Lady Elliot Island

Lady Elliot is located at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. The island is the length of its grass runway, and contains a single eco resort. To get there, you can fly to Bundaberg, Hervey Bay/Fraser Coast, Brisbane, or the Gold Coast, and then transfer to a very small plane. For us, the […]

Read More

Esperance – Western Australia’s Best Kept Secret

Have you ever seen that photo of a kangaroo lounging on a pristine white sand beach? Some quick googling identified the destination to be Esperance, which is also known for leafy sea dragons. Esperance isn’t easy to get to – we think this is why it remains so special. From Perth, it is an 8 […]

Read More

Scuba Diving in Rye

All of our vacations used to revolve around diving. Then we fell in love with Africa. Now that we live in Australia, it kind of made sense to pick up diving again. Oh yeah, we also bought some fancy new camera housings. Given we hadn’t been underwater since the Galapagos, we decided to do a […]

Read More

Bareboating in the Whitsundays – Take Three

There are few places that we visit more than once, so it should come as a shock to most that we spent Christmas in 2015 in the Whitsundays. Yes, that makes the THIRD visit in two years. We absolutely love it there, it is an easy trip from Melbourne, and the boat we chartered in […]

Read More

Exploring Cape Otway

We timed this overnight adventure with the new moon, hoping for a last glimpse of the full Milky Way arch before it sinks below the horizon for summer. From Melbourne, we took the Great Ocean Road, stopping in Kennet River for a coffee at the Kafe Koala. If you want some easy wildlife spotting, this […]

Read More

Photography Workshop in Fiji

Location: Mana Island, Fiji Sometimes it is good to get away and focus on photography for a few days. Especially when the lineup of instructors is stellar and the workshop is in Fiji. Fiji is relatively close to Australia (five hours non-stop), but the ferry schedule (and frequent flyer tickets) necessitated a layover night in […]

Read More

Non Glamping Camping in Wilson’s Prom

The state had declared a new public holiday. The weather forecast looked good. The campground had availability. Wait. What? Yep. You read that right. We went camping. And not glamping either. Wilson’s Prom actually has fancy tents, but they book out a year in advance. Wilson’s Promontory is located three hours southeast of Melbourne. Unpowered […]

Read More

Bareboating in The Whitsundays – Take Two

(Location: The Whitsundays, Queensland, Australia) In 2015, we returned to the Whitsundays for Andy’s birthday. This time, we chartered a 41′ Bavaria and hoped to see some whales. Trip Summary Temperature: high of 23 (perfect), lows at night around 18 (need jumper/sweater) Water temp: too cold for Jennifer. Around 22c Wind: 15-25 (gusting to more […]

Read More

Skunked at The Pinnacles

(Location: Nambung National Park, Western Australia) No, we weren’t sprayed by a skunk. There are no skunks in Australia. I was in Perth for work, coincidentally on the weekend of a new moon, so we decided to stay the weekend and head two hours north for some star trail pics. We had all our gear, […]

Read More

Swimming with Whale Sharks

(Location: Exmouth, Western Australia) In Victoria (the state where we live), the Queen (of England’s) Birthday is celebrated in early June. Other states celebrate it on a different day, and none are near the actual Queen’s birthday, but whatever, we get a day off work. Given June is peak whaleshark season, we decided to go […]

Read More