G’day all,

Just back from the most fantastic trip to Australia. And why did I go there in winter? My sister decided to marry her Aussie fiancée there, in July, in Victoria! So we flew with Cathay Pacific and sampled both the new and old configuration seating much debated on Flyertalk forums. We stayed in the Mantra on Exhibition in Melbourne and had a great trip up the 88th floor on the Eureka Skytower for the most amazing views across the city. My sister lives next to the famed Queen Victoria Market where much shopping was done and we had a trip out to the Yarra valley, spending lots of money in the Oakridge Winery. The actual wedding was held in a town called Kyneton on the Macedon ranges, and the reception held at another winery (bit of a family theme) in Kyneton Ridge Estate – great food and of course lovely wine . If you are ever down that way I highly recommend Isabella at Kyneton, an unmanned B&B in which you can rent rooms or the whole house, and it really is a home from home.

So despite the relatively mild Aussie winter, we decided it would be a shame to go all that way and not visit tropical North Queensland, so we flew to Cairns after the wedding and stayed in the lovely town of Port Douglas at some great self catering apartments called Regal on Macrossan. A must do is the trip to Kuranda via the Scenic Railway and return via the famous Sky rail – a fabulous trip by steam train up breathtaking gorges and down again over the rainforest in a cable car, amazing! The other highlight of my trip to Queensland was a helicopter ride over the great Barrier Reef and Daintree rainforest, Sky Safaris being my second personal recommendation to you. They fly a small helicopter (max 3 passengers) and a personalised and tailored tour. Or you could do what my insane sister did and jump out of a plane – not my cup of tea, but hey she survived it!

But the most exciting part of all being on the other side of the planet, was checking to make sure that it’s true that water does spiral down the plughole in the opposite direction!… and yes it does