Our trip to Australia was planned when we learned that Dick’s son had become ill and we have not seen the Aussie grandchildren in a number of years. Dick visited Australia in 2000 and Joy had never been there. We decided to rotate our time between family and sightseeing. After a few days with family, next was a light show in Sydney, then to Cairns and Fort Douglas in Queensland, back to family, then to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains and back to Eric’s.

The flight out was long (14 hours). We flew from Tucson to LA, LA to Auckland NZ and on to Sydney. The Sydney airport is gorgeous, like a high end shopping mall. Customs was a breeze, very well organized. 250,000 people go through this terminal each day. Travel around Sydney was on the train system which was inexpensive easy. We never missed driving a car at all.

The Vivid Sydney light was extraordinary, around Sydney Harbor, adjacent to the Opera House and Circular Quay. The Australian museum has many aboriginal people exhibits. Almost next door is St. Mary’s RC cathedral where the stained glass is very beautiful.

Cairns, Kuranda, Port Douglas and the Daintree NP in Queensland were our next stops. All are consider to be in or nearly in the tropical rainforest. Back to Eric’s in Sydney and a final jaunt to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains.

We left on July 5th to come back to the states (only 13 hours on the return flight) and arrived at 5:30am on the 5th.