Australia

Arriving in Ayers Australia - after almost 30 hours of flight time and 19 hours of airport hiking (27 hours flight and 18 hours waiting) I quickly schedule a trip to Uluru - the heart of the red center.

1. Uluru - the Heart of Australia in the Red Center

The Red Center is an unofficial name for the Ayers & Alice Springs area close to the center of Australia. I thought of it as the Big Empty. Empty with only scrubs and small trees for miles and miles - then suddenly these magnificent rocks rise out of nowhere.


2. Kata Tjuta

Kata Tjuta is 35 KM from Uluru and was formed around the same time but with different materials creating an entirely different set of rocks. Boulders were carried from the Peterson Mt Volcanoes into a hollow area creating Kata Tjuta while the lava flowed on until it solidified at Uluru as one rock.


3. Kings Canyon and the Garden of Eden

Kings Canyon which 250Km from Ayers has a famous walk around the ridge with an optional descent into the canyon's center which is famously called the Garden of Eden.


4. Great Barrier Reef

I left Ayers in the Red Center and flew to Northern Queensland in the North Eastern corner of Australia. This is the kickoff point for the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest. I arrived in the Cairns airport which is surrounded on one side by the Pacific and three sides by mountains Cairns which is the large tourist town in the area but stayed in Port Douglas which is the 2nd largest town and actually has a beach.


5. Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation

North of Port Douglas is the Daintree Rainforest, a wandering road leads you to the croc invested Daintree River. A unique cable ferry is the only way to make the crossing.


6. Port Douglas and the 4 mile beach

Port Douglas is the home of many resorts as well as nicely appointed (not too tacky tourist) downtown restaurant and shopping area. It is also outlined by its 4 mile beach.


7. Sydney

Sydney wines along its famous harbor, opening with its two world renowned icons - the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Opera House.


8. Sydney Beaches

There's a stretch of coastline dotted by beaches beginning with the famous Bondi down to coves containing their own unique beaches some for swimming others for surfing and one with an undersea trail for divers.


9. Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains are just west of Sydney and have a similar smoky feel as the Smoky Mountains. They are also the site of the recently discovered oldest trees in the world. A small patch of these Wollemi Pines prehistoric trees were discovered in the 1994 and just this year the first group of saplings from them are being sold at a Sotheby's auction to help fund their protection. It's interesting to find these trees only a day trip away from downtown Sydney.


10. SW Tasmania

Tasmania lies below the Southeast coast of Australia and is a unique environment separate from the already unique Australian environment. Most of the island is a

nature preserve of one type or another. Although cooler than the continent rainforest cover a good portion of it.


11. Strahan

Strahan is a small port that is the launch point to tours of Sarah's Island prison, Huon Pine forest, Hells Gate, and some of the most remote landscape around.


12. Cradle Mountain

Cradle Mountain rises over Dove Lake and with its lodge is one of the most famed resorts in Australia. Travel North a little and you can descend from the top of Tasmania to its underworld in the Mole Creek Caverns - and then comes the Big Penquin on the North side of the island.


13. Freycinet

The Freycinet peninsula and National Park on the Pacific coast is another of Tasmania's park resorts with wildlife and great beaches.


14. Tasmania Peninsula

Only an hour from Tasmania's main city Hobart, the peninsula is the site of the Tasman Arch, Devil's Kitchen, and Port Arthur - the former prison that is Tasmania's number one tourist destination.


15. Great Ocean Road

The Great Ocean Road winds along the southern coast of Australia just west of Melbourne. Along its route are some of the great surfing locations, great waterfalls, Ottaway Point, and the 12 Apostles.


16. Victoria

Hanging Rock is a unique hill topped by rocks and was the site of the strange story of the Picnic at Hanging Rock.


17. Melbourne

Melbourne, Australia's second largest city and seemingly the home of an endless number of sport stadiums and arenas as well as annual an International Arts Festival that lasts the entire month tober. A large city but more relaxed than Sydney.

A trip of five and half weeks that didn't even cover two thirds of the country.