Australia at Last

I’ve thought about touring Australia for a long time. With 21,000 miles of coastline which is difficult to measure accurately and 50 % of the population living within a few miles of it, the beach is quite the thing here. Any sport to do with the ocean is popular. Three oceans surround the continent: the Pacific Ocean is on the east, the Indian Ocean is on the west, the Southern Ocean is on the south. The people are friendly! The travel guides show dramatic scenery around every corner. The country is legendary for its unique flora and fauna that don’t exist elsewhere in the world due to vast distances that prevent migration by any method. As a lover of geology, I know it’s the oldest continent on the planet which has eroded away over millions of years, so the center is a vast red dessert with a harsh climate. The coastal climates are welcoming.

The European settlers, mostly British convicts because the jails were full at home, arrived about 300 years ago which was bad news for the many tribes that had populated the continent for the last 40,000+ years. The renaissance of indigenous art and knowledge can be experienced everywhere in the country today, despite the lack of representation in government. This is a complicated issue.

Australia is about the size of the US in land mass and flying Sydney to Perth is similar to New York City to Los Angeles. So, moving from place to place requires air travel or a really long vacation. Planning the trip was complicated by expert fans who said, “Don’t skip this, you must go here.” I stopped asking people what their favorite parts were and created my own itinerary: Sydney, Melbourne, Margaret River, Queensland and Perth/Freemantle. Click or touch the images to make them pop-up and swipe left to view all the images in larger format.

SYDNEY

The iconic opera house does take your breath away. We visited on a week night to see the opera Sweeney Todd with a full house. We rode one of the many ferries that shuttle people, not cars, to the surrounding areas and took a guided walking tour of the original neighborhood known as The Rocks. Sydney is located on the Pacific Ocean. It bustles on the sidewalks, the parks and the water. In the downtown area known as the CBD (Central Business District) people are stylishly dressed in heels, jackets and ties. At the opera house, the young man sitting next to me had mink cuffs on his winter wool coat. It was hard to resist touching them. In nearby neighborhoods many turn of the century two-story buildings exist with double porches with elaborate wrought iron work called Sydney lace. Dining options are sophisticated. Craft cocktails are common. Beer and breweries abound. I took a cooking class at the Sydney Seafood School inside the Sydney Fish Market. I learned along with about 20 other people how to make Singapore Chile Crab. It was fun and delicious.

MELBOURNE

Everyone loves Melbourne. Although the population is slightly larger than Sydney at just over 5 million, it seems smaller, and lower to the ground with more historic buildings. The guide books tell you the restaurant scene is more vibrant than Sydney. I tell you we didn’t have a bad meal in Australia and enjoyed quite a few extraordinary meals. Like Sydney, water and ferries for transport are prevalent. Vineyards and other agriculture are nearby. The National Gallery of Victoria is well worth a visit. We saw a unique show created for the NGV on the subject of Pierre Bonnard where the gallery walls were adorned with colors and patterns from the art works. Stunning. Click or touch the images to make them pop-up and swipe left to view all the images in larger format.

MARGARET RIVER

Margaret River is known as wine country these days in Western Australia (WA) with all the accoutrement of that industry—upscale accommodations, dining, travel services. We visited some of the oldest (Leeuwin, Xanadu, Voyager Estate) and newest (Brown Hill and McHenry Hohnen) wineries. Leeuwin Winery has an impressive art gallery of pieces, mostly indigenous art, they have purchased to make wine labels and boast of the top tier entertainers who come to perform for audiences of 5,000 who picnic in the landscaped property. Rural roads and agriculture separate small towns. Forests still exist. Surfing is big. Hiking the coast and the woods around the Margaret River Brewery are popular with locals and visitors. The Cape to Cape Track caught my attention 20 years ago in a travel article and has been on my list ever since. Hiking one day of this Indian Ocean coastal trail out of a possible nine days with a terrific guide who knew all the flora and fauna, was a highlight of this trip. I fell in love with this area. Click or touch the images to make them pop-up and swipe left to view all the images in larger format.

QUEENSLAND

Queensland is tropical on the coast and in the highlands. Townsville is a cool place to linger for a few days before a ferry ride to Magnetic Island. The Atherton Tablelands are the eroded remnants of large, extinct volcanos that were active four to twelve million years ago. The scenery is lush, green rolling hills, with tropical trees and plants. The Daintree Rainforest looks and feels primeval. The crocodiles were napping, thank goodness, during our boat ride. The coast line is breathtaking. Although you can’t see it under the water, the Great Barrier Reef is the longest in the world and attracts enthusiasts from around the world, as do the birds and tropical plants. We visited old friends of the family here and were shown the best of the waterfalls, forests, crater lakes and wildlife. Click or touch the images to make them pop-up and swipe left to view all the images in larger format.

PERTH AND FREEMANTLE

Perth is the largest city in Western Australia (WA) but is less than half the population of Melbourne or Sydney. The city flourishes with prosperity from international business and mining. Eclectic architecture predominates. An enormous city park here, Kings Botanical Garden, compares favorably with the big parks of Sydney and Melbourne. Freemantle is the nearby small town on the coast that was the original settlement. It is charming and low key in every way. As with everywhere we went, miles of scenic trails exist for bikers and runners. It’s easy to get your 10,000 steps a day in Australia.

LAST THOUGHTS

I waited years to make this trip. It is a commitment of time and money, but according to me, it’s a glorious investment that I will live on. The people are terrific. You won’t get a warmer welcome anywhere I know. The international cuisine is exciting. The sites are astonishing. Ignore the ugly plane ride and go see Australia whenever you can.