From Cape Town Australia was on the way back to Fiji so we flew to Sydney where I could see another specialist help with my knee and related problems, and do a little exploring of this beautiful country where neither of us had been before.

The Trigenics treatments (an hour-long and lots of work and pain on my part) seemed to be helping so we ended up staying in Sydney for over two weeks and had a fantastic time there. We did lots of walking just taking in the beautiful sights which was also great rehab for my knee

Great view from the café at the Museum of Contemporary Art

This is not a postcard - sunset view of Darling Harbour skyline from our living room.

Picnic in the Botanical Garden in Sydney

Night out in "The Rocks" suburb in Sydney

After that we rented a car and started heading up to the gold coast to visit a lovely cruising couple Chris and Tuula I met in Columbia many years ago and have stayed in contact with.

One of the joys of the cruising lifestyle, you end up meeting people again at all corners of the globe. We took our time and stopped in many beautiful places along the way.

Very spacious AirBnB in Port Macquarie

First stop after Sydney - great to be out again, beach at Lake Macquarie.

In Springbrook National Park with Gold Coast in the back

Cute visitors on our balcony in the Springbrook rainforest.

Iris’ and I were both very impressed with the friendly people we met, the diversity of trees, vegetation, birds and wildlife, landscapes, safety and cleanliness of it all.  Through AirBnB we found a number of fantastic apartments and houses to stay in and much cheaper than the average hotel. 

A few people warned me how expensive it is so I was prepared to pay a lot.  The strong dollar and this expectation made it not bad at all.  And we only saw a small bit of this huge country and definitely want to go back and see more.