Who: Tom and Suzanne Ladek of Aurora
Where: At Sydney Harbour before entering the Sydney Opera House for a performance of Gilbert & Sullivan’s “HMS Pinafore.”
Best meal: The Rooster Restaurant in Katoomba NSW (jamisonhouse.com). This lovely restaurant is part of the Jamison Guesthouse, built around 1902, and has a wonderful view of the Blue Mountains where Katoomba is located. Lamb is very popular throughout Australia, and we dined on lamb crown roast that was baked to perfection with roast potatoes and vegetables.
Best deal: A trip north to Cairns in Queensland with BlueHolidays.com.au providing airfare and lodging at a lovely resort (The Fig Tree Lodge) for a reasonable price. Cairns is the center of most of the activity surrounding trips to the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest area, both of which we enjoyed. We had our first experience of snorkeling in the Coral Sea to view the coral, and Tom even did a scuba dive, which was very exciting. The Daintree Rainforest is now believed to be older than the Amazon rainforest. Both the Coral Reef and the Rainforest are designated World Heritage sights, and they meet at Cape Tribulation, which is a pristine beach area that leaves you speechless.
Best time to go: The seasons in the Southern Hemisphere are the opposite of ours, so November is late spring. We chose this time to have good weather and avoid the price increases that start in December. It worked well for us, and it seems that March might provide the same options. December through February are very hot, especially up in Queensland, so some may enjoy that.
Don’t leave home without: Dress is mostly casual. You will also need lots of sunscreen, especially if you want to spend time on the many beautiful beaches.
