Australia Cruise: Melbourne, Sydney, Cairns, Port Douglas, Airlie Beach and Brisbane
Photos taken March 23, 2013 - April 8, 2013

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March 23: We started our trip in Melbourne for a few days before heading to Sydney and getting on our cruise ship. Here we are in Melbourne's Fed Square, checking out a statue of paparazzi dogs.
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Action shot - Jay photographing the paparazzi.
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Melbourne was full of interesting graffiti art - this seen on Flinders Lane
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The most famous street for graffiti is this one - Hosier Lane. Here's an artist in action.
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Kelly posing in front of some of the graffiti
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More graffiti
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Australia's Moving Picture (i.e. movie) Museum. Very cool looking building. We didn't go in, though, because we aren't familiar with many (any?) Australian films.
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Kevin, Dad and Jay catching a breather while walking through a park.
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March 24: We took a bus trip on the Great Ocean Road, throughout the province of Victoria. Here's a beautiful beach.
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Bells Beach - surfers in action!
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Here's a surfer heading down to the beach.
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Bells Beach is the home of the world's longest-running surfing competition - the Ripcurl Pro.
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Another beach along the Great Ocean Road
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Great Ocean Road
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I'm always looking for an opportunity to wander along the rocks.
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We stopped along the side of the road to visit these friendly parrots. That's our tour guide feeding the parrots
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Mom's turn to hold a parrot!
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We also stopped to see some Koala's in the wild! They sleep - a LOT. Something like 90% of their life. More about Koala's later.
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Going on a rainforest walk.
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Victoria, Australia is home to giant Mountain Ash trees, whose heights rival those of the giant Sequoias in California.
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Some of the Twelve Apostles - a collection of limestone stacks along a cliff / shoreline. Very cool.
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The Twelve Apostles
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We had very good weather all day today except for the 45 minutes spent here -- winds were gusting the the skies were spitting on us the whole time.
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The Loch Ard Gorge - a very cool beach just a few minutes from the Twelve Apostles, that is much less trafficked. For every 10 buses at the Twelve Apostles, this place only had one or two!
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The weather cleared up quite nicely for us here.
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Still at the Loch Ard Gorge - this is known as the London Bridge. The bridge broke in the early 2000s -- a couple visitors were stranded for a few hours before being rescued via helicopter.
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March 25: visiting Melbourne's Cricket Grounds. Giant field.
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A pond in Melbourne's botanical gardens.
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Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance, a memorial to Australians who served in World War 1.
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View atop the memorial
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Atop the memorial
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Melbourne's National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) - very clever art installation with a bodyless band.
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Fun futuristic art exhibit in the NGV
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Fun futuristic art exhibit in the NGV
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Looking out the windows from Melbourne's Airport -- a fire! We were told this was a controlled bush fire. We're on our way to Sydney.
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March 26: Our posh three-bedroom apartment in Sydney, on the 68th floor of a skyscraper! Kevin did a great job finding this place, which was a better deal than average individual hotel rooms.
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View from our apartment windows
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View from our apartment windows
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Our kitchen
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Our dining room and breakfast room
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The master bedroom
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Walking through a mall, a pretty domed ceiling with stained glass windows.
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St. Mary's Cathedral
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A public art installation: empty bird cages symbolizing the birds that were forced to migrate with the growth of Sydney.
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Our first view of Sydney's Opera House!
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Sydney's Government House - the official residence of the New South Wales governor. Not too shabby!
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Weird flowers in Syndey's botanical gardens
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Sydney's botanical gardens
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Another flower in Syndey's botanical gardens
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Kelly and Mom front the front of St. Mary's Cathedral
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The cafes and restaurants are buzzing with activity in front of the opera house.
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Dressed up for the opera - we're heading to see Orpheus in the Underworld - a satirical opera.
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March 27: after a two-hour train ride, we're off to go hiking in the Blue Mountains. Seen here, a rock formation known as The Three Sisters
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Kyleen and Dad Klocke pausing for a photo!
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Walking down some steps - we walked down more than 900 steps to get to the valley. Luckily, we didn't have to walk back up!
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Walking along the valley.
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Check out the shirt -- we were amused. Yes, we're immature!
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I was told I'd be paid handsomely to ride on this horse. Where's my money?
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View from the valley
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View from the valley
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Walking by some running water -- can't really call this a "waterfall"!
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Recovering in the pool and hot tub. Conveniently located on the 61st floor ;).
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A couple more shots of our apartment - this was our bedroom.
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And here's the family room.
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And one more view - this time a nighttime view.
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March 28: heading on a 4 mile coastal walk visiting some of Sydney's beaches. We're starting off at Bondi Beach, which has some more fun graffiti.
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Some people are taking advantage of the rough surf, standing on the outer edge of the cleverly-placed seawater lap pool.
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Beautiful coast
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I can't pass up an opportunity to feed the birds! They're waiting patiently...
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...until I toss food in the air, and pandemonium ensues! (No birds or Jays were injured in the filming of this production.)
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Passing by some fishing boats.
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Back to the Opera House. But now, we're aboard our Celebrity Solstice cruise ship, which is conveniently docked directly in front of it. This is the view from our room's balcony!
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And we're off -- leaving Sydney
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Jay relaxing as we pass by the opera house
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March 29 - Formal Night 1 - Dad and Mom
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Kevin and Kyleen all dressed up for formal night
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Jay and Kelly all dressed up for formal night
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Yummmmm - one of my favorite appetizers - beef carpaccio
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March 30 - sailing by many forested islands, heading up the Eastern Australian Coast. Reminded us of the Chilean Fjords.
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March 31 - Kuranda. We took a bus from Cairns, and we're riding the skyrail over a Queensland rainforest.
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Riding on the skyrail
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Riding on the skyrail
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Riding over the barron gorge waterfall
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Going on a rainforest walk in Kuranda.
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Scenic train - we'll ride this back to Cairns.
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Walking along a muddy river.
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Walking through the rainforest
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See that alligator?! (just kidding.)
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Kevin and Kyleen all aborrd!
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Aboard the train, heading around the bend.
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April 1 - Port Douglas: Kevin and Kelly enjoying the sun on the way out to the Great Barrier Reef.
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We took a boat out to sea for two hours out to the reef, where we snorkeled from three different points; no land in sight.
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Wearing our stinger suits to protect us from the rare box jellyfish, reading to jump in!
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Great Barrier Reef - underwater photos (courtesy of Kyleen's iPhone and her - thanks Kyleen!)
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Great Barrier Reef - underwater photos
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Great Barrier Reef - underwater photos
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Kevin gives snorkeling two thumbs up!
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Kyleen diving underwater.
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Great Barrier Reef - underwater photos
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Great Barrier Reef - underwater photos
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Great Barrier Reef - underwater photos -- Giant Clam! We saw clams that were 5 feet logn.
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Dad, Mom and Kevin say hello
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Jay and Kelly looking hot as usual ;).
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More underwater photos - borrowed from the Internets - they do a better job at capturing what we saw.
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More underwater photos - borrowed from the Internets - this is a typical view when you dump your head under the water. See the giant clam?!
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More underwater photos - borrowed from the Internets.
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More underwater photos - borrowed from the Internet -- we saw lots of schools of fish, like this.
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More underwater photos - borrowed from the Internets - the fish were incredibly colorful
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More underwater photos - borrowed from the Internets - a parrot fish, that banged its beak on the coral to break it up and eat it.
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More underwater photos - borrowed from the Internets - a giant clam. We were amazed by the size of these.
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More underwater photos - borrowed from the Internets - another giant clam
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More underwater photos - borrowed from the Internets - more fish that we saw
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More underwater photos - borrowed from the Internets - more fish that we saw
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Snorkeling over, heading back to shore.
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Passing by our cruise ship, the Celebrity Solstice.
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Passing by our cruise ship, the Celebrity Solstice.
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April 2: cruising by Willis Island. That's Willis Island, a lonely isle housing an Australian weather station with four researchers. We "stopped" by here because by some technicality it counted as a non-Australian port, enabling the cruise ship to have the duty free shops open during the trip.
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Pretty sunset
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April 3: Airlie Beach. Today, we're riding on a high speed raft out to Whitehaven Beach for more snorkeling and some beach time.
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Kelly and Jay showing off our stinger suits!
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More of Kyleen's snorkeling photos
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More of Kyleen's snorkeling photos - another giant clam!
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More of Kyleen's snorkeling photos
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More of Kyleen's snorkeling photos
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More of Kyleen's snorkeling photos
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More of borrowed internet photos - we saw some Finding Nemo fish here!
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More of borrowed internet photos - Kelly saw a sting ray like this here. We were all jealous, but she swam away from it as fast as she could.
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Snorkeling near Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsundays
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Kelly snorkeling. Most everyone used noodles, which were helpful in keeping us afloat without having to dog paddle and risk kicking/damaging the coral.
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Back to the raft.
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That was our Ocean Rafting semi-rigid inflatable raft. 500 horsepower. Formerly a rescue raft. They were fun to ride on!
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Walking on Whitehaven Beach
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Jay and Kelly at Whitehaven Beach
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Whitehaven Beach - the sand was "99% pure silica". It was so fine you could clean your jewelry. The sand is never hot to your feet. The dry sand also squeaks as you walk on it.
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Whitehaven Beach
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Whitehaven Beach
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Mom and Kelly at Whitehaven Beach
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Who Dey!
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Dad is Out for Blood. Sadly, no sharks, or vampires, seen.
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Riding on our raft
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Beautiful Scenic view from atop Hill Inlet, looking down on Whitehaven Beach
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Beautiful Scenic view from atop Hill Inlet, looking down on Whitehaven Beach
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Beautiful Scenic view from atop Hill Inlet, looking down on Whitehaven Beach
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Beautiful Scenic view from atop Hill Inlet, looking down on Whitehaven Beach
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April 4: Sea Day. Another sunset from the ship.
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April 5: Brisbane. We visited the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, which housed more than 100 koalas!
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Koalas
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Family photos with our new pet.
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All the girls get to hold a koala! (Yes, we had to pay for the privilege.)
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Kyleen's turn.
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The sanctuary also has a big pasture with dozens of Kangaroos that you could freely pet and feed. They were friendly and had very soft fur.
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Me and my new friend, Eddie the Emu. (I just named him.) We wandered around together for a few minutes.
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Kelly feeding a Kangaroo kid.
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Lots of kangaroos in the "resting zone"
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We had to roam away from the main pasture to find these bigger kangaroos.
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They were timid at first, but mom won them over!
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Happy kangaroo!
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Feeding frenzy.
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Back to the koalas.
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Koalas.
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This iguana was just hanging out in some landscaping. A few minutes earlier, he was on the sidewalk. I got a big laugh when some old lady walked by and shrieked in surprise/terror at him.
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Who knows what this is? A....tasmanian devil! What a letdown - he doesn't even look alive. No fear, he was.
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Turtles lined up small to big.
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Giant spider! We saw several of these 5-inch-diameter spiders during our walks in the rainforests.
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Downtown Brisbane. Their river looks like ours!
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Brisbane's ferris wheel. We did take a ride on it, courtesy of a $5/per person Australian groupon deal!
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Weird tree in a Brisbane park.
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Back on the ship, at the theater. They had a cirque-style show that was very impressive!
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Formal night number 2.
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Formal night number 2.
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Formal night number 2.
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Formal night number 2.
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April 7 - last day of the trip. Back in Sydney. Our ship was docked in an amazing spot, so close to the city! Although, for non-cruise-tourists, it fairly ruined the view of the opera house, which is just off the left edge of this photograph. To our right of the cruise ship is a 5-story viewing platform that is completely dwarfed by the ship.
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Revisiting Sydney's Opera House
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On a ferry, passing by the Opera House
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On a ferry, passing by the Opera House
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On a ferry in Sydney's harbor
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Sydney's Harbor Bridge
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Sydney at dusk
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The Harbor Bridge at dusk
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Good night to the Opera House, from our ship's balcony.
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Encore presentation of a couple of the cirque events.
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April 8: sunrise from our ship -- time to debark and travel home for 25 hours.
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