My wife and I have returned from our month long trip to Australia and New Zealand, happy but tired.

Australia is basically a bunch of cities and towns with nothing but desert and scrubland between them. Since the cities are so far apart people fly rather than drive from city to city. We flew from JFK in New York to Seoul, Korea and from there to Sydney. That was twenty five hours in the air. From Sydney we flew to Brisbane, then on to Cairns, from Cairns to Darwin, from Darwin to Alice Springs, drove to Ayer's Rock, flew back to Darwin, flew back to Alice Springs, took a train to Adelaide, flew to Melbourne, flew to Hobart, flew back to Sydney, flew to Aukland, flew to Christchurch, drove to Queenstown, drove to Mount Cook in the Southern Alps, drove back to Christchurch, flew to Aukland, flew back to Seoul, flew back to JFK. Boy, did we rack up the frequent flyer miles.

During our trip we ate kangaroo steaks, crocodile dumplings, emu pate' and the delicious Aussie meat pies. I even ate a live witchity grub at an aboriginal cultural site. You bite off the head and spit it out, suck out the insides and then chew the skin like chewing gum.

Wound up with food poisoning and didn't eat for four days. That did wonders for my blood sugar count. Finally had to go to the doctor for some meds to treat it.

Saw wild seals, wallabies, kangaroos, echidna, penguins, kea, and a host of animals I can't name. Saw a bunch of Tasmanian Devils (nasty little creatures)

We had a great time but are happy to be back. I am now undergoing forced rest because I had my foot operated on four days after we got back and have to stay off it for at least two more weeks. (Bummer) I hate crutches.

Welcome back. Sounds like you had a real adventure. Did you try any vegemite while in Australia? I was there on R & R from Vietnam a couple of times but never really got out of Sydney.

Welcome back Frogger! That sounds like quite the trip and it is on my list of places I want to visit. There's something quite fascinating about the Aboriginal culture that intrigues me.

The food poisoning sounds a tad nasty. Was that from the grub? Hope the surgery wasn't a result of your trip. Heal fast. Can we expect to see some pics posted?

There's something quite fascinating about the Aboriginal culture that intrigues me.
Yeah, something about that killing kangaroos with boomerangs...

Post pics!

You bite off the head and spit it out, suck out the insides and then chew the skin like chewing gum.

Shit, if you wanted to do that, you could have driven to Louisiana and eaten some boiled crawfish and saved yourself a fortune!

Yeah, something about that killing kangaroos with boomerangs...

Post pics!
I was kind of thinking of their mysticism and music but boomerangs will do.

Yes, fan, I tried Vegamite. All the Aussies said it is an acquired taste. My question is, why would anyone want to acquire a taste for something so vile. jWhile I was there a rumor started that the U.S. had banned the import of Vegamite into the country. You should have seen all the editorials about it in the Australian papers. You would have thought they said Australians were no longer allowed into The States.

No, the food poisoning wasn't caused by the Witchity Grub. It was probably the meal I had in a little hole in the wall Vietnamese restaurant in Adelaide.

My wife and I took loads of pictures. I alone took over 1,200. I filled five albums with photos. I would post some but I really suck at posting pictures. I think I have managed to successfully post only one picture on this site.