Our Travels to the Land Down Under

Welcome to our blog: "Travels in Oz" - Australia that is!

Australia, the final continent for us to put our feet upon!  (Yes, we have been to Antarctica!) It has an area of 2.97 Million square miles.  For reference, the lower 48 USA states  cover 3.12 Million square miles and Canada 3.85 Million square miles.  The population is approximately 25.2 Million, or about 2/3 that of Canada.

We start out with a tour of the Kimberley with Outback Spirit Tours, starting September 4, 2019.

https://www.outbackspirittours.com.au/tours/exquisite-kimberley-adventure/

This is the map of our 16-day Kimberley Adventure, in largely untraveled areas of Australia.

Our starting point, Broome, is in the Northwest , approximately 2,300 kilometers northeast of Perth along the coastal highway. 

After completing the Kimberley tour, we jump on a plane to Perth to catch another 16 day tour with Outback Spirit in Pilbara and Southwestern Australia, starting October 20.

https://www.outbackspirittours.com.au/tours/western-wildflowers-discovery/

And the map:

When we have completed that tour, we fly to New Zealand to join a 40-day circumnavigation cruise of the Australian continent aboard the MS Maasdam, operated by Holland America.

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/find-a-cruise/P9H40A/M947D.html

She is an oldie but goody!  She was commissioned in 1993, with her latest refurbishment in 2016.  She is a relatively small ship, serving 1258 guests, and is the only Holland America ship outfitted with nimble, inflatable Zodiacs, where, on select port calls, we can go further in depth to explore nature, history and culture. Catch us on the zodiacs!

Here is a map outlining the waypoints of our cruise.

Our cruise ends in Sydney on November 16, and we return to Canada on November 21.  Our present plans include a few extra days in Sydney to, amongst other things, climb the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge!

Before we leave on the Kimberley tour, we have a few days in Broome to acclimate to the weather and the 16 hour time difference!  Broome was once the Pearling Capital of the World, and they still harvest and sell them there.  This could be an expensive stop!

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G'day mates!

SnP
(Sonya 'n' Paul)