08/09/25 - North of Injidup - Part 1

The trail was easy to follow. It rose and fell as we passed rock formations and shallow valleys. The sky was large and blue, but there were puddles from a recent rain. This was drier country than down south near Denmark, but already there were spring flowers.

We made our way north to the natural spa, an inlet surrounded by rocks, and then on to a sheltered bay with a sandy beach. There was a climb ahead as the trail descended to the beach before climbing to a high bluff heading further north. We were half hiked out which meant it was time to turn around and head south. Our hotel room was waiting for us, just a short walk from the long trail along the coast.

08/08/25 - North of Injidup - Part 2

08/07/25 - Hamelin Bay

08/06/25 - Jewel Cave - Part 1

We took these pictures with an iPhone. Our regular camera is great in most kinds of light, but phone cameras tend to give better pictures in low light situations like in caves.

08/05/25 - Jewel Cave - Part 2

08/04/25 - Cape Clairault South

08/03/25 - Sunset From Our Room

08/02/25 - Flying From Busselton to Jandakot

Jandakot Airport doesn't have scheduled flights, but it is the local home of the famed Flying Doctors who provide medical care and evacuation services to the more sparsely settled parts of the Australia. We saw lots of their planes parked and ready. Given how isolated parts of Australia are, it's good to know there are flying doctors.

Perth is one of the most isolated cities of its size anywhere. The nearest big city is far, far away, so Perth serves as the center for a broad catchment of towns, small cities, mining camps, farms and settlements. Perth is a mining town, and its downtown is full of corporate buildings with names like Rio Tinto and Agip on them.

We had a great view of downtown Perth as we approached. Once again, the iPhone produced much better pictures than our usual camera, somehow compensating for the scratched plane windows and cloudy air. We took a taxi from Jandakot to our hotel downtown. We were flying again the next day, this time commercial on Qantas to Sydney.

08/01/25 - Return to Sydney

07/31/25 - Bondi Towards Coogee

We began the walk south. The ocean was wild, but the rain was light. There were waterfalls pouring down the cliffs visible at various points along the trail. The rain picked up a bit. Depending on exactly which way the trail was heading, the rain seemed to slow or pick up.

We made it past the graveyard, but as we headed down towards Clovelly Beach the rain picked up in earnest. Our pants were soaked. We had rain pants back at the hotel, but, overconfident, we had forgotten to wear them. Drenched, we made our way down to a bus stop. The driver apologized, he wasn't heading towards central Sydney. We ordered a car using an online app and settled into the bus station shelter to wait for our ride.

All told, we made it about 3/4 of the way to Coogee which given the weather was better than we might have hoped.

07/30/25 - Sydney Gardens

07/29/25 - Sydney Harbor at Night

07/28/25 - Just A Few More Sydney Harbor Photos

07/27/25 - Rain and More Rain in Sydney

07/26/25 - Flying Home or At Least to Los Angeles

First class was very nice. They ask for the license plate info of your taxi so they can greet you and check your bags at the curb. There's a very nice first class club with good first class food. It's hard to capture this kind of thing without proper staging, but we took a few photos.

As for the flight. We all made it across the Pacific, even the folks who couldn't spring for premium economy. The plane was an Airbus 380, a monster of a plane that is no longer being manufactured. It was gigantic, so flying it was like crossing the Atlantic on Bruce McCall's HMS Tyrannic with its indoor 18 hole golf course. There wasn't actually a golf course on board, but there was an upstairs lounge that photographed horribly, excellent service and a big lie flat seat with an amazingly complex control mechanism.

We wicked slept well, at least until we neared Los Angeles and they served breakfast. We went through the same customs and immigration as everyone else. We just had a head start. We could go on about how Los Angeles International Airport is a madhouse, but others have done it before us and probably better.

We considered taking a taxi to our airport hotel or perhaps using an app, but that would have meant taking a shuttle bus to the pick up area. We just waited for our hotel's shuttle bus to come and were just minutes to our hotel, gratis.

07/25/25 - One More Flight

As you probably suspect, our flight went well. We were in Seattle at a decent hour and able to get a ride back to Fairchild Airport where we had parked our car. You'd think we'd learn, but, even now, we're plotting our next adventure and another journey to Australia is likely.

09/12/24 - Stanley Park in Vancouver

09/11/24 - Taronga Zoo