Our Travels from 2015 to 2017

 Porto and Douro River Cruise 

with Scenic Tours

  The second part of our European holiday was spent in Portugal enjoying the many delights of the Douro River as we took a cruise on the Scenic Azure up the river to the Spanish border - plus a quick bus trip to the old Spanish town of Salamanca. The Douro is navigable since the completion of the 5 dams which require skillfull negotiation through the locks with only centimetres of clearance. The Douro valley is justly proud of its scenery, culture and of course its great wines. 

We especially liked exploring the old city of Porto with its steep narrow streets and wonderful architecture. We would like to revisit Porto.

Jersey (Channel Islands)

Anne's father and his family came from Jersey which gave us a great excuse to visit this lovely island. Jersey is a small self-governing dependency of the United Kingdom, with a mix of British and French cultures. It is known for its narrow roads, beaches, cliffside walking trails, inland valleys and historic castles. 

Our visit to Jersey was very rewarding from many points of view and specially for the insights we gained into the Hubert family history, which we have traced back to 1610.

Snowy Mountains with

Lake Crackenback Resort

After a very heavy rain trip to Canberra to see friends, we drove to Jindabyne and the Lake Crackenback Resort. From Thredbo we had a wonderful day on the chairlift up to Eagles Nest and walking part of the Kosciuszko Summit Track (until the bad weather came in). 

On the following days we explored around Lake Jindabyne and walked one of the local tracks. We drove the Alpine Way over to Tumut on another very wet day. Finally another gorgeous day allowed us to explore east and south of Tumut. Our holiday finished in Orange catching up on the news with family.

  Lamington National Park with 

O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat

 O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat in the Lamington National Park at the southern edge of Queensland is  one of our favourite locations. A great spot for escaping from everything - doing walks, activities, eating good food, whatever... 

Tropical Cyclone Debbie hit shortly after we left - causing lots of damage - it would be several weeks before O'Reilly's returned to normal.

Kimberley and Cape Leveque Bus Tour 

with Outback Spirit Tours

Our Exquisite Kimberley and Cape Leveque tour with Outback Spirit Tours included Broome, Cape Leveque, Derby, Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary, Mitchell Plateau, Kununurra, El Questro, Ord River, Bungle Bungles and the Horizontal Falls. A fantastic experience in one of our favourite parts of Australia.

Much of the tour is along the famous Gibb River Road as well as other challenging outback gravel roads. Our bus survived with one major problem requiring some bush engineering to fix.  

Tasmania (Flinders, Lemonthyme, Maria Island, Mt Field, SW Tas, Freycinet)

 We started our trip with a quick visit to our friend Susan at Woodend before getting a small plane to Flinders Island. Our hosts took us all over the island and we vowed to go back (which we did). Then to Lemonthyme Lodge (near Cradle Mountain) for a spot of indulgence and good walks. We then drove to Richmond (our base for the next few days). Our first trip was to a circumnavigation of Maria Island. Next day we visited the popular Mt Field National Park (with its great waterfalls). We flew to Melaleuca in SW Tasmania for Dave, who had been there as a student. Finally an extraordinary Freycinet Experience involving MONA, their lodge at Friendly Beaches (again) and Wingrove. 

What a trip! 

Malaysia with Peregrine Adventures

  Our Malasian Encounter Tour with Peregrine Adventures took us from Singapore to the old town of Malacca. Our next stop was Kuala Lumpur with many spectacular sites including the Batu Caves, the Royal Selangor Pewter factory and showroom, China Town, and the Twin Towers (brightly lit at night). 

Then on to Penang with its wonderful Kek Lok Si buddhist temple followed by a cooking class and exploration of old Georgetown with its great street art. The tour ended up on Langkawi Island with a boat ride to Pulau Dayang Butang island with its monkeys, lakes and swimming. Finally we went up Gunung Mat Chinchang by cable car and crossed the Skybridge. 

We indulged with a few extra days on Langkawi at the luxurious Berjaya Resort.