On to The Whitsundays…… Our domestic flight left Brisbane airport just 20 minutes late which given the appalling weather conditions (torrential rain and high winds!), was not so bad. Unable to see anything from the plane owing to the thick and high cloud we dozed for the majority of the hour and half flight. We arrived in Proserpine just as the clouds were beginning to lift. Proserpine is a sugar town and a major transit point for the Whitsunday region. A tiny airport, we collected our bags from a trolley outside before boarding the shuttle coach to Airlie Beach and our [View Full Entry]

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Blog Entry 2/9/08 We picked up the Greyhound service from Mooloolaba to Brisbane central Transit centre at 9.30am on the 2nd - the journey was uneventful although we did see a few more kangaroos en route. We arrived in Brisbane on time and took a taxi to our hotel - The Marriott in downtown Brisbane - we managed to get a fab deal for 2 nights using www.priceline.co.uk - check it out - we had a king room with city views for the price of a good meal and a decent red! Brisbane is the state capital and we found it [View Full Entry]

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So, the week kicked off with Della seeing her first "roo"! The day i decided to stay at the house! Something to with the Law of Sod me thinks! We had just had a torrential downpour and the sun was shining again when Della and Sue went out to the local shops - en route they saw not just one kangaroo at the roadside but a whole "herd" of them......how cool is that??!! Next time i'll be going to the shops! The weather is warmer with each day - Winter is almost over and Spring is just around the corner........well, that's [View Full Entry]

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Our first week here has been superb! The weather has been for the most part, sunny and warm during the day with clear blue skies and a tad chilly in the evenings! We are looking forward to Spring! We have explored the Sunshine Coast from Caloundra in the south to the Noosa Heads in the north and it has been fantastic! The start of the Sunshine Coast is the unremarkable town of Caboolture and north from here is the Glass House Mountains National Park - nine dramatic, isolated pinnacles jutting out of a flat plain, visible from as far away as [View Full Entry]

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Our final night in Sydney had arrived and to mark the occasion we went for a superb dinner at a local restaurant - we enjoyed an exquisite meal - blue-eyed trevalla (a first for us, similar to cod and delicious), baked with a brioche crust and served on a bed of eggplant puree with pesto and asparagus - and, if the main dish was not enough to delight our tastebuds the dessert was heaven on earth!! It is unusual for us to opt for dessert usually favouring a starter but, when we saw those three little words: warm, chocolate and pudding [View Full Entry]

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Hyde Park Barracks & Parliament House We had planned to visit both Parliament House and Hyde Park Barracks during our stay and as they are both situated in the same central location of the CBD we combined the two. We went first to Parliament House where there was another guided tour. It has been the seat of government (state), since the 1820s. The current building contains the chambers for both houses of parliament, as well as parliamentary offices. The tour began in the lower chamber and we were given an informative talk mainly concerning the legislative meetings and the protocol [View Full Entry]

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A two-hour walk around Balmain The last walk in our book took in the historic Balmain village which was named after William Balmain, a ship’s surgeon on the First Fleet. Today grand colonial and Victorian buildings stand side by side with tiny worker’s cottages, adding variety to every street. We took the ferry from Pyrmont Bay alighting at Balmain East - from there we headed toward Darling Street Wharf where we saw a sandstone building which was a watering hole for sailors and ferrymen. We walked through the Illoura Reserve for views of the city and Darling Harbour. On [View Full Entry]

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For centuries Manly has been a popular destination for visitors from all the world - drawn by the natural beauty of the area. Bounded by the beautiful Sydney harbour to the south and the rolling waves of the Pacific Ocean to the east. We had been told that the best way to access Manly was to take the Manly Ferry from Circular Quay - a 30 minute ferry ride with outstanding views of the Harbour and surrounds. We took the advice and, on a sunny and warm morning made the crossing to Manly. We were not disappointed! On arrival at Manly [View Full Entry]

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We were so impressed with our first visit that at the next opportunity we went back to the Botanic Gardens with a view to joining a guided tour. We met with the guide at 1pm - a lovely, sweet older guy who knew his stuff when it came to Australian plant specimens. We started the tour by looking at a tree that had bark which flaked off and was soft and paper-like - apparently the Aborigines used to use this to wrap around newborn and young babies to keep the warm! We moved on to the Bottle tree which, despite the [View Full Entry]

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Tracing the perimeters of spectacular South Head this walk touched on the area’s colonial connections and took in a variety of ocean and harbour side terrain, from headlands with sweeping views and crashing waves, to secluded coves, white sandy beaches and the streets of one of Sydney’s most desirable neighbourhoods. We took the bus from Circular Quay to Macquarie Lighthouse at the start of the walk. The lighthouse is a copy of the country’s first lighthouse built in 1818 and it stands on the same site. We took the walk northwards, passing by the Signal Station and f [View Full Entry]

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