We arrived in Melbourne with only a bit of delay. Our flight from LA had to detour to Sydney to take on fuel because weather in the area would leave them short. Had a belated lunch with friends Lisa & David Ryan then met the rest of our group – 11 friends from Kansas City, an older gentleman from northern Wisconsin, a couple from LA and a lady from Rhode Island. A day and a half in Melbourne was plenty – feet got worn out walking. The parks are beautiful, including a large botanic garden and a WW1 Shrine of Remembrance. Dan and I set off on our own to explore and found an alleyway with some great graffiti, a pub famous for a painting of a naked lady (Chloe) on the 2nd floor, and an 89th floor observation deck. On the way back to the hotel we hopped the free tram intending to exit at the last free stop 2 blocks from the hotel. One problem – the tram we were on turned onto another line across the bridge before it got to the last stop, so we had a long trudge back across to the park. Our hotel was great and overlooked the sports center where the Australian Open Tennis was played the week before we arrived.

On to Uluru- desert heat and TONS of flies! Everyone bought fly nets and we walked around looking like the Shades from the ballet Giselle. We viewed The Rock at sunset (with champagne) and again at dawn. Awesome photo ops! A man sat in the hotel lobby & played a diggery do – very bizarre sound.

We left the flies behind and headed to Cairns (pronounced Cans), where we still had the heat but now humidity. It’s a lovely city on the Coral Sea and we enjoyed various experiences in the rainforest, including a walk with an aboriginal guide, a ride on an old-time train, and a gondola ride down. We also tried our hands at lawn bowling – a little like bocce, which I’m also terrible at. Our best activity was spending a day on the Great Barrier Reef. They have large pontoon structures anchored there and provide snorkel, scuba, & snuba equipment as well as a semi-submersible and glass-bottom boat rides for those who don’t want to get in the water. After the heat, the water felt SO GOOD. The coral and fish were fantastic! On the funny side, the toilets in the ladies’ loos had signs showing the proper way to sit on the pot. One apparently has to be shown that squatting on top of the toilet seat (with feet on the seat) is incorrect. The city also has a large number of flying foxes – the world’s largest bat. We saw them come out at sunset & also hanging in the trees in the day. A number of our group took advantage of a chance to hold a koala. Because they are protected, only a few who cannot survive in the wild are available for this. Sooo cute. We also visited a butterfly refuge and the artsy community of Kuranda.

Yesterday we arrived in Sydney and today got our first tour of this part of Oz. Of course the start to the tour was A visit to an opal store (yes, I now own one) followed by a walk to the Circular Quay for iconic pictures of the bridge & opera house. Four of us are going to see Carmen at the Opera House tomorrow night because, well, when you’re in Sydney…. We had a private guided tour of the Opera House – quite the story about it being built. Lunch was at Bondi Beach, where Dan and I walked to the water & got our feet wet, followed by a bus tour of various parts of the city. Now time for a little r&r before we head out to dinner.