After spending a wonderful week in New Zealand, Kyle and I were sad to leave Auckland, New Zealand for Australia to begin our journey for two weeks. We really enjoyed exploring New Zealand very much and would love to go there again hopefully in 2008 with our deaf tours.

The flight from Auckland to Sydney took about two hours then we changed planes in Sydney for Cairns in Northeast Australia. After a long flight from New Zealand to Sydney then Cairns we finally arrived to Cairns in North Queensland and rented a car to Port Douglas. We had our atlas and some maps but we got lost and ended up in rainforests in the village called Kuranda instead of Port Douglas on the coast. We were glad it happened because we discovered the rainforests and the beautiful waterfalls so we took an unexpected hike for a few hours. We got to see some koalas and kangaroos as well as some beautiful butterflies and birds enroute. We visited the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary and it was a MUST to go there since we saw many colorful butterflies there. You can visit the website at www.australianbutterflies.com. Also in that area is the Kuranda Koala Gardens where we saw some koalas. After a few hours we finally arrived to Port Douglas for the night and it was a lovely town to visit. Port Douglas is the closest town to the Great Barrier Reef by boat where you can see many beautiful fish if you go scuba diving or snorkelling.

Cairns is truly a tropical city. There are many shops as well as restaurants and we had breakfast there before we continued our trip south along the beautiful Bruce Highway to Townsville for the night. We did make some stops on the way including swimming in the warm Pacific Ocean. Townsville was OK but not that impressive as it reminded me of oil refineries in Long Beach, California. We found a nice Greek restaurant and the server told us we must go to Airlie Beach on our way to Brisbane. The next morning Kyle and I left early from our motel and drove all day and arrived to Airlie Beach before nightfall. We actually planned to spend only one night there but because it was so beautiful and full of excitement we decided to stay there for 2 nights instead. There were many college students there on their winter break and we were lucky to find a room at the Best Western Motel in town and close to the beach. Airlie Beach is a small village but there were many boats to take people to Great Barrier Reef to go scubadiving or snorkelling. We heard about Whitehaven Beach in that area that we must take the boat there since it is off mainland Australia on an island. Kyle and I wanted to go snorkelling and visit Whitehaven Beach so we found a fantastic tour boat called Mantaran Tours. (www.mantaraycharters.com) and first visited the Whitehaven Beach which is a National Park. It was the most beautiful beach we have seen on earth as the sand was very white and the water very light crystal-blue that you could see underwater. After arriving the Whitehaven Beach we took a short hike up the hill to have a view of the beautiful island. Kyle and I took many pictures and fell in love with it. Then we went swimming on the beach for more than an hour before the boat took us and the rest of people on the tour to another location about an hour away(Mantaray Bay) to go snorkelling. We were served delicious buffet lunch on the boat after we went swimming at Whitehaven Beach. Whitehaven Beach is part of the famous Whitsundays locations. I truly enjoyed my experience snorkelling as I saw many colorful tropical fish and corals under the water. Kyle loved the sport too. We also saw some big fish coming to our boat after we went back on the boat and the crew threw rocks at them to keep them away. They were not sharks but they were really big.

If you visit Australia, be sure to go to Airlie Beach in Queensland and take the boat to Whitehaven Beach as well

as go snorkelling. You would have a great time!

Kyle and I enjoyed stayed at Airlie Beach for 2 nights then we continued our trip south in our rented car (All the way from Cairns to Brisbane) and stopped for the night in the Bundaberg area. During the day we saw many farmlands growing sugarcanes and some wine vineyards. We even stopped to buy a bottle of wine and drank it at night. The next day we left early and drove to a village called Noosa Heads and spent the night there. It looked like La Jolla in California and we stayed in a lovely townhouse that was close to the village and the beaches. Noosa is a very beautiful village not too far away from Brisbane and go there if you are in Australia. During the day we went hiking at Noosa National Park and saw a live koala up a tree. We also saw beautiful colorful birds in that area. The hike was very pleasant as you could see the beautiul Pacific Ocean from where you were walking. At the end there was a beach with huge waves that some swimmers went swimming and surfing. There were many surfers in that location. After spending two days and one night in Noosa, we continued the drive south and finally arrived to Brisbane. We checked in at the beautiful hotel in downtown Brisbane. We were amazed to see a washing machine in our bathroom but we did not need it since we already washed our clothes in a laundry a few days earlier. Brisbane is a very beautiful city lined with parks and trees. We also visited the Botanic Gardens and saw beautiful plants and trees.

The next morning we went to the airport to return our rented car then flew to Sydney, our last destination in Australia. My former student, Cynthia Polchow Hall came to meet us at the airport and we stayed at her house with her husband David Hall in Sydney. Kyle stayed one night then flew back to the States to return to Washington,DC and I stayed another night in Sydney before returning to Los Angeles. While in Sydney we visited the famous Opera House and enjoyed walking around it. We also saw the Rocks section and saw many markets selling beautiful art work. Downtown Sydney is beautiful and we visited the Oxford area with many shops and restaurants. Cynthia took us to a restaurant called Balkan and it was one of the best I have eaten. It is at 209 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst nsw 2010 in Sydney. Go there if you are in Sydney.

We enjoyed spending about 10 days in Australia and a week in New Zealand. I have plans to go back again since I missed the South Island in New Zealand as well as many parts of Australia especially the South and the West.

I also would like to have a tour of the deaf visiting New Zealand and Australia in 2008 for about a month since I already had a tour with deaf and hard of hearing people visiting Africa and Costa Rica in the past.

Let me know if you would like to join on our organized tour to Australia and New Zealand in 2008.