Australia – New Zealand – Part 1

Australia

The first three months of 2016 were busy and wonderful and so much more. We began the year with a long awaited trip - and a true holiday/vacation - to Australia and New Zealand. We were able to use miles to get us there which lowered the cost of the trip considerably. (Tip – If you are a Delta flyer and participate in their mileage program it is generally always a better to use your Delta miles on their partners and vice versa. Want more information see here and here.)We flew on Korean Air into Brisbane and returned from Auckland, transiting both times through Seoul. (However, back to Delta for a moment, I have heard recently that Delta has made it much more difficult to go to Australia via Asia as they want you to use their flights from Los Angeles - just another FYI.)   

There were so many highlights on this trip, beginning with an amazing view of Brisbane and the Brisbane river as we arrived, but our time staying with Jenny and Remo and their kids about an hour outside of Brisbane started us off on such a good note that we weren’t sure if the rest of the trip would measure up. I have known Jenny for thirty years. She was a year ahead of me at Chefoo and we continued on in school together at Faith Academy where we were also in the same dorm at one point. The last time I saw Jenny and Remo was a cold grey day in Seattle back in the '90s while they were both obtaining PhD’s in Minnesota. We have stayed in touch and valued each other’s voices over the years but I think we were both pleasantly surprised at how great it was to be together in person as adults and have so much to talk about.  And so we hung out and talked a lot, asked a million questions and listened to stories all while sitting  around their dining room table, exploring their property or driving.

The view from the front of Jenny and Remo's place looking down their driveway.

The view from the other side of the house

We didn’t do too many ‘touristy’ things but we did see a lot – one day going inland a little more to Toowoomba where Remo and Jenny were both working. We explored several parks and gardens and had some good coffee and food as well as a gelato donut! Another day we went with Remo as he drove his mother (who was also visiting) back to her home so we got to see a little more of the beauty of this country.

We did go into Brisbane one day and went for an hour long cruise up the Brisbane River to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary which was fabulous and a lot of fun to see so many Australian birds and animals and be able to pet Kangaroos to our heart’s content (something we were not able to do back at Jenny and Remo’s place with the wild wallabies that hopped through their property!)

One of the many fun bridges that cross the Brisbane River - this one has apartments you can live in!