Our trip to Australia was amazing ! We spent a week in the Sydney area, then went north to Port Douglas via Cairns which is a 3 hour plane trip from Sydney. We spent 5 days in Port Douglas, a pretty beach community where excursions leave for the Great Barrier Reef. After exploring Port Douglas and the surrounding area, including Daintree National Rainforest and The Great Barrier Reef we headed back to Sydney where we took in more sights for our last 5 days. Needless to say we had a great time and got in a lot, and yes of course I have photographs galore! I won’t overwhelm you, but as promised, I’ll share with you some of the sights we took in along the way.
I loved Sydney. It’s a great city with so much to offer. It has a really efficient public transportation system consisting of trains, light rail, buses and ferries and yes, we rode them all. Sydney harbor is beautiful and is the hub of the ferry systems. The world famous Sydney Opera House is one of the main sights in this area as is The Harbor Bridge. As many times as I saw this, from a lot of different vantages, I never tired of the view!
We spent a relaxing afternoon at The Royal Botantical Gardens which is right in the heart of downtown Sydney and also overlooks the Harbor, a beautiful setting. I love the welcome sign .
“Please walk on the grass”
“We also invite you smell the roses, hug the trees, talk to the birds and picnic on the lawns” Love it!
There are many beautiful beaches in the Sydney area, all just a bus, train or ferry ride away. There is a popular cliff top coastal walk, from Bondi to Coogee ,which is a distance of close to 4 miles. It goes from Bondi beach and continues to Coogee beach and passes other beaches ,bays, cliffs, scenic views and rock pools along the way. It’s a great walk, every few minutes there is something beautiful to see or experience. Hot ? Need a break ? Take a dip and then continue on to the next beach !
We took a day trip to visit the Blue Mountains, which is a World Heritage area site. Only a couple of hours away from Sydney, great hikes and breathtaking views. It was slightly cool when we first arrived at the mountains in the early morning, but it heated up and we were soon out of our jackets and scarves. We were fortunate to have good weather pretty much throughout our entire trip.
We spent five days in Port Douglas and enjoyed the relaxed pace and natural beauty of the area. While there we took a tour on the Daintree River and spotted various wildlife including birds, snakes, and crocodiles! Of course from the safety of the boat!
We also visited the Daintree National Rain Forest and Mossman Gorge.
The trip out to the Great Barrier Reef by boat is 90 minutes from Port Douglas. Everyday we monitored the weather at the reef with the tour operators and every day it was high winds and rough seas. There were even a couple of boats that had to cancel altogether. On the last day we were to be in Port Douglas the winds had calm down just a bit, but not much and the seas were still rough. But it was our last day and we did want to experience The Great Barrier Reef, so off we went ( after stopping by the pharmacist the night before for some motion sickness drugs!) Yes, the seas were rough all the way there and back ! Still we got out there, snorkeled , took in the views from a glass bottom boat and rough seas and all we were happy to have the experience.
We said goodbye to beautiful Port Douglas and headed back to Sydney for our last five days.
I really appreciated how much of an art and cultural scene Sydney has. Not only museums and galleries, which we visited of course, but just during our visit there were a couple of city wide art festivals and a photography festival taking place. There was also a writers festival with major authors from around the world. Whew ! Believe me, this is just a glimpse of some of the many things that Sydney has to offer as well as just a glimpse of all that we were able to do and see during our visit.
I even managed to be “in” one of the light art installation pieces. It was an interactive exhibit that allowed you to come up and they projected your face on to the art piece. Yup that’s my face !
Australia has been one of the places in the world I’ve wanted to visit so this trip was the perfect anniversary gift . More memories created and new places explored. I’ll take that any day !
above all, love.
