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When we started planning the trip with Janet's sister Eileen and her husband Alan, we were hoping to go to both Fiji and Australia. The political unrest in Fiji scuttled that part of the plan, so we had to make do :-) with three weeks in Australia. It was a blast, even though the weather wasn't great. (We wanted to see southern constellations, but we didn't get any clear nights.) We stayed in Sydney, Cairns, the Gold Coast, and Melbourne. We lucked out and got one of our few sunny days while we were snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. We didn't get very much rain, and it wasn't unpleasant out even when it was raining. It was nice to get to spend time with Alan and Eileen.
Highlights include climbing the Sydney Bridge (a great view of a gorgeous harbor, as even those troubled by heights agreed), the Barrier Reef (giant clams, a sea turtle, and clear water to see fish and coral), rainforest birds, butterflies, koalas, a monitor lizard, crocodiles, wallabies, termite mounds, an echidna, and the elusive lyre bird (no photo, though Alan got it on video). We learned about cricket and did some lawn bowling. And we didn't get very far from Australia's east coast, so we'll have to go again.
