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Last updated: March 12, 2013 |
In 2012 we went to Australia with the hope of seeing as much of the country as possible in just 5 weeks. What a task! This covers our trip in pictures and will be expanded as the pictures for the various segments are edited. Sydney (all sections) and Whitsundays Snorkelling are now available. . This is best viewed in Full Screen |
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| Sydney and surrounding areas |
We arrived in Sydney on Thursday. Friday night Ian picked us up and we went to the Blue Mountains for a couple of days. Then back to Sydney for some sightseeing before we went North to Queensland and elsewhere. We came back to Sydney for a day with Ian before he left for home and we left for Ayres Rock. We returned to Sydney for a couple more days before heading home ourselves. All the pictures from our various stays are in this section.
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| Sydney | This set of pictures covers our luxurious flight (on points), the Sydney Opera House tour and the Sydney Harbour Bridge where we climbed the pilon for a beautiful view of the Sydney harbour but didn't go to the top of the bridge. |
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This set of pictures includes our walking tour of the city centre which started at City Hall, went through the Queen Victoria Building with its interesting history clock, out to the Rocks and finished in Circular Quay (pronounced Key) Another day's walking took us to Darling Harbour and the Maritime Museum. The ANZAC Bridge was visible from our hotel room | ||||||
| We visited the Botanical Gardens a couple of times, both on our arrival and just before we left five weeks later. |
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Another walk went to the Fish Market. We were much too late so see the fishing boats come in but were able to a fresh fish and chip lunch. An afternoon was spent taking the ferry over to Manley Beach to watch the surfers. Ruth particularly enjoyed the local advertising. | ||||||
| Blue Mountains | Ian joined us for a trip out to the Blue Mountains, an UNESCO World Heritage Area. They get their name from the blue tinge the range takes on when viewed from a distance. The tinge is believed to be caused by Mie theory which occurs when incoming ultraviolet radiation is scattered by particles within the atmosphere creating a blue-greyish colour to any distant objects, including mountains and clouds. (You needed to know this - right?) | ||||||
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While there, we visited several view points,
hiked in the rain forest, went to a waterfall and rode the cable car.
As we were leaving, we saw wild kangaroos in someone's yard, much as we
would see wild elk in backyards in Banff.
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We also visited the Jenolan Caves, said to be
the world’s oldest caves. There are 10 different caves that can be
visited, depending on your level of fitness and the time of day when you
arrive. We visited the Lucas Cave which has the Cathedral Chamber,
one of the widest and highest at Jenolan. It has wonderful acoustics and
frequently hosts performances and weddings.
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| Hunter Valley | On our last full day in Sydney (and Australia for that matter) we took a bus tour out to the Hunter Valley, the wine area about 1 1/2 hours north of Sydney. Grapes have been grown there since around 1827. Our tour stopped at three boutique wineries which only produced a small number of bottles (one was only 2700 cases a year) so were not labels we recognized. |
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| Queensland | |||||||
| Whitsundays | On the boat | Whitehaven Beach | Snorkelling | ||||
| Fraser Island | |||||||
| Brisbane | |||||||
