Camels, Sunsets, and Sunrises at Ayers Rock Our first full day in Uluru was pretty uneventful for most of the day. We found ourselves a sunny spot by the pool and sat there reading while swatting at flies. We grabbed a bit of breakfast and a bit of lunch while lounging around but pretty much just spent the day being lazy. Never a wasted day on this trip! Camels, Yay, Camels Our major event of the day consisted of a camel trek out into the bush during sunset. Us and 24 of our fellow tourists jumped on a bus at 4:30pm to take the quick trip out to the camel stable yards where we got a chance to meet and learn about our furry steeds which we would be riding that evening. Camels, while not native ... read more

A Brief Stop in Townsville As you read in our last blog we arrived back on the main land at about 5:00 in the afternoon. With majestic Hayman Island in our recent past we had to jump in the car and drive four hours to Townsville. While less than ideal, we knew that driving to our next destination was the best plan so that we didn’t waste a day. After a stop at good old McDonald’s we arrived in Townsville at just after 9pm. It is never easy staying anywhere after you’ve recently stayed in one of the best places on the planet, but it was even harder for us to spend a couple of days in the Jupiter hotel and casino. It’s not exactly a bad place but we had just left a beautiful room ... read more

A Long Weekend in Paradise After spending one night in our overpriced and not so great hotel in Airlie Beach, we set out for our long weekend excursion at one of the world’s great resorts, Hayman Island Resort located in the far north of the Whitsunday Islands. We had to get up pretty early - I know quarter to six is not that early for most of you but at this point it is pretty early for us. We packed our things and took the ten minute drive down to Shute Harbor to catch our boat to the island. The weather in Airlie Beach had been kinda nasty for the last couple of days with intermittent rain developing throughout the day. While rain is never what you look for on a holiday, in this case it ... read more

A Full Day of Driving, Lakes, Pools, and Swimming Boomerang Lake and Lake Allom For our final day on the island we were planning on getting a full day in. Unlike the day before, when we couldn’t hit the eastern beaches until around two in the afternoon, we were able to get out on the beaches in the morning for a short window and then back on again in the afternoon around 2pm. Therefore, we drove out to the eastern beaches, north on the beach and got off on an inland track before our beach window closed at 10:30am. The inland track in question was a loop that went from the eastern beaches around to the Boomerang Lake and Lake Allom and then back to the eastern beaches. What looked like a short trip on the ... read more

Hanging Out in Trendy Noosa From the Gold Coast to the Sunshine Coast Continuing our beach experience in northern Australia we left Surfer’s Paradise for the trendy part of the Sunshine Coast. Noosa, located about 120km north of Brisbane, marks the far northern tip of the so called Sunshine Coast. This stretch of coastline consists of small towns and beautiful beaches which acts as a weekend paradise for business people from Brisbane and a summer holiday spot for Aussies from all over the country. Unlike the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast has fewer high rises and less kitsch. It is more refined with nice restaurants and upscale shops. Think the Malibu or Boca Raton of Queensland, Australia. Since we didn’t have very far to drive from Surfer’s Paradise we got a late start on the day. ... read more