Part 1 – Australia

On our way. Off to Vancouver, then to Los Angeles in Business Class with Air Canada. We had a long layover in Los Angeles so time to kill and and an awful $50 hamburger. We should have just waited until we got on the plane to eat. In Los Angeles…how does that song go? It never rains in Southern California, but girl don’t they warn you, man it pours! Indeed, it was very wet outside.

We flew Premium Economy to Brisbane and it was quite good, with decent meal. There were few people in our section so we could spread out and sleep. We arrived at 6am in Brisbane and were picked up by our driver and off to Flaxton and our B and B, called Frog’s Hollow. It is a beautiful, lush property of about 3 acres. We had a wonderful meal with Howard, Jayne and family of Kobe steaks.

The next day, we had lunch at Montville at the Edge with Jayne. No waiters, just order on your phone and it arrives. Then, we spent the afternoon touring the new property. It is 300 acres and adjacent to a park with interesting areas like one called Jurassic Park. Howard went ahead of us at one point to rustle up the ground cover to scare away the redblack snakes, which are highly poisonous. There are many little toads around, apparently an invasive species. The house is not yet completed, but will be spectacular when done. It has a separate building nearby which has functioned as a storage area during construction and will be the showroom for classic cars. It has solar panels on the roof to supply the house with power, in addition to a water filtration and septic system, so the entire place is self-sufficient.

(Full) day two at the Australia Zoo. Crikey!! This is quite the zoo with plenty of native Australian animals as well as tigers, elephants, giraffes. The show features a seawater crocodile being fed by Robert Irwin, much like his dad used to do.

Next, a day at Maleney Botanical Gardens and Bird Zoo. Most of the birds here are rescues and we were able to get inside with them. We all had to remove any jewellery or other shiny items that the birds might like to steal. One crazy macaw flew to Bob, perched on his shoulder and bit his ear. From here, there are beautiful views of the Glass House mountains. The area is very green and lush and we have seen a good bit of rain to keep it that way. One of the parrots sand ‘sweet home ‘Alabama’.

A day on the Sunshine Coast……we drove the Tesla, partly through some terrific rain showers on the left side of the road, navigating wicked roundabouts, to the coast and visiting Noosa Heads. There are some beautiful beaches along the coast here. On the way back, we stopped at the Ginger factory, which was quite an education. 

After that, we left Flaxton and headed to Mooloolaba for a few days. Bob had visited here in 1989. Needless to say, the change since then is dramatic. We picked up the rental car at the Sunshine Coast airport and started making our way down the coast, 1100km to Sydney. The first stop was Byron Bay and a stay at the Byron Springs Guest House, an old and charming hotel. We had a chance to see the views from the old lighthouse and walk the beaches. Next we had a stop at the Breakfree Aanuka Beach Resort in Coffs Harbour. We toured around the Muttonbird Island bird sanctuary and had a fantastic meal at Latitude 30, right on the water. Bob had the Red Curry Seafood – a white fish dish of some kind that was identified only as ‘fish’ on the menu – and it was excellent. Next, down the coast to Port McQuarrie and a stay at the Ibis Styles hotel on the water. We has a great walking tour around the town and saw the interesting breakwater with many painted, personalized rocks. This is a camping destination and very beautiful. We, again, had a great seafood dinner at Bill’s Fishhouse. Back on the road, closer to Sydney and our last stop – the Black Swan Waterfront in Swansea, which was a lot differ, not in a good way, from the online views of the place. It didn’t help there were major thunderstorms happening. The final day of driving was into Sydney and the traffic is getting heavier and heavier, aiming for the airport, which is on the South side of the city and we are coming from the North. No problem….there are very long tunnels under the city and the one we took went directly under the famous Sidney Bridge. We took an Uber to the Hotel Marlow in downtown Sydney in the Chinatown area. Surprisingly, it was less than $200 per night and quite nice. We spent 3 days touring around Sydney, mostly on foot. hop-on-hop-off bus and on the streetcars. We visited the Sydney Tower, walked all around the waterfront for a visit to the Opera House and a good view of the bridge, then saw many parts of the City including Bondi Beach by bus. The last day in Sydney, we took the commuter ferry across the harbour and visited Manley Beach.