Challenges

Like the US, Australia is a large country. We had to prioritize what parts of the country to see and how to minimize travel time and costs between those locations. We hope to return to Australia some day to see and experience more.

Prices for everything are high compared to the US, and especially higher than India, where we had just been. I guess you could say we experienced sticker shock the first few days because of the huge difference between Indian prices and Australia prices after converting both to US dollars. So our challenge was to find fun but not-so-expensive activities. As you probably noticed from Eryn and Ethan’s daily posts, we visited many parks with playgrounds, national parks, and beaches, all of which had features that were unique to Australia.

Government regulations sometimes seemed to focus on the not-so-important. Patrons of bookstores are not allowed to sit on the floor, according to a rule by the Australian equivalent of OSHA. Train passengers may be fined for putting their feet on seat cushions.

The typical operating hours for shops and restaurants on Sundays caught us by surprise. Many shops close midafternoon and many restaurants are closed on that day.

Avoiding sunburn was a challenge. Australians enjoy many sunny days (yeah!) and the ozone layer in that part of the world is not as dense so sunscreen is extra important.

Favorites

Ayers Rock at sunrise and sunset 

View of the Opera House and Harbor Bridge in Sydney Harbor from a ferry on a sunny day

Indian Ocean beaches in Darwin and the northwest coast, especially at sunset

Similarities to life in the US – After being in Asia for two months and knowing we would travel to Africa after Australia, we really appreciated being a place for a few weeks that seemed more like home.

Watching the humpback whales play in the water breech at Gnaraloo Station on the northwest coast