Journey Down Under

Audley clients Mike and Lisea enjoyed the trip of a lifetime to Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania.

By Audley Travel

August 9^th, 2017

our first trip down under

From the time I was old enough to know the world was round I was drawn to that large island at the bottom of the globe. Why was it mostly red and where did all those strange animals come from? Since then I have traveled extensively with my wife Lisea except to that island continent. I have always booked my own trips and always avoided tour companies. I knew I needed at least a month to really explore the diversity down under has to offer. I planned for years to explore the places I wanted to visit. I wanted to avoid the most visited places and concentrate on the out of the way locations. When it came time to start booking I knew that I had bitten off more than I could chew. Luckily, I found Audley Travel and country specialists Jess. All I had to do was give the locations I wanted to visit, some basics on what I wanted to see and my budget and they put together our trip of a life time.

We started our journey going west from Harrisburg on a total of 13 flights, six different airlines, a drive across Tasmania, one overnight ferry, a 3-day train ride across the Australian outback and 3 car rentals. We traveled 29,058 miles going around the globe and 1,646 miles driving to national parks and world heritage sites. We left in March 2017, during the Australian fall.

south island, new zealand

We started the trip with 6 days in Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand. Without a doubt, this place has the most dramatic scenery of any where we have visited including the Swiss Alps and the Canadian Rockies. On our second day, we flew by private plane across the Southern Alps to Milford Sound. We toured the Sound by boat on a rare cloudless day. We traveled the wine region around Cromwell and visited the old gold mine village of Arrowtown. We drove to Manapouri and explored and hiked the lakes in that area. We traveled to Glenorchy and the area where the movie “Lord of The Rings” was filmed. It is no wonder why this spot was picked to film.

We took a steamship up lake Wakatipu where we visited a sheep station, saw sheep being sheared and watched a sheepdog exposition that was exceptional. To relax we took a gondola ride up the mountain next to Queenstown. At the top was another ski slope type ride to a luge. The luge consisted of a three-wheeled cart with bicycle handlebars that you pulled back to break and pushed forward to let gravity pull you down the mountain. There were two courses that snaked and wound down the mountain. One was easy and one was fast. We took three rides and enjoyed every one, except for Lisea on the fast course at the bottom where she hit the guardrail and ended upside down. Ouch!

port douglas and sydney

We next stopped for 5 days in Port Douglas, Queensland Australia. We visited an island in the Great Barrier Reef where we snorkeled with turtles and fish while coral surrounded us. We visited Daintree Rainforest, swam in Mossman Gorge and dined at a retreat in the rainforest. We swam at “4 Mile Beach” inside a net. The net was required to keep out saltwater crocodiles and stingers, a type of jellyfish that can cause severe injury or death to the young and elderly. We watched thousands of fox bats with three-foot wing spans and a head like a dog depart Port Douglas in the evening and return in the morning. They reminded me of the Flying Monkeys in the “Wizard of OZ”. We also visited “Wildlife Habitat” and had our pictures taken with a Koala named Samson.

Next up was Sydney, New South Wales for one reason -- to climb Sydney Harbor Bridge. It was on a rainy St Patrick’s Day, but we enjoyed the views even in the rain. We visited an Irish pub for lunch after the climb, walked the Streets of the “Rocks,” and took the Manly Ferry to view the Sydney Opera House from the water. Manly is a nice side trip while in Sydney. It’s a very nice surfer’s town. Crossing the “Heads” on the way, where the ocean meets the Harbor is quite an experience. This juncture creates very rough cross currents and tosses the ferry about for a while. After a long day, we were beat when we got off the ferry at Circular Quay and took the Sydney subway to our hotel.

ferries, trains and cars

Next, we flew to Hobart on the Island State of Tasmania for 4 days. Hobart is a laid-back place that has a separate feel from the rest of Australia. Here, we visited Mount Wellington, booked a Tasman Island boat tour to travel around the south-east coast of the Island, and saw Tasman Arch from the top and from the ocean. We were taken into sea caves by boat and were followed by a pod of about 100 dolphins for 15 minutes. It was amazing. We drove across Tasmania on our last day to Launceston to visit the Japanese Macaque Monkeys then onto Devonport to catch the Spirit of Tasmania Ferry.

I wanted to cross and see the outback but I did not want to drive it. So, we booked a berth on Great Southern Railway’s “Indian & Pacific” train. This journey begins in Sydney on the Pacific Ocean, stops in Adelaide and finishes in Perth on the Indian Ocean. Or vice versa, Hence the name “Indian & Pacific”. Our train trip began in Adelaide at Jolly’s Boathouse a first-class restaurant where our baggage was checked in and delivered to the train while we received a wonderful meal. We were taken to the train after dinner and the journey began. The train was comfortable considering where we were. Having a private bathroom connected to the room was a big comfort. The food was excellent and the staff took care of every concern. We stopped at the town of Cook, population 4. We saw feral camels and a lot of flat country. We crossed the world’s longest train straight stretch on the Nullarbor Plain. It is 296 miles (477km) without a turn.

We got to Perth on Saturday. We explored downtown and the pier on the Swan River. Sunday, we picked up a rental car and headed north to Cervantes. Along the way, we stopped to admire kite surfers in the Indian Ocean and beautiful overlooks along the way. We ended the day at Pinnacles Desert in Nambung National Park. This area is filled with rock formations that look like large stone tree trunks coming out of the sand. It’s quite beautiful.

monkey mia

The next day was a long day on outback roads stopping at Overlander Roadhouse and Shell Beach on the way to Monkey Mia resort on Shark Bay. Shell beach is made up of Cockleshells 10 feet thick and the water in Shark Bay at this spot has twice the salt content of normal seawater. We got to Monkey Mia and checked into our seaside cottage. Monkey Mia is famous for the wild dolphins that come to beach every day to receive a small handout from government staff. Thirty years ago, this was a local only event where anyone could feed the dolphins at any time but grew to the point of people abusing the dolphins and the government stepped in to prevent the abuse. Lisea was lucky enough to be chosen to feed a dolphin.

We hiked the area and saw a lot of wildlife in and out of the water. At night, you could walk away from the resort lights and see the Milky Way in its entirety. I have never seen so many stars from horizon to horizon. I suddenly realized and became a little envious that prior to electric lights everyone had this view of the heavens at night. It is a moving experience one we will never forget. I highly recommend everyone going to some very dark spot on earth and witness the heavens this way. We stayed four days and headed back to Perth. This was a very relaxing visit.

Overall, this was a great trip and if I could change anything I would have spent more time in each location especially Adelaide and Perth.

We live in a beautiful area and I feel we sometimes take it for granted. Four seasons with rivers, mountains and valleys make our area as nice and diverse as any place on earth. We just have to remember to really look around and appreciate it.