Itinerary:

Our schedule was to fly San Francisco-Sydney (15.5 hour non-stop ), stay in Sydney for 4 days and take a 33-day Australian [part 1] & New Zealand [part 4]  Sea Princess Cruise with a stop in Lombok/Indonesia [part 2] . Of course, I must mention an excursion which was available to Principality of Hutts River (what?) [part 3] through the town of Geraldton, Australia, which we did take with much enthusiasm.  I will start with our Australian expedition.

Flag of Australia

AUSTRALIA

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. It is the world’s sixth-largest country by total area.   For at least 40,000 years before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians (Aboriginals), who belonged to one or more of roughly 250 language groups. After discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia’s eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 1788. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades; the continent was explored and an additional five self-governing Crown Colonies were established. On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia.

A highly developed country, Australia is the world’s 12th-largest economy and has the world’s fifth-highest per capita income. Australia is a wealthy country with a market economy with high GDP per capita and a low rate of poverty. The country was ranked second in the United Nations 2011 Human Development Index and first in Legatum’s 2008 Prosperity Index.

The 2011 Census asked respondents nominated ancestry:   English(36.1 %), followed by Australian ?? (35.4%,), Irish (10.4 per cent), Scottish(8.9%), Italian (4.6 per cent), German (4.5 per cent), Chinese (4.3%), Indian(2.0%), Greek (1.9%), and Dutch (1.7%).  Asian Australians make up 12% of the population.

Flag of Aboriginals

Aboriginal Australians (2.3% of Australian population 517,000 people), also referred to as Aboriginal people, are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continent—that is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania. Since 1995 the Australian Aboriginal Flag, designed in 1971 by the Aboriginal artist Harold Thomas, has been one of the official “Flags of Australia” under section 5 of the Flags Act 1953.

“Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi” is a cheer or chant often performed at Australian sport events. An individual chants the line “Aussie, Aussie Aussie!” and the crowd responds with “Oi! Oi! Oi!.

(Origin: It is a variation of the Oggy Oggy Oggy chant used by both association football and rugby union fans in Great Britain from the 1970s onwards. It is usually performed by a crowd uniting to support a sports team or athlete.)   – [Excerpts/Source: Wikipedia]

Here we come Aaaaaustraliaaaa !!!     *\(^o^)/*

Major cities of Australia are very well-planned, clean and modern.  The suburb resort cities were lined with stylish, architecturally state-of-the-art buildings/homes/apartments. What we saw/visited were all port cities with beautiful  tropical trees and plants, surrounding the metropolitan scenery.  With  Australians speaking English and being so in tune with American (USA) happenings,  we did not feel like we were in a foreign country, until Australians heard our American accent and we heard their Australian!  Food was almost the same as ours except, we were able to experience kangaroo meat, and my husband tried crocodile sausage too. Neither was pleasing to our palette.We were blessed with the good weather. We found Australians very friendly, helpful and peaceful people.

If I may speak of the highlights of our activities:

Sydney – Aquarium Pier; Sydney Opera House; Sydney Harbour Bridge

Brisbane - Steve Irwin Australia Zoo Crocoseum’s birds and crocodile show; Elegant charming mountain village of Montville; Glass House Mountains

Port Douglas – Great Barrier Reef,  UNESCO World Heritage Site  (Watch video at the end of the post)

Darwin - Botanical Gardens; Gorgeous resort port city tour

Geraldton - HMAS Sydney Memorial;  (A separate post on Principality of Hutt River)

Perth – Aboriginal Presentation by an Aboriginal storyteller Derek Nannup in Yanchep National Park (my favorite highlight); Magnificient City tour

Adelaide – Rundle Mall (shopping to die for); Historic beach town of Glenelg (We saw people all dressed up, especially women to the nines, with decorative hats. It is a custom to do so for the Melbourne Cup horse race – this years winner – Green Moon!)

• Related Article : >>  Adelaide Foodies, Food blog Adelaide, SA, Australia

Melbourne – Eureka Deck (91-story building with a birds-eye view of the city); Fitzroy Gardens, including Admiral Cook’s Cottage which was disassembled in England and brought to Melbourne.

Here are slides of selected photos from our trip:

35 Photos

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