Your Moderator is coming to Australia in June/July...

[kmclemore]

Hi, folks!

One of your friendly Forum Moderators (me!) and his wife, Jan, are making a trek from Philadelphia to Australia from around June 27-July 11 this summer (woops... "winter" for you lot! ).

My son, Charlie, is presently studying at the University of New South Wales in Sydney and he'll be done around the 27th, so we plan to meet him there and then travel around the eastern portion of the country.

Among our considered destinations are some hiking in Blue Mountain park, a trip up to Brisbane (Gold Coast), of course we'd want to see the Great Barrier Reef to do some snorkeling and such. Our family generally loves the great outdoors more than cities, but we also enjoy cultural things like great museums and performances. We're wondering if you locals have any suggestions for other beautiful and/or interesting places to see, too?

Also, if anyone has a Mac (or any boat!) who might want to give us a sail or motor out somewhere along the way, we'd love it! We'd especially like to get out on the reef when we're there. We're all experienced sailing hands, so we can help if desired.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions or thoughts. You can reply here or PM me - either way works. We're definitely looking forward to hopefully meeting some of our great Aussie members!

Cheers,
Kevin McLemore

[Berber Boy]

Sorry I am going to miss you. We live just outside of Sydney but we will be in Europe and the Baltic at that time. Not sure how many Macs we have around Sydney. Most are in QLD and down South I think. You should be here for our election.

Enjoy our great country.

Dave

[sunshinecoasting]

Hey Kevin, I'm on the Sunshine Coast 100 klms north of Brisbane, far nicer than the Gold Coast 100 klms south of Brisbane in mho, I'd love to catch up and take you out for a sail, pity you are just a tiny bit early for whale season but still ideal sailing that time of year here.

Funny you say you want to see the east coast, it's big, so that is a bit of a generalisation, the GBR starts just north of me but isnt really tourist friendly until you get to Rockhampton/Yeppoon, there you can see quite a bit of reef while snorkelling. The East coast starts south at the Victorian/NSW border and continues north for almost 4000klms, things to see are, GBR, Sydney and its harbour, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, various cities such as Cairns and Townsville but reality is it depends on your interests. Accommodation can be expensive but the Aussie dollar is only 75% of yours so thats a bargain for you.

If you want a tour of the Sunshine Coast and maybe a sail here let me know, I'd be happy to oblige, PM me with your email addy and keep in touch prior to your trip, you have 2 weeks which is a very short time to see a lot of country. Have a look here for where I live. http://www.visitsunshinecoast.com/see-and-do


Cheers, Dennis.

[kmclemore]

Thanks, Dennis and Dave! Yes, I do know Australia is rather large - it's like when folks come to the US and say they're going to 'see the country' in a couple of weeks... good luck with that!

We plan to do a little jump-flying - so, essentially, we'd fly into major cities and then drive out to visit select places. We can probably cover a bit more territory that way and gain at least a flavor of several memorable places in OZ. Driving all of that would clearly be impossible.

For accommodation we thought we'd use AirBnB - it seems like there are better values at that time of year with things moving into cooler weather.

Dennis, your area looks lovely. Is there any good snorkeling there? Or, as you say, would we have to look farther north?

[sunshinecoasting]

Hi Kevin, the Sunshine Coast is not known for its snorkeling, we do have some good deep sea diving targets, ship wrecks etc but 98% of our spectacular beaches are sand, what little headlands we have are heavily utilised by surfers. The whole area from Brisbane north to the top of wide bay is dominated by sandy beaches, in fact just north of me is Fraser island which is the largest sand only island in the world, see here for info. http://www.visitfrasercoast.com/destina ... vQodFwAKCw

Fraser island is only just off the mainland and creates what is known as "The great sandy straits" which is a mecca for coastal cruising and wildlife. Turtles, dingos, dugongs, dolphins, whales and crystal clear waters ideal for swimming.
Use Google earth and start at "Tin can bay" then scroll north up the sandy straits to the top of Fraser island.

Cheers, Dennis.

[Fresh Breeze]

Hi Kevin, We are on the Fraser Coast, and it's not well known by many that Lady Elliott Island is the best place to go snorkeling, it is 80 k's off the Bundaberg coast just north of Fraser Island. The Island is very small but you can get there by airplane from the Gold Coast direct to the Island and return in one day. Lady Elliott is the southern most point of the Great Barrier Reef. If you have time I would recommend a visit to Lady Elliott you won't be disappointed.

Cheers Ken & Christine

[kmclemore]

Thanks for the info, Ken, Christine and Dennis! I looked up and researched all of your suggestions and they all look good. I also looked up Heron Island, suggested by a friend here in Phila. Hard to choose! And Dennis, I may well take you up on your offer. We have a *lot* of planning to do in a short time. I'll PM you when we get a little closer to figuring out exactly where we're going and when. Thanks to all you OZ Mac folks - you're a great bunch!

[kmclemore]

Hi, Dennis... I pinged you on your PM mail... gathering our plans now and wanted to touch base. Thanks!

-Kevin

[Crikey]

Kevin, just a heads-up that when you cross the equator, the aussies will make you eat Vegemite! LOL!

R.

[kmclemore]

Kevin, just a heads-up that when you cross the equator, the aussies will make you eat Vegemite! LOL!

R.

No worries. Hey, I'm from Pennsylvania... the land of SCRAPPLE!

[sunshinecoasting]

Hey Kevin, nothing in my mailbox? Just contact me at [email protected] if thats easier, cheers, Dennis. Oh and yes, I always have Vegemite on my boat, staple breakfast food.

[kmclemore]

Ah... yes, and I see why, Dennis! I'll send you an email in a few minutes.

[kmclemore]

Well, we've had a wonderful day out whilst here in Australia. Sunshinecoasting took us out for a lovely sail in Mooloolaba on his 26X. Great weather, gentle seas, interesting conversation and a delicious lunch afterwards on the harbor side. What more could you ask? We all really enjoyed meeting Dennis and his boat is so much like ours that I felt very at home - even the same motor (though his idles considerably better than mine!). My only regret is not meeting his admiral, but then maybe someday they'll get to the States and we'll make that happen. Many, many thanks to our host!!

[sunshinecoasting]

It was a great day out, you have a lovely family Kevin and should I ever make it to your neck of the woods I will definately come and visit. The weather turned bad after you left so you certainly were lucky, I went out for a sail on my own the following day but was beaten back in by heavy winds and 2 meter swell. I'm home now, the Mac all clean and under covers ready for my next adventure.

Nice to meet you, regards Dennis.

[kmclemore]

Nice to meet you as well, Dennis. Thanks!!

Cheers,
Kevin