planes quite frequently. That may bother some but we live near a Navy jet base, so we got used to it quickly. The resort is about 2 miles outside of town, but it is near a bus stop. However, buses stop going in that direction at 6pm. You can also cut over a few blocks to the Esplanade and walk down along the water into town, which we did a few times. We spent the remainder of the day just lounging around one of the three pools within the resort. That night, we decided to head into town and try to find something to eat. This is when the sticker shock of prices set in. We were certainly not prepared for a typical main to exceed $30 in price, especially in average looking restaurants. As we meandered around town, we came across some somewhat rowdy bars on the water, so we decided to drop in for a beer and some pub food. There were two gentlemen standing guard who stopped us as we entered. "Sorry, no thongs" he said looking at me. I can't imagine what the look on my face was like, but I obviously don't wear butt floss, much less make it evident if I was wearing it. He then pointed to my flip-flops, as non-Aussies would call them. Perplexed as to why a modest beachside pub would not allow flip-flops, I took solace in the fact that the dude wasn't checking out my panty lines. We eventually made our way into the Rattle & Hum bar and grill and settled for a $22 pizza. We made our way back and I despite trying to stay up as late as possible, I think we were out cold by 8:30pm.

5/19 we are booked for a day of snorkeling with a smaller family owned business named Sea Star. There were about 30 snorkelers on the boat and our first stop was a small cay about an hour ride from the harbor and then onto to an open reef site about another 30 minutes out. You can look at aquariums all your life, but nothing prepares for the sights when you first put your face into the water. It's simply amazing. Coral and fish are everywhere, and the fish don't seem to mind your presence at all. We didn't manage to see any turtles on this day, but we did see a few giant Wrasse and a Wobblegong shark among countless other colorful fish. We also got to hold a large pineapple sea cucumber, which the guide was happy to take a picture of. We spent five hours on the reef, which is a good amount of time to experience this. My wife did get a good souvenir on her leg by swimming into some shallow coral, but other than that, this was one of the highlights of our entire trip. That night we wondered back into town and found ourselves eating within the Reef Casino. We goofed around the blackjack tables, and once we made enough money to pay for our dinner, we cashed in and headed back to the room.

May 20 we decide to head to Kuranda. We wanted to take the gondola into town and then take the train back, but apparently, a cruise ship booked all of the day's train seats, so we decided to take the gondola both up and back. The ride up through the rain forest was pretty cool. There are two stop along the way. The first one has a short boardwalk through the rainforest with a ranger there to give you a brief tour and to discuss some of the local fauna. The second stop has another walkway which takes you to a lookout of Barron Falls. There is some beautiful scenery here and is definitely worth the stop. We then headed into Kuranda and settled into one of the many outdoor cafe's to have lunch. We then roamed the shops and also went into the bird sanctuary. If you don't like birds landing on you, don't go in there. Kuranda was ok, but I believe there are probably things I would have rather done while staying in this area. It's mainly a bunch of touristy shops and certainly not the "must do" as a lot of Fodorites claim. However, it was an enjoyable day nonetheless. We ate dinner within the resort that night, and the food was just so-so while quite overpriced.

May 21 - we get to fulfill one of my lifelong desires. We get to go fishing in Australia. We hire Darrell with Fish Tales for a half day charter within the estuary. We meet up with Darrell along with two Finish backpackers and board the small skiff-like boat. Darrell is a pretty cool guy to mix it up with. He explains to us that we are after a fish called a Fingermark. Well, as it turns out, the Fingermark is probably the most high-maintenance fish that swims. First of all, when one takes your bait, it will not grab it and run with it. It just sits there and munches on it. Second of all, when the fish finally gets a good hold of your bait, you cannot set the hook, because their mouths are too delicate. So, you have to hope it hooks itself. Thirdly, if you hook a fish you have to hope it doesn't come lose. Otherwise, the fish somehow sends a distress signal back to the rest of the school, and the whole school leaves the area. In all of my years of fishing, I have never come across such an odd fishing experience as Fingermark fishing. However, we did manage one decent Fingermark and a type of Grouper called an Estuary Cod. As we headed into one of the creeks to gather more bait, Darrell showed us a young crocodile that hasn't taken up residence in the mangroves. We took our fish home, put them in the fridge, and them went back into town for some lunch and additional provisions to go with our fish dinner. We grilled the fish on one of the poolside barbies and had perhaps the best dinner of our entire stay. The Fingermark was pretty good, but the Cod was excellent. One a side note, I never knew that the Australian barbie is not really a grill, but just a big outdoor frying pan. I guess cooking with fire is an American thing. The excess oils that funnel through the grill burn and give a very distinct scent that you will smell throughout the city. After dinner, we decided to walk into town. This is when I noticed those gigantic bats that dominate the skys in downtown Cairns. I believe they are called Flying Foxes. It was strait our of an Indiana Jones movie. We wondered aimless around town and found ourselves back in the casino. We played briefly, but took them for another $30 and then jumped on a bus to head back to the resort(The buses run in that direction until like midnight or so). Coming up, we fly into Adelaide/Kangaroo Island.

Welcome back! Thanks for starting your report. Looking forward to the Adelaide/KI installment.

Part II

On May 22nd, we boarded a JetStar flight directly from Cairns to Adelaide. We arrived in Adelaide and switched over to a Regional Express flight into Kingscote, Kangaroo Island. We determined that it was actually a better option to fly then to take the ferry since the ferry only takes you to Penneshaw which is about an hour from Kingscote and and 2.5 hours from Flinders Chase National Park. We decided to hire a car since we figured a remote island would be a good place to practice driving on the left side. Upon arriving at the small airport on KI, we find that the Hertz guy was hanging around specifically for us. We got a free upgrade from a Corolla to an AWD Ford Territory, which I think is the same as the Freestyle, and we were on our way into town. We checked in at the Ozone hotel and got a room in the older building overlooking the ocean. The place is nothing fancy, but it's clean and has all you need. However, eating there is a different story. We were advised to not eat the KI garfish and that the whiting was much better. We took there advice, but if the Garfish is worse than the whiting, then it must also be worse than cat food. Maybe their other dinners are better, but they definitely don't specialize in fish.

Deciding against the penguin tour, we decided to have a drink and then turn in. The next morning, after taking some great sunset pictures over the sea, we made the hour drive west and into Flinders Chase National Park. From there, we first drove out to Admirals's Arch. I was not expecting this to be as magnificant as it was. The scenery off the coast here is just amazing. We took the boardwalk down underneath the cliff to the arch. It's basically a big hole in the rocks that has been carved out by the ocean over the past million years or so. There are also fur seals all over the rocks so we ended up hanging around for over an hour just marveling and taking pictures. Surprisingly, we had the place all to ourselves. However, If you come here, do not expect sweet smelling salt air. Since fur seals seem to enjoy wallowing in giant pools of their own urine, the place smells like an overflowing port-o-pot on New Year's Day. We then drove over to the nearby Remarkable Rocks. This is another must see if you visit the island. If you didn't know any better, you would swear that these rocks were put here as some child's playground. Instead, they are naturally formed by the ocean in an area all by themselves. We spent about another hour hear taking pictures and taking pictures of other families as they posed on the rocks. Since we still had plenty of daylight left, we hit one of the bushwalking trails in the park. The one we picked was called Snake River Lagoon. We learned later that this trail just opened as this area had recently been ravaged by wild fires. Most of what we saw were charred gum trees and very little wildlife. As we were heading out at around 4:30, we finally spotted our first Kangaroo. Being ignorant tourists, we got out of the car and took about 50 pictures of the thing. It was now time to meet James and Natalie at the nearby Hanson Bay Sanctuary for a nocturnal tour. Even though the Flinders Chase Park was great, this was probably the highlight of our stay on KI. James and Natalie met us at 5:30 sharp and we were the only ones on the tour. As we started walking around the property, he pointed out numerous wild Koalas in the trees. I had no idea they grunted as loud as they do. As we walked around with the spotlight, Kangaroos, Wallabies, and Possums were all over the place. It really made us feel like morons for making such a big deal of the first Kangaroo we saw. Now, we were surrounded by hundreds of them. We then entered a protected area where there were even more animals. One Kangaroo named Amy, who was orphaned when her mother was hit by car, came bouncing up to us and would eat out of our hands. We were even able to peer into her pouch to see her joey, which was only a few weeks old. I would highly recommend this walk on KI, and they only charge $20. I believe these same guides also manage some nearby cabins on the ocean, which I regret not staying in. Since we were staying in Kingscote, we now had to make the 100km drive back in the dark in an area teaming with nocturnal animals. I think I drove about 50 all the way back frequently stopping for wallabies on the road. It’s kind of ironic how on the way out we were hoping to see kangaroos, but on the way back, I was praying not to see them. As we neared the town of Kingcote, we surprisingly ran into a police checkpoint giving out breathalyzer tests. I found this odd because it was a Thursday night and there were literally zero cars driving around the island. I’m not sure if that’s common on KI or not, but definitely be careful if you drive there at night. We got cleaned up and took a pass on the Ozone restaurant and instead headed over to Bella one block back, which was recommended by James and Natalie who also concurred that the Ozone’s food is crap. They were trying to shut down their kitchen but offered to make us a pizza. The pizza was excellent and the beer was cold. Definitely choose the Bella over Ozone when staying in Kingscote. We ended up crashing for the night and again neglected the penguins, which were likely right across the street from the hotel.

On Friday, we awoke with visiting Seal Bay as the only item on our itinerary. We headed over to Roger’s Deli for some coffee and light breakfast and then made the 45-minute drive to the Southern part of the island. Seal Bay is a protected beach that is home to a colony of Australia sea lions. You have to go with a guided group if you want to walk on the beach near them, which we gladly did. We got some great pictures of us sitting within 20 feet of large bull sea lions. This is another must do if visiting KI. The guides are just as excited to watch the sea lions as you are, especially when they are surfing in the waves. There is also a long boardwalk that extends near the beach for more photo opportunities. On the way back, we took some side roads and explored a little bit. We ended up stopping at the Shoals Bay winery just outside Kingscote. The wines were pretty good and we bought a souvenir bottle of their port. We then wondered one last time around town and watched the daily pelican feeding at the wharf. This is really just some dude handing fish to pelicans. It was kind of cool, but nothing that you can’t see at any fish cleaning station back in the states. I would advise not paying to watch this, as I think there is a nominal charge. We then got back into the car and started making our way back to the airport for our 6:30 flight into Adelaide. However, we first had to fill up the car with petrol. I figured $1.70 was pretty high, but we were both stunned when after only pumping half a tank, the price read $83!!! Between the REX flights, the car hire charges, and the gas, KI is a very expensive place to visit, which probably explains the lack of tourists we saw. We still think it was worth it.

Next up, Adelaide and McLaren Vale

Glad to hear the nocturnal walk was a highlight. We plan to do that and stay in their cabins.

Patty,

You should do well with the cabins. The reason we didn't stay there was because my wife read a report that mentioned mice. Personally, I wouldn't have cared since it is an island full of animals. However, when I mentioned it to James (the property mananger), he seemed to think he knew who posted that report and that the same party complained about a lot of things. He also said the recent food in the traps had been untouched for over a week.

Ken

Part III Adelaide and McLaren Vale

So, we arrive in Adelaide via Regional Express and pick up another car hire from Hertz. We decide to stay in the city and explore for most of the next day. We booked the mystery hotel on Wotif.com and we ended up with the Holiday Inn on Hindley Street. When we arrive at the hotel at about 9pm, Hindley Street is already getting crazy. Apparently, this is the heart of Adelaide's red light district. We manage to park in front of the hotel and the concierge meets us out front. We unload our bags and he instructs us to the parking garage. When I get to the garage and hit the button for entry, the voice on the other end explains that the lot is full and that you will need to drive around two blocks and back to the front for valet. I was kind of peeved that the concierge didn't realize that the lot was full, but to make matters worse, they charge us $18 for valet parking. I was a bit annoyed, but I was on holiday, so I quickly got over it. The hotel itself is pretty nice. However, staying here on a Saturday night is interesting. Hindley Street is an absolute freak show. So, we decide to walk over to Gouger Street and settle into one of the 4,325 Thai restaurants. We walked around a little more after dinner, but after having to dodge puddles of puke and urine, we decided to call it a night. When I awoke the next day at around 8pm and headed over to Gloria Jeans to get a couple coffees, there were still people wandering home from partying. An interesting area of the city, that's for sure. We checked out, but left our bags and went on walkabout. We worked our way to the river and walked up the path past the zoo and botanical gardens. This area of the city is (if I may borrow an Australian phrase) quite nice. After stopping to watch part of a soccer game in the park, we meandered over to Melbourne Street to have lunch at one of the many cafes. Melbourne St. seems to be a bit trendier suburban area and a tad classier than Hindley St. We then noticed the hotel on Melbourne Street that we wanted to book but wasn’t open yet, the new Majestic Minima. It’s a small boutique hotel with a self check-in system and had a grand opening rate of $99. As it turns out, they started taking reservations one day after we booked the Holiday Inn. On our way back to the hotel, we walked through the many shops in Rundle Mall. Not noticing any really good deals, we decided to get our car and make our way to our cabin at McLaren Vale.

We arrived at McLaren Ridge cabins at round 4pm, and checked in at the cellar door, which is on the premises. We were interested in tasting a few of their wines, but the owner seemed anxious to close up for the day even though they advertised being open until 5. So, we just dropped of our bags and noticed how really nice this place is. The cabin labeled as #3 seems fairly new and comes complete with kitchen, dining area, king size bed, pot belly stove, Jacuzzi, and a few friendly alpacas in the pen just out front. We then made our way into town and picked up some steaks for the grill. After our meal, we fired up the hot tub and just relaxed in view of the vineyard and distant grazing kangaroos.

The next day was dedicated to visiting wineries. James from Hanson Bay had recommended Fox Creek, which wasn’t far away. We noticed in the tourist literature that they did tours at 10:20 every Monday, so that’s where we decided to start. The staff here was very friendly and gave a thorough tour of their facilities and property. Their wines were also “quite nice”. It was here that we learned about the cellar door pass. For $100, you get free tastings and a $20 - $25 bottle from 6 participating wineries. This seemed like a pretty good deal, so we got one. So, we picked a nice bottle of Shiraz and decided to strategize five more wineries to visit. Our next stop was Leconfield, which was right around the corner. Since it was still technically morning, the girl working the cellar door was more than happy to entertain us. She was really fun to mix it up with, and she graciously gave us generous tastings from a long list of their wines. We really liked their cabernet even though it wasn’t grown in the McLaren Vale, so we grabbed a bottle of that. However, we now realized how tasting different types of wines at a rather fast pace can catch up to you quickly. Therefore, we decided it was time to get lunch. We stopped on the main street through town and shared a pizza. Since we still had four wineries to go to honor our cellar door pass, we decided to be a bit more choosey with what we tasted. We mapped a convenient route through D’Arenburg, Wirra Wirra, Chapel Hill, and Rosemount which took us right back to the cabin. Rosemount was not a place we were interested in since we see their wines for sale all over the place in the US, but it was too convenient to where we were staying, and they were a participating winery. Plus, we were able to get our sixth bottle there about 10 minutes before they closed for the day. I don’t remember a whole lot after that, but my wife insists I had a great time. We grilled the remainder of our steaks and again finished off the day in the Jacuzzi.

We awoke the next day to yet another sun splashed day, but today was merely a travel day. We made our way back to Adelaide, returned the car, and boarded a Qantus plane for Sydney. Once in Sydney, we would take the train to Blackheath in the Blue Mountains.

What did you do with all those bottles of wine that you had acquired? We are doing the same route and would like to transport some bottles to Sydney.

Hey Calex,

We simply stashed them in our luggage in between our clothes. I believe Qantas has a 30kg limit per person, which we were still easily under. The United flight back home only had a 25kg limit, but we were both able to get there by putting a pair of shoes in our carry on. We luckily made it through customs on the way home without being checked, although I'm not sure if the wine would have caused problems or not.

Hi Ken,
I love your report - thanks so much for taking the time & effort to do it.

You paint the pictures so well, just telling it how it was for YOU, rather than making categorical statements. I LOL'd at your Tales of the City in Hindley street ... you must have wondered where you'd washed up! Thankfully, you wandered around enough for Adelaide to redeem herself.

Thank you for commenting on the fur seals' pong. I think we sometimes forget wild animals are just that - wild. They may look "cute", but they're not shampooed, blow-dried pampered pets. If they eat fish, they'll probably smell ... fishy!

Pity you didn't stay at the cabins - but OTOH, you'll just have to come back again, won't you

Looking forward to the next chapter .....

Sorry for the delay, but work can really be a pain after taking 2 weeks off.

When we arrived in Sydney, we made our way over to the train station as we were on our way to Blackheath in the blue mountains. We had our hearts set on seeing the blue mountains on horseback and had contacted someone at the Megalong Heritage Center prior to leaving to arrange a trail ride. We were told "no problem, just call us when you arrive to finalize your booking". Well, when the woman answered the phone, we were told that they were closed for the next four days. This certainly would have been nice information to know before we were getting ready to board a 2-hour train ride to an area where this was our primary activity. Luckily, I still had the number for another tour called Werriberri. They were glad to take our booking for a 3-hour ride, so crisis solved. They also offered to pick us up at our hotel whereas the first place would only pick us up at the train station, which was a little over a mile from where we were staying. We boarded the train and made the quick trip to the central station. We found the Blue Mountains train but realize that this particular type of train has no room at all for luggage. However, there were two single seats near the stairs where two very kind individuals allowed us to stack our bags next to them. One of them was a very nice lady who happened to live in Blackheath and gave us all kinds of information regarding the town. She even regretted not having her car near the station because she would have given us a ride to our lodging. We arrived in Blackheath, found where the taxi's line up down the street, and made our way to the Red Leaf Resort. I wouldn't really call this place a resort, but the room was nice enough as was the staff. With nothing within walking distance, we decided against the cab ride and just settled for the hotel restaurant. The food was decent enough. The only drawback with the Red Leaf is that is just a tad bit too far to walk with luggage to the train station. There appeared to be a few options in the main part of town, but it was only for one night so it worked out well enough. The next morning, Werriberri picked us up for our trail ride. When we arrived, we met our guide, John and another rider from Sydney. We seldom ride as a treat and an alternative way to see the countryside, we were saddled up on a couple of the older and more dependable horses. We rode through the Megalong valley and John pointed out various points of interest along the way. There were a few very steep and rocky portions of the trail that caused a bit of anxiety, but the horses all handled it well. We got our first glimpse of the mountains, and it is truly some spectacular scenery in this area. The three hours seem to fly by as we arrived back at the ranch. The owner was then kind enough to drive us back into town where we settled into another small café for lunch. The place had a Turkish name, but I forget what is was called. The food was excellent though. Since it was only about 1:00 and we weren’t planning on getting on the train until about 6:00, we decided to hike down to Govett’s Leap on the other side of town. We found a trail that started not too far away, so we started from there. I had to lead the way to prove to my wife that hundreds of snakes were not going to converge on us at once, bite us repeatedly in the most delicate of areas, and then leave us for dead as we felt the poisons eat away our organs one by one. After about an hour of hiking, we finally got to where the main lookouts are. I was shocked at how amazing the view is from the northern end of Blackheath. This place looks like the Grand Canyon back home, but with trees and waterfalls thrown in for good measure. And even more surprising, there was nobody here looking at it. If this kind of scenery existed on the east coast of the US, there would have been a million tourists taking pictures and buying cheesy souvenirs. I guess the great view per tourist ratio is just too high in Australia. We did finally run across two women from New Zealand who were also marveling at the sights. They were also kind enough to offer us a ride back into town, which we gladly accepted. We then grabbed a cab to help us pick up our luggage and then take us back to the train station. Since it was still too early for the 6:00 train, we took advantage of happy hour at the Gardner’s Inn while we waited. This is where the bartender tried to warn us about the growing “drop bear” problem in Sydney. Apparently, this is a common fallacy to freak out ignorant tourists. As everyone around the bar played along, we learned of this crazy animal that has been raising havoc in the Sydney area. It falls out of trees on to people’s necks and does some type of damage with claws or teeth. Being pretty sure that my travel preparations would have alerted me of such a imposing threat, I called B.S. on him. With that, it was time to head across the street to jump on the train and complete our final leg of our holiday. We made sure we grabbed the two single seats so we’d have a place for our luggage and made our way back toward Sydney.

Had a good chuckle lol.

Glad you loved the blue mountains, some expect the rockies lol.

We made our way into Sydney for the third time, but this time we’d actually see some sights beyond the airport and train station. We decided to stay at the Travelodge near Hyde Park since we were able to cash in our credit card points and basically stay there for free. We lugged our stuff from the Museum station and dumped our bags. It was now fairly late, but we decided to walk over to Oxford Street and have a look around. The further down you go on Oxford, the better the people watching opportunities are. We grabbed a quick meal at some burrito place and just sat there watching the wide array of characters walk by. This was very entertaining and I highly recommend it. We then headed back to the hotel for the night. The hotel is sufficient, but they stuck us in one of the quirky rooms on the end, which I think was even smaller than most of the rooms. The size was the only complaint I really had other than the guy walking in on us sleeping to give us more blankets that we didn’t ask for. I guess it was a good thing we were only sleeping.

The next day, we awoke and walked down to Darling Harbor. We decided to buy the 3-day pass for the Aquarium, Wildlife World, and the Sydney Tower. We started off by going through the aquarium. This was a very well done place with all kinds of Australian sea life. You could easily spend half a day in here, although you'd probably like it a bit more before you snorkel the barrier reef. We decided to have lunch with plans to come back and watch the 3:00pm crocodile feeding. There are tons of restaurants along the harbor, but there is one right by the aquarium that offers decent $10 meals all day long with flat screen TVs and sits right on the water. I think the name was Pontoon, but I’m not sure. After eating here, we went back for the croc feeding. I was thinking that this thing would be docile from being held captive for so long, but not the case. This poor girl, probably an intern, comes out from the door with this large Plexiglas shield. I’m pretty sure the croc would have loved to eat her in front of the 100 or so eager tourists waiting to see something cool. It was jumping at the glass and going crazy until another guys comes out and throws a fish at it. It was rather anti-climatic as the croc gently took the fish back in the water and the poor girl left to go change her pants.

We then went next door to check out wildlife world. This place is probably worth seeing, but we were probably ruined after already seeing Kangaroo Island at night. Still, there are a lot of Australian animals to see here. After that, we walked around the harbor some more and then went to check out the Star City Casino. Since our winnings from Cairns had been weighing us down for several days, we decided to donate it all to Star City. I still think that blackjack guy was cheating, but anyway....We then took the light rail tram back toward our hotel and found yet another Thai restaurant near the Chinatown area. We capped off the night with some Starbucks and more people watching and planned out the next day. We decided to take the ferry over to Manly.

We awoke and took the train down to Circular Quay and made our way over to the opera house ticket box. The wife really wanted to see a show there, and there was band playing named The Necks. I couldn’t figure out the description of these guys but our best guess was that it was some type of jazz band. All that were left were standing room tickets, so we picked up a pair for that night. We then made our way over to the ferry terminal. I saw several expensive harbor tours advertised, but from what I could gather, the ferry gives you the same scenery for a lot less. Once we arrived in Manly, we walked around through town and made our way down the walkway to Shelley Beach, a protected cove at the end of the walkway. The water was probably a bit too cold this time of year for swimming, but there were still plenty of people snorkeling in the crystal clear water along the rocks. I’m not sure how crowded it gets, but it seems like a great place to spend a summer day. It was here that a rather large lizard crept up on us while sitting on a bench. Thinking it was finally the snake that had been stalking us the entire trip, my wife gets up and sprints about 500 yards down the path taking out 3 young kids and an elderly woman with a walker along the way. When I showed her that the animal indeed had legs, all order to the world was restored and she actually went in for a closer look. After the ferry ride back into Circular Quay, we decided to walk over into the Botanical Gardens toward Mrs. MacQuarie’s Chair. This is a lookout point that gives you a great view of both the bridge and opera house. We waited for some great sunset pics, and then decided to walk back to the hotel through Hyde Park. This is a great walk at sunset as the lights in Hyde Park illuminate the trees that form the archway over the path. The plan was to get cleaned up and then get on the train back to Sydney harbor for dinner and the show. We got back to the harbor about 90 minutes before the show and picked out a nearby restaurant called Minus 5. Come to find out, the name of the restaurant represents their service grade on a scale from one to ten. We placed our drink order 15 minutes after we were seated and never got them. Our food actually came before our drinks. I’m not sure if I buy into the system of full wages for servers and no tips, but that’s a debate for another day. We then headed into the unknown, a Necks concert. Now, I realize these guys have a strong cult following and there is no doubt they are talented. However, I just didn’t get it. It may be because I didn’t eat mushrooms for dinner, but I’m not quite sure. For those of you that are fans, then maybe you can explain it to me. For those of you that have never heard of them, I’ll try my best to describe it. You have what looks like a jazz-based trio with stand up bass, piano, and drums. However, each “song” is instrumental only and last about an hour. They start of with very minimal sound bits that progress as the set goes on, but without really any melody. And while this is going on, there are three big screens behind them showing a naked women walking very slowly up a flight of stairs to the music. I’m sure it was quite artistic in a very eccentric type of way as the existing crowd gave them a hearty applause after the first set. This was our cue to sneak out and see what else we could do to salvage the rest of the night. At least we can say we saw a show at the famed Sydney Opera House. Since we didn’t have our camera for any night shots of the harbor, we got some coffee and just soaked it in. We’d have to come back for some night pictures.

The next day, we walked down Pitt St into some of the shopping areas. We stopped by the sky tower, but determined it would be best to come back at dusk so we could see both daylight and nighttime from the top. So, we ended up walking back to Darling Harbor for lunch. This time, we found a pretty good Indian place within Harborside. After hitting the gelato stand, we walked back to the Sky Tower and went up for a look. The view was pretty cool, but I think we had more fun using the telescopes to spy on people on their balconies. I think the stand alone rate for the tower is like $50, which I can honestly say is not worth it. It’s probably worth packaging together with the aquarium and the wildlife world, but do not pay just to do the tower. If you want to see it that bad, just pay for the expensive dinner at the tower restaurant. You’ll get the same views along with a nice dinner. On the way out they have what’s called Oz Trek, which is included in the price. This is supposed to be some type of simulated 3D ride. However, half of it wasn’t working. I hope the broken half is better than the first half, because that was pretty lame. Oh well. Our next plan is to grab a bite to eat back at Darling Harbor and then take the ferry back over to Sydney Harbor for some night shots. We ended up back at the Pontoon eating sandwiches, drinking a few beers, and watching the AFL game. I must admit, the AFL games were very fun to watch, and I’ll miss not seeing much of it back in the states. When the game was over, we jumped on the ferry back over to Sydney harbor. Since it was Saturday night, the people-watching was again nearing peak form. The highlight was a bunch of inebriated guys who boarded at the second stop. When they got off at Luna Park, a few of them jumped into the harbor once the ferry pulled away. Now, I’m no safety expert, but cold water at night with swift moving currents while drunk can’t be the healthiest scenario. I’m staring to sound like most people in Sydney are odd, but that is not the case. Most of the people we met were extremely friendly and helpful. It was just the few exceptions that provided us with some bonus entertainment. We got off the ferry, and walked around the harbor yet again for the sole purpose of getting some good night pictures, which we did. While we were taking pictures from the opera house side, the intermission of that night’s Neck’s show was taking place. We were both very relieved to see one other couple with a confused look on their face walking away from the second set. At about that time, fireworks started to explode out toward the bridge. I’m not sure if this was a planned event or not because nobody seemed to be anticipating them. Since we had been walking all day, we made our way back to the train station. We got possibly our last look at the beautiful Sydney harbor as we got on the train back to the room. The next morning, we checked out and made the depressing train ride back to the airport as part of the longest Sunday of my life.

We very much enjoyed our trip and can’t thank the people on here enough for their help and suggestions. For those planning on going, I hope this report provides any help at all. For the Aussies on the board, I understand why you carry such a high level of pride for where you live. You have an amazing country. I hope to make it back some time in my life. If anyone has any additional questions, feel free to ask.

Thanks again,

Ken

"It was here that a rather large lizard crept up on us while sitting on a bench. Thinking it was finally the snake that had been stalking us the entire trip, my wife gets up and sprints about 500 yards down the path taking out 3 young kids and an elderly woman with a walker along the way."

You are a very bad lad, Ken! I was reading this while listening half-heartedly to someone trying to sell me something . Just as they were getting to the end of their pitch - I got to this bit! Now, I don't suppose the poor pet has suffered any deep psychological scars a few years therapy won't cure. But you must admit, screeched guffaws isn't exactly a Bright Young Thing's most desired response to their earnest "chipmunk on helium" script delivery.

Glad you enjoyed your trip - and thanks for such an entertaining read.

Thanks Ken, what an entertaining and amusing report.

Glad you found Sea Star in Cairns for your reef trip, its a bit strange that no-one at Lakes Resort told you that nearby Edge Hill has some good eateries, which would have saved the trek into Cairns city. Also very close to Flecker Botanical Gardens and Centennial Lakes (there's at least one crocodile in there that no-one seems to know how to find and re-locate).

The closer restaurant information definitely would have helped. Surprising, nobody mentioned it despite several inquiries. Also, the gardens and lakes sound like they would have been a nice diversion from the city as well.

Hi Ken. Glad you enjoyed your trip. Hindley Street, hey? I wouldn't recommend it as a place to stay or play, but that's the pot-luck with hotel websites. Every city has its bad areas - unfortunately you found ours. And Friday and Saturday nights the city is full of young idiots drinking way too much and suffering the consequences.

Anyway, at least Kangaroo Island and McLaren Vale worked out well. You got quite a size upgrade on the car, which wouldn't have helped the cost to fill. I have a car the size of the Corolla and it recently cost me $66 to fill from empty, which is the most I've ever paid. Country petrol prices are always more expensive than the cities. Adelaide hit a record $1.68/L yesterday due to the rising world oil prices, but has been in the $1.50s and low $1.60s for a while now. A friend who has just arrived back from the US said she noted that petrol here is more expensive than the US when you convert the $ and gallons to litres.

Yes, $1.68 a liter is definitely more than we pay in the US. That equates to about $6.37 a gallon. I just paid $3.75 per gallon, which is also the most I have ever paid. That same price translated to liters is about $.99 per liter. I'm assuming the Australian price has a lot more tax built into it.

Enjoyed your trip report Ken, it definitely had some LOL moments. I'm smiling at Bokhara's experience

Great report, Ken

Hurry back.

Glad the drop bears avoided you!

Yes, Australian petrol is taxed considerably higher than the USA's. But it's quite a bit cheaper than Europe's, if that's any consolation.