Photo Trip Report
 

Hi Everyone,<BR><BR>Over the last year, this board has been an invaluable resource to help me plan our family trip to Oz. We went in August and had the trip of a lifetime. Thanks to everyone for the excellent advice.<BR><BR>I'm not much for writing but I am pretty handy with a camera and the internet. I've put together a website to share our pictures with anyone that wants to have a look. There's no popups or banners or anything like that, just 350 or so photos from Sydney, Alice &amp; Uluru, Brisbane and SE Queensland and Cairns. <BR><BR>The address is www.sd4.com/australia. Feel free to answer any questions - I'll answer the best I can. Enjoy!<BR><BR>John in Miami

Wonderful photographs and a well done website! The little troll is cute! <BR><BR>Thanks for sharing!<BR><BR>June

What great pictures! You have a beautiful family. Looks like you had a great visit. I can't wait to go back there myself!<BR><BR>Joyce

Wonderful photographs. Where did you <BR>go snorkelling in carins with what tour company ?

We went with Sunlover Cruises to Moore Reef (on the outer reef.) There's a brief stopover (about 1 hour) at Fitzroy Island then on to the reef. The website for Sunlover is www.sunlover.com.au. <BR><BR>My wife did the introductory dive and I did the helmet dive - both were fantastic! The fish were plentiful and the water was fairly clear. They also have a huge snorkeling area. If you go, keep to the far left/east side of the snorkeling area - that's where the best coral is! <BR><BR>It was a big boat but we wanted it that way since we're both prone to seasickness. The crew was excellent and the food was top notch. We're not hard core divers but we did want to experience a little bit of the GBR and this was the perfect day trip to do that.<BR><BR>John in Miami

I hope you don't mind, but I copied the photo of the sleeping Kangaroo at Taronga Zoo for my screensaver at work. It is the BEST picture I've seen in some time. What a cutie. Congratulations on a great site and I'm so pleased you enjoyed your stay here in Australia.<BR>

Hi Jenny,<BR><BR>Feel free to copy any pics you want for your personal use. I put them online to share with fellow travelers. Glad you liked that pic - it is one of my favorites.<BR><BR>John in Miami

OK...I confess to being a computer idiot! I went to the photo site with no problem, and even saw the initial picture. But then when I try to open any of the others there's just a symbol and no picture. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Hi John,<BR>I loved your pictures and it cracked me up that I'm not the only one who 'wastes' shots on silly stuff like crazy bathroom photos ;-) If it catches my interest, chances are it's going to make it onto a roll of film. (I'm about to enter the digital age but am not there yet!)<BR><BR>Thanks,<BR>Debbie

Hi Debbie - My wife thought I was crazy when I was taking pictures of the water going down the toilet and the strange electrical outlet. Now that we're home, we look at the photos and she's glad I took them! It's fun to relive the little details of the trip.<BR><BR>As for going digital - do it now! There were many times when we took a picture, looked it on the camera screen and it didn't turn out quite right so we took it again! Every image on the site was taken with a digital camera (Canon D30) and we printed them at home on our own printer. We saved a ton of money in processing fees and got to pick and choose which pictures we wanted to print. <BR><BR>John in Miami

Great pictures!! Thanks for posting them. What is the restaurant in Sydney with the view? It looks very high up? How was the food? We are going to Sydney is 10 days!! Can't wait!!

John: A wonderful website - can you tell me more of how you set it up. Notice you have an Australian address on it.<BR>We are in Melbourne - not Australia, just up 95 from you.<BR>Hope you can help me set up such a site.

Hi xx - the restaurant was in the AMP Tower in the CBD. You can't miss it - it's the tallest building in Sydney. It's east of Town Hall and just a block or so west of the northern end of Hyde Park. The food was pretty bad but the views were incredible. The seating area revolves around the tower once an hour. We had lunch and spent the time taking pictures of Sydney from our table. It's a little pricey though - we spent about $A120 ($65 USD) for lunch for 4. <BR><BR>Jean - Wow, you're just an hour or two away! I could explain how the site works but if I posted it here, most people would fall asleep reading all the technical boring stuff! E-mail me and I'll be happy to explain it to you.<BR><BR>John in Miami<BR><BR>

This was fun to look at. Thanks for sharing John!

Very cool - we are going to some of those very same places - thank you!

Hi John:<BR><BR>Great pictures! I sent you an email on your site, but just in case, who did you use for the Blue Mountains tour? Looks like it was great and exactly what we want to do there next month. How long did you stay in Sydney and Cairns?<BR><BR>Regards<BR><BR>Enrique (also from Miami)

Hi Enrique - we used a company called Dal Myles Special Tours. The tour we took is online at http://www.dalmylestours.com/n4wheeldrive.htm. If you go, see if you can get Peter for your guide. He's an older man (60's) who has lived in NSW all his life and has a million stories to tell.<BR><BR>I'm really glad we went on this tour. It's a long day (about 12 hours) and you cover a lot of area but it's worth it. We learned more about Australia on that single day than we did during the rest of our trip!<BR><BR><BR><BR>

Thanks John:<BR><BR>I'm looking forward to it. How long did you stay in Sydney? I've already sent a mail to Dal Myles...did you book them through the net or once you were there?<BR><BR>By the way, were in Miami are you? I'm in Aventura...<BR><BR>Regards,<BR><BR>Enrique