In August 2017 we took a trip to Australia. These photos are in 8 sections: |
2017 Australia |
August |
HOM |
Great Ocean Road 12 Apostles |
Dinner at Lisa and Graham's house in Port Melbourne |
The drive down to the Great Ocean Road was rainy and full of huge trucks but the drive back was gorgeous. The wattle trees were in full bloom. The next day we flew to Yulara, the tiny town built for visitors to Ayers Rock, Uluru and the Olgas, Kata Tjuta. That day we hiked around the Rock (10k) then up to the summit |
The sunrise from our hotel was gorgeous. The next day we drove to The Olgas for 2 separate hikes. |
We were VERY sore when we got to the Outback Desert Inn. Charles had fallen and twisted his ankle on top of the Rock and so was swollen and bloody but nothing was going to stop us! |
Riley ran across a yellow-spotted lizard sunning himself on the rocks. |
Amazing desert sunrises! |
The following day we wanted to climb Uluru one more time but it was closed due to high winds at the summit. So we explored parts of the base of the Rock which we hadn't seen the day before and went to the Cultural Center for a snack and some gifts. |
Max learning to drive! |
We left Uluru (sadly) and flew to Cairns on the northeast coast of Australia. We arrived after dark after stopping for groceries and found a lovely 3 bedroom ocean view beach-front apartment with a huge balcony! |
It was a very active day on the reef. Everyone was exhausted on the ride back to the harbor in Cairns. We went to two dive sites, Michaelmas Cay and Hayward Reef, and saw amazing things. The next day we went to Hartley's Croc Adventures. Amazing!! |
After all of this adventure we had a rather long travel day, a flight to Melbourne, another to Launceston, Tasmania, and then we rented a car and drove 2 hours up into the mountains to Cradle Mountain National Park for 2 days of hiking in the snow. |
Day 2 at Ayers we drove to the Olgas which apparently used to be like Ayers Rock but erosion got to it. |
Our 2nd (and last) day in Cradle Mountain was only the morning so we hiked up Hanson's Peak (Riley's choice, and it was a good one). |
We spent the last few days back in Melbourne staying with Gen. We went to St. Kilda and to the Ballet Centre to see our old friends and a ballet. |