Australia - Passports Overloaded

Hamilton Island, Australia

February 13th – 17th, 2015

Today we flew to Hamilton island to visit our friends Keith & Kerrie who live there full time. The island is unique most people get around on golf carts. The only people who drove cars were the people who worked for the island.

There are some really good restaurants and a lot of wallabies and at night or I should say at dusk there were hundreds of bats flying up in the sky. We found out that one person owns the island and therefore owns all the retail stores and the restaurants which is wild!

We took a helicopter to The Great Barrier Reef the ride was amazing it looked like another planet. We saw Whitsunday Island and the famous Heart Reef. Snorkeling and scuba diving is world renowned many people come from all over the world just for that.

The next day our friend Keith took us to Hamilton Island Golf Club it was one of the best courses we ever played on. We had to take a boat to the island where the golf course was. Mostly every tee had a view of the water.

Mixed drinks in a can (Heaven in a can that needs to be brought to the states)

Cockatoo birds who try and steal your food

Maria & John at Hamilton Island Golf Club

Sydney, Australia

February 11th & 12th, 2015

Today we had a city tour of Sydney. We drove to the Blue Mountains. On the way, we saw the 2000 Olympic site at Homebush. When we got to the Blue Mountains out tour guide pointed out some rock formations one called the Three sisters and we got a panoramic view of the beautiful valleys and mountains.

We rode the world’s steepest perpendicular railway which plunges 700 feet into the valley to visit the bottom of the mountains. I have posted a picture of one of the pathway/walkway. We decided to walk back up instead of taking the railway which took about 10 minutes.

We took the ferry to Bondi Beach and had a drink at a bar at the end of the main road where we could watch people surfing.

Brisbane, Australia

February 09, 2015

Today we drove an hour from Brisbane to visit the Australia Zoo home to TV’s late Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, and often referred to as the ultimate zoo experience.

Arriving at the zoo, we were greeted by the zoo’s friendly staff. Our first stop in the zoo was the star attraction and highlight of the Zoo, the famous Croc Show. This show was great the Crocodile that they used for the show was huge. They were feeding him whole dead chickens. We got a chance to hear the mouth chomp down, and the sheer sound of it made the hair on my arms raise.

The next attraction was the bird show they had huge birds fly in between people which precision it was quite amazing. We also took pictures with Koala bears and kangaroos.

Maria & John – with our good friends Mark & Margaret

Alphabetic Links of Where We’ve Been