Australia

Brisbane

We arrived in Brisbane from Hong Kong.  Straight away we were taken to see one of the most beautiful sites overlooking Brisbane. Mount Coot-tha.   mount Coot-tha is only 8 kilometres from Brisbane, and from the Mount Coot-tha Lookout you can enjoy a panormaic view across the city. The Brisbane river can be seen winding to Moreton Bay and on a clear day, so we were told you  can see Moreton and Stradbroke Islands.

View from the look out of Mount Coot-tha

From here we went along to visit the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. We had he chance to cuddle a koala and I have to admit I never realised how heavy and solid  Koalas were until I held one. 

Lone Pine Kola Sanctuary was the World's First and Largest Koala Sanctuary Since 1927
You can hand feed friendly kangaroos & emus; See Tasmanian devils, wombats, dingoes, reptiles and more variety of animals; Walk through 20 hectares (50 acres) of natural setting; we had a wonderful time here.

For over 70 years, famous and not-so-famous people have visited Lone Pine to cuddle a koala. You can view the photos of many of the celebrities who have visited and held a koala, Janet Jackson, Our Queen Elizabeth and many more.

Koala cuddling has been banned in New South Wales since January 1997 but cuddling is still permitted in Queensland, and especially at Lone Pine.

In Queensland, koalas can only be cuddled for less than 30 minutes per day. They must also get every fourth day off. This ensures that they get plenty of time to eat and sleep. At Lone Pine, they "clock on" and "clock off" their koalas when they go to the koala cuddling area.

The 

Mount Tamborine

All we can say is Mount Tamborine presented itself to us as a beautiful rainforest a wonderful waterfall and  we were glad we didn't miss out on the chance to see this beauty.

We visited many islands whilst staying in Brisbane, thanks to our hosts  Mike and Linda, one of the ones  we will remember is Moreton Island and its magnificent sand dunes.. if you are fit you can complete the climb unfortunately for us we were  not. Moreton Island hosts the tallest sandhill in the world. South Stradbroke is one of the smaller islands we visited and that is  only 22 km long and about 2.5 km wide, and  was named after the Earl of Stradbroke. Both islands are well worth a visit.

Moreton Island.

Moreton Bay Bug

Now doesn't this look delicious? ha ha ha!

First let me give you the facts : 

Scientific Name Thenus orientalis 
Location Northern Half of Australia 
Season All year round. 
Size To 560 grams, but usually around 120g 
Australian Species Code 00 700002 
Taste, Texture Sweet delicate taste, medium texture 

NOW !!

We had this ugly bug  along with a fillet steak and it really is delicious, take a look at the way it was served to us.

This was a lovely meal and I wouldn't hesitate ordering it again were it to be on the menu.

Sydney

The Harbour Rocks Hotel

We stayed at the Harbour Rocks Hotel, the Harbour Rocks Hotel is a heritage building, built on the site of Sydney's first hospital by twelve convict carpenters and sixteen hired men. 

Located in the historic Rocks area, the hotel was close to the retail and the business heart of Sydney, and was within walking distance of the city's major tourist attractions. The restaurant wasn't expensive and the food was of a very high standard.

Valentines Day 2001

Not only did I receive this wonderful card from Rick, we chose this day to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  We were booked in at 10am and for the next three hours we were taking in all the excitement and thrills of climbing the most famous bridge in the world.

And....... if that wasn't enough excitement we rounded off the whole day with dinner at the AMP Tower.  This is a revolving restaurant, which allows you to take in all of the views over Sydney as well as enjoy a really good meal.

Sydney Tower Restaurant

15th February 2001

Today is the day we fly over Sydney Harbour in a helicopter!!  This was certainly a breathtaking experience, to see Sydney from the air as well as from the land, you really do get to see how large Sydney is. The flight took 40 mins and it was certainly one of our highlights. 

Melbourne

A perfect way to get around Melbourne City.

Melbourne is a wonderful city. On arrival our friends took us straight into the City where we had our first glimpse of this wonderful City. We had lunch on the Southbank: This is a new shopping area has a great reputation for its boutiques, shopping areas, riverside cafes and restaurants and international food hall. We finished off our stay here having lunch at the Blue Train Restaurant on the Southbank on the day we left Melbourne.

We visited Royal Melbourne Zoo: which is just north of the city centre, it is the oldest zoo in Australia and one of the oldest in the world. There were numerous walk-through enclosures, a wonderful butterfly exhibition, and a fabulous African and Asian rainforest zones featuring gorillas and majestic Sumatran tigers.  . The zoo exhibits more than 350 animal species from around the world, including favourites such as little penguins, kangaroos, platypus and koalas.

We finished  off our day with a visit to the Rialto Tower, where you can see 360 degrees panoramic views around Melbourne.  Rialto Towers consist of two towers forming Australia's tallest reinforced concrete structure with a height of approximately 253 metres. and afterwards it was the obligatory shop for souvenirs. haha!

We  had the chance to drive along the The Great Ocean Road: When you drive  along this road you will see some of the world's best coastline. Views along this road also include the stone monoliths of the Twelve Apostles and remnants of Old London Bridge. We stayed overnight at Port Cambell to break the journey up and it gave us the chance to catch breath and really take in this lovely scenery.

Wilsons promontory National Park

This promontory (frequently referred to as "the Prom") is almost entirely National Park - 49,000 hectares in fact. It's about three hours from Melbourne and is the southernmost point of the Australian mainland. It is one of Australia's largest and most popular national parks. It lies 230 km south-east of Melbourne. We spent two days camping here with  our friends and it was here we saw a family of wombats out at night  looking for food.  The Mount Oberon walk is 3.2 km return. It takes one hour to climb the 562-metre mountain which when completed  at the top offers excellent views of Tidal River, Norman Bay and the headlands to the north. This really was worth all the effort in climbing.

View of Tidal River and Norman Bay from Mount Oberon 

I think what Rick and myself can say about Australia as a whole is that it is a very relaxing country. The restaurants are very fairly prices and we  really liked the idea of  B.Y.O..( Bring your own drink ).this cuts the cost of eating out down considerable.

We will most definitely be going back to Australia and it will be sooner rather than later.

Aussie Slang

                                 

IF you would like to see some of our photos of Australia click here

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