He says: We're on the final leg of our Aussie journey, and are in the beautiful city of Melbourne. Our hosts for the past two nights have been Gus and Karla, friends we met while traveling in Thailand last summer. They have not only shown us great Aussie hospitality, but also some of the sights around Melbourne. Yesterday the plan was simple, wake up and drive around 90 minutes to an animal sanctuary to visit some Aussie wildlife and then hit some wineries in th...

He says: Our plan for Brisbane was to visit the famed Australia Zoo - former home of the Crocodile Hunter himself, the late Steve Irwin. However, when we reached the visitor information centre they informed us it was a 90 minute drive from the port and it would be tight to get back in time for our departure time of 530 pm. We decided the animals would have to wait for another visit, and proceeded to take a water taxi into the downtown core. Brisbane is a really...

He says: If you're ever thinking of booking a cruise, be very weary if there are a lot of "tendered" ports. Don't get me wrong, this cruise has many positive features - the food is great, the service has been good, and the sights have been amazing. The only problem has been getting to the sights. With many of our ports we've had to wait in long lines (hours long) to get a tender vessel to take us ashore. Today was no different. We were supposed to reach Airlie Be...

He says: The Great Barrier Reef was a large reason why I wanted to visit Australia. I've always been intrigued by the beauty of the the reef in photos and wondered whether it was as great when seen in person. The whether was supposed to be sunny and warm, however when we arrived in Port Douglas it was windy and cloudy. We grabbed the first tender to shore and our boat was rocking in the waves. With a further 90 minute ride out to the reef, Shauna and I knew we ...

She says: I am not a responsible snorkeller. I got one of the guides in trouble because I followed a turtle WAY far away from the boat. She had to swim out and coax me back into our snorkel zone. The Great Barrier Reef is totally amazing. Despite battling a cold, and being on a boat in HUGE waves for over an hour and a half to get to the Reef, it surpassed my expectations. I thought the snorkelling we did in Lombok would have been hard to beat, but the Great Bar...