Australia! Our 50th anniversary trip

There are loads of fish pix, which I will have to figure out how to post. In the meantime— We took a glassbotto. Boat/snorkel cruise on this boat Where we saw lots of gorgeous fish like moorish idols, parrot fish, lined rabbit fish, humbugs, etc. This is a manta Ray through the glass bottom boat Here we are at the west side of the island. It takes about 7 minutes to walk from one side of the island to the other. The airstrip is in the middle and at one point it was kind of North by Northwest!! Whales from the plane. We must have seem N at least three dozen , some fromthe east side shore and some from the west side shore, breaching, slapping, twirling! We learned from a whale expert that they are most probably scratching itches M Lunch

Saw kangaroos by the side of the road on the way to tiny airplane This is the green turtle we snorkeled with. Alan took the picture with the underwater camera and I don’t know how to move them over so I just took a picture of the picture, This is a baby red tail tropic bird just a ball of fluff, This is our room— Dolphin, Mama and baby Sunrise from the plane We saw tons of whales off the shore and great fish and I will post more tomorrow,,

Nothing to write home about here. We didn’t love this, got dropped off afterward no where near anything hand had to sign up for Aussie Uber to get back to the hotel. Alan did enjoy driving the boat.

So, the hotel we are staying at: Stamford Plaza Brisbane It is gorgeous, old fashioned elegant, and the staff is sooo nice. We started the morning with the incredibly sumptuous buffet, which we ate outside because Brisbane winter isn’t winter at all. Then we walked up to Queen Street to get our SIM cards and saw some crazy breakfast offerings: Stopped into a store or two and with the sales and the exchange rate I indulged a little. Then we walked over the Victoria Bridge o South Bank were we went to the Art Museum and saw some aboriginal art and a very interesting Picasso from just after his blue period. Also some posters from a protest week: And those Australian White Ibises are everwhere—like pigeons in NYC! We even saw one waiting for the light to change and crossing at the crosswalk. We came back to the hotel for an amazing high tea! And when we were done they brought out a gift from the chef for our anniversary! Then we walked back to ...

Took a boat trip out to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary                                                              Where we got to hold a koala!                                                                                                                                 And pet an emu! And feed a kangaroo! And we got to see a cassowary up close The koalas were adorable The echidna was hiding but here is her nest                     ...

Day 1 We has a nice flight, sitting next to an Aussie who gave us great tips! She and Alan slept most of the flight. I managed 2 hours! Guess I was too excited. The flight attendant, upon learning it was our 50th anniversary, presented us with a bottle of red Australian wine to take with us, which was so sweet! In the morning the attendants came around offering “Morning tea? Morning tea?” And there were almond “dunkers “ to go with it. We had our tea with milk, referred to here as white tea. Also trash home is rubbish here.  The picture is the coast of Sydney— very craggy and beautiful.  Then we caught the flight to Brisbane and were met by a ver nice driver who brought us to the loveliest hotel—The Stamford Plaza. It’s in a perfect location and they upgraded our room because of our anniversary.  This is the view from the room. It’s in a great location, and after we had a delicious bite to eat here at the hotel, we walked over to the botanical gardens. We s...

So it’s the day we are leaving, Monday, July 15, but we don’t actually get to Australia until Wednesday morning, so:Day Minus 2 How we spent the day: We hung out at home waiting for it to be late enough to drive to the airport for our 11:00 pm flight. We wanted to get to the airport about 7 to get rid of the big suitcases which we really did have to bring because tropical weather in Port Douglas, winter weather in Kangaroo Island, spring weather in Brisbane, different part of spring in Sydney, and because snorkeling and going to the Sydney Opera house and because buying stuff in Australia. Anyway, we finally headed out for the 3 1/2 hour easy drive to the Crown Plaza where we got a great deal on parking the car. Stopped for lunch on the way to take up more time, but still got there early, so we waited there in a very comfortable lounge area for it to be late enough to take the shuttle to the airport. Where we waited until it was late enough to have some dinner (great Japanese food) ...

Writing today to invite you follow along on our journey Down Under!