Australia - 2025

Wednesday - October 8

Awake at 6:30. We finish up packing, get all the dogs food and stuff, give the kitty a kiss, and head out for Tara's. It's raining. 

Even though Cher is in the back with the dogs, Floki pukes in his seat. The directions take us all through North Philly, but we get to Tara's by 9:45. The doggies are excited but it's sad to leave them as usual. 

It's about 30 minutes to the Philadelphia Airport, over the Walt Whitman Bridge and off 95 South. We park in lot D, accepting that it's gonna cost a fortune, but it's still easier than dealing with long term parking and shuttles. 

There's a little line for the TSA Precheck. I am given a random screening, which worries me because my bags are packed so tightly. But all they did was wipe my phone and let me on my way. So we get to our gate D9 with 90 minutes before boarding. 

We are leaving on United flight U511, to Chicago O’Hare Airport, leaving at 1:05 pm, landing at 2:25 pm (2:15 in air with the 1 hour time change). 

Right before we board, I get an email from K9 Resorts, reminding us to get all the dogs vaccinations in place. I emailed them to confirm that they had everything they need. They said the dogs didn't have canine influenza - apparently they require it but the Chalfont location doesn't. So as we're boarding I'm scrambling to figure out if Tara can get them shots or if we need to cancel the boarding at the place near them, and figure out how to get them back and forth to Chalfont. So dumb that I didn't check. Ugh. 

We board and take our seats in business class - seats 3A and 3B.

Flight to Chicago is fine. Comfy seats, nice weather, we choose snacks from a tray. Cher is reading “A Million Little Pieces”, by James Frey and I am catching up on some podcasts. 

We land in Chicago and only have to wait 30 minutes or so to board United flight UA2124 to Los Angeles. We are in seats 2A and 2B this time. It's a 4 hour flight this time. 

The flight to LA was nice. They serve us dinner - manicotti for Cher, and grilled chicken with broccolini and mashed potatoes for me. Green salad, a roll, and a chocolate/hazelnut banana pudding. Good for airplanes. 

Cher watches “The Second Best Night Of Your Life”, a stand-up special by Brett Goldstein (the guy who plays Roy Kent on Ted Lasso). I watch a bunch of different YouTube videos I've saved up. 

We get off the plane around 6:30, and walk to the Lyft pick up area. After a short shuttle ride we take a 10-minute ride to The Good Pizza restaurant and meet Candy and Paul. We have a quick dinner - eggplant parm for Cher, chicken parm for me - and catch up with them about their recent 3 ½ week trip to Southern Italy. Sounded very nice. The food is good. 

We can't stay long because we have to get back and go through security again. We both think it's odd that they didn't offer to pick us up or drop us back off at the airport since it was so close. 

But it doesn't take long to get the Lyft back and there's basically no line so we move through very quickly. Since we have about 80 minutes we go to the United Polaris lounge to wait and get cleaned up a little. 

Our final, longest flight is UA839, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, from LAX to Sydney, leaving at 10:55 pm. We are in Polaris first class, seats 3F and 3L. The scheduled flight time is 14:20. Cher’s seat is on the window and mine is next to hers in the middle of the plane. The pod is nice enough but they should have the screen you can pull out to close the pod from the aisle. 

We pass on dinner, and after the flight takes off, pop our ambien and hope for a good-ish sleep. 

Total Steps: 6,850

Total Miles: 3.50

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9 

We lose this day in flight over the Pacific Ocean. Happy 16th Anniversary! Cher surprises me with a very nice anniversary card in the middle of the flight to Sydney. 

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10

We land at Sydney International Airport at 8:05 am. A long 15 hour flight overnight. Cher got a good amount of sleep. I slept about 6 hours but then was up the rest of the time. I watched Dig XX! Don't know what Cher did. 

They did give us some breakfast in the am - I had a chocolate bread pudding  Cher has eggs. It was fine. 

Getting through border security was fine. Cher had trouble with her E-passport so it took a few tries for it to register but it worked. Then we forgot to list the address of the hotel on our immigration intake form, so we had to go to a special line - but it was actually quicker that way. The whole process took like 3 minutes. 

The weather is perfect - 80 degrees and sunny. 

We grab a taxi and get a ride to Ovolo Wooloomooloo. We ask the driver for any tips and he says “don't fight”. I think he was talking about fighting amongst ourselves, but its an odd thing to say! 

The hotel is in the Woolloomooloo district, on the Woolloomooloo Wharf. It's on a wharf in what looks like an old factory building.

Woolloomooloo (/ˌwʊləməˈluː/ wuul-ə-mə-LOO) is a harbourside, inner-city eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1.5 kilometres east of the central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney. It is in a low-lying, former docklands area at the head of Woolloomooloo Bay, on Sydney Harbour. The Domain sits to the west, the locality of East Sydney is near the south-west corner of the suburb and the locality of Kings Cross is near the south-east corner. Potts Point is immediately to the east.

Woolloomooloo was originally a working-class district of Sydney and has only recently changed with gentrification of the inner city areas of Sydney. The redevelopment of the waterfront, particularly the construction of the housing development on the Finger Wharf, has caused major change.

The current spelling of "Woolloomooloo" is derived from the name of the first homestead in the area, Wolloomooloo House, built by the first landowner John Palmer. There is debate as to how Palmer came up with the name with different Aboriginal words being suggested. Anthropologist J.D. McCarthy wrote in 'NSW Aboriginal Places Names', in 1946, that Woolloomooloo could be derived from either Wallamullah, meaning place of plenty or Wallabahmullah, meaning a young black kangaroo.

The room is big and in decent shape - a little older and showing it. Artsy modern decor, I'd say. The bathroom is huge. But when you take a shower the water runs under the door and onto the main floor. 

After getting cleaned up, we find a small cafe for some breakfast. Cafe La Bomba is a 15 minute walk to the south of our hotel. The area is up on a hill in the Potts Point area. It's a beautiful day to sit outside and get some good food. There's a little spaniel dog at the table next to us who comes up and licks our hands. Cher has a toast with broccolini, cheese, and a poached egg. I have a chicken empanada, and we share sweet pancakes which were very good. 

We walk back to the hotel to clean up briefly, and we realize we could have just climbed these steps that went up the hill right near the hotel and saved us some walking time. 

Our hotel is near the Royal Botanical Gardens, and the Sydney Opera House, so we walk over there. The Gardens are nice and there are a lot of Australian White Ibis (black and white bird with long pointed beak) and Sulphur Crested Cockatoos in the park. 

The opera house is bigger than I expected. It's also got a lot more texture and design on the roofs than I expected. It's a pretty spot on the harbor and near the Sydney Harbour Bridge. 

We walk to the other side of the harbor where Mrs. Macquaries Chair. 

Mrs Macquarie's Chair is a Sydney landmark. The chair was carved out of a sandstone rock ledge by convicts in 1810. Specially commissioned by Governor Macquarie for his wife Elizabeth who was known to love the area this is one of the best vantage points to view the sights of Sydney Harbour. 

Then we walk back along the water towards our Hotel, past St. Mary's Cathedral, and into the CBD.

The Cathedral Church and Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Mother of God, Help of Christians, Patroness of Australia, locally known as Saint Mary's Cathedral, is a Catholic basilica and the seat of the Archdiocese of Sydney. The cathedral is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the venerated title of “Our Lady, Help of Christians" and Patroness of Australia. 

Cher finds a random bar (Ryan's) with nice seating in a little open food district, and we get some refreshments. I have a Great Northern Super Crisp. It's ok at best. Cher gets a Strangelove Lo Cal Soda, lime and jalapeño flavored. She really likes it. 

We're getting tired but we don't want to go to bed so early (it's only about 2 pm), so we walk over to The Rocks district - it's right across the harbor from the Opera House. It's a small series of streets with small shops and restaurants, and on the weekend vendors come and set up little tents for a street market.

There's a Mexican restaurant - El Camino Cantina - where we can get a drink and a really early dinner. Cher gets a passionfruit mocktail that is very tasty but way too sweet for her. I get a mango margarita, which would be better if it were a daiquiri. It works to wash down the stale tortilla chips. Cher gets a single cauliflower taco, and I for some reason get pork fajitas. I'm not even hungry. They are not worth the effort. 

We walk back to the hotel, through the Botanical Gardens again. We see a lot of Ibis nesting in the palm trees, and even see the head of a little chick pop out. Of course we see our Baba plant. 

We get back to the hotel room by 4:30. After a little problem with the room key, we get in the room and into bed by 5:15 or so.

Total Steps: 21,281

Total Miles: 10.17

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11

We mostly sleep great. Cher is up around midnight for a while but she takes a gummy  and manages to sleep through the rest of the night. I wake up on and off but sleep most of the night. We ultimately wake up at 6:15 am, which is perfect for the day we have planned. 

We grab a cab right outside our hotel and take a 15 minute ride to North Bondi (“BON-dye”). Our cab driver is chatty but nice. He tells us how beautiful Vietnam is. He also tells us there's a spot where lots of people commit suicide. 

Sydney is very hilly. Not what I expected. But there are lots of trees and different building styles. It's very pretty as you go through the different neighborhoods, and all along the water. It reminds me of LA mixed with SF. As we see different areas we see more of the architecture - a lot of the brownstones have ornate design almost like new Orleans (it's probably some type of Victorian design). 

Breakfast is at Speedo’s Cafe. The No. 1 Most Instagrammable Cafe in the World. It's on the hill overlooking Bondi Beach which is a beautiful semi-circle beach. There are a fair amount of people in the water and lots of surfers. 

Cher orders a chili eggs thing, with homemade jalapeño sauce, and an almond milk cappuccino. I get scrambled eggs on Turkish toast, and we split Japanese French Toast, which is basically French toast with salted caramel.

We sit next to an older man named William, who must be very wealthy. He tells us that he's a dual Australian/Canadian citizen, who goes back and forth between Sydney and Vancouver. He's involved in some huge infrastructure project where he's building an island or something ridiculous. Some other old guy comes and says hello to him and William said hes one of the richest men in Australia. 

We head off on the Bondi-Coogee Coastal Trail, a cliff wall walk of 6K/4M along the coast. It's passes a number of little beaches and towns some with small rock beaches and some more open. There are lots of pretty people in great shape. The total walk is 12,437 steps. 

It ends in Coogee, which has a larger beach and more stuff in the town. We got a drink at the Coogee Pavilion, apparently something famous. Cher has one of those Strangelove low calorie sodas (passionfruit this time). I have a Balter XPA. It's won a lot of Australian beer awards. It's ok. 

We get an Uber back to the hotel to freshen up, and then walk back towards the Opera House. There are a bunch of piers for the different Sydney Ferrys, and we show up just in time to take the ferry to Manly. It's about a 20 minute ride in the harbor, and we pass some really nice houses. 

Getting off at Manly you walk a few blocks to a huge beach. It's very wide but there's not a lot of beach between the street and the water. There are a lot of people, and tons of young people. There are a lot of little food places and shots in the main area.

We stop at Banh Mi Plenty and get a tofu banh MI and green juice for Cher, a crispy chicken banh Mi and mango smoothie for me. Cher’s is ok but mine is bad - even the chicken isn't great. 

We wander around the main area by the beach for a little while but there's not much there. So we grab the fast ferry back to Sydney, walk back to the hotel to get cleaned up and ready for an early dinner. 

We take a cab to Young’s Palace, a highly rated chinese restaurant in the Potts Point section of town. It's a very short cab ride but it would have been a walk uphill the whole way. We don't have reservations, but they seat us anyway as long as we can be done in 75 minutes. No problem for us, since we're exhausted. 

The food is tasty. Cher has a tofu thing in a spicy sauce. I have Kung Pao chicken which is fine. Cher has a LKR Sour (amaretto, Hawthorn berries liquor, date, rice vinegar, citrus), which taste exactly like an amaretto sour, and I have a Mango Pancake - mango, vodka, and “citrus”. It tastes like a mix of mango and a creamsickle. It's odd but good. 

The walk back to the hotel is probably quicker than the car ride was but it's downhill so that helps. 

Cher gets ready for bed, and I leave to back to Mrs. Macquarie’s chair, for a night photo of the bridge and Opera House. It's a beautiful night. 

On the way back I notice a homeless women with a dog sleeping near the hotel, so I stop at the gas station across the street and buy her a bottle of water and box of dog food packs. 

Total Steps: 30,331 (25,725 with Cher).

Total Miles: 14.76

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12

In the middle of the night we notice that the door between our room and the room next door isn't locked. We also hear someone jostling a door but maybe it was just someone at the wrong room.

We also notice our room is falling apart. The handle to the bathroom door is loose so we can't really close the door. This morning we noticed the fridge has stopped running. And there's a dead water bug in our shower. Did I mention how the shower door doesn't really prevent the water from getting out and getting the rest of the bathroom all wet? We use the robe to block the gap and soak up the water. 

But were up at 6:30. We get cleaned up and find a place for breakfast in the Surry Hills area. We decide to walk to Sticky Fingers. It's about 15 minutes and only mildly up hills. The Woolloomooloo area is ok - a little beat up. The Surry Hills area is more built up with shops and apartments.

I order a sticky egg bun (fried egg on a roll). Cher orders a “smashy smashy” (avocado toast with a poached egg). We share a ricotta pancake with butterscotch drizzle. She gets an almond milk cappuccino, and I get freshly squeezed apple juice which is good (it's squeezed granny Smith type but not overly sour) and then an orange juice. The food is good but I'm not as into the pancake as Cher is. It's more like a pastry

We walk to Single O Coffee shop to buy Tara and Madeline coffee. 

We also pass through Thai town and near Chinatown. 

Head to the Chinese Garden of Friendship. It's really pretty. We see lots of monitor lizards, orange breasted parrots, and cool Penghi trees (like Bonsai).

We find our birth year animals - 

Cher is the Tiger. 

The Tiger is known as the king of all beasts in China. The zodiac sign Tiger is a symbol of strength, exorcising evils, and braveness. Many Chinese kids wear hats or shoes with a tiger image for good luck.

People born in the year of the Tiger usually have a down-to-earth personality and down-to-earth work ethic. With great confidence and indomitable fortitude, they can be competent leaders.

I am the Ox. 

The Ox is the second animal in the Chinese zodiac cycle. It represents diligence, perseverance, honesty, down-to-earth persistence, and hard work. It is often associated with characteristics such as reliability, stability, and patience.

The ox represents a strong work ethic and the ability to endure challenges. Chinese folklore often portrays the ox as an indispensable helper in agricultural labor. The Chinese New Year celebrations often feature the ox as a symbol of good fortune and agricultural abundance. This association has led to the ox being regarded as a symbol of prosperity, productivity, and abundance

The Garden is located in the Darling Harbor area. A large urban park with nice playgrounds, lots of Asian food places. We stop and get gelato: Espresso and Hazelnut for Cher, vanilla and salted caramel for me. It was very yummy. 

Walk toward the pier and the Maritime Museum, the circle back through the Pyrmont area. We stop for some water and then walk to Wentworth Park. It's near the Sydney Fish Market. We've walked 15,931 steps already and it's 12:30. So we grab an Uber and head back to the hotel. 

Fun. 

We take an Uber to the Taronga Zoo. It's a nice zoo, and we see a lot of stuff. But a lot of the stuff we'd want to see isn't visible (like a cassowary). 

After the zoo we went to Bathers Pavilion, which is along the beach in Mosman. There are lots of pretty houses in this area. It's another pretty semi-circular beach. We are sitting right at the window watching the beach (which is basically empty because the wind is so strong and the temperature has dropped.

Cher gets a goat cheese salad with walnuts, a Margherita pizza. She had a mixed drink with wine and sherry. It's tasty but strong. It has a big honeycomb stuck to it. I get a chorizo and pepperoni pizza, with a side salad, and a Burleigh Brewing Japan Black Lager. They keep bringing us more forks and utensils. The food is fine. 

We head back to the hotel, and even though we've told them twice about the unlocked adjoining door in our room, the broken door handle on our bathroom door, and the warm fridge, they are still not fixed. Also Cher noticed that the hand lotion container is empty, and they never refilled it. It's not a big deal - we dont need it - but to see if they would fill it, we literally pulled the top of the dispenser off so it was really obvious. They left it that way. Not the greatest room or service. 

It's only 5:30 but Cher is tired, so we just chill in the room for a little while before going to bed. 

Total steps: 22,389

Total miles: 10.71

MONDAY, OCTOBER 13

We hit the sack around 7 pm and get a fitful night's sleep. Ultimately we get up at 6 am, but we are awake a few times during the night. First there's like a brief fire-alarm or something in the room which rang for 2 seconds and then never rang again. That woke Cher up and she couldn't sleep for a while. Ultimately we made it through the night. 

Today we're picking up a car at Hertz, and driving to the Featherdale Wildlife Reserve. 

We grab some croissants, juices, and coffee at the L’expresso House, a small cafe a block from the hotel. The croissants look better than they taste but the juices are good. 

We walk 10 minutes to the Hertz rental car office on Williams Street. We are there right as the doors open, but the staff is very friendly and doesn't hold our time zone based excitement against us. We had reserved a small car but they gave us a white Subaru Crosstrek in very good condition. 

We are leaving the central part of Sydney to drive west to the Blue Mountains. I am careful to drive on the left, and Cher is happy to remind me to do so. Once you get the hang of it it's fine, but I think the oddest part is staying to the right in the lane. I find myself drifting closer to the left lanes. 

About 30 minutes in we pull off the M4, to stop at Industrial Harvest. Right in the middle of an industrial park off the highway. Cher gets a “flat white” (basically a latte) and I get orange juice. Cher gets scrambled eggs on toast, I get a bacon and egg on a roll with hash browns. It's not the best stuff but it's fine. The marketing made it seem better than it was - a glorified rest stop eatery.

We drive about an hour to the Blue Mountains to Scenic World. There's a scenic railway cart (steepest in the world), a Scenic Skyway, and a Scenic Cableway (which is closed). The rides are neat. There are different hikes you can do around area and we do a few shorts ones. We see some great views (of some plateau that is bigger than Uluru apparently), a pair of Crimson Rosellas (red and blue parrots), a nice falls, and the Three Sisters rock formations. 

We head to the small town of Katoomba for lunch at Bowery. It's very pretty…must be an older meeting house or something. A great wooden ceiling and beautiful stained glass over the bar area. I order Butterscotch French Toast, and Cher orders. I try a Katoomba Brewing Red IPA and Cher gets a Katoomba St. Cockatoo (Archie Rose white cane rum, pineapple, coconut, lime, & mint). Cher’s drink comes in a ceramic cockatoo cup. I get a butterscotch French toast with berry compote, pistachios, mixed berries, and ice cream. It's very good but needs more butterscotch. Cher gets a plant based taco trio - 3 tacos, 1 with jackfruit BBQ, 1 with fried banana blossom, and 1 with beans. She said it was maybe the best meal she's had yet. 

We drive to the Featherdale Wildlife Reserve. We see tons of stuff - dingoes, cassowaries, koalas, etc. Very nice place. 

We drive back to Sydney to drop off the rental car, and go back to the hotel to pre-pack. 

Off to Bar Luca for dinner because I'm in the mood for a hamburger. Cher gets a veggie burger, poutine, and a vanilla malt shake. I get a burger, fries, and a salted caramel shake with kahlua. The shakes are good but not really cold. The burgers are good. 

We walk back to the hotel and give our leftover fries to the homeless woman with the dog near our hotel. 

Total steps: 15,544

Total miles: 7.56. 

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14

Wake up at 4:30. Clean up and find a place for early breakfast. The first place we walk to is closed, but then we find The Walrus. Cher gets a cappuccino, and a green juice. I get an Orange, pineapple, apple juice mix. It's tasty. 

Cher orders a Walrus Omlette - truffled mushrooms, double brie cheese, chimichurri on grilled sourdough. 

I get a Walrus Big Breakfast - scrambled eggs, toast, hash brown, bacon, mushroom, sausage, and tomato. And we share a French toast with “fairy floss” (cotton candy) on top. The food is good but there's a lot, so we take the leftovers and give them to some homeless folks. 

We wander back to the Hotel, thru Hyde Park, past the St. Mary's Cathedral, and marvel one more time at the huge trees all around the city. 

We grab our bags and check out. I don't bother to lodge our (relatively minor) complaints. 

As usual there are taxis waiting outside the hotel, so we get one of the 13Taxis in the city. The ride to the airport is about 20 minutes, and most of it is through one of the many tunnels that cross under the city. 

We go quickly through security - they pull both of my bags aside but they just look at them closer on the screen. They don't open them up which is nice. 

We have about 80 minutes before we board so we just sit and get some coffee and drinks before we board. There's a Krispy Kreme and I get a cinnamon ring and some salted caramel thing. There's also a Mad Mex place. 

We are on Jet Star flight JQ 952 to Cairns. The plane is an Airbus A320-200 and we are sitting in seats 6B and 6A. We go to the gate 10 minutes before boarding, and find that most of the plane is boarding in front of us. And they pull our bags aside and they are both overweight. So they check our luggage bags and charge us for the overage - $310AU. The flight is maybe ⅔ full so we would have been able to make it work space if we had too. There is no one else in our row. Oh well now we know. 

The flight is fine. We apparently each get a $15 voucher toward food. Cher gets a coke zero, and I get a Stone and Wood Pacific Ale, a ginger ale, and some olives for Cher. The beer is fine. 

After we land the skies open up and it's pouring at the Cairns Airport. We get our luggage (which comes out very quick) and our Toyota RAV4 from Hertz. The drive to Port Douglas is about an hour, along the Captain Cook Highway. but the first 80% of it is in the pouring rain. There's also a lot of construction along the road so it's slow going. But once it clears up closer to Port Douglas you can see a lot of beautiful small beaches and the Coral Sea. 

Niramaya Resort is a series of villas near Port Douglas. They are doing construction on the main entrance so we have to use the day spa area for reception. It's not on the sea but the villa is huge. It's a small apartment with a separate bedroom, full kitchen, multiple outdoor spaces (including a small pool), a garage, a washer and dryer, a large bathroom with a jet tub, and a 2nd water closet. It's one of the nicer places we've ever stayed. Unfortunately the forecast is for rain basically the next 3 days straight, and we are only here for 2. It's still really humid though. 

We unload our bags and find a place to eat. Port Douglas is a beach town near Four Mile Beach. I realize that I've forgotten my flip flops, so we stop at a small surf shop in town called Blue Dog. It's actually really nice and I have to stop myself from shopping for clothes I don't need and don't have room for in the luggage. 

Dinner at The Mexican. We share chips and guac (warm totopos - which are like tortilla chips but made of corn). I get Yucatan Chicken (grilled chicken, mango salsa, and cremosa de habeñero) tacos, and carne asada (sirloin, sizzling onion, chili garlic & sesame, with flour tortillas). The chicken was good but I was afraid it wasn't enough food, and the carne asada took forever to come out and it wasn't worth the wait. 

Cher gets black bean “divorciados” tacos (shaved kale, 1 Verde y 1 Roja, pepitas), and pickled veggie sides (peppers, onions, some radish thing we think). She says it was good but not as good as the tacos from Bowery yesterday. She drinks a classic Margherita, and I have an Aether Mexican Lager which was decent. 

We get back to the room and Cher does some laundry. We get ready for our early morning pickup for our snorkeling trip. The weather looks iffy. We are in bed by 7:30.

Total Steps: 11,280

Total Miles: 5.49

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15

I sleep pretty good, and we wake up by 4:30. The shuttle to take us to the snorkeling tour is at 7 am, so we have time to get cleaned up, throw in a load of laundry, and head to town for something to eat. 

At 5:45 am we head to Grant Street Kitchen in town so we can be there when it opens at 6. It's actually a nice morning - mostly cloudy with a little drizzle but not bad at all. We each get an egg sandwich.Cher gets hers without bacon but with avocado. They put bacon on it anyway. I get bacon, egg, and BBQ. We also get a banana bread, a chocolate cookie (ok) and a cinnamon cronut (ok). The sandwiches are really good. 

We are taking a Sailaway tour, and they have a a shuttle pick us up at 7. It's a quick trip to the dock where the catamaran is. They check us in but we still have 30 minutes or so before we get on the boat. Their office is on a little marina with other operators and shops and restaurants, but it's so early that basically nothing's open. There is one place that has some cheap sunglasses and Cher wanted a new pair anyway. 

There are about 65 guests on the tour but it's a big enough boat that there's room to sit all over. The weather is actually really perfect - clouds in the sky but sunshine too. 

It takes 2 hours to get to Mackay Reef. It's a long way to go but I did choose this one specifically because there would be fewer tours out that far. Ultimately we only see one other small speedboat in the area so we are basically alone. 

On the way we talk to Mark, a German who's on an 8 week solo vacation, and two other small groups who are also from Philly and Bucks County. Small world. 

Mackay Reef is basically in the middle of nowhere. There's one small beach island that's no bigger than like 100 yards. We get our snorkeling gear, and have an hour to snorkel. It's pretty good - lots of different types of coral, a fair amount of fish, and a lot of giant clams. I think I saw an octopus briefly but I probably imagined it. 

We didn't see much “cool” stuff in the morning, but the water is comfortably warm, and so beautiful. What an amazing color of blue. Like a deep turquoise. 

After we get in there is lunch ready for us. It's a small buffet - mixed salad with balsamic vinegar, potato salad, and like a cold noodles thing. Sliced roast beef, roasted chicken chunks, and prawns. They also give Cher a veggie quiche since she's a vegetarian (which wasn't really necessary but nice anyway). 

After lunch we go to the other side of the reef, and snorkel some more. The sun is out more so the water is so clear. This is a little deeper area, and we probably see more fish on this side. Cher catches a brief glimpse of a reef shark, we see a ray, and that's about it. Overall I think there was a lot of varied coral and it was very pretty. 

The ride back is 2 ½ hours, and bumpier. I tried a Hemingway lager. It's ok. As we get closer there is some rain and more waves.

After we get off the boat we go right back to the shuttle, and there is another woman who is hacking up a lung. Of course she's staying at Niramaya too. So we get cleaned up and Cher disinfects everything. 

Because we are tired we decide to stay in the resort and eat at the restaurant - San-ti. It's a pretty place and of course the coughing lady is here, but we sit far away. 

Cher orders a mojito. 

I order a San-Ti Tai: Kraken spiced rum, mandarin and pineapple juice, lime, grapefruit bitters, and kaffir lime (fruit) gomme (syrup). 

For dinner, I order San-To Chicken Wings (sticky Indonesian spiced wings with pickled cabbage & seed crumb) and a wagyu burger. Cher orders spring rolls and sautéed greens. My stuff is good but hers is a little bland. 

Back to the room and in bed by 7:45 pm. 

Total Steps: 3,656

Total Miles: 1.75

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16

Wake up around 5 am. We wake up to an email from the dog boarding place that Floki and Ruthie were being difficult after their first night there. Floki snapping, etc. I tried calling them but the guy who sent the email (the GM) wasn't in. The receptionist said that Ruthie was doing fine by now. I sent the guy an email explaining that Floki was the way he was and that I would expect him to settle in. 

We are going to go down to have breakfast at Hi Tide on the Beach overlooking Four Mile Beach. I get a waffle (ok) with fruit (very good) and a pineapple juice (ok). Cher gets scrambled eggs (too salty) on toast, an almond cappuccino (ok) and orange juice (not great). It's across the street from the south end of Four Mile Beach, which looks like it would be nice on a better day (tho apparently it's full of deadly jellyfish and even crocodiles sometimes). It's cloudy but not raining. 

We walk the length of the main drag (Macrossan Street) in Port Douglas. It's still early in the morning so nothing is open besides other coffee shops. The vibe is very Hawaiian beach town. It's nice but it's good that we only booked 2 days here. It's also got a weird smell of trash here and there - there are trash bins out but the smell is more widespread than that. It's odd because it doesn't look like a gross place. 

At the hotel we see a bunch of tiny little frogs on the back porch, a cormorant drying it's wings, and some tadpole-type things in the pond behind the villa. There are purple lily flowers growing. 

Back at the hotel we find something to do - most of the different tours are booked up so we just get a Daintree Rainforest River Cruise. We drive north about an hour to Daintree, which is basically a block with some touristy stuff on it. We get our “boarding passes” and go to the “dock” (a small slip with a few pontoon boats at the end). Our guide is an older guy who isn't very good. He's nice but doesn't say much, except how the fact that the crocodiles are out of the water means that the water is getting colder after a few days of rain. We basically float up the Daintree River for about 30 minutes and then back down. We expected more of a “floating under the rainforest canopy-type experience, but it's basically just a decent sized river in the middle of some farms. The first part of the ride there is some short heavy rain - the boat is covered but the wind blows the rain in anyway. It's fine, nothing major. 

The guide warns us that because it's cold and rainy we might not see much and we don't, I guess. We do see 2 crocodiles, one on the side of the bank and 1 in the grasses. Not great sightings but better than nothing. We also see a great billed Heroneating a fish really well, some endangered ducks, and maybe some type of kingfisher. There are also these two small swallows that follow the boat - Cher thinks they may have a nest in the top. 

We drive back to Port Douglas and go to N17 for lunch. It's a burger place. Cher gets a Fried Halloumi Burger (deep fried Halloumi, lettuce, tomato, with tomato relish and vegan aioli on a sourdough bun. I get a chicken patty with the house BBQ Chipotle sauce and topped with BBQ pulled pork. We get a side of “chips “. Cher’s burger is fine and mine is good. 

I order a schooner of Blackflag Brewing Rage Juicy Pale Ale. Cher gets an “unsweetened” iced tea - but it's really a Lipton “No Sugar” iced tea, which has artificial sweetener. It's terrible. The food is good bar food. 

We walk down the street to Shakes Gelati Bar, a gelato/sorbet place serving “delizia” gelato.. Cher gets Ferrero and Coffee, and I get peanut butter and sea salt caramel. It's really good. 

We head back to the room and chill for the afternoon, and then pack up our stuff. We watch some TV to relax and get to bed at 7 pm. 

Total Steps: 8,481

Total Miles: 4.08

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17

We wake up around 4:30 and get cleaned up. We are out the door by 5:30 and drive back down the Captain Cook Highway towards Cairns. The sun is coming up over the Coral Sea to our east, and the weather is nice. 

Returning the car at the airport is as easy as dropping the keys in a slot, and there's almost no one in the airport (at 6:30 am). We check in our luggage just to be safe, and go through security. They flag Cher's bag because of her toe pick thing, but it's fine. There's basically no one here. 

We go to a little Italian café to kill time, and have some “breaky”. I have a ham and cheese toasty (ok) and a croissant (fine). Cher has eggs on toast (good).

I don't remember anything about the flight so it must have been fine. We get our bags and our Toyota Camry hybrid from Hertz. The weather is sunny and comfy. 

There's a 15 minute drive to The Terrace Hotel. It's across from a series of large parks. It's not the most appealing building. It's like an old Holiday Inn. Cher says it looks like where the tours stay, and sure enough we see a bunch of tours and old people during our stay. The room itself is fine - the hotel looks worse on the outside.

Adelaide is a neat city. The CBD and main center of activity is in a block, basically surrounded by parks all around which the link to the outer sections on the city and the suburbs. 

We drop our stuff and walk about 15 minutes to the Adelaide Central Market, a nice sized market, clean and organized, with lots of yummy looking food. Cher stops as Let Them Eat, which has lots of vegan stuff. She gets a cheese stuffed pastry thing, which she described as a mac and cheese but more parmigiany. I get a “famous” hot dog from Barossa Fine Foods with tomato chutney and a sausage roll (ok) and an F.C Grubb cream soda. 

We just wander around the central area, and find the Rundle Mall area - a closed off series of streets with shops and “arcades” (covered shops in a central walkway). It's a nice area. We stop at a luggage shop and get me a new carry on. The blue Calvin Klein has ripped. 

Back at the hotel, Cher finds a great little bar called Clever Little Tailor. It's a little bar in an old workshop (?) down the Peel Street  alley - a narrow strip of walkable alley with restaurants and bars on either side. Cher gets espresso martini (good, with chocolate shavings). I get amaretto sour (tasty but a little too foamy).. Then she gets a strawberry and yuzu sour (which is very good) , and I get a Bridge Road Robust Porter which is outstanding. 

We finish our drinks and decide to get a car back since it's getting cooler. The Uber is basically there immediately so we are back in the hotel in no time. We clean up and hit the sack “late” at like 8 pm!

Total Steps: 18,111

Total Miles: 8.79

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18

We're up by 5 am, and out the door by 6:15. We're just starting the see some light in the sky. Since it's so early most places aren't open yet. We walk through Blue Gum Park (there's a cool BMX track right in the park!) to Pickle In The Middle. It's in the inner suburb of Unley, which looks like a slightly gentrified area, with a mix of shops and restaurants along the main drag. Their gimmick is putting something pickled in every meal. I order a spiced fruit crumpet (like a blend between a muffin and roll, tasty), and waffles with vanilla mascapone, warm apple, poached rhubarb, biscuit crumble, and caramel sauce (which is so good). and a pineapple/passionfruit/orange juice. Cher gets a kale/cucumber/celery/apple/lemon juice and a latte, and a Mexican thing - basically rice, potatoes, avocado. We thought it would be like a scramble but it's basically just all the different stuff arranged on a plate. Coldplay’s “Yellow” plays. 

Since we had breakfast so early we drive over to Waterfall Gully. It's only a few miles away from our hotel, and just outside the central part of the city. There are some really nice homes along the drive. 

Locat­ed in Cle­land Nation­al Park, Water­fall Gul­ly is home to the largest of sev­en water­falls that exist in the park. The pop­u­lar and stren­u­ous walk­ing trail to Mt Lofty Sum­mit starts at the Water­fall Gul­ly car park and climbs through the park’s steep hills, native veg­e­ta­tion and stringy­bark for­est, pro­vid­ing spec­tac­u­lar views over Adelaide. 

Its pretty packed even early in the AM, but we get lucky when a leaving couple waves us over to their spot. We walk to the main waterfall which is tall, and up the path to the second waterfall just to see a little. We decide to come back the next day and see if we can do the entire hike to Mount Lofty. 

We have two reservations at wineries in the McLaren Vale, which is just 30 minutes south of Adelaide.

McLaren Vale is a wine region in the Australian state of South Australia located in the Adelaide metropolitan area] and centred on the town of McLaren Vale about 38 kilometres (24 mi) south of the Adelaide city centre. It is internationally renowned for the wines it produces and is included within the Great Wine Capitals of the World

It's a beautiful day for a drive through a beautiful area. Eucalyptus trees all over the area. 

The first place we try is Thicker Than Water. It's got some “Top 1% In the World”  from some wine app. The hostess is from Canada. Very friendly. We debate whether she is younger than us, tho she looks older. 

• Chardonnay - kinda sweet,. Not barreled in oak which is apparently unusual for a chardonnay. First chardonnay they made. 

• Granache (red) - ok. Not super strong alcohol burn. 

• 2025 Parasomething shiraz - “near squid” something. It's a deeper red. Cher likes the flavor but says it's “sharp”. 

• 2023 Squid Ink. Award winning Shiraz. American oak barrelled. Cher likes it alot.

• 2023 Giant Squid Ink. Same grape but a. Mix of French oak and American oak. A little “softer” allegedly. Cher doesn't like it as much as the previous one. 

• 2018 Squid Ink Shiraz.. Softer. Less flavor; not as good. 

We don't buy anything and head out. Probably a mistake not to buy anything, since they ship to the US. 

Next up is D'Arenberg. The grounds are not as pretty since it's a much bigger establishment, but they have this cube building that is modeled after a rubiks cube. It's a neat building with lots of weird and artsy touches throughout. The bathrooms are really cool. There's a Dali exhibit here this season - I didn't know what to expect but it's basically prints and cast sculpture of his that you can buy, for a lot of money. 

We have the “Dead Arm Distinction” tasting. Dead Arm is their signature Shiraz. Blend of their best grapes from different vineyards. We are given tastings of the 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015 vintages. Each are different since they are using different grapes each year. We like the 2016 and 2015 best. We can't order at the place so we might have to find it online. 

The server at the place recommends Pizza-tecca  for food. It's a big covered patio with some tables on the lawn. The main tables are booked but we can sit at the tables outside. I order a Shifty Lizard Bruce Lee-Zard West Coast IPA. It's really good (apparently the brewery just closed in September unfortunately). And the pizza is so good. Cher gets Margherita. Good chewy well cooked crust with a thin base. 

There's also a gelato place right on the property, so we get a scoop (chocolate for Cher, caramello for me). It's ok.

We decide to try one more winery to see if we can ship stuff home. Cher finds Down The Rabbit Hole, a beautiful spot. There are lots of pretty people spread out on picnic rugs, eating and drinking. There are mature almond trees all over the property. 

The space for the tastings is an old repurposed double decker bus. We get six wines for our tasting but the server, a pretty college woman who looks like Katie, actually gives us 7. The first is some wine of the month - I don't catch the name. It's a white. It's OK. A little tart. 

• Chardonnay. OK. We're tired of wines but we came here thinking they might ship to the US but they don't. 

• Rosé - light and sweet. Cher's favorite of the day. 

• Tempranillo - something about being planted and harvested on the night of the full moon. It's good. Not too strong and a nice flavor. This becomes Cher's favorite of the day. 

• Shiraz - ok. Not my favorite. I might not like Shirazs, though those are apparently the grapes most commonly grown in this area.

• Sangiovese Cabernet - very good. Not too “spicy”

• Mataro - some weird Italian grape. Very smooth and tasty. A great way to finish our wine tasting day. 

Since the area isnt far from the coast, we drive to a close by beach. Port Willunga, along St. Vincent Gulf. It's a mixed beach with sand and rocks, but the water is beautiful, clear, and cool but not too cold. Well it's too cold for Cher. There's a wedding finishing up on the beach when we get there. 

We head back to the room, clean up and pack, and are in bed by 7:30 pm.

Total Steps: 10,720

Total Miles: 5.23

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19

Sleep well enough. Up at 5:15. Out the door at 6 to drive back to Waterfall Gully. There's a fair amount of cars in the lot but once we start the hike to Mount Lofty, we don't see many. 

The hike is through Cleland National Park, and has a bunch of steep sections, but the trails are wide and mostly in good shape. We take a wrong turn about 45 minutes in and head to Measday’s Lookout. But it works out because when we circle back and get on the right path we see a Kangaroo on the path! It's brief but it looks at us for a few seconds before bouncing off. 

The worst part of the hike is Carro Track, which is steep uphill for a long section. It's slow going, rocky and rubly all the way.  The whole hike takes us about 2 hours, is 4.27 miles, and includes 1,785 feet of elevation. But the weather for it is perfect. 

Once we get closer to the top it flattens out. We end up on the main road, which isn't part of the track but we short cut to the Mount Lofty Summit. In the parking lot we see a Southern Brown Bandicoot. Looks like a rat. 

The summit view is amazing. 180 degrees basically towards Adelaide and beyond, all the way to the gulf. There's a small café there so we get some juices and an almond cappuccino. We decide to Uber back since it took longer than expected to get up, and we're tired. The Uber literally pulls up right when we walk out. 

I really like Adelaide housing architecture. Mostly one level, stone or brick, small peaked roofs, reddish clay tiles. 

Back to the hotel to get cleaned up and packed. We load the car and drive back to Unley (a block past the Pickles place) to Bricks and Stones, a cute all day breakfast place. We sit outside in a little covered section. Cher orders an almond cappuccino, a green juice, and blueberry pancakes. I order an orange juice, French toast, and eggs/toast on the side. The food is very tasty. 

We leave breakfast and drive to Cape Jervis, on the southern tip of this peninsula, to pick up the SeaLink Ferry for Kangaroo Island. We had originally bought plane tickets, but when we realized we could take the car ferry (and we had a late flight out of Adelaide anyway), we decided to drive instead. (Cher has video of me driving on the ferry) 

The drive down was beautiful. Once we passed the McLaren Vale with all the wineries, it became more rural - lots of grass lands for cattle raising. This is a Fleurieu Peninsula. At some points we drove along the ocean coast but mostly the road was just inland. Even they the small roads are lined with beautiful Eucalyptus Trees, which remind us of the hedge-lined roads of Ireland. But the Eucalyptus trees are all gnarled and bending around with the white and brown bark. It's so beautiful. 

We pull up to the check in area and I'm in the wrong lane because we have a hybrid. So they have me back in but I didn't understand what he meant so he had to have be turn around and I probably seemed like an idiot. 

The trip on the ferry is about 45 minutes across the water. A few minutes before we dock, I go back to the car and wait to drive out. A very smooth process overall. 

Landing at Penneshaw, we drive towards Kingscote, the main small town on the island. Its about 30 miles, on mostly empty roads. Unfortunately we see a lot of kangaroo roadkill. The terrain is different, still lots of trees but also a lot of smaller bushes and brush type land. 

We drove first to Ligurian Bee for some honey-based products. We get some hand cream and lip balm for mom, and chili salt for dad. 

Next we drive to Kangaroo Island Distilling. Unfortunately they don't ship to the US. But they do have a small burger stand out back and we get some. Cher gets a veggie burger with smoked jalapeños. I get a BBQ burger. We share corn ribs with onions, and curly fries. The burgers are very good. 

I go to the bathroom, and Cher sees a koala walk right past her and climbed a tree. It's amazing to see them just there in the wild. 

We head to Kingscote to Drake’s Market, and get some snacks and water for tomorrow, in case we are stuck out and about without any food. Then we fill up the car at a gas station, and head to our Wander pod. 

It's about an hour from Kingscote. About ⅔ of the way the roads become hard stone/unpaved and it's really remote. We are staying at the Carina pod, which overlooks Stokes Bay. The view is amazing. And right when we arrive its sunny and you can see the entire bay and coast. It's unreal. 

The Carina is named after the constellation meaning “the ship’s keel”. Carina is part of the Heavenly Waters family of stellar formations only seen in the southern skies.

We chill out and watch the cloudy sunset before going to bed around 7:30 pm.

Total Steps: 13,532

Total Miles: 6.43

MONDAY, OCTOBER 20

The bed and pillows are super comfy. It's a little warm but we leave the windows open and it gets fine. There's some rain during the night. 

We wake up around 5:30, it's still mostly cloudy. I set up a timelapse but it's not worth it. There's not a lot of places to go, but there's the Pandana Bakery and Cafe in Pandana. It doesn't open until 8 am so we have time to get ready, and while we're cleaning up a few kangaroos pass by the pod. 

The namesake of Kangaroo Island, the Kangaroo Island Kangaroo is one of the animals on Kangaroo Island and is the only species of kangaroo that occurs on the Island. They have evolved differently from mainland kangaroos and are a subspecies of the Western Grey Kangaroo. They are very common right across the Island. Noticeably different than their mainland cousins, with a shorter and stockier build and much darker chocolate brown fur. Adult male kangaroos can stand up to 105–140 cm tall and females up to 85–120 cm tall. Being very agile, they can leap up to 12 metres in a single hop and reach speeds of 60 km/h. Kangaroo Island Kangaroos are herbivores, feeding on grasses and native shrubs. They have adapted to require very little water. Common in a variety of habitats right across the Island, they can be found in open woodland, scrubland, grassland areas and pastureland.

We have a 9:30 reservation for a tour at the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park. It's chilly and light rain when we leave. 

The drive down the hill from the pod we pass a bunch of different kangaroos, including the small family we saw at our pod this morning. 

We drive about 30 minutes to the Parndana Cafe, one of the few places that is open. We get some snacks, a cappuccino for Cher, and egg sandwiches. The guy at the counter is anti Trump which is nice. 

The egg sandwiches are really good. They give Cher like 3932 scrambled eggs. Mine is a fried egg with bacon. 

The drive to the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park is about 15 minutes. We see a young (?) Kangaroo on the side of a road and we slow down to pass it but then it just bounces around in front of the car going in the same direction so we have to be very careful. Ultimately it bounces off into the bushes. 

When we get to the Park the rain stops and the skies lighten up a bit. Aside from a little drizzle early on, as the morning develops the rain stops and the skies get clearer. By midday there's a good amount of sun breaking through. 

We see and touch (*) or hold (!) or feed (/) a bunch of stuff (pictures for all) . 

• Skinks(*) . 

• Little Penguins. 

• Pearl the Koala(!). Fuzzy and friendly, amazingly cute. Cher is in love. 

• Servals(*/) 

• Black-tufted (or maybe “common”) Marmosets(/) - we didn't hold them but they climbed all over us. Tiny and cute. 

• Tammar Wallabies and Bennet’s Wallabies, including an albino adult and an albino Joey. Wallabies are smaller than kangaroos with longer and thinner tails. 

• A lot of Kangaroo Island Kangaroos, including Freya(! /), a few month old joey that was being taken home and bottle fed by our guide. We also fed t2 joey red kangaroos. 

• Quokkas (/) including one with a joey in the pouch (it still ate from Cher's hand). 

• Black-striped Wallabies 

• Eric the Blue headed emu (/) 

• A big large Red Kangaroo (the ones that look all jacked) 

• 2 dingoes (male and female) 

• 2 short-beaked echidnas(*) (small spiky things related to platypus) 

After our tour is over we go to the already-in-progress Raptor show. We see a barred owl, a smaller owl that Cher holds (and which makes the cutest purring sounds), some small raptors from the area, a few different cockatoos and parrots.(black with red/yellow tails, one with golden colors that Cher holds, and a south American parrot)

As part of our tour we also get to hold (let perch on our arms) an Australian masked owl (Cher) and a wedge tailed eagle (me). The eagle is the largest bird of prey on Australia. 

The entire experience is great - getting to hold the animals was so special. 

Next we drive about an hour to the southwestern coast to see the Remarkable Rocks. It's part of Flinders Chase National Park. They are really that. Unreal large and small boulders perched on the edge of the cliff, covered with orange lichen. 

Also the area was hit by the 2019 wildfires, but there's a lot of evidence of new growth. It's really good to see. Cher smells campfires and I smell cinnamon.

We head back east (retracing our steps basically) to Seal Bay, where there's a protected colony of Australian Sea Lions on the beach. There's a raised viewing platform that looks down on their beach and the dunes surrounding them. They are adorable - lighter and smaller than other seals and sea lions we've seen, but the males are still huge. There's a ton of pups and younger ones around. They are not too smelly either. 

We have a little time before our dinner reservation in Kingscote, so I find Reeves Point on the northern side of town. It's not much of a beach, with stagnant water and this weird paper-like stuff all over the beach. 

Dinner is at Amadio’s Vino e Cucina. It looks like one of the few restaurants in Kingscote, and it must be the nicest. The food seemed very authentic. Cher drank a KI local cabernet (very good), had a beans and spinach stew appetizer (really good), and gnocchi with eggplant main(ok - gnocchi is less dense than expected. Not much eggplant). I had a bottle of Guinness, a mixed salad (ok, very salty), and fusilli with pomodoro sauce (fine). Cher gets affogato with Frangelico for dessert. I get lemon sorbet with the Amadio 18-year old Tawny Port, which is tasty but strong. The desserts are very good. 

It's an hour drive back to the pod. It's dusk so I have to drive very carefully. We don't see anything the first 40 minutes and then as soon as Cher notes that, she sees a koala in a tree and we start seeing Kangaroos all over the place. There are a lot as we get closer to our pod. We even see the same 4 we saw this morning (we're guessing) in basically the same place. 

We clean up, I try to start a fire (it doesn't really light) and we get to bed around 8:30. 

Total Steps: 8,084

Total Miles: 3.93

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21

I'm up at 1:30, and I check the phone to see if the Talbots picked up the doggles yet. Nope. But when we get up at 5:30, there are pics of them.

We went to Snelling Beach, which is the small beach we can see from our pod. It's a nice, small beach. 

Next we head to Vivonne Beach, which is much larger. There's a random dog running around - Lola. She's following the only other people there around - but she is not theirs. There are some houses near the beach, and she is wearing a tag, so hopefully she is just from that town and not lost. She's very cute and mostly friendly. 

Next we head to Little Sahara, which is a giant sand dune right in the middle of nowhere. It's surprisingly large and very neat.

Next we head to Rocky River, which is in the Flinders Chase National Park, for the Platypus Waterhole walk. It's about 4 miles, but very flat and an easy walk. It's really pretty terrain, and there are viewing platforms overlooking the area where the platypus live, but we don't see any. They are apparently very hard to see. 

Next we head to Admirals Arch. It's breathtaking! (describe more) And there are New Zealand Fur Seals who are relaxing all around. And for a little while the sun comes out. It's really amazing. 

We've basically seen almost everything there is to see and we need to get back to Kingscote on the other side of the island. Before we leave the park we drive by a black tiger snake on the road. We don't stop because it's apparently very dangerous and venomous. 

Our first stop is the Emu Ridge Eucalyptus Oil Distillery (where we see an orphaned Joey, that licks Cher's hand). We buy some stuff for Cher. 

Next we head back to the Kangaroo Island Distillery.  We see wild koalas high in a tree by the parking lot. We know the Talbots like gin, so we have a tasting:

• Wild Gin (Cher likes, I don't) 

  A contemporary Australian dry gin inspired by the wild landscapes of our island. Distilled with hand-harvested and locally grown ingredients: boobialla, eau-du-cologne mint, lime zest and pink peppercorns. This gin has sweet spice and citrus notes. Boobialla, also known as native juniper, grows wild in the shores of Kangaroo Island and adds a piney sweetness to gin. Pink peppercorn trees grow on the Island. While Pink peppercorn isn’t related to black pepper, it looks and tastes a lot like it. Its flavours are much milder and more complex, by bringing together ingredients such as wild boobialla and pink peppercorn, the stage is set for the wildest gin imaginable.

• O’Gin (Cher likes, I don't) 

With a more classic profile of juniper and citrus, this contemporary dry gin is defined by native coastal daisy, ‘Olearia Axillaris’ which we pick from the shores of our island. The Olearia imparts sweet piney notes that play beautifully with juniper and zesty orange. These strong flavours are complimented with warm asian peppers in the background. Sometimes referred to as ‘wild rosemary’, the use of coastal daisy for a variety of purposes, stretches back a millennia.  We use it in our ever popular O Gin for its distinctly sweet piney notes. This Island native has wildly helped our O Gin achieve acclaim, accolades, and awards, both here in Australia and around the world.

• Whisky Barrel Aged Gin (better) 

  Our multi-award winning Whisky Barrel Aged Gin is the result of maturing our Wild Gin in single malt whisky barrels to create a smooth and complex sipping gin.  With notes of buttery oak, vanilla and a unique whisky character mingled with the flavours of our island. A gin distilled with boobialla, lemon and aniseed myrtles and aged in single malt whisky barrels is the subtle marriage of whisky and gin flavour profiles.

• Old Tom Gin (French Oak barrels) (ok)

  Australia’s most awarded Old Tom style, this gin is a must have for any classic cocktail enthusiast. Based on the slightly sweeter styles of gins popular in the 18th century, our Old Tom is infused with locally grown aniseed and lemon myrtles. Lightly aged in re-charred French oak barrels for added depth and complexity. There’s something quite special about Kangaroo Island’s lemon myrtle. Here on the island it’s mixed it into foods, turned into oils, and when it comes to our Old Tom, it’s turning our homage to 18th Century English Gin into something entirely new.  It brings a citrus flavour whilst also exuding delightfully sweet characteristics.

• Mulberry gin (not good).

We buy some small bottles to bring home to the Talbots. 

Next we head to Kangaroo Island Brewing for beer. There’s no food basically, but we decide to get some beer. Its fine. We talk to Bruce and Boss, a red and white Border Collie who loves playing with his ball, and reminds us of the Floki man. Bruce told us about how his wife had died and his kids were on the mainland. He seemed said, but was nice. He told us he makes AI music - Whisper Sage on Spotify. 

Bella Cafe and Pizza. Cher gets vegan schnitzel, and hot potato chips. I get BBQ chicken pizza. Cher has a Coke Zero and I get a KI Brewery Amber Ale, which is good. 

We head back to the room, and on the way it finally starts to rain. It was predicted to be a shitty rainy day, but it ended up being perfect. Comfortable and partly sunny. Only when we drive home do we get some rain. On the way back we even see a rainbow. What a day. 

We get back to the room and pack up. There are two kangaroos (one larger and one smaller) right outside our deck just hanging out. The walk right up to the pod basically, and don't see too phased by us. Amazing. 

As we get into bed we see lightning over the Southern Ocean. Asleep by 9 pm. 

Total Steps: 14,438

Total Miles: 6.99

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22

Up at 6:30. The pod was pounded with crazy strong winds all night. 

It's a pretty sunrise. There is a snail snuck to our picture window. We take some selfies with the Polaroid type Fujifilm Instax Evo that is in the pod

We drive back to Kingscote Airport. It's a really small airport, but it's nice. There's no security screening. Cher gets some coffee and a snack and I get a juice while we wait for the flight. 

We are taking Qantas flight QF2561 leaving Kingscote at 10:40 am. It's supposed to be a 40 minute flight, but it takes about 25. It's a de Havilland Dash 8-400 (twin-turboprop). 4 row seats. It's very windy so the takeoff and landing were a little shaky but everything was fine. 

We are screened by security before we enter the airport since we are going on a connecting flight. No issues. 

We have about 2 hours so we get some food at Soul Origins. Cher gets a vegan schnitzel wrap, and I get a spicy chicken sandwich. Both are eh. 

We are on Qantas flight 2587 from Adelaide to Port Lincoln, sitting in seats 7D and 7C. We are on the same plane as earlier. The flight is about 40 minutes. Nice and easy. 

The Port Lincoln Airport is very small - maybe even smaller than Kangaroo Island. Above the luggage pick up area, there are 2 tvs showing ads for Calypso Star Charters, the company we'll be doing the shark diving tour with tomorrow.

Port Lincoln is on the Eyre Peninsula. 

The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Earlier called Eyre's Peninsula, it was named after explorer Edward John Eyre, who explored parts of the peninsula in 1839–41. The coastline was first charted by the expeditions of Matthew Flinders in 1801–02 and French explorer Nicolas Baudin around the same time. Flinders also named the nearby Yorke's Peninsula and Spencer's Gulph on the same voyage. The peninsula's economy is primarily agricultural, with growing aquaculture, mining, and tourism sectors. The main towns are Port Lincoln in the south, Whyalla and Port Augusta in the northeast, and Ceduna in the northwest. Port Lincoln (Galinyala in Barngarla), Whyalla and Port Augusta (Goordnada) are part of the Barngarla Aboriginal country.

We get our luggage and walk out to an empty taxi area. It's such a small airport I am not surprised but I wasn't expecting it. Cher figures out how to book a taxi online and we wait about 15 minutes. 

The cab comes and it's not the same car as we expected, but we get in and no problem. Then we drive away and the driver we expectedpulls up. Oops. 

We check in at the Port Lincoln Hotel. It's nice enough. Town is not great. Not much here and a lot of empty store fronts. But there are a bunch of small restaurants and cafes. It will be enough for what we need. There's a ginormous fig tree across the street - planted somewhere around 1870.

We walk to Jump Ship Brewing, about 10 minutes from the hotel. A very nice brewery. We try a flight - all are yummy. 

• Proper Brown Ale

• Rustler’s Irish Red Ale

• Moonwind Hazy IPA

• Longnose Stout

We walk back to the hotel, stopping at the Coles (national supermarket chain), to get some snacks and laundry detergent. Then we bring two loads of laundry to the self-laundry room. Old school coin operated units. 

For dinner we cross the street and go to Zambrero,  a Chipotle-like Mexican chain for dinner. Cher has a pulled mushroom burrito bowl with a Remedy Organic Kombucha (Mango Passion). She likes it all. I get a pulled pork burrito with BBQ sauce. It's fine. Cher gets a Double Chocolate ice cream sandwich for dessert. The chain donates a meal for each meal purchased, which is nice. 

We cross back to the hotel and toss our laundry in the dryer. We have about 45 minutes to waste so we head to the room for some fun. Back down to get our laundry, and then up to the room to prep and get to bed by 8 pm. 

Total Steps: 10,756

Total Miles: 5.38

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23

We set our alarm for 5 am. We have to meet the charter pick up at the hotel (just a taxi) at 5:30 am. There's another couple there from Arizona (mother and son from the looks of it) . There's a few more people on the boat with us. 

While waiting at the Calypso office, the young man at the desk mentioned that they didn't see any sharks yesterday and it's been “hit or miss” the last few months. We're trying to manifest good luck. 

The boat is kinda small. A small back deck area partially covered, and a small interior section with 2 tables and bench seating around it. Our crew is Simon (the main guy), Eli, and a few young women (maybe Amy?). They give us a plate of fresh fruit (one to cover both tables). Simon gives us a half-hearted briefing. The interior of the boat is comfortable - there's a big mini split unit so I think we'll be pretty warm in here. 

It seems calm this morning so hopefully no issues with rough rides. They give us English Muffin sandwiches…veggie (cheese and tomato), tomato and ham, and cheese, tomato, and ham. After they put them down, the crew member making the breakfast took one for herself before other people did. It's fine. 

About an hour into it they give us our wetsuits and we get in the water near a small island. There's lots of birds everywhere and some Australian Sea Lions in the shallow, clear water. The water is very cold but manageable. 

Most of the sea lions keep their distance but a few come to check us out. They are super calm and gorgeous. 

Back to the boat to dry off but the suns mostly out and it's not too cold.

We head to the next place where we hope the sharks would be. There's an island where fur seals live, and apparently sharks like to eat those.

Spoiler: we don't see sharks.

The cage is in the water and we are in the first group. We put on wet suit, get a regulator, and climb into the cage. It's cold but not ridiculous. There's a ton of fish - a big school of Silver Travaili (?), and a few larger yellow-tailed kongfish. It's neat to see them all chew at the bait and chum  (which smells disgusting as expected) but Cher finds it a little claustrophobic. She doesn't go back in after the first “dive.” I try one more time before lunch but not after that. 

Lunch is ok - salads were fine, there was roasted chicken, veggies and potatoes. It was fine. 

At 3 pm, they give us and start back. We grab a beer - Coopers Brewery Original Pale Ale. It's ok. 

The ride back is uneventful. It takes about 3 hours but it's calm. They give us some beef pies, sausage rolls, and fried vegetable rolls. We spend most of it talking to a nice woman from Singapore who has her 8 year old son along. 

Overall it is a disappointing day, and Cher is very tired. 

The Hotel sends its shuttle to pick us up, and we bring out wet clothes to the dryer. We clean up and go to the hotel bar, Sharky’s. I order a Cooper's Best Extra Stout. It's ok

Cher gets a cheese plate and popcorn cauliflower for dinner. I get a soft pretzel and chicken sandwich with franks hot sauce. The foods not great. 

Get our clothes from the dryer, head back to the room, and climb into bed at 8 pm. 

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24

My alarm goes off at 5:00 am, whoops. We go back to bed and get up around 6:30. We pack up, and walk about 15 minutes to L’Anse, a French bakery that won the best Croissant in South Australia in 2023.  They have a bunch of pretty looking pastries. We get eggs, a croissant, cappuccino, and juices. The food is good - the croissant is really good. It would be better if it was warm. I get a New York Roll, which turns out to be like a cronut with cream in it, and caramel on top. It's ok. Cher also gets a chocolate croissant, which is ok. 

We kill some time in the hotel room before getting a taxi at noon for the short ride to the airport. 

We arrive very early to the airport and there's no one at the Qantas desk for a while. It's a small airport so it doesn't take long for us to do everything when the time. We are in seats 19B/C, all the way towards the back. The plane is maybe ¾ full. 

The flight takes about 50 minutes, and we're back in Adelaide. We get our luggage quickly and then have to check in for our JetStar flight to Hobart in 2 hours. We check our bags and get through security pretty quickly. They pull the bags aside but don't look at them too closely. 

We stop at the “100 Miles Kitchen and Bar” restaurant for a quick dinner. Cher orders a water and pear and rocket salad (pear, rocket, walnuts, creamy goats cheese with honey mustard). I order a Pirate's Life South Coast Ultra Low (basically alcohol free). It's not bad for that. 

I order a burger. It's fine. Chers salad is good. 

We chill for maybe 30 minutes before we board the JetStar flight JQ681 to Hobart. We are in an exit row so we have to put all our bags in the overhead, but it's not an issue. 

The flight is fine. 2 hours and no issues. Plenty of room in these seats. I'm watching videos and Cher's reading her book about the gullible vegan woman. 

The Hobart airport is pretty small - a few gates and a few small shops. It takes a little time for our luggage to come out, but I can get the rental car from Hertz in the meantime. We have a Mazda crossover something. It's fine. 

The drive to Hobart and the hotel is about 15 minutes. Cher is surprised that it's as city-like as it is - she expected more rural I guess. 

The MACq1 hotel is on a piece of land jutting into the River Derwent. It's a nice hotel, with a lively bar/restaurant. There's an annoying woman at the front desk holding up our check in. 

We are in room 137. Its description is “grounded, yet exceptional.” Every room has a description near the door. “There are two sides to the hotel - one with water views, and one with parking lot views. We are on the parking lot side. 

Our room is dedicated (?) to Goshen Swain “Mick” Richardson. He was a Tasmania inventor, who, created, among other things, a flying glider built on a bicycle. 

In bed around 9:30 pm. 

Total Steps: 8,002

Total Miles: 3.94

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25 

Up at 6:30. We get cleaned up and drive through town to Smolt Kitchen. It's in the inner-city suburb of West Hobart, in the hills immediately west of the CBD.

The drive is over some hills and the suburb is cute. It's got a lot of small little houses with Victorian styles. Like craftsmans for Victorians. 

I order eggs and bacon on toast, Cher gets shakshuka, and we share pancakes (maple syrup, creme fraiche, almond crumble, spiced apple and raspberry compote). We also each get a Noah’s Creative juice. These are bottled juices that are really good - we've had them all over the trip. Our food is good, except the pancakes, which are both tough and undercooked at the same time. 

We drive to Geeveston for the Platypus Viewing Walk. Geeveston is south of Hobart about 1 hour (one of Australia's southern most towns) , and you pass through the Huon Valley, which follows along the Huon River. It's a pretty valley with a few very small towns. Geeveston is only a few blocks, but there's a small stream that passes through it where apparently there are platypus. It's right in the middle of the park and there's housing along the one side of the stream, so it seems like a strange place for shy platypuses to live. And maybe they don't because we do see any or even any hints that they are there. Or maybe that's because one of the homeowners is mowing his lawn and trimming his trees. We do see another friendly dog come up to us and let us throw its ball. 

We decide to drive up the pinnacle of Mount Wellington, which is on the way back to Hobart. The drive up the mountain is a typical switch back road, through a cool pine forest. About 80% up the drive the trees stop and we see nothing but smaller bushes and rocks. 

Mount Wellington is 1,271 metres (4,170 ft). It's very windy at the top and chilly, but we check out all the viewpoints and take our selfies. There is a tall tower monument (?) at the peak. The view of Hobart and beyond is pretty cool. From Hobart, the most distinctive feature of Mount Wellington is the cliff of dolerite columns known as the Organ Pipes. 

We head to Cascade Brewing, which is the oldest brewery in Australia (formed 1824, with brewing beginning in 1832). It's located in South Hobart, with Mount Wellington in its background. It's a big facility with a big restaurant area too. Cher gets the Cascade Export Stout (decent) and I get the Pale Ale (not great). Cher eats a cauliflower parm (which is pretty good) and I get a smash burger (also good). 

Cascade sits at the end of the Hobart Rivulet - a small stream that cuts through this part of town. It's allegedly a place to see platypus. There's a pretty little park with a lot of flowers and rhododendrons, but we don't see any platypus. 

So we drive back to the hotel, drop off our stuff, and just wander. Some of the building styles are very plain, and almost look fake, like a movie set. We end up in the Battery Point area, which is up the hill and is really pretty. It's Hobart’s first suburb, and widely regarded as the best-preserved colonial-era suburb in Australia.

And quiet. There are small and medium sized homes, I'd describe them as Victorian seaside bungalows.

We pass the Shipwrights Arms hotel and bar, so we pop in for a quick drink. It's a cute old bar (over 175 years old). The Hobart Brewing Tasmanian Amber Ale is really good. 

We walk back toward the hotel to the Salamanca Square - rows of sandstone buildings, formerly warehouses for the port, of Hobart Town that have been converted into restaurants, galleries, craft shops and offices. There are cute shops and restaurants in a large building/courtyard. We stop at Honey Badger Dessert Cafe. Cher gets a Nutella Puff (Dutch puff pancake, banana, nutella, nut crumbs, peanut butter, caramel, chocolate ice-cream) and a coffee. I get a Happy Tummy (Croffle, strawberry, banana, caramel, TimTam, chocolate, vanilla bean ice-cream) and a caramel shake (which is again thin). The Croffle is a croissant cooked on a waffle iron. Both look better than they taste. Not bad, but not worth the hype. 

While we are waiting, a woman walks by with an alpaca on a leash. 

A short walk back to the hotel, and we plan our day for tomorrow. 

Total Steps: 16,253 (which seems high) 

Total Miles: 7.83

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26

Up at around 6:30. We clean up and head back to the Cascade Brewing area to see if we can spot the Platypus. Nothing. 

I quickly find a small cafe (Brew) nearby to get Cher some coffee and some snacks for the road. Cher gets a cappuccino, avocado and cream cheese on sourdough, and I get a ham and cheese croissant. It's all good enough. 

The drive to Kettering is about 30 minutes. We pass through a small town called Snug. By the Snug River. We drive onto the SeaLink Ferry that runs from Kettering to Roberts Point on north Bruny Island. The ride takes about 20 minutes, and we just stay in the car. The weather is grey and chilly (50s).

The island is small enough that's it's not far to drive from place to place. There's very little here anyway. The first place I wanted to stop was The Arch, which is a rock formation on the beach on the south side of the North island. Unfortunately we realize too late that you can't drive there. It's about an hour hike. So we skip it. 

So we drive to the Truganini Lookout over The Neck. It's a 300 step boardwalk overlooking the Neck, a thin strip of land connecting the North and South islands. Even tho it's 9:30 am, there's a fair amount of people here. It's windy but not terrible. The view is pretty neat. There's also a beautiful beach there where shearlings and little penguins nest, but there's none there at the moment (it's early in the spring season). 

We drive to the Bruny Baker Bread Fridge. Basically three old refrigerators sitting on the side of the road, where some company comes and puts fresh sourdough bread every day. It's very cute and a fun idea. We grab a small loaf and donate $5. It's good. 

Since we couldn't go to the Arch, we have more time than I planned so we decide to go to the Fluted Cape Walk, a 4.5 km walk up to the top of a cliff wall, where Lechy’s Lookout looks over the ocean. 

The remarkable Jurassic dolerite cliffs of the Fluted Cape soar over 270 metres. The Fluted Cape Walk is a delightful, adventurous circuit walk rewarding you with spectacular coastal views as you climb to the top of one of the highest sea cliffs in Australia.  Your walk will take you through dry sclerophyll forest, past tall blue gums, white peppermint and she oaks.

The walk starts at the end of Adventure Bay, a small town on the east coast of the island (with no business, just small homes). The walk is moderately difficult - the way up is through the forest but there is a pretty well defined path. We see a pair of yellow tailed black cockatoo, but not much else. 

The views at the top are amazing, and we get lucky with some clear weather. Which changes as we descend down the cliff to complete the loop. It's cloudy but the views on the way down the cliffside are great.

We leave Adventure Bay and start our drive back to the ferry. There are two stops we plan to make. We make three. 

First is  the Bruny Island Chocolate Factory, a small shop with no bathroom. We attempt to buy some stuff and some local whisky… But our cards are being declined - which makes no sense. We don't have much cash so we give up. 

Stop 2 is the Bruny Island Cheese and Beer Company. It's a pretty place with covered outdoor seating, which is helpful as it's drizzling a little. Cher gets a cheese sampler:

• Raw C2 (I day old in olive oil) 

• ODO

• Saint

…which comes with picked onions, tomato relish, and picked beetroots. Most of the stuff is good. She also gets a wine flight, which comes with generous pours:

• Sav Blanc

• Sparkling 

• Rose

• Pinot Noir

She likes the Pinot the best. 

I get a Beer Flight:

• Lighthouse Ale

• Cloudy Bay IPA

• Return of the Mainlander Oatmeal Stout

• Farm Ale

All the beers are good, but the Lighthouse Ale and the Stout are the best. 

They also have bottles to take away and there's a Dark Pale Ale and a Raspberry Stout we take to try at the hotel later. 

Since our credit card worked fine, we decide to drive back to the Chocolate place. The issue has to be the card machine, and we are committed to finding a way to get our cute little whisky flask trinket. Ultimately the lady suggested splitting the cost in half - which worked. Something about her machine wasn't accepting payments over $100.

With all that sorted, we drive back to the ferry. We only have to wait a few minutes before we drive on. The whole ferry operation is very smooth. 

We drive back to Hobart, with a brief pitstop to get something to drink. It's raining more consistently now so we got lucky again. 

Back at the hotel around 5 pm. We're not in the mood to go out for food (and Cher's not hungry anyway), so I just order some room service. Baked chicken, fries, and a raspberry sorbet for  Cher. It also comes with a side of baked carrots which Cher eats. My food is fine. The beers are really good. 

We chill a little and then get into bed around 8:30.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 27

Up at 6 am. The Platypus hunt continues. And fails. It's raining and we get to that Rivulet area right at the height of the rain. It's cold. We give up pretty quickly and focus on breakfast. 

Cher finds the Customs House Hotel, which is only a few blocks from our hotel in the marina area. On the way it starts snowing. The Customs House must be an old building because the decor is all old exposed blocks of stone. It's cute. As soon as we get there the rain stops, and the sun is starting to come out. Cher gets a baked eggs dish, with beans and cheese, which is good. I get croissant French Toast, which Cher likes more than me. It's fine. 

We have a little time before our appointment at the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, so we drive back to the Cascade Brewery. It's raining again so I stay in the car. Cher walks to the place and waits as long as possible…and maybe sees one at the last second far away. 

Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary is about 30 minutes northwest of Hobart just past the outer suburbs. We have a private tour like at the KI place, and it's worth it. The weather is cold, windy, but dry at least. Our guide is a young woman (alicia maybe?). We see 

• Blue tongue lizard (skink),2 echidnas (who we feed ant-goo),

•  a million Forester kangaroos (who we also feed)

• A Tawny Frogmouth (which is not an owl but looks like one). It's missing an eye because of a car strike. It kinda hisses at me. 

• A few Tasmanian Devils, who Cher feeds

• A Ring tailed possum (tan because it's got the wrong coloring), who Cher feeds. 

• Fred the crested cockatoo, who's 111 years old, and who gave me a twig.

• The highlight is we get to pet Popcorn, a 10 month old baby wombat. It's in a pouch because it's so chilly, but it's so cute. 

The Reserve is the only wildlife rescue center on the island - it's got an emergency hospital, a critical care area. It's really amazing the work it can do.

All wombats are released - at around 2 they become more antagonistic to humans. 

Next up is Mount Field National Park. It's in a more remote area (but still only about 80 minutes from Hobart). There's rolling hills and lots of sheep farms and fruit farms on the way. 

As the winding road ascends through Mount Field National Park the stunning natural flora transforms, offering a constantly changing view as you climb to higher altitudes. Known as ‘the park for all seasons’, Mount Field is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area and home to some of the world’s tallest eucalypt forests, as well as a unique array of alpine vegetation.

Mount Field National Park is one of Tasmania’s oldest national parks and is also one of its most diverse. Spectacular glaciated landscapes compete for attention with cascading waterfalls, including the breathtaking, three-tiered Russell Falls - arguably one of the most impressive waterfalls in Tasmania.

There are many hikes you can do but stick with the ones closest to the center. Very close is Russell Falls, a really large waterfall with lots of spray. 

​It’s a short and beautiful walk to Tasmania’s favourite waterfall. It was formed when horizontal beds of soft rock eroded back to more resistant rock that had vertical faces. But as you stand in the mossy, deep green forest, and watch the water cascading gently over multiple levels, you don’t need to know its geology. Just breathe deep and enjoy its awesome beauty. When it’s time to leave, return via the same route or take the loop track back on the other side of the fern-filled creek. You may even spy a platypus in the creek.

(we did not spy a platypus in the creek)

This easy walk will take you through a mixed forest comprising towering swamp gums, the tallest flowering plant on Earth, and species typical of wet forests and cool temperate rainforests, such as dogwood, musk and myrtle. 

The sun has basically come out so it's more comfortable now. Up about 300 stairs is Horseshoe Falls - a lower but wider waterfall.

The waterfall itself is encased in a natural ampitheatre with eye catching rainforest, and despite not being as well known as Russell Falls, many would regard it the treasure of Mt. Field National Park.

Then we walk about 15 minutes to the “Tall Trees” track. It's a walk through some of the tallest flowering trees in the world. 

This awesome 1km loop walk is all about the tallest flowering plants in the world. You'll feel small among the massive examples of swamp gum (Eucalyptus regnans) along the Tall Trees walk. These trees can live for hundreds of years, and have been known to reach over 100m in height. The largest trees here were growing when Abel Tasman first sighted Tasmania in 1642, and are taller than the Wrest Point Casino in Hobart.​ If you're curious about th​e trees here, there's a clinometer to help you calculate their height. As you walk you can also ponder the life and death of these giants, as you witness what becomes of fallen trees in this forest.

The entire area is a gorgeous old growth forest, with huge (like 250 feet tall with wide bases) Swamp Gum Eucalyptus trees and tree ferns, with lots of green moss covering everything. 

Eucalyptus regnans, known variously as mountain ash (in Victoria), giant ash or swamp gum (in Tasmania), or stringy gum, is a species of very tall forest tree that is native to the Australian states of Tasmania and Victoria. It is a straight-trunked tree with smooth grey bark, but with a stocking of rough brown bark at the base, glossy green, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of between nine and fifteen, white flowers, and cup-shaped or conical fruit. It is the tallest of all flowering plants; the tallest measured living specimen, named Centurion, stands 100 metres (328 feet) tall in Tasmania.

After that we drive back to the hotel, drop off our stuff and walk to Tesoro for dinner. It's a nice place that serves mildly fancy Italian. I get an Amaretto Sour (tasty but in a glass with a huge ice cube) and the pappardelle with a beef and pork sauce. Cher gets kale salad, risotto, and some elderberry cocktail that takes a long time to make. She thinks it tastes like a smartie. Everything is good. Cher really likes her meal. She has affogato, but with chocolate ice cream and frangelico. I get a tasty Port. 

Back to the hotel to pack. In bed by 8:30. 

Total Steps: 13,708

Total Miles: 6.66

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28

Up around 6:30. We clean up, finish up the packing, 

We drive to Lazy Brunch for breakfast, a Korean brunch place. It's about 10 minutes away oddly placed along a street of car dealerships. It's really nice and has a lot of yummy looking food. I order apple juice, and honey glazed fried chicken French toast (crispy Korean style fried chicken with fully scrambled eggs and golden French toast served with a sweet and spicy sauce). Cher gets pancakes with eggs, bacon and her standard almond milk cappuccino. The food is ok - the siracha style sauce on mine isn't great. Chers pancakes are kinda dense. 

The drive to the Hobart Airport takes about 20 minutes. On the way we call United and move to an earlier flight from Houston. We drop the car back off at Hertz, and walk to check in. We are checked in but we need to drop off our luggage. There are no issues with the process or screening and we have about 40 minutes before we board. 

Hobart International Airport is pretty small - 6 gates, and a few small shops. Though there is some construction going on so it probably will be nicer and bigger the next time we come :) 

Unfortunately our flight is delayed for mechanical issues for almost 2 hours. Not a big deal since we aren't in a rush and have nothing to do today anyway. 

We are on Qantas flight QF 994 to Sydney, in seats 3A/B. The plane is a Boeing 737-800 (twin-jet) (B738). Ultimately we get going and we're in Sydney in about 2 hours.

We wait maybe 15 minutes to get our bags and get a taxi to the Rydges Hotel. It's just a few minutes away at the international terminal. I am pre-checked in, so I have to go to a little terminal, pick a room, and it spits out a room key. Which of course doesn't unlock the door. Good system. 

We drop our bags off and walk down the road to the taxi pick up area at the terminal. It's about 30 minutes to Sydney and we get dropped off at Santa Catarina, an “authentic Oaxacan restaurant”. Oaxaca (pronounced “wa-HA-ka”) is a state in Mexico. It's been hard for Cher to find a place - lots of places are closed on Tuesday for some reason. 

Its a very cute place - a little dark. They sit us at a corner table, so we have to sit TV date style. Cher orders a cheese empanada, a field salad (basically veggies) , and squash blossom tacos. I get a chorizo thing, carne asada tacos, and we share the mole tasting (because it comes with extra tortillas). Cher orders a passionfruit margaritas (which is smoky for some reason), and I get a Young Henry IPA (not great) and then a Pale Ale (much better). Cher loves her meal - my chorizo is good (especially the pomegranate sauce). The carne asada isn't for me - very rare, with a spicy sauce I don't like. We get creme brulee with a churro for dessert. It's ok. 

We walk a little in the area before catching an Uber back to the hotel. It's a pretty area near the Town Hall, and an old building that's been converted into a high end shops arcade. We stop at a Haigh’s chocolate store and get a small sampler - i dont remember what but most of them were fine.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29

We wake up around 6:30, and head to the bar on the first floor for some breakfast. They only have pastries (apparently there is another restaurant that has a buffet). But it's fine to get coffee and juice. 

The international terminal is just a few minutes walk from the hotel, and there's basically no line at the united check in. Unfortunately, unlike what we were told when we changed the flight yesterday, our bags will not be transferred to our flight to Philly automatically. So we will have to pick up our bags, recheck them in, and then make the 2nd flight. We'll see if that's possible. 

We go to the Air NZ lounge because we have 90 minutes before we board. It's comfy, but the food isn't much. I get an English Muffin and some peanut butter. Cher gets some eggs and toast. The coffee is not as good as the United guy suggests. 

We get some snacks and get to the gate a few minutes before boarding. We are in seats 3D and 3A. Same seats as before. We are on flight UA 100, from Sydney to Houston. Flight time is 15:35. The plane is a Boeing 787-9. 

About an hour int they give us our main meal. Nuts, seared chicken breast with smashed potato kipfers, grilled broccolini and salsa Verde for me, with Bells Two Hearted IPA. Cher has casarecce, pasta with coconut pumpkin sauce, sweet potato and zucchini. Ice cream for dessert.

Flights fine, but long. Even though we take our ambien we don't sleep. We have an hour to get through border security, get our bags, get to the next terminal, and check our bags again. When we leave border security, there is a place to check bags for connecting flights. The staff person tells us to go to a different lane, which I can tell is the wrong lane (for people with no bags to check). But I figure we would be checking in at the next terminal - but that's not the case. We immediately go back through security. So they take all the liquor, gifts, etc. Fucking annoying. 

We get to the gate basically right before boarding and make it on to the plane. We don't check out bags and find space for them. The flight is fine - we are in seats 9A/B which are “plus” but they still feel very tight. 

We land around 4:30, get off the plane, and go to Tara's to get the doggles. Back home by 7:00 pm. 

OVERALL IMPRESSION:

Cool places: Adelaide, Kangaroo Island, Tasmania, Port Douglas, Sydney 

Beautiful scenery. Trees everywhere even in cities. 

More hills/mountains than expected, especially in the cities 

Reef was pretty but not so much better than other snorkeling we've done. 

Clean. public bathrooms everywhere 

Food - hit or miss. Breakfast very standard at most places. 

Driving not bad. Lots of good scenery outside cities. 

Big ass country. 

Chile, 2023

CHILE 2023

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2023

We packed the dogs and cat into the car around 11:45 am. Because our kitchen renovation is not done we have to leave them all at Tara's. Floki makes it almost the way to Tara's before he throws up. Stache is also whining more than she usually does in the car. 

The doggles are excited to see Enzo and New Mommy. We set Stache up in their basement, and she immediately starts wandering around to check it out. I'm glad she also eats some of the food I put down. 

We're flying out of JFK, and it's normally a 2:00 drive there from Tara's, but once we hit Staten Island we start hitting traffic. And once we cross the Verrazano Bridge into Brooklyn, we come to a dead stop. The Belt Parkway is basically stop and go traffic for the entire rest of the trip, and it takes us 3 hours total. 

We paid for long-term parking for once (because the day rates at the terminals are ridiculous). The lot is at the end of the air tram train, but it's only a 10 minute ride to our terminal. 

We aren't checking bags, so we go to the PreCheck line, which is pretty short. However our boarding passes are being rejected, so we have to go to the Latam Air ticket desk to get paper boarding passes. It adds another 10 minutes or so, but we get through the security screen with no issues.

We only have a few minutes but our gate is nearby, so we pick up some snacks and neck pillows. We get to the gate as boarding is happening but it's not a crazy line. We are in 16K/J. We didn't get upgraded even though business class is only half full. We have no issues fitting our overhead bags. 

We sit in the plane for about 30 minutes before takeoff…and at the last minute, a family comes on the plane. There's some confusion as to where they are sitting but ultimately the mother takes the window seat. 

We sit on the plane for around an hour before we actually take off. Dinner is chicken with rice for me (ok) and pasta for Cher. Cher watches movies. I read "Nothing But A Good Time", an oral history of hair metal. It's ok. I don't even try to sleep and Cher doesn't really get much sleep. 

The flight is fine. Total time is 10 hours in the air. We don't have to get up much and the seats are fine. The woman next to us basically sleeps the entire flight and never gets up.

Steps - 8,746

Miles - 4.15

Calories - 341

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2023

We land in Santiago around 7 am (5 pm eastern time). There's a few minute walk to border control, and a pretty long line to get through. It takes maybe 15 minutes, but these lines usually feel longer than they actually are. 

After passing through border control, our bags are screened and we have to display a certificate that we aren't bringing animals or plants in. There's only one person collecting these forms, so there's a really long line. Cher just cuts right in so we don't have to wait long. 

Cher remembers that we got lost here the last time heading from international arrivals to domestic departures…but I figured out that we need to walk across the road. It's a beautiful summer morning. Cool and not humid.

Because we had issues with the boarding passes at JFK we went to a kiosk and printed out new boarding passes for the next flight. There's a decent line for security, but get through without issue. It's a good thing Cher booked the later flight to Calama, because we would have almost certainly missed an earlier connection.  But that means we have 2 hours to kill, which we do at Starbucks. 

We happen to be sitting right at the gate we need to be at so that's convenient. The flight to Calama is 2 hours, and it's painless. There is some confusion getting off the plane because they are trying to deplane by rows (maybe - they only did the announcement in Spanish).

We meet the driver at the exit, along with Joe and Molly, who are also from Philly. They flew through Miami. 

The airport is about 75 minutes from the resort. The drive is through the desert. There is a small town near the airport, and the desert. We passed some wind and solar farms. There are mountains in the distance that have snow covered peaks which is surprising. 

We see small roadside memorials along the drive (I assume they are memorials of some kind) 

The Tierra Atacama hotel is in the small town of San Pedro de Atacama, which sits in a small oasis in the desert. There are mud brick buildings and walls everywhere. We are at 8,000 feet here, and I do feel a little short of breath here and there initially. 

The hotel is very nice, but maybe could use a refresh. We're greeted by Laura (?) who is one of the managers. We fill out our guest paperwork and she tells us a little about the hotel. Then Fernando, one of the guides, helps us set up our excursions. We plan something for all 4 days we're here, including the strenuous hike up Cerro Toco [Toco Volcano] up to 5,604 m (18,386 ft). 

We head to our room which is nice, but could use some minor updates. Along the way we pass gardens filled with huge pomegranate trees, fig bushes, and Hollyhocks of different colors. There are large Chañar trees everywhere. We are in a string of rooms that have a view of the mountains on a little sitting patio with chairs and a couch. We shower, and jump into bed around 3:30 pm. The bed is very comfortable and we fall right asleep. 

We set the alarm for 8:30, but we decided not to get up for dinner, and just sleep through the night. We both take some time to fall back asleep but ultimately we sleep most of the night. I set another alarm for 6:30, and we need it.

Steps - 5,792

Miles - 2.71

Calories - 227

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023

We get up with the alarm at 6:30. The sun is just starting to rise over the mountains surrounding the town. We shower and head to breakfast around 7.  Breakfast is the typical resort continental breakfast. The croissants aren't great (they have an odd sweetness to them) but the eggs and pancakes are fine. Cher has strawberry juice which is surprisingly sweet, but in a good way.

We head back to the room to grab our gear before we go on a bike ride to the salt flats at Laguna Cejas. I'm feeling a little stuffy and short of breath, from the altitude I guess. 

There are lots of dogs barking in the distance, and roosters crowing.

We met our tour guide Diego, and our driver Chris for our 11 mile bike ride to Laguna Cejas. We are with a group of 6. We get fitted for our mountain bikes and helmets, and get driven a few miles to a drop off point. From there, it's a 11 km (6.8 miles) ride to the lagoon. ⅔ of the ride is flat dirt road, and the last ⅓ is a bumpier dirt road. 

The salt flats sit between 3 mountain ranges - the Andes to the west (with snow peaks), the Salt Mountains (???) and the Cordillera Domeyko mountains to the east. 

There are some changing rooms and bathroom ls at Laguna Cejas where we put on our bathing suit's. There are lots of short green plants (brea?) with little purple leaves all around the lagoon, and which are more green right now because it had strong rains last week. 

There are two lagoons here but you only swim in one. it's cold but not freezing to get in, and it's a weird sensation to not sink. But it's neat and the view of the mountains is so cool. We don't stay long…maybe 10 minutes and then head back to the car for the drive back to the resort. 

Back in the room for some fun and a shower. Then we head to the spa to book massages for after we hike the volcano on Wednesday. Lunch is at 1 so we sit outside the restaurant and have a drink. I have a Kross stout, which is a Chilean microbrew brand, and it's tasty, and Cher has a mixed bourbon drink that is ok too.

Lunch isn't great. The food is fine but it's fancy, and it's a limited menu. Cher has avocado soup and a quinoa salad. I have a greens salad that has breaded brie cheese that Cher eats, and a pork belly on noodles. Not a fan of pork belly but the noodles weren't bad. 

After lunch we talked to Molly and Joe for a while. Seem like nice people. They live off Rittenhouse Square. Molly is a nurse educator and Joe is a financial engineer. Cher thinks he works for the hedge fund owned by that rich guy from Antarctica. Cher has a sparkling rose, and I have an Atacama Soul (some peach liquor, peach juice and rick milk). it's ok. 

At 4:30 we meet our guide Sébastien for a drive to the Laguna Chaxas salt flats to see flamingos. There are 8 of us, including Molly and Joe. There's a couple from Wisconsin and an older couple from Auckland. We see a dust tornado off the side of the road. We pass the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observatory office. We can't see the actual dishes, which are over the Andes. 

On the way we stop at a small town called Toconao. There are only 700 or so people who live here. We see a small group of dancers celebrating a carnival. There's a small church that has a roof of cardona wood, a local cactus. It has a lot of holes and is cool looking. We see some cute dogs - they look less like street dogs and more like clearly different breeds. We also see a man walking a small llama on a leash.  We see a small shop with touristy stuff and Cher gets pulled into the dance circle. 

Leaving the town we pass Lascar Volcano, which is the most active volcano in Chile. It erupted two months ago. It releases just ash, not lava. There's also small rain showers off in the distance to the right. 

It takes about 10 minutes to get to Laguna Chaxas. They hand out binoculars which is nice. it's truly in the middle of nothing. Just rough dirt all around and a salt pool in the middle. They play classic rock on the radio. 

We are at Los Flamencos National Reserve. We see Andean Flamingos. There's a fair amount. We also see a few Puna Plover (small grey birds) and some black and white Andean Anocets.

When we get back to the van, they offer us sodas, beers, chocolate, or nuts. A nice touch. Cher has a diet coke and I have a Fanta. We also took some chocolates. We see two random wild donkeys walking in the middle of nowhere. Once we get into town we see a bunch of people gathering to celebrate Carnival. They all have white paint on their faces, which has something to do with hating the Spanish. 

Dinner isn't great for me. It's another limited menu - 3 starter options and 3 main course options. It seems there's always a fish option for each too. The starters were carrot soup, some fish, and beetroot salad. I had carrot soup, which was good. The dinner options were a spinach ravioli with pumpkin and ricotta, some fish something, and ostrich. I had the spinach ravioli which I didn't like but Cher did. At least the portions are small. Dessert was ok. Cher had some fruit /meringue cake thing. The fruit part was ok. I had 3 local ice cream flavors: Rica Rica (which has a plant-like flavor), chañar (the small fruit's that are everywhere around, which was kinda like caramel or dulce de leche, and something else, which was supposed to be like a coffee flavor. All were OK. 

Unfortunately our star gazing night was canceled because of clouds, though after dinner we walked out to the pool area and most of the sky was clear. Even with the resort lighting you can tell the sky is unreal here. 

We went back to the room around 9:30, and got ready for bed. 

Steps - 16,512

Miles - 7.68

Calories - 656

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2023 - 50th BIRTHDAY

Wake up at 7:15, after we sleep through the night. Big breakfast and then preparing for our morning hike to Vallecito (Little Valley). Our guide is Camilo, and our driver is Johnny. It’s an easy hike through a valley in the Salt Mountains. 

The landscape is otherworldly. Big salt mounds, mixed with gypsum, sand, and mud. It looks like Mars - all red and desolate. The entire hour we only see one small dry bush. The salt is crunchy to walk on because the water doesn't flow…it just evaporates. 

Of course we also see pipeline markers. Apparently there's a pipeline that flows east to west between Bolivia (to the west) and Argentina (to the east). Chile and Bolivia don't get along (the War of the Pacific was fought over this area in the late 19th century). There is an amazing view of the basin at the end of the walk, and a small sand dune, but we don't run down.

Back at the bar before lunch. Cher orders a Pingo Pingo (whisky, licor 43, pisco, orange and lemon juice, pingo pingo syrup, artichoke bitter, albumin (powdered egg whites). It’s not bad. I ordered a New York Sour (bourbon, orange juice, lemon juice, simple syrup, and carménère liquor). We sit by the pool and talk to Joe/Molly and Bonnie/John, who are from Wisconsin. 

We have lunch inside. We each get the greens salad, which is ok, and the linguine in a creamy pepper sauce, which is tasty. Cher tries a chocolate/orange cake, which isn't great (too wet) and I have passion fruit sorbet which is ok but really sour.

After dinner we sit by the pool and veg for a little while. Then we go to the indoor spa pool, which is like the one in Sri Lanka in that it has jets but no obvious way to turn them on. Like most of the buildings here, it could use a refresh. 

Our afternoon excursion is a hike through a river canyon in Guatin Gatchi valley. This will be the first "medium" hike we do, and it's up to 10,000 ft or so, so it will be interesting to see how we feel. Gonzalo is our guide. 

The ride over is slow and bumpy. But it's worth it because the river canyon is gorgeous. There are sandstone and basalt walls lined with giant cardón cactuses. These cacti are extremely slow growing (1 cm per year!) so some of these are hundreds of years old. 

The river is relatively low but it does flow throughout the year. There are waterfalls all along the way, some of decent size too. The hike has a number of difficult spots, but it's very fun and the landscape is gorgeous.

There's also other plant life, a lot of which we've seen all around the basin. We see:

Vasal? (small red flower in valley)

Some salty leaf (also used in ice cream) (No photo) 

Rica rica - tiny green leaves and white small (tastes like eucalyptus). 

As we leave the canyon we hike another 15 minutes or so to van, for the 30 minutes ride home. One of the young Brazilian guys (who may be in a thruple), leans his gross armpit on the hanging seat belt.

Back to the resort at 7:20 for a quick shower. There's a special barbecue dinner tonight. We sit with Joe/Molly and the Wisconsin couple (Pat and Bonnie). The food is ok. Cher gets a pisco sour but I end up drinking most of it. I got an Austral Calafate, which is really good. They also have wine on the table - most (all?) of the wine here is from Chile. Cher has some Lapostolle Carmenère which apparently is a grape variety that grows best in Chile. it's not bad, as red wine goes. 

Cher has different salads, potatoes, some rice and there's a weird baked pepper with cheese and egg. I have a chorizo, a beef filet that is really rare, some corn and a baked potato. it's ok. 

We stay until 9:30 or so and they remind us that the stargazing is canceled again…but as we walk back the sky is very clear, so it's weird that they canceled it again. 

In bed by 10:20, for our 5:15 am alarm to see the El Tatio Geiser. A very nice 50th Birthday. 

Steps - 18,220

Miles - 8.44

Calories - 718. 

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2023

Up with the alarm. Neither of us slept very well for some reason. Lots of tossing and turning. We put on warmer clothes and head to the lobby. Cher has some coffee and I have a banana. 

Our guide is Lancelot. We are with a group of 8, some of whom we've seen before. There's a cute white and orange cat meowing loudly by the door. Apparently there are 5 house cats that live on the property. This one looked nice and healthy and let me give it a few head scratches. 

The sky overhead is still very clear. 

Lancelot says the ride will be 45 minutes. It takes 75. Cher feels a little nauseous from the bumps. We do see some flamingos and vicuña (the littlest camelid) along the way. it's colder when we arrive but the sun soon crests the Andes and it's very comfortable from then on. We are very close to the border apparently. 

The Tatio Geysers are neat. Small pools with small eruptions and lots of steam, not like the geyser in Iceland. This is the 2nd largest geyser in the world after Yellowstone. We walk around one area and then drive to another area with more geysers. We both are a little short of breath but nothing troubling. 

We note that the bathrooms are pretty clean and well stocked for places in the middle of nowhere really. 

We drove a little while to a small lagoon area for our breakfast. There are flamingos, some ducks, and some gulls. 

They lay out some deli meats, cheeses, eggs, and stuff like that. It's a nice place to have breakfast. A pack of llamas (domesticated guanacos) walks by, along with a pair of vicuñas. 

On the way home we pass a “Suri” (a Rhea Ostrich) (no photos) and stop at the wetlands near Volcán Putana (active with wisps of white smoke). It's a huge crater with lots of birds including Guayata (large white bird near wetlands). 

Stop at another small lagoon with Chilean Flamingos (more pink, no black tail) and some common Andean ducks. 

We see a small family of Vacunas (with a baby maybe a week old) crossing the road, and a bunch of donkeys). 

Back at the hotel around noon. We change and head to the pool for a little rest before lunch. Cher has a Cactus (pisco 40°, limón, green apple, basil, simple syrup), and I get a Pisco Sour. Lunch isn't great again. There's a bad beef option, so we both get curry vegetables. The curry and rice is good but I wasn't a fan of the rest. We ordered two appetizers for Cher because none of them work for me: a pumpkin soup with cheese and a "Chilean salad" which is just tomatoes with red onions and olives. 

After lunch we head back to the pool. It's a perfect day. A few clouds in the sky but dry and comfortable.

We are in the hot tub at 2:45 when we realize that our afternoon excursion is at 3 and not 4, so we skip the hike through Rainbow Valley. We head to the room for some fun, and then back to the pool. Cher gets a cappuccino, and I get an Austral Patagonia 508 Pale Ale, which is very tasty. It's a perfect afternoon for sitting in the shade and chilling. 

Back to the room to get cleaned up for dinner and we get a call letting us know that we're going to try stargazing tonight. 

We go to dinner at 6:30. Cher orders a Piedras Rojas (bourbon, almond milk, chañar liqueur, and Cinnamon). I ordered the New York Sour again. We both use Gentlemen Jack (Daniels whisky). Good drinks. 

Dinner isn't great for me. They have nothing I'd eat. The meat is lamb chop, the fish is a fish, and the vegetarian option is a Spanish quiche. Cher orders that, and I order the lamb because it comes with sweet potato puree. I have chocolate and vanilla ice cream (good) , and Cher has tiramisu (ok) for dessert. 

At 9 we meet our group for our stargazing. They break the groups up into 2 groups because there are a lot of people. It's good that we are in the 9 o'clock group and not the 10 o'clock group. But because there are two groups they shorten the time we are out. 

it's still Carnivale (technically it's Fat Tuesday too) so there are busy roads even at this time. The driver has to back up to make room for another car, and breaks the passenger side mirror. 

It's a short drive to a small house where there is a bigger telescope (in a maybe 12 foot tall enclosure), and two standalone telescopes. Our guide explains stuff about how to know where different sky planes (?) are, how to tell time, points out constellations we can see, and the Pleiades and the large Magellanic cloud. Everyone gets to look through the different telescopes but I run off to take a Milky Way photo using the large telescope thing as a foreground. I only have 20 minutes or so but I manage to get some stuff quickly. It's too early to see the Milky Way core, it's so nothing special but I got something.

Back at the hotel around 10:30 for bed. 

Steps - 12,063

Miles - 5.6

Calories - 473

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2023

Up at 7:30 for our Cerro Toco volcano hike. I had woken up in the middle of the night with my left hand really itchy. Something bit me. 

Basic breakfast, and then we meet our guide Christian. We are in a 4Runner with two folks from Brazil. It's an hour ride to Toco. The other car has Molly/Joe and the blond woman (Allison) who talks a lot, and speaks Spanish. 

On the drive we see a Viscacha, a rabbit-like rodent sitting on rocks (there’s only a phone photo). 

We drive up to around 5,000 meters (16,000 feet), and then start to climb from there. It's cold but not too windy and it's crystal clear skies. We each get hiking polls, and start going up, very slowly. The Brazilian woman thinks we are going too slowly so she takes off with another guide. Her older husband follows her but he's not as fast as her. 

We go very slowly to make sure we don't get dizzy or otherwise sick, and it's a good thing. It is harder to breathe as you get hired. There's snow on the ground but it's mostly packed so it's not hard to walk on. But we all make out fine.

Half way up I take my water bottle out, and it slips through my fingers…dropping on the ground and sliding down to a rock a few hundred meters down. One of the guides from another tour ran down the hill and brought it back up!

About ⅔ of the way up we took a few minutes break to have some water and some snacks (chocolate). It was getting more windy so I put on my puffy coat for the rest of the climb. 

The last ⅓ wasn't much tougher than the rest, but my hands were getting very cold. We only had lightweight gloves and that wasn't enough for the 30-ish degrees weather. But we made it to the top and got some high-fives. It probably took 2 ½ hours to go up, but I didn't check the time. I carried my backpack with my camera the entire way, but my hands were so cold I just used my phone for photos.

Cerro Toco (Toco Volcano) is approximately 5,600 meters (~18,400 feet). It's slightly higher than Basecamp at Everest, which is pretty cool. And the 360° views were awesome. On one side was Bolivia, and the other was the Andes. 

After hanging out for a few minutes, we started back down. It probably took an hour to get down, at most. I thought it was harder than the way up because we went much quicker, and the altitude decline really messed with my head. Plus my left middle finger was frozen for most of the decline. My brain was getting very fuzzy by the time we reached the cars, but I made it down (tho with a killer headache and some wobbly legs). Cher had no issues with the decline at all. 

Once we got back to the cars I felt better, though it took some time for my finger to regain feeling. We hopped back in the car for the hour ride back to the resort. 

We quickly changed and went to lunch. We had Carol again and she's super friendly, but Cher ordered an iced tea and Carol brought her lemonade. I had a Fanta.

There was no appetizer on the menu, but Cher loved her mushroom ceviche. We both ordered rice noodles with vegetables, and they were very good. They also had a steak option I passed on. Cher tried an Oreo cheesecake (which was ok, not very cheesy) and I got vanilla and chañar ice cream. It was a good combination. 

At 4 we head to the Spa for our massages. I got a basic 30 minute massage, which was fine, and mostly focused on my back, shoulders, neck, arms, and head. Cher got a longer stone massage. Both are fine. It doesn't do much for my headache even though the massager spends a lot of time on my head and neck. 

After the massages we hang by the pool and then go back to the room to start packing, and organizing our money for tips. We leave specific tips for the guides, and our primary waiters Carol and Raphela (?), and then general money for the rest of the staff. 

We grab drinks (Stout for me, sparkling rosé for Cher) at  7 and sit in a 4 person table, waiting for Joe and Molly. Dinner is fine. For appetizers I have zucchini soup (eh) and Cher has something I forgot. For dinner I have NY strip steak (ok but undercooked) and Cher has polenta gnocchi (ok). Cher has an almond torte for dessert (ok) and I have more of the chañar and vanilla ice cream. 

Joe (actual name Charles) and Molly (actual name Margaret) are nice. Early 40s, just married. Live in a rented condo on Rittenhouse Square. Molly had breast cancer and it sounds like it has been removed but she still needs some surgeries. They will be flying to Patagonia today and we'll see them at Tierra Patagonia too. 

After dinner we head to the room and we are in bed by 9:30. We both have trouble sleeping and are up in the middle of the night. At 3:45 I go out to the pool area to try and take photos of the Milky Way. I tried a few different compositions using some trees by the pool area. The sky is beautiful and the Milky Way core is visible. I see a few shooting stars too. For some reason the area smells like soft pretzels. 

I go back to the room around 5:30 am.

Steps - 6,760

Miles - 3.11

Calories - 266

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2023

We woke up at 8:00 am. Our transfer to the El Loa airport in Calama is 11:20 so we have time. Normal breakfast - Carol helps us again - and then we hang by the pool for an hour or so before finishing our packing and checking out. 

The ride to the airport is about 75 minutes. We have boarding passes so we don't need to check in. There is no line to get to security and we're through in no time. They checked our boarding passes but not our passports. 

It's a small regional airport - only 5 gates, and a few shops (including a Sunglass Hut). We have an hour before we board so we just sit. There's a small cafe that has donuts so we have a nutella one and an oreo one. They are a little hard but very tasty. They are cake ring donuts that have glazing and cream inside too.

We have no issues getting on the plane with our stuff. The Latam air planes have all been pretty new and in good shape. The flight back to Santiago is 2 hours. After we land we get some money from the ATM and get a cab to the W Hotel.  

We check in, drop our stuff off, and go to one of the restaurants for some food. There's one with an open air terrace, and we get some pizza (margherita for Cher, pepperoni for me). I eat the whole thing, and Cher eats a few pieces. She has some blueberry spritz drink, and I have another Caliphate. 

We go back to our room and watch some TV at 7:30 before bed. We have a 5:30 am Uber pick up to go back to the airport. We can't use many of our streaming services overseas, but Netflix does work, so we watch the first half of the Pamela Anderson documentary. 

Steps - 4,721

Miles - 2.24

Calories - 187

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2023

Terrible night sleep. It's too hot in the room, we're on the wrong side of the bed, and I'm snoring a lot. 

My alarm goes off at 5:00 am. Quick showers and we're ready for our 5:30 Uber. We get to the airport in probably 15 minutes or so, and we get through security with a minimal line. We have about 90 minutes to boarding, so we just sit and wait. Cher wanders to get some food. 

I've had no mobile access in Santiago. Cher is fine though. Very odd. 

There's an "outdoors" shop here so I bought another pair of long pants, some warm socks, and a hat. It seems like it will be more rainy in Patagonia than I expected. 

Getting on the plane is no issue, but before we take off they have us wait on the Runway for a while, and then they taxi us back to the gate because of a computer issue. We sit there for a few minutes before they decide to change the plane. So we have to disembark. 

But we don't have to wait that long for another plane. Just an hour later we're on a new plane, and this time we take an entire row just for ourselves (because it was empty on the first flight). 

The flight’s fine - only 3 hours to Aeródromo Teniente Julio Gallardo. It's mostly cloudy when we arrive, but this specific area is a small port town. Not huge but certainly more what we expected from Chile. We meet our driver but then we have to wait a while for the other people in our bus to arrive. 

The trip to Tierra Patagonia is about an hour. There are small welcome bags for us, with water, trail mix, and chocolate. The initial landscape near the airport is a wide plain, with big jagged mountains on one side, and lower, softer hills on the other. Then we enter the hills and see beautiful hillsides with gnarled trees, some large farmland for cows and horses, and beautiful lakes. It reminds us of New Zealand. We pass a guy on a horse with three small dogs herding cattle. 

I'm having sharp periodic pains in a very specific spot on the back of my head. It's something I've had before and think it's Occipital Neuralgia. It should be temporary, but it's been a few hours now. I'm also starting to get sick - a little tickle in my throat (spoiler - it will end up being Covid). 

We checked in at Tierra Patagonia, which is gorgeous. Then we sit with Kiteret (a nice woman in a wheelchair) who handles excursions. We set up a full five-day schedule, mostly all day excursions. We're talking 9-14 miles of hiking per day. She warns us about dry clothing, but we think we'll be ok. We also set up massages for later this week. 

Our room (and all rooms) looks out directly on Lake Sarmiento, which is surrounded by hills and mountain peaks. 

Sarmiento Lake is a lake located in Torres del Paine National Park, in the Magallanes Region of southern Chile. It is named after Spanish explorer Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, and gives its name to one of the areas in the National Park Torres del Paine. Its edge is marked by extensive calcium carbonate "Thrombolites" deposits, possibly from hydrothermal activity in the lake. 

The view from the hotel is stunning. It's at the end of a very long hallway. It's very basic but nice. We take a bath, a shower, and then head to the bar for a pre-dinner drink. Cher gets the cocktail of the day, which is some sort of margarita. It's fine. I have a Hernando de Magallanes Brown Ale which is very good. It’s very windy out. 

My headache is happening less and less so that's good. 

Dinner is ok. Cher has carrot soup and a zucchini pizza. I have linguini off the kids menu, and mango sorbet. We go right to bed because we have a 7 am departure. 

Steps - 4,728

Miles - 2.23

Calories - 186.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2023

I slept terribly - my head issue continues until I take an Advil at 3:30 am. But Cher slept fine. We get up with the alarm at 6, get some quick breakfast (it's basically the same) and meet our guide Lucas at 7. They give us trail mix and chocolate snacks. 

It's very windy but it's not super cold or rainy yet. The drive to Lake Grey takes about 75 minutes. Once we get to Torres del Paines National Park we start climbing up through the hills, passing a cool light blue lake (very Salty) and other cool lakes. We pass the Horns but they are mostly covered by clouds right now. 

The landscape of the park is dominated by the Paine massif, which is an eastern spur of the Andes located on the east side of the Grey Glacier, rising dramatically above the Patagonian steppe. Small valleys separate the granite spires and mountains of the massif. These are: Valle del Francés (French Valley), Valle Bader, Valle Ascencio, and Valle del Silencio (Silence Valley).

The head of French Valley is a cirque formed by tall cliffs. The colossal walls of Cerro Cota 2000 and Cerro Catedral punctuate the western region of the Valley. Cerro Cota 2000 is named for its elevation; its highest contour line is about 2,000 m (6,562 ft). Cerro Catedral is named so because its east face resembles a cathedral's facade. To the north stands the granite arête called Aleta de Tiburón (English: Shark's Fin). To the east, from north to south, lie the peaks Fortaleza (Fortress), La Espada (The Sword), La Hoja (The Blade), La Máscara (The Mummer), Cuerno Norte (North Horn), and Cuerno Principal (Main Horn).

In the Valley of Silence, the gigantic granite walls of Cerro Fortaleza and Cerro Escudo (Shield Mountain) stand face to face with the western faces of the Torres del Paine. Ascencio Valley is the normal route to reach the Torres del Paine lookout, which is located at the bank of a milky green tarn. The highest mountain of the group is Paine Grande, whose height was measured in 2011 using GPS and found to be 2,884 m (9,462 ft).

The Southern Patagonian Ice Field mantles a great portion of the park. Glaciers include the Dickson, the Grey, and the Tyndall.

Among the lakes are the Dickson Lake, Nordenskjöld Lake, Lake Pehoé, Grey Lake, Sarmiento Lake, and Del Toro Lake. Only a portion of the latter is within the borders of the park. All are vividly colored, most due to rock flour suspended in their waters. The main river flowing through the park is Paine River. Most of the rivers and lakes of the park drain into Última Esperanza Sound via Serrano River

As we move farther and farther west, it starts raining hard. We stopped at the Lago Grey hotel, which is on the edge of Lago Grey (Grey Lake). When we picked up our tickets they told us that we can't get the catamaran to the drop off point because of the wind and hard rain, so we won't be able to do the glacier suspension bridge today. We might be able to get there later in the week if the weather is better. 

Lucas suggests some shorter hikes that would at least get us outside, and we collectively determine that we should have a half day and then go back to the hotel. 

The first hike is 2.2 km up and down some rock/plant areas that overlook Lago Grey. The landscape is full of short, hardy bushes. Very reminiscent of Iceland or New Zealand. It's cool with on and off drizzle, and really strong wind gusts. There are some pretty views. 

The second hike is supposed to be to a waterfall near a lake, but it's raining a lot harder, and there are 85 kph winds. So we're going back to the resort. 

We get back at 12:30, make a quick pit stop in the room and then go to lunch. Cher orders an espresso martini and I get the Hernando de Magallanes Imperial Stout. it's nice and roasty. Because it's so windy they put the central fire on in the main hall. 

Lunch is ok. We both have the green leaf salad with pickled vegetables. I have the baked brisket, which is basically pot roast, and Cher has a lentil soup type thing with tofu. We try the Chocolate/whisky and Caliphate cake. It's ok. 

After lunch we restructure our excursion schedule - we add the Laguna Azul (Blue Lagoon) and reschedule our Glacier hike to Friday.  It's a pretty easy hike - we see some Guanacos, and the Horns are very clear on the drive over. But the view is covered in clouds by the time we start our hike.

We hike near Laguna Amarga. It's windy, and there are lots of burned Lengas trees from a 2005 wildfire. The view of the Horns mostly clears up as we crest the hills. It’s a very easy walk. 

We drive to the Torres del Paine Cascades waterfall. It's part of the Paine River which surround the Cordillera Paine. It’s beautiful. The sun is peeking through the clouds on and off. 

Paine River (Río Paine) is a river located in the Magallanes Region of Chile. The river rises from its source in Dickson Lake and flows east for nine kilometers (km) to Paine Lake. After flowing through the lake, the river runs for 15 km, first southward and then westward to Nordenskjöld Lake.[1] This part of the river's course includes the Paine Cascade.

From the mouth of Nordenskjöld Lake, the river flows for a short distance falling into Pehoe Lake. In this area the river forms a spectacular waterfall known as Salto Grande. Along the Paine River, and specifically in the vicinity of Salto Grande, are a variety of natural vegetation forms as well as certain wildlife species, including the wild guanaco.[2] After leaving lake Pehoe, the river forms another waterfall called Salto Chico and runs its last 6 km until emptying into the Del Toro Lake. Its lower course is wide and deep.[1]

Along its course the river borders the Cordillera del Paine.

Paine means "blue" in the native Tehuelche (Aonikenk) language and is pronounced PIE-nay.

Stop at Lago Paine (a green salt lake) with the Three Towers in the distance. Beautiful. 

Back to the resort around 7 pm. We jump in the pool to see what that's like, but we can't figure out how to open the door to the outside spa. About 5 minutes later these other guys open it, no problem. We were trying to open it, and you had to slide it,

Back to the room to clean up and go to dinner with Joe and Molly. I order a Pale Ale but the waitress somehow hears Lager and because there was a mistaken order (not surprising from our waitress tonight) there's literally a lager being carried around by another waiter so I just suck it up and take it. Dinner is rough for me (Guanacos!) so i just got pasta and salad again. Cher has some green soup and manicotti like pasta filled with spinach and cheese. Dessert is some ice cream for Cher and peach sorbet for me. 

Back to bed around 10 am for our 6 am alarm. 

Steps - 14,016

Miles - 6.56

Calories - 556

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2023

We both sleep well thankfully but I wake up more congested, and with a worse cough. Sucks for a like 10 mile hike. Ugh. The weather seems much calmer though so hopefully the wind isn't an issue. 

Breakfast sucks. Maybe because I'm sick everything is tasting off. For some reason even my Pineapple/Orange juice mixture tastes weird - it tastes like concentrated juice and not fresh. The eggs aren't great either. 

We met our guide Tomás at 7. They give us the crappy-sandwiches-and-goodies bag. We're in a small group with Joe and Molly only - Tomás calls us the "Balboa" team. We see the Horns mountains from the hotel, (near where we will be walking). The weather is warmer and comfortable, with mostly clouds but some breaks. 

As we get closer to the Horns they clear up so we stop at a lookout point to take some photos. Unreal. As we get moving again, we pick up a group from another tour that has a flat tire. 

Another 10 minutes to Lake Pehoé, where we catch our catamaran, along with a bunch of other people. 

Lake Pehoé (Spanish pronunciation: [peoˈe]) is a surface water body located in Torres del Paine National Park, in the Magallanes Region of southern Chile. The lake is fed mainly by Paine River through the Nordenskjöld Lake, but it also receives the waters of the outlet of Skottsberg Lake.

Paine River waters feeding the Pehoé Lake have emerged from the Salto Grande waterfall. In this upper reach of the Pehoe Lake watershed there are numerous flora and fauna, including grazing wild guanaco.

It's mostly cloudy but not too cold. Still it's windy with big gusts. We get on the catamaran and it's about 35 minutes to the other side of Lake Pehoe. There's another group of Tierra Patagonia guests on this boat too. 

We get off the boat and start hiking from a campground at 9:45 am. This is the French Valley hike. There's a ferry leaving at 5:00 pm, so we commit to making it back in time for that. The entire hike is 25-26 km (15.5 miles) round-trip. It's a beast. The first 8 km is basically flat with little hills. Our first stop is an Italian campground at the base of the valley. The second half of the hike is about 2.5 km (1.5 miles). It's rough. It's mostly uphill and through a forest of Nothofagus (Southern Beech). 

We stopped at the French Lookout which has a great view of the river and the Glaciar Frances (French Glacier). 

Valle del Frances, as it’s known locally, is home to the French Glacier (Glaciar Frances) and several points for admiring Cerro Paine Grande, the highest summit of the Cordillera Paine mountain range.

Valle del Frances (the French Valley) is a beautiful valley located on the southern side of the Cordillera Paine mountain group. The vale splits the range in between the peak of Cerro Paine Grande to the west and the Cuernos to the east. The hike through the French Valley is part of the famous Patagonian multi-day trail W-Trek. Most people would normally attempt it on their third day into the W-Trek.

The route takes you through the beautiful forests and mountains, terminating at Mirador Británico – its highest viewpoint. The viewpoint signifies both the end of the valley and the middle tip of the W-letter the W-Trek is named after. The visitors then retrace their steps to camping Italiano and continue to either Paine Grande or camping Frances, depending on the direction they do the W-Trek

Joe refills his water bottle from the river flowing through the valley - which is apparently a life goal. After the French Lookout, we keep hiking up to the Mirador Frances lookout. It's got an amazing view of the Glacier to the west, and the Horns to the east. 

We have about 15 minutes to sit and eat our lunch. I have an ok turkey and lettuce sandwich, which is fine but so dry. Cher has some veggie sandwich. We don't have much water so it's not great but it's something. 

In order to get back to the boat in time, we basically have to go back faster than we went. It's a lot faster going down, especially in the forest area, and even though it seems like it takes forever, we make it to the catamaran by 4:30. My feet are on fire, and my shoulders are beat up from carrying the camera backpack. It was definitely too much to carry - I didn't even use the tripod. 

On the way back I have "Never Let Me Down" in my head so I make up some parody lyrics:

♫ I'm taking a hike with my schmoop friend.

I hope we never do that hike again. 

Who knows where she's taking me. 

Taking me to see rock icy. 

I hope we never do that hike again. 

We're climbing high. 

We watching old men pass us by. 

Will we ever get down? 

Will we ever get our feet on the catamaran? 

While waiting for the boat, Tomás gives us some beer, soda, and little hors d'oeuvres. We get on the boat and head back to the car. As we get closer to the resort, we see a full rainbow crossing the sky in front of us. 

We each take much needed showers, and then meet Molly and Joe for dinner. We each have salad appetizers (me with no cheese, Cher with no ham). Cher has a stuffed avocado thing for dinner. I have beef stew with potatoes. The potatoes were good but everything else was ok. Everyone has carrot cake for dinner, and I have an apple tart. it's all ok. 

We decide to stick with the hike to the towers so we'll see how that goes. It's supposed to be very hard. Not sure I'm up for it.

In the room at 9, and in bed at 9:30.

Steps - 36,173

Miles - 16.95

Calories - 1,441

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2023

I sleep terribly. It's really warm in the room for some reason, even though it's very windy outside. So my head and chest is really congested, and it's hard to breathe and sleep. 

When the alarm goes off at 6:00, I decide not to do the hike to the Towers. Cher goes to tell them at 7 and they basically say this will be the only day it would be worth doing that hike, because the rest of the week will be cloudy and rainy. But they do set up a special hike to Hunters Trail for us anyway. 

Cher has an omelet for breakfast, and I have waffles. They are ok. 

It's not too cold outside, mostly sunny, and windy. 

Our guide is Anto (this is her first year) and our driver is Francisco. Anto plays a mix of Chilean pop music and mainstream American rock music (Aerosmith, RHCP). 

Hunters Trail is about 50 minutes from the resort. It's a 6 km walk. The view is pretty but there's not much to see. They say this usually has a lot of wildlife but maybe because we go out a little later, and it's bright sun and warmer, we see only one pack of Guanacos. 

We also get to see some cave paintings in a cool rocky area. 

Anto is fun - she's like 22 and unfiltered. She says we aren't missing much on the Towers hike - hard and a lot of people on a nice day. Our hike is pretty easy. 

Back to the hotel for lunch at 1. Cher has spinach soup and a roasted cauliflower. I have a salad with turkey and blueberries, and the cauliflower dish. It was pretty good. I have an Austral Torres Del Paine lager. It's ok. Cher has banana cake (which was like layers of banana bread with filling that reminded her of icebox cake). I had a poached pear thing which was ok. 

At 3 we meet our guide Ivan for horseback riding. It's 45 minutes to the small farm where there is a gaucho named Poncho. We put on leg guards and helmets, and meet our horses. Mine is a brown horse named something like "Vaspico". Something like "Shorty". Cheryl's is a white horse, - we don't remember the name. 

The ride is 2 hours through a small forest, and then down into a river valley. We cross some streams and take photos in front of a pretty waterfall. We also take photos on a lookout viewing the Grand Paine and the Towers. The horses are very calm and just follow the gaucho. Once or twice they trot for a few seconds. But it's a very pleasant ride. And the weather is beautiful - perfect day. 

After we get off they have the traditional snacks and drinks for us, and then we get in the truck to head back. 

The clouds here are so cool - they are overwhelmingly smooth, like paint strokes. I assume it's because of the winds over the mountains. 

Back to the hotel at 7:30 pm. We go right to dinner to get a drink. Cher has a white Russian and I have a mango sour which is really good. We talk to Tomás a little about their hike to the Towers. 

We have a quick dinner - Cher has just salad and potato soup (which is too oniony) and I have the burger (with bacon) and fries. The burger’s awful, the fries are good. 

Back to the room around 9:00, and we watch the last bit of the Pamela Anderson documentary and go to sleep. it's calm out so we leave the window open. I take an Ambien. 

Steps 23,276

Miles 10.87

Calories 933

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2023

Up at 6:00 with the alarm. We both sleep great. Ambien plus a cooler room works well. 

Quick breakfast as usual, and we meet Tomás at 7 for our attempt at seeing the glacier. We are in a group with Molly and Joe, and Dan, a guy we didn't meet before (ER doc from Dearborn Michigan). It's pouring rain at the hotel, but we have an hour drive to the Lake Grey place to get the catamaran. 

Near the entrance to the park we see a mother and 2 cubs eating by the side of the road. Very close to the street - maybe 10-20 feet on the side of the road. There's a bunch of people here but we get plenty of good views. It's also clearer and not rainy so it's perfect. 

After we enter the park it's more sunny and we see some rainbows (including a double rainbow) facing the west. But as we get closer to the lake it starts raining much harder again. Because the West side of the park is more wet there's more vegetation - it's mostly green with Ñirre trees (Antarctic Beech). 

At Lago Grey we actually get our boat tickets. It's still windy and rainy but apparently if we get on the catamaran we will do the hike. There's a 25 minute walk from the parking lot to the catamaran, over a rocky sandbar. There are strong wind gusts. 

The boat ride on Grey Lake is 15 km long to the edge of Grey Glacier.  There’s no life in the lake. The glacier moves and creates a layer of sediment on top which blocks light. We see a few floating icebergs. The ride isn't too bumpy but apparently a lot of people got seasick. None of us did. 

After we get off it's a short walk to our starting point at a camping site. The first 2 km are through a really old mountain forest, with super old lengas trees - like huge oaks. Gorgeous. The hike isn't too strenuous except for a few short uphill sections. There are 2 hanging bridges over waterfalls that are super fun. 

Along the way we see a bunch of lookout spots to see the Grey Glacier. We are only seeing one tongue, which is about 1 mile wide at the mouth - the main Glacier extends back beyond the eye can see.

Grey Glacier is a glacier in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, just west of the Cordillera del Paine. It flows southward into the lake of the same name. Before dividing in two at its front end, the glacier is 6 kilometers wide and over 30 meters high. In 1996, it occupied a total area of 270 km2 (100 sq mi) and a length of 28 km (17 mi).[2] In November 2017 a large iceberg broke off the glacier

The glacier has 3 "tongues". It’s 6 km wide. It's the 3rd largest ice field (not sure if this Glacier alone or this entire area). 

The final viewpoint is unreal - and the sun has come out at the perfect time. Behind us is another part of the Paine Mountains which we haven't seen before. All unreal. 

We hike back to the campsite for lunch. Cher has a hummus and goat cheese wrap, I have a chicken and lettuce sandwich. It's pretty late when we eat - almost 2:30. But it makes sense because we then have a long 11 km hike back to Lago Pehoé to pick up our 6:30 catamaran (the same place we took the catamaran for the French Valley). 

This is the last section of the "W" hike, along one of the lakes and past the Rio Olguín, a small but river in the valley. It's not too strenuous, though the first half of the time it's raining pretty steady, and there's still a lot of wind. Not the best conditions for a hike, but it's not too cold at least. We manage, and the latter half is much better, drier, weather. 

We make it to the catamaran pick up point around 6 pm, and we celebrate with beers while we wait for the boat. The boat drops us off at the other side of the lake, we hop in the van, and drive the hour back to the resort. We briefly saw one of the pumas we saw this morning in the same place. 

We saw a hawk (something like a “chee chee”?) - which we also saw the afternoon before at our horseback riding). 

After our shower we head to dinner around 9 pm. I have a salad with pears and mushrooms, and breaded tofu for dinner (not good). Cher has the same. I have a mango sour, and Cher has a King Mojito (not sure what makes it different). 

We trade info with Molly, Joe, and Dan and then get to bed late - like 10:30. 

Steps - 36,797

Miles - 17.17

Calories - 1,466

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2023

We woke up around 7:30. We don't have any outings planned today, and after we see what's offered for the afternoon, we decide just to stay here and get organized. The morning is mostly cloudy and cool. 

 We have breakfast with Molly and Joe who show up basically right after us. Surprisingly we haven't run out of conversation topics yet. 

I get the pancakes - which are actually crepes - with the Caliphate fruit in them. Not great. Cher has the waffles, which are tough. 

We start packing back at the room, and at 11:00 we have our massages. Cher has a deep tissue massage which she loved, and I have a Kospi massage which is ok. I tried to book a 30 minute massage but they gave me a 50 minute massage instead. It's fine.

Back at the room for some fun, and then we organize our tips. 

Over to lunch around 1 for a drink. I got a Calafate Sour (ok - more blueberry flavor than I expected). Cher gets a Baguales (vodka, Calafate Liquor, and basil syrup).

One more lunch with Molly and Joe. Cher has tomato soup (ok) and carrot risotto. I have a green leaf salad with chicken and pineapple (good) and carrot risotto (good). Cher has an almond cake for dessert, and I have an amaretto sabayon (like a dense ice cream) - it's ok. 

After lunch we took a walk down to the lake. It's windy so we don't stay very long but it's pretty. Volcano fine black sand beach with all the small bushes scattered around. We see lots of different animal poop, and some Guanico foot prints, and on the way back we see a brea pretty close by. 

Cher grabbed a glass of cabernet (eh) and we went back to the room to change into our swimsuits. We try the outdoor spa, but it's not very warm, plus the wind blows my Tierra Patagonia flip flop into the wilderness. The pool inside isn't much warmer but at least there is no wind. 

Back to the main area for a cappuccino with Amarula for Cher, and a hot chocolate with Amarula for me. Very tasty. 

At 6, Cher goes back to the spa, and I hang out a little before walking to the beach in case the weather clears. it's not as windy as before, but it doesn't change. 

We have one more drink at dinner - a final Caliphate beer for me, and a whisky-amaretto for Cher. We pull out all the stops at dinner. Cher has zucchini soup (all the soups taste similar), and mushroom ravioli. I have a green salad with apples, the pasta again, and french fries. We skip dessert.

Talking to some other people it's clear we got pretty lucky with the weather. It wasn't too rainy on any of our hikes, and we basically have clear skies  (or at least no clouds blocking our views) at all the key lookout locations). 

Back to the room around 9. We leave the window open to keep the room cold. 

Steps - 8,288

Miles - 3.92

Calories - 328.

THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2023

The alarm wakes us up at 6. We slept pretty good though it was so cold (to me). At one time I woke up to close the window, and soon after Cher opened it again because she got too hot. It was so cold. 

Quick showers, final packing, and we're on the van at 6:30 for the ride to Puerto Natales. They give us a goodie bag with a sandwich, more trail mix, and chocolate. 

There's a long line to check in and even though we have our boarding passes Cher wants to get paper passes. But no issues in getting our passes, through customs, or on the plane. 

The flight is about 3 hours. I watch videos and Cher plays Scrabble and listens to her podcasts. They offer use an energy bar snack and a drink. The flight seems fine to me, but Cher says it seemed long. 

Since we don't leave until midnight tonight, Cher has set up a tour of a winery, but there's been confusion with the driver picking us up. We don't know if he's picking us up at the airport or the Holiday Inn hotel at the airport. But since we booked a hotel room for the afternoon, we checked in and dropped off our bags. 

Ultimately we meet the driver, Eugene, at the hotel, and start off for Cousińo-Macul Winery. It's one of the oldest wineries in Chile, and the oldest that is still owned by the same family. 

Because it's later than we expected, it sounds like we will have to take a private tour, but it's not clear. We get in the van and drive off, and I'm not sure if he knows where he's going. I don't know if he's a private tour driver who's just taking us there or not. 

On the way we drive through some nice areas of Santiago. 

The winery is right on the edge of some Santiago residential districts - it's basically surrounded by the edge of the city. But the grounds are pretty and filled with rows of active grapes.

Eugene actually did manage to get us there close to on time, and we joined the tour only a few minutes late. There are two other women, from Virginia, here too. 

Our tour guide is a young woman, and she's very good. She tells us about Isidora Goyenechea, who was the widow of one of the early winery owners. When she was widowed, she basically built the winery into what it is today, and was apparently very progressive and ahead of her time. 

The tour takes us through some of the gorgeous old brick buildings where they used to make, store, and bottle the wine. We also go down into two huge, old, aging cellars. It's very cool. 

On this part of the tour we try a Chardonnay, a Cabernet, a Carmenere (she tells us the story about how they  used to think it was a type of merlot grape), and a Riesling. 

Then we have a special private tasting. She sits us down in front of three special vintages, with some cheese, chocolate, and dried fruit. She tells us about each one, how to smell and taste it, and what to pair it with. We try a "Tierra Perra" Chardonnay, a W series cabernet, and a Last Tierra blend with cabernet, merlot, and syrah.  

Overall it's a very nice tour. 

We ask Eugene to take us back to the central area so we can find some food, and on the way we talk about our mutual love of 80s music. He turns out to be a fun host and guide. 

After walking past some places we have dinner at Carta ConfiterÍa Torres. It's a diner I guess? Cher has Porotos Granados (basically a bean soup). I have beefsteak spaghetti - which is basically spiced beef over spaghetti in a garlicky sauce. It’s all OK. Cher has a límonade with mint, and I have a strawberry límonade which isn't great - it has ginger for some reason. Not the best meal, which is a fitting end for our trip. 

We grab an Uber for the 30 minute ride to the Hotel, where we shower (there is no soap) and change. We waste an hour watching The Heartbreak Kid, the terrible Ben Stiller movie about being married to a crazy woman on his honeymoon. 

We walk over to the airport around 9, and get into a relatively short line for premium check in. It doesn't take long to get our boarding passes, and it's another short line through immigration, and then security. We have not once had to take off any clothes, or take anything out of our bags, during these screenings. The US wastes so much time and effort. 

Our gate is a few minutes away but we find seats about an hour before the scheduled boarding. Cher grabs some terrible snacks. 

At around 10:30, they make an announcement in Spanish only and everyone rushes to the gate, so we do too…but it's only something related to the stickers on our boarding pass and doesn't affect us. 

BUT a little later they call me (and a handful of others) back up to the gate and tell me I've been randomly selected for a special pre-boarding screen, which sounds awesome. They pull us aside in front of the lines and we wait for them to screen us for explosives or something. Cher in the main line also has to open all her bags for a quick look.

This process doesn't even start until 11:00. I'm 4th in line, and it takes a few minutes to get to be. But it's mostly harmless. They open my bags, and swipe them down, but they don't take everything out. They also swipe me down quickly. Ultimately it doesn't delay the boarding or the flight. 

We are in first class and it's nice. All of the Latam Air planes have been very nice and new. We have lie-flat seats, and they give us nice blankets and a "mattress". After the plane takes off at midnight we take an Ambien, skip dinner, and go right to sleep. We each get 6 or so hours of sleep, which is fine. 

We're up around 7:30 am, and we have some breakfast. Cher has a frittata, I have an apple thing, along with some fruit and bread. It's all fine. The OJ is very good.

There's a deep red sunrise. 

Then it's just hanging out until we land at 8 am at JFK. We're actually about 30 minutes early, but because we're early we can't get to a gate for 30 minutes anyway. But we're off the plane quickly, there's a relatively short walk to border patrol, and we get through global entry in no time. 

We grab the AirTran and we're in our car in about 10 minutes. It's cold, but we warm the car up in advance.

We fly down to Tara's, even with a stop at their rest stop to get Cher an Impossible Whopper, and 15 minutes to charge the car. The doggles are very excited to see us, and before you know it, we are back home. 

Beaudoin Cher hasn't been feeling well, she takes a Covid test, and she's positive. So I take one too, and I'm positive. A fitting end to a 50th birthday trip. 

CONTACTS:

This is John (and Bonnie) from Milwaukee.

johnmeerschaert25@gmail.com

littlebee53018@yahoo.com