Australia Travel Tips

January 11th, 2012 | By Lee | 3 Comments »

Australia can be a daunting place. It is really far from everywhere. It is really expensive. It is really big and there is so much to do that you might go crazy trying to figure out what to do. There are also so many different ways to travel around the country and so many destinations, that if you only have 2-3 weeks then you might go nuts trying to plan. I have spent a ton of time in Australia and it is always my default “what’s your favorite country” answer. So I am here to quickly tell you what to do, where to go, when to go, how to go and how to save money traveling in Oz.
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My Favorite City…Sydney

June 9th, 2011 | By Lee | 2 Comments »

I must admit that I have a love affair with Sydney. It may well be the best city on Earth. For me, it symbolizes everything I love in a city. It’s big, has a lot of people, a lot of things to do. It has great beaches. It has good nightlife, restaurants, symbolic landmarks, and a real vibe and energy about it that only the best of the best cities around the world have. I am big on top five lists and Sydney is always in them if not at number one. I first went to Sydney in early 2003 and that is where my Australian odyssey began and I fell in love with a city and a country that I would love to live in some day. The infectious attitude and healthy lifestyles of the people who are warm, caring and fun to be around is what makes Australia great. Those same qualities plus the beauty, glitz and glam of Sydney make it the best city in the world and a true pleasure to visit.
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Norfolk Island

May 23rd, 2011 | By Lee | 3 Comments »

Norfolk Island is an interesting place. I don’t know exactly what to write about it because it is kind of baffling to me. I had always heard that it was essentially a vacation place for old people, mainly Aussies and Kiwis, who could catch direct flights and enjoy a low key beach vacation while still keeping the country feel. I have to say that’s pretty accurate. On my flight to Norfolk Island, I was easily the youngest person on the plane and I’d say the next youngest was about 65-no joke. My plane home had some grandchildren to mix it up a bit but 90% were still retirees. That aside, on the island there are some young people, the natives, if you will. It seems like a very incestuous island as you might imagine and hanging out at the local watering hole, I met many of them who were fascinated by me and why I was there. However, it was them who fascinated me.

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Lord Howe Island

May 23rd, 2011 | By Lee | 2 Comments »

Lord Howe Island (LHI) is simply put, a paradise. I had heard for years how wonderful a place it was and I was always a little skeptical because I usually don’t trust people’s opinions; I like to find out for myself, so that’s exactly what I did. Flying non-stop from Sydney on Qantaslink for the bargain basement price of $900 (that’s a joke, but it really does cost that much to fly round trip to LHI), you arrive into a veritable paradise. LHI has redefined the word paradise for me in two days and has shown me what the actual definition of an island paradise is.
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Tasmanian Devil

May 10th, 2011 | By Lee | 3 Comments »

Tasmania to me evokes images of the unknown; of the Wild West; of that crazy cartoon Tasmanian devil from Bugs Bunny cartoons that terrorized everything that moved. To be honest, I didn’t know too much about it either aside from the bad stereotypes placed on it by other Aussies. Basically, of it being the red headed stepchild of Australia or the inbred West Virginia, if you will (no offense to WV), of Oz. However, after spending a few days on Tasmania and literally covering half of the massive island, I can tell you otherwise. It is a pretty awesome place and nothing like you’d expect.
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Merry Christmas & Coco Puffs

May 8th, 2011 | By Lee | 5 Comments »

Where do I begin about Christmas Island (CI)? What a place! It is one of those destinations that you’ve heard a lot about (if you’ve heard of it at all) and you’ve always wanted to see but it’s so far away and such a pain to get there, you just kind of wrote it off. I am here to tell you to go there, it’s awesome! They call it a natural wonder for a reason. The expense and hardship of actually getting there is well worth it to get to see somewhere that so few people have ever been. An Indian Ocean territory of Australia that 99% of Aussie’s have never been to; and a very high percentage haven’t even heard of it. It is truly a world away but has so much to offer an intrepid traveler.
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Perth, Western Australia

May 7th, 2011 | By Lee | 2 Comments »

I am back in Australia! It’s quite possibly my favorite country to visit and besides Spain, the only other country that I would live in without a second thought. I am starting out in Perth, Western Australia which is the most isolated city on the planet and one of my favorite cities in Oz. In 2003, I spent some 6 months traveling all around Oz, New Zealand and Fiji and even made it out for a week in Perth and I am so happy to be back. Although much has changed, mainly economically in Western Australia, Perth is still a hidden gem of a city, even in its own country as most Aussies haven’t even been.
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What’s Your Favorite?

September 20th, 2008 | By Lee | 8 Comments »

On a daily basis, when I meet new people and they find out about my extensive travel, I’m almost always asked, “What’s your favorite place?” That is perhaps the most difficult question to answer because I love so many places. The other thing is I have favorite places for certain things, ie beaches, food, activities, cities, scenery, etc. It seems as if people are looking for me to say some crazy exotic place that most people haven’t heard of. It’s true that I have some favorites that most people haven’t heard of especially Fernando de Noronha off the northeast coast of Brazil. However, as difficult as it is to pick one overall favorite that ecompasses everything, it seems to be the basics and all the comforts of home that keeps bringing me back to Australia.
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Australian Tourism Fizzling

June 18th, 2008 | By Lee | 4 Comments »

I was reading an article about how tourism numbers have really dropped dramatically for Australia since the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Apparently, the novelty has kind of worn off so to speak plus the Aussie Dollar is nearly on par with the US Dollar now. So it is no longer a cheap place to go as it was when I was there five years ago. The article mentioned that they are set to release a new blockbuster/epic movie called “Australia” starring Aussies, Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, that they hope will stir up tourism as “Crocodile Dundee” did in the 1980’s. It’s such a shame that the Aussies have to resort to such tactics to boost tourism and their economy at this point.
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Living in Australia

March 20th, 2008 | By Lee | 3 Comments »

I get a lot of emails from readers asking me questions and sometimes those emails inspire what I write the next day. It is difficult coming up with things to write about everyday when I am not travelling so I always do appreciate the emails. Last night I was asked where I would want to live in Australia by a reader who wants to move there but has never been there. For me, that’s an excellent question because I love Australia and have always said that if I didn’t live in the US, I would want to live there. Oz has everything you could want but a lot less people and a lot more laid back than the States. The reader asked me about where I would choose between Melbourne and Perth, I am also going to throw Sydney in the mix for this post but the answer is really any of them. They are all great places but if I had to choose, I would probably choose Sydney to live.
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