So finally I get a chance to write about the Australia trip – we’ve been home for a week – one would think I could have gotten to this sooner.  Oh well – reentry into real life wasn’t so easy…

It was the vacation of a lifetime – one of the best trips I’ve ever had. And I mean ever. We had a great time everywhere we went, met some wonderful people, ate (and drank!) well, and saw some incredible things.

We started in Sydney, and sadly we only had two days there. We were picked up by Anna and Dennis, and after giving us a tour of the city by car they took us to their house. Anna is a physiotherapist who stayed with Barb in 1988 when she came over on a tour of physiotherapy facilities, so they were more than happy to return the hospitality. We wandered around the harbour area, did a boat tour of the harbour, went to the aquarium, and saw the botanic gardens. We really like the city, but we certainly didn’t get to see as much as we would have liked to have.

From Sydney we flew to Cairns and then drove up to Port Douglas where we had four days to unwind and relax. We took the Calypso out to the Great Barrier Reef and snorkled at three different dive sites – this was worth the almost 40 hours we spent in airplanes on this trip – in fact, it’s worth it to fly to Australia just to experience the Reef. Seeing the many types of coral and tropical fish up close is just an amazing experience. It felt almost surreal – I always thought it was something to see these amazing fish in aquariums and in pictures, but it’s nothing like seeing them up close and personal and actually swimming with them. We also toured the Daintree Rainforest, which was in stark contrast to the Reef but no less of an experience. We were part of a small group of six and we had a wonderful tour guide, so it was a very personal experience – not like you normally think of tours. Sadly, we didn’t take too many pictures, but it was quite fun and educational.

From Port Douglas, we flew to Melbourne and had a full week there. What a great city – we loved it. As soon as we landed we were picked up by a limo (an Audi A8, no less!) and driven to Clint and Kelley’s, friends of Barb’s coworker Amanda, for a barbeque. They are fantastic people and awesome hosts – Clint put prawns (sorry, I can’t bring myself to say shrimp on the barbie!), sausages, lamb, chicken, and the largest lobster tail I’ve ever seen on the grill and I got to sample quite a few of Oz’s best beers. We hung out on the deck for the afternoon and just had a great time. The next day there was a party for Amanda and Dave for her Aussie friends and family to celebrate the wedding and new baby. That was a great time too.

We had a few days to play and check out the city before Barb’s conference started, but on Monday we drove out to the Great Ocean Road. This road is also worth the flight to Oz – the road itself and the views are about as wonderful as the Pacific Coast Highway in California. Lots of great twisty corners, steep dropoffs on one side and cliffs on the other, and ocean views to die for. It was kind of too bad we just had a junkbox rental car, but I was all jiggy knowing that I would be coming back on a motorcycle later in the week…

On Wednesday when Barb was in conference I drove out to Phillip Island and spent most of the day at the Grand Prix Circuit. I did three races on the go kart track, which is a 1/5 scale replica of the real race track, and that was a total blast. I just had to be a little careful on Turn 3 – there were a couple of geese by the track and I had been warned that they sometimes like to get in the way of the karts! The highlight, though, was the Hot Laps – I got to ride in a Porsche 911 GT3 race car, at speed, for three laps of the race track. That was just too cool for words – 150MPH on the main straight, trail braking into the first corner, the amazing noise of a Porsche at full chat… after the ride, I had to take a few minutes to collect myself! Thank you Barb – what a wonderful Christmas present that was!  Late in the afternoon after I was pretty well sated with gearhead stuff, I drove out to Phillip Island Nature Park for the Penguin Parade.  Every evening at dusk, dozens of Little Blue (or Fairy) penguins come out of the sea to settle into their burrows for the night.  It was so cool – you don’t see anything for minutes or more, then they just appear on the shore and start waddling up the beach.  After a bunch had come up, I went on to the boardwalk to watch them wandering around, looking for their mates, and heading to their burrows.  Very neat – especially for a penguin fanatic.  I just had to be careful leaving the car park – they warn you that there could be penguins hiding under your car!

Friday I was all set to ride the Great Ocean Road on a new Triumph Bonneville. I’ve always been interested in finding out what those bikes are like and this was a golden opportunity. I picked up the bike on Thursday afternoon, road back to the apartment, and locked it up in the car park so I could get an early start on Friday morning – I only had the bike for one day and it was a two hour ride just to get to the start of the Ocean Road.  In the morning I warmed up the bike while I got myself ready to go, but I quickly found out that there was a bit of a problem – it stalled and wouldn’t start again. I called the bike shop and the owner came right over with a jumper pack, and even though it started with a jump it still wouldn’t start on its own. The owner offered to take me back to the shop to pick another bike, or if I wanted, he would jump the Triumph again, take it back to the shop, and let me take the bike he rode over on so I wouldn’t lose any more time. Well, there was no thinking about that offer – he had shown up on a brand new Ducati Monster!

So I was off on the Monster for the best day of motorcycling I’ve ever had. It was about one hundred and fifty kilometers of highway to get to the Great Ocean Road, and even though I don’t like highway riding the Duc handled it beautifully. Thankfully, there was very little traffic on the Ocean Road so I could really enjoy the bike, the scenery, and the wonderful curves and hills as I rode along the south coast of Australia. On the way back I found myself following some guy on a BMW sport bike and he clearly knew the road – it was just me and him and he was keeping a wonderful pace through the twisties. He was riding pretty aggressively but not insanely, and he was a perfect reference point for me. I could ride hard and really enjoy the road, but I could take cues from him on when and how much to slow down for some of the tighter turns. At one point we had to stop for a short section of road repair, so I pulled up next to him to say hi and to thank him for setting such a good pace for me. He asked me if I wanted to go first, but I said no and thanked him for the offer – I told him that he was really helping me and I was really enjoying riding with him. He seemed pleased and asked me if I wanted him to turn it up a notch – well, he didn’t have to ask me twice! For the next twenty five kilometers or so we were blessed with the best parts of the road, and we were doubly blessed that we only came upon three cars – all of which we were able to quickly and easily pass. I was so comfortable riding with him and he was riding fast enough so I really put the Duke through its paces and felt confident doing it. I was in heaven, and at one point I was looking out at the cliffs and the ocean, thinking about this amazing bike I was on, and the reality of the experience really hit me hard – I’m was Australia, riding a brand new Ducati Monster on one of the best motorcycle roads anywhere, looking at some of the best ocean scenery anywhere – and I just about welled up with tears. Now that really would not have been a good thing on a motorcycle, but the realization of how lucky I was just about did me in. It was an experience I’ll never forget.

Click here to see some of our pictures – for the best viewing, mouse under the pictures, click “slow”, and then click “full screen”.

We’re not sure what the next vacation will be, but it’s going to be pretty hard to top this one!