K’gari – Fraser Island

In August of 2022, we decided to take a very last minute holiday to Lady Elliot Island. As we had four nights on Lady Elliot, we decided to add a few extra days and visit Fraser Island. None of our Aussie mates have been there. One even asked, “Isn’t that just a big sand island”? […]

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The Long Layover in Kona (and Waikiki) (after a trip to Scottsdale)

(There’s a long preamble for this trip, so click here if you just want to read about Kona). We’d been isolated in Australia for 26 months. TWENTY SIX MONTHS! To be fair, there are far worse places to be confined. When the Australian border reopening was announced, we immediately booked flights to visit my mom […]

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Sea Lions & Dolphins in South Australia

When the Australian border reopening was announced, we immediately booked flights to visit my mom in the US, who we haven’t seen since November of 2019. About a month before departure, we got an email from Qantas about a flight schedule change. Not only did we now have a 16 hour layover in Los Angeles, […]

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A Day Trip to Dirk Hartog Island

This post is part of our Western Australia road trip. In case you don’t want to read this sequentially, or you are looking for another part of the trip, here are some shortcuts: Lake Ballard Exmouth and Coral Bay Shark Bay and Monkey Mia Dirk Hartog Island <– You are here Shark Bay Scenic Flight […]

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Shark Bay – Monkey Mia

This post is part of our Western Australia road trip. In case you don’t want to read this sequentially, or you are looking for another part of the trip, here are some shortcuts: Lake Ballard Exmouth and Coral Bay Shark Bay and Monkey Mia<–You are here Dirk Hartog Island Shark Bay Scenic Flight Kalbarri Hutt […]

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Swimming with Whale Sharks and Mantas in Exmouth and Coral Bay

This post is part of our Western Australia road trip. In case you don’t want to read this sequentially, or you are looking for another part of the trip, here are some shortcuts: Lake Ballard Exmouth and Coral Bay <– You are here Shark Bay and Monkey Mia Dirk Hartog Island Shark Bay Scenic Flight […]

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Wander out Yonder – Our Western Australian Road Trip

The plan was a two-week holiday in Western Australia, flying into Exmouth, picking up a hire car, and driving south to Perth. This was the farthest we’d been from home in 15 months, and coincidentally, our last trip pre-Covid was to Western Australia. Despite case numbers in Australia being extremely low, we had a nagging feeling […]

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Sea Lions and Dolphins in South Australia

Still confined to our mostly Covid-free island, we headed to South Australia for a holiday in April of 2021. We flew into Adelaide and stayed at the Intercontinental (#points).     We spent our one free day on a tour of the Barossa with Scott Ninnis. Our request was “off the beaten track red producers” […]

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Sea Lions in Jurien Bay & a day trip to Rottnest Island

Is there a better way to break up two back-to-back weeks of work in Perth than with a weekend of sunshine, saltwater, and some very friendly sea lions ? No.   Getting to Jurien Bay Jurien Bay is located on the Indian Ocean, an easy 2.5 hour drive north of Perth. It’s a small fishing […]

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