2026 Australia Part 1

We will begin our story with a visit to San Diego, California. It is the first leg of this mega trip that will mostly center on Australia. After a few days in California and a couple of weeks of on-our-own touring in Oz, we will board a cruise ship to see even more. That cruise portion will be described in a separate blog post. Hey, I’ve got an idea. Maybe I’ll call that one, “Part 2.” 

The Lady Adventurer and Dan on Rottnest Island

San Diego

“Why is the floor rumbling?” Dan wonders. It must be some kind of equipment running nearby, probably within the hotel. “Could this be…” Lady Adventurer begins to wonder. Dan finishes the question for her. “An earthquake?” It doesn’t last more than a minute, and it’s not what you would call violent, but it’s definitely happening. Lady A. and Dan have never experienced one, so it’s pretty exciting for them. It wouldn’t have been if it had been stronger or closer. But they’re not unusual here in Southern California, where they are visiting before flying to Australia. Amazingly, within sixty seconds of the quake’s completion, a web search revealed the magnitude and location on a map. What a world.

Earthquake!

San Diego calls itself “America’s Finest City.” And why not? Fine, it is. To begin with, Lady A. and Dan take a long and pleasant walk through Balboa Park. It’s a huge city park with gardens, art, and museums galore. Since it’s Martin Luther King Day, there are a lot of people about, but nothing is truly crowded. The weather is beautiful.

Balboa Park

A short visit to Coronado allows L.A. and D. to experience beaches and views of the city from across the bay.

Cabrillo National Monument also makes for a memorable day visit. Lady A. and Dan had spotted it from Coronado the previous day. The trails are nice, and the views are great. That is, until the Marine Layer moves in and takes over. A marine layer is a cool, moist layer of air and low clouds that forms over ocean waters, changing the local weather in a hurry. Dan and Lady A. lose sight of the distant city skyline and the nearby Naval Air Base as the clouds swiftly move in, darkening and cooling everything. However, they can still hear the military planes and helicopters taking off and landing. It’s all kind of surreal. But the hike is a great one, regardless.

Cabrillo National Monument

Cabrillo National Monument

You can’t swing a cat in California without hitting a winery. Or, you can at least get to one fast. That’s because all available land that is not used for growing grapes is part of some twenty-five-lane freeway. Lady Adventurer likes her wine and her wineries, so she is happy to get to a few. Dan is fine with it as well. Specifically, they visited Callaway Vineyard in Temecula and Bernardo and Cordiano Wineries in Escondido. They were all nice. The Temecula area, they learn, is especially good for wine.

Lady Adventurer and Dan take a nice little hike in Mission Hills Trails Regional Park. It’s another nice day. Even when the weather’s lousy here, it’s fine. Next thing they know, it’s time to pack up and fly to Perth.


Perth

“Before we left home, I did some analysis regarding holes,” states Lady Adventurer. “It appears that if you dig a hole in our backyard down to the Center of the Earth and continue through to the other side, you would,” she begins. “Be both stupid and dead,” adds Dan, helpfully. “Wind up not in China, but somewhere in the Indian Ocean near Perth, Australia,” she continues. This means that Perth is about as far from home as you can get whilst you’re still on Planet Earth. That’s one of the reasons why it’s always fascinated us.

Perth

Perth

Dan and Lady A. don’t feel so fascinated as they touch down in Perth, however. The trip had been long and hard, kind of like Third Grade was for Dan. But now Dan and Lady A. are walking. They’re walking a lot. They see everything being set up for the Australia Day celebration scheduled for later today, the 26th of January. (They don’t stay up or out for the fireworks, but the rumbling, like the California earthquake, does shake them up. There was also a terrorist bomb threat in the city.) 
After a wine tour is canceled, Lady A. and Dan remain in Perth and walk some more. This time, it’s over to the Western Australia Botanical Gardens. What a lovely day and what a wonderful place to walk. And walk. And walk. It’s all lovely, but it tuckers Lady A. out.

“Let’s see. We’re already on vacation, but we’re going to go on a vacation from the vacation,” says Lady Adventurer. “And, we’re already on an island...” ((Editor’s note: she is considering Australia an island, whereas it’s really a continent. I think. Let’s just see where she’s going with this, however.)) “And now, we’re going to another island for this secondary vacation,” she continues. Dan smiles. He knows she is employing “Dan logic,” and that it’s irrefutable. 

The island destination in this case is Rottnest Island. It’s a major attraction when you’re in Perth. If you cross a kangaroo with a rat and add a silly smile on its face, you get a Quokka. There are thousands of these friendly creatures on Rottnest, but there’s also some history and some great scenery. After ferrying over, Dan and Lady A. take a short, clangy train ride, get a tour of a World War II era bunker and battery, and mostly see the sights. It is all quite beautiful, and the quokkas are as friendly as advertised.

Rottnest Island

Quokkas on Rottnest

Adelaide

Adelaide is having a heat wave when Dan and the Lady Adventurer arrive. It’s in the low 40s C, which is well over 100 F. What can you do when it’s this oppressive? Explore wine country, of course.
South Australia is known for its wine, and the Barossa Valley is the most famous region in the state and the country. Lady A. and Dan ride a hop-on, hop-off mini-bus through the area with some fellow oenophiles. The wineries are scenic and offer great wine for tasting. After the mini-bus breaks down, a substitute vehicle brings everyone (all good friends now) back to the city.

Barossa!

Barossa!

Barossa!

<<Excerpt from Dan’s Running Blog>>  Oenophile Dan (he prefers this name to ‘Wino Dan’) sets out on his second run in Adelaide. He’s here mostly to sample the wine, but also to see the sights in South Australia. His first run had its ups and downs. On the upside, running along River Torrens was scenic and interesting. On the downside, the preponderance of bugs detracted from the experience. Dan thinks they’re like the deer flies he deals with back home. But since there are no deer here, maybe they’re kangaroo flies. Yeah, he’ll go with that. But they’re no fun. This time, Oenophile Dan finds a city park that’s away from the river. Maybe there won’t be so many flies here, he thinks. He thinks wrong; they’re bad here too. Otherwise, the run is okay. After arriving, he circumnavigates the park, for a loop of about 1 ¾ miles. Dan decides to do a few more loops to get up to ten miles. Early in his first loop, Dan notices some people who appear to be Aboriginal standing in the park as he runs by. Not much else happening at this early hour. As Dan runs by the second time, there are several more people, all sitting down on a nearby hillside. The third time, one of the people, a lady, calls out to Dan, “Hey, are you a marathon runner?” Dan stops, smiles, and answers, “Yes, I do run marathons, but not today.” She mentions something about running around and around. Dan moves on, thinking, yeah, that’s what I do. The fourth and final time, Dan is thinking of doing only a little more in the park and then getting ready to return to his hotel. The people are gone, but a lady (it may have been the same one who called to him earlier) is out in the street, disrupting traffic. As Dan cautiously approaches, he notices that she is naked from the waist up. She’s yelling something at the drivers, who clearly don’t know what to do. There are multiple lanes of traffic, so this is a dangerous situation. Dan is afraid that something very bad may happen, but he is not sure whether to intervene in some way. Then he sees a man emerging from the park. He’s yelling loudly at the woman and walking over to her. Dan is relieved that he’s apparently rescuing her from the traffic, but then Dan begins to wonder if perhaps she was trying to get away from him for a good reason. Dan hopes everything is okay with the people. He’s relieved further as he returns to his hotel. <<End Excerpt>>

What to do in Adelaide when you’re not drinking wine? That could be a trick question (because there is no such time), but Dan and Lady A. skip the “Cellar Door” festival at the nearby Adelaide Convention Center. Instead, they walk over to visit the Central Market, which is similar to Cleveland’s West Side Market. After dinner, they walk down to the scenic River Torrens, which is quite nice with parks and such. It’s also where Dan does most of his ‘normal’ running.

The second trip to the Barossa Valley is even more fun, if such a thing is possible. There is food, and even more wine to be had, and… Sorry, Dan doesn’t remember much else.

More Barossa!

Hobart

“Remember: drive on the left side! You’re too far over to the left! Watch out for those cars coming at you!!!! And the ones merging!!!!! WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!!!” Lady Adventurer is a great navigator, but she truly lives up to her name when Dan gets behind the wheel to drive on the left for the first time in 15 years. This, on the narrow, winding roads here in Tasmania. On the multiple-lane roads where the lanes are narrow with speeding traffic everywhere. After trying to get into the wrong car doors, and after Dan figures out the controls, turning wipers on when he wanted to use a turn signal. Lady A. and Dan manage to and get to the Customs House Hotel from the Hobart Airport in one piece, after which they pry Dan's fingers from the steering wheel.

Driving an hour and a half to Port Arthur is even more fun. The winding roads would be challenging even if Dan were driving on the correct side, in a normal-sized vehicle rather than a huge SUV. Port Arthur is a historic village on a faraway peninsula on this faraway island. Prisoners, many of them children, were held here, beginning about 200 years ago. The entire village has been preserved as well as possible. The setting is idyllic, but the history is profoundly disturbing. Dan and Lady A. get a harbor cruise and attend talks at some of the buildings.

Port Arthur

Port Arthur

Port Arthur

Mount Wellington is close to Hobart, and it overlooks the town. The way up is steep, narrow, and winding. It’s a stunning location, as the views are about an expansive 360 degrees. On the way back down, Lady A. and Dan stop at Historic Cascade Brewery for an interesting tour, some tasting, and dinner.

Mount Wellington

Mount Wellington

Cascade Brewery

The Tasmanian weather has (so far) been perfect. The people have been super-friendly. And the food, wine, and beer have been excellent. Lady A. and Dan think it’s the best of the best of Australia. And guess what? They aren’t even done yet.

The Cascade Female Factory initially sounded intriguing to Dan. He had been wondering how females were assembled. But it isn’t that. It is a historical area dedicated to the remembrance of the incarceration of girls and women from England. They were forced into labor of different kinds, some in homes away from the prison walls. Many became pregnant, and the children were then raised within the prison walls as well. 70% of them died within a year of birth. It’s all quite sobering and sad.

Dan and Lady A. make their way to the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens. They immensely enjoy the experience. Dan runs in an adjacent park, where he has seen kangaroos, wallabies, and lorikeets.

Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens

Lady Adventurer and Dan are walking through a primeval rainforest, complete with huge tree ferns and trees so tall that they touch the sky. They reach the beautiful, cascading Russell Falls, then continue on from there. This is Mount Field National Park. It’s about as nice as can be. They climb many stairs as they ascend to the top of the falls. (Lady A. isn’t so thrilled with this part.) Then they admire Horseshoe Falls and continue their trek to the Tall Trees Trail. Eucalyptus regnans grow as high as 300 feet. They rank a close second to Coastal Redwoods as the tallest trees in the world. Lady A. and Dan can’t get enough of them as they walk among them on the trail. They return on a quiet park road. Mount Field National Park is about as good as they get.

Mount Field National Park

Russell Falls, Mount Field National Park

Mount Field National Park Eucalyptus Trees

“I could live here,” says Lady A. Dan agrees. They have been enjoying all of Australia, but Tasmania is the best of the best. The weather, food, scenery, and friendly people are unforgettable. The vibe on the Hobart Waterfront is nifty. If only I didn’t have to drive here, thinks Dan. He has managed to get the two of them around and then back to the Hobart airport, but the experience was stressful. Next time, maybe he will just drive on the right and let everyone else get out of his way.

Sydney and Onward

Flying into Sydney

Lady Adventurer and Dan fly to Sydney for a one-night stay. Dan gets a shave, so he will look normal again for the cruise. (Remind him not to try growing a beard ever again.) That’s about all the excitement these two can handle. Not doing anything else in Sydney is not a problem; they’ve been here before. Now, it’s time to embark on the Oceania Riviera. The cruise portion of this story will continue in Part 2. Check it out.

Clean-shaven Dan