Travel Counsellor Kate Harris first holidayed in Australia in 1999 and loved it so much, she’s about to take her fifth trip down under.
I remember so clearly booking my first visit to Australia. I didn’t totally believe that I could ever get there – the other side of the world!
We travelled in May to spend five days in Sydney and a week in Cairns. We arrived in Sydney too early to check into our hotel so we left our cases and went to find some breakfast. I couldn’t believe that people said good morning to us. Blimey! Some of my near neighbours don’t even say good morning to me and I’ve lived in the same street for two years.
We strolled around, turned a corner and there it was …Sydney Opera House. I had tears in my eyes. I could not believe that ‘little old me’ had got myself to the other side of the world. I was the first person in our family ever to visit Australia. I knew then that this would not be my last visit.
I have been back three times. One trip included a dreaded camping expedition. I’m scared of spiders and snakes but it was just terrific. I’ve also taken my son Thomas for five weeks over Christmas and I’m off again this month. So far I have visited Victoria, South Australia, the Northern Territories, been back to New South Wales and Queensland and am soon to visit Western Australia. Each time I visit I try excursions I never thought possible; hot air ballooning, seeing Sydney harbour from a sea plane, climbing Sydney harbour bridge and swimming with dolphins. In Australia the choice of activities is endless.
It is such a vast country. I have learnt that what looks like a short distance on a map can be a three or four hour flight, a nine or ten hour drive. Australia has so many different landscapes: deserts, cities, uninhabited islands - anything your heart desires.
At the end of my trips I’m often asked to pick the highlights and each time it HAS to be the people. They are among the friendliest I have ever met. Australians love stopping and chatting to us Poms. They are not interested in what we have or who we know. They just want to have a good time. Mind you, it can’t be hard to have a good time with a climate that allows you to do so much: surfing and life-saving are on the national school curriculum and children have their swimming lessons down on the beach.
HIGHLIGHTS Sydney with its iconic opera house and harbour bridge, beautiful beaches, a fantastic aquarium, the Blue Mountains, shopping (and so cheap for us too) and more kangaroos and koalas then you ever imagined. Sydney has it all.
WHAT I BROUGHT BACK A total fascination and love of everything Australian.
WOULD I GO BACK ? Not even the 24-hour flight can stop me.
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