We saw pandas in a theme park called Ocean Park, they seemed to have a good enclosure, but the dolphins there didn't seem to have very big tanks to live in.

We visited a hectic night market and a temple in the heart of Kowloon. I was interested to see the old airport and would have liked to have landed there with the legendary dog-legged, low approach.

We visited Taronga Zoo on the first full day, to get to know some of the creatures that we might be seeing wild outside of the zoo.

On the second day, I went to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I had tickets booked by internet since before our trip and had been looking forward to it tremendously. I wasn't disappointed. The bridge was very interesting in itself and the view from the top was breathtaking.

When ever we walked from our hotel, in Pott's Point to the city, we would pass by Woolloomooloo bay, cross Maquarie Point and skirt the edge of the Botanical gardens on the shore of the harbour to get to Benelong Point, the home of the beautiful Sydney Opera House.

We had a very pleasant hotel in Pott's Point (The Rex Hotel) and booked it in advance for our return to Sydney at the end of our holiday. If we decided not to walk into the city, we would take the subway from King's Cross, the neighbouring precinct and a very obvious red-light district.

While in Adelaide, we were introduced to several new experiences, including hand-feeding wallabies and trying barbecued kangaroo! The tame wallabies were at a wildlife park called Cleland Park as was a Koala we were introduced to. The Koala wasn't as pleased to see us as we were to see it. Since they are such shy animals, being prodded and stroked by tourists isn't high on their list of hobbies. Still, it's better than starving to death, getting run-over by a car or being killed by a dog, fates which many Koalas meet every year.

Sam's Mum and Step-father Trish and Reg were also kind hosts. Trish took us to see another wildlife sanctuary called Warrawong, where many of the smaller marsupials live thanks to the exclusion of many non-native predators including cats, by electric fence. A cat lover misguidedly threw a wild cat over the fence into the compound maliciously, since she objected to the hunting of the cats to clear the sanctuary in the first place. The skin of that cat, and her letter are now displayed on the wall in the shop! The picture shows an IR picture of one of the more inquisitive animals.

Reg was kind enough to chauffeur Karin, Russ and me around the Barossa valley wineries where we tasted some phenomenal wines, some of which had phenomenal prices and are never likely to appear in our wine rack, but tasted delicious all the same.

I tracked down one of the vineyards wine in a supermarket in England and it is now my favourite red. I’m not telling which one because the price will go up, the more popular it gets!

From Adelaide we flew via Sydney to Cairns.

We had booked on a Reef Cruise with "Reef Magic", the cruise included lunch and a free introductory scuba dive. While waiting for the dive, we were able to go snorkelling by the boat, over the reef. The dive was a great experience. Never before have I used breathing apparatus and been able to swim in three dimensions with such freedom. The fish were all colours, sizes and shapes.

We also booked a river rafting trip on the Tully River with "R 'n' R". This was huge fun! The only down side was the March flies which detract from your enjoyment since you have to remain ever vigilant and kill the things before they take a chunk out of you.

One of the attractions of North Queensland is the rainforest. Not far from Cairns, you can take a trip into the hills on the Kuranda Railway through spectacular scenery including the Stoney Creek Falls and the Barron Gorge.

We did this and returned on the Skyrail – a cable car through the canopy of the rainforest. On the way you can stop at various stations and take a walk around, check out the exhibits and have a short guided walk. During our journey, the mist from a fresh, powerful rainfall, engulfed our cable-car within seconds.

Close by the base of the Skyrail is a collection of theatres and gardens run by the Tjapukai aborigines. Here you can see aboriginal dance, art, film presentations and more. Try your hand at throwing a boomerang guided by an aboriginal expert! The following sequence of pictures shows a demonstration of how to make fire using dry sticks and tinder.

We had a hire car from that point on and started touring down the East coast towards Sydney. One of the highlights of this journey was that we stayed in a place called Port Maquarie, where we hired a motor boat for messing about on the river. We had it for 2 hours and after one hour we were a little bored with it, but suddenly Karin piped up and shouted "look!". Close by the boat, 3 dolphins surfaced repeatedly and we were able to stay with them as they made their way slowly down the river towards the sea. Something I shall never forget!

Another wild creature we saw plenty of in Sydney was fruit bats or "flying foxes". Apart from the damage to fruit farmers crops, these are harmless, but quite big. The ones we saw would roost by day n the Botanical Gardens, and head out over our hotel by night presumably to go and find food further down the coast.

On our last day before returning home, we took a train to the Blue Mountains. Much cheaper than the tour operators trips by bus. We visited Echo Point and walked down the Giant Stairway by the "Three Sisters" rock formations to the valley bottom. From there we walked to the base of the funicular railway and ascended on that followed by traversing on the "Scenic Skyway" for a view of the waterfalls.