And, they’re off……………………….

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Today we’re flying to Dubai en route for Australia, and another big adventure Down Under. On our three previous trips, we’ve not visited Queensland – too hot. But Australia’s wintertime seems to provide ideal temperatures, plus my beloved is attending a dental exhibition in Brisbane. You knew there would be some work involved!

Going via Dubai allows us to take a couple of days’ breather between long-haul flights even though it’ll be roasting there. We’ll be taking refuge in the shade and chillin’ wherever we can, plus my beloved can meet up with his Middle Eastern distributor – more work!

As usual I started planning our itinerary over nine months ago – never knowingly unprepared. Fellow bloggers have provided a veritable font of knowledge in terms of what to see and do, as have friends in Australia. I love, really love planning trips almost as much as I enjoy the trip itself. Luckily my husband adores “just turning up.” It’s not that he’s uninterested, he just knows I’ll do a much better job than he would.

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that I shouldn’t be too ambitious and plan to do too much, otherwise there’s no scope for any spontaneity. I book all the airport transfers, car hire, flights and hotels and a number of trips, plus a few restaurants. The rest I play by ear but, having done tons of research beforehand, I have plenty of ammunition to ensure we have a wonderful time.

From Dubai we fly to Sydney, rather than Brisbane, because I want to visit the UNESCO World Heritage Blue Mountains, and my beloved needs to meet up with his Australian distributor ahead of the August exhibition in Brisbane. After a few days in Sydney, staying not too far from where our distributor is based, we head off for three days in those mountains.

Careful planning means my beloved will, on average, drive no more than 5 hours per day when we’re on the move. I hate having to pack up on a daily basis, so there’s only a few spots where we’re spending just an overnight. With the exception of Brisbane itself, we’re generally spending 3-4 nights in most places.

After our spell in the Blue Mountains we’re wending our way up the coast to Byron Bay where we’re going to chill for a few days ahead of the drive to Brisbane (and the exhibition), where we’ll spend two weeks. Given that my beloved will be working for part of that time, I wanted to ensure he had plenty of opportunity to see all Brisbane has to offer.

In Brisbane, we’re staying in a hotel in the CBD which is part of same group as the one we’ve stayed at in Adelaide. They have studio apartments with cooking facilities so that we don’t have to eat out all the time.  The hotel also has a pool, a gym and an on-site restaurant. Fortunately, I won’t have to help out at the exhibition which will leave me plenty of time to investigate Brisbane’s culture and its book shops. We won’t be able to watch any cricket at this time of year but we would like to see an Australian Rules Game, a sport which is hugely popular in Oz. I need to understand what all the hype is about.

After Brisbane, we head north once more along the coast to Mooloolaba and Noosa, finally heading to Port Douglas. During this part of the trip we’ll be flying over the Whitsundays and The Great Barrier Reef and also visiting them in a glass-bottomed boat. This is shark territory, so I won’t be dipping so much as a toe in the water. We won’t be ignoring the rain-forest, we’ll also taking trips inland looking for friendly wildlife. Finally, it’ll be back to Sydney and then home once more via Dubai.

During the trip, I’ll only be posting pictures and snippets about our travels, waiting for the most part until I get back (early September) to tell you all about our travels in detail. However, it won’t be a WordPress blackout. I’ll try to keep up with all your posts and I’ve scheduled a few of my own, including a number of award posts, which will pop up while I’m away. I hope everyone has a great summer!

51 thoughts on “And, they’re off……………………….”

  2. Good luck and have a great time. It’s always a fine line between researching the backside off somewhere and spontaneous tourism. A mixture maybe? And…… find a sports bar or two for the Ashes series starting next week and don’t forget to ask them if they enjoyed the cricket World Cup 😂😂👍👍

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      1. Absolutely! We were on holiday in France for the final, four of us glued to the iPad for 8 hours …. wine but no food by 9 pm we were more than knackered!

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      7. That’s ok, wasn’t criticising 🙏. I quite like your style but…. I only follow people I can read about and engage with. Do a simple about page and you’ve got another follower. Have you read ours?

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      10. Thanks for following, do a comment somewhere on our blog when you’ve done your about page. Simple stuff “I am … from …. and blogging about ….” etc

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    2. I do like a bit of spontaneous tourism which is why our schedule isn’t too demanding. I’ll definitely try to find a sports bar, aside from the cricket, there is a ton of other stuff I like to watch.

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      1. Staying in the Brisbane CBD you will have walking access to most of the major attractions, particularly South Bank with GoMA, Museum, State Library, Performing Arts and Maritime Museum with no shortage of dining varieties. There are some great bookshops, Avid Reader in West End is small but legendary, and Archives Fine Books in Charlotte Street is quite an experience! You can catch a high frequency CityGlider bus (links to the CityCycle bicycle hire scheme) or hop on CityHopper a free inner city ferry service for the Brisbane River. Eat Street at Hamilton is fun for foodies. A quick bus trip up Mt Coot-tha will show you across the city to Moreton Island sand dunes or visit Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary for a native flora and fauna fix. Sunshine Coast beaches are beautiful, less commercialised than the Gold Coast. Sharks, phooey, don’t believe that tourist scare! You’ve got a great itinerary planned. Feel free to email me via my Contact page. GBW.

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      2. Thanks for all the information, particularly on the book shops! Looks as if we’ll have plenty to occupy ourselves, not that I doubted we wouldn’t. However, I’m still not convinced about the sharks!

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  17. Are you having lunch at Thomas Kenneally’s erstwhile house in The Blue Mountains? There is a good viewing platform there. Katoomba, I think. We enjoy descending Mount Victoria by car. Always hope the brakes are working. The view is breathtaking but you can’t get out to take a photo! Look forward to seeing your pics.

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