About our trip
We loved this postcard when we saw it in a shop because it perfectly illustrated just how big our adventure was going to be. Forget the getting there via Dubai, the stop in New Zealand, and the return via Singapore – touring Australia is way bigger than crossing Europe.
Fun facts
🌍 By the numbers
Looking back, it’s only when you add it all up that the scale of the trip really hits home.
✈️ 9 flights covering 26,000 miles — more than once around the Earth
🚗 2,000 miles driven, including:
🇦🇺 1,300 miles in Australia — roughly London → Rome
🇳🇿 700 miles in New Zealand — about London → Inverness
⛴️ 9 boat trips — because some journeys are better by water
🏝️ 5 islands visited — from Queensland to Southeast Asia
🏨 16 places stayed — a new home every few days
🗓️ 57 days away — nearly two full months on the road
🌡️ 7°C to 36°C — from cool South Island mornings to tropical Queensland heat
🌧️ 4 tropical downpours survived — Port Douglas, Cairns, Yeppoon and Hervey Bay
📸 3,806 photos taken — 2,015 (Steve) and 1,791 (Nikki)
👣 536,948 steps (Steve) — about 250 miles walked, roughly London → Newcastle, averaging 9,420 a day, from a low of 4,061 to a high of 16,791
👣 501,925 steps (Nikki) — about 235 miles walked, roughly London → York
🍽️ 2 KFC takeaways — meaning every other night we somehow still managed to eat out
🐊 14 (roughly) critters nearby that could have ruined our day — mostly in Australia, thankfully all of them stayed professional
⚖️ 5lb gained (Steve) — thankfully 2lb already lost since returning
😄 15 places Steve would happily have stayed a few more days
🧭 2 navigator/driver fall-outs — quickly resolved (mostly)
And somehow, despite all that distance, it never felt rushed — just a collection of incredible places, stitched together into one unforgettable journey.
Steve says ...
I cannot call this the trip of a lifetime because the reason why Nikki retired so early was to make sure that we went on plenty of adventures before we get too old to do so. However should it turn out that those adventures are not possible, our Australia tour alone will provide many memories to last for years to come.
We put a lot of effort in to planning this trip, assisted by Julian at DialAFlight, and it really paid off. Our accommodation ranged from the really good to many instances of “wow”. We never slept in an uncomfortable bed. With so many tours and trips pre-booked, we never missed an opportunity to try something new or different in a place. It wasn’t all tick box stuff though – we built plenty of unplanned days into the trip to give room for spontanaity. Our 9 flights were seamless, even though we had to change the return home to avoid our Dubai transfer. Even our 2 hire cars worked really well with their pick up in one place and drop off at another as it gave us the flexibility to always move forward, and never turn back.
My personal highlights include:
Enjoying Dubai far more than I thought I would. It is a plastic, surreal place but what I never appreciated is that it is an ideal winter sun location. If you are looking for guaranteed sunshine, and you pick the right hotel (our Hilton Palm was perfect), you can laze around a beautiful pool all day, and have plenty of bar/restaurant opportunities by night.
I really like Western Australia (WA). It felt clean and with beautiful weather and as we found later, does not suffer with the humidity of the east coast. All the locals just seemed fit, tanned and friendly. It definitely has a slower pace of life, which some may take as boring, but we barely explored and believe that south of Perth is where all the action is such as vineyards, scenery and seaside towns.
Nikki originally didn’t think we needed 10 days in Sydney but as I had never been, I’m glad she compromised. We had the most amazing and stylish apartment, located in the gentrified formerly notorious Kings Cross, and we packed so much into our stay. It was, however, the tiny tapas bar Bar Hernandez, just around the corner that is probably my fondest memory. It was like we were in Sevilla. And it was open after 9pm!
The main component was the 3+ weeks driving from Port Douglas in FNQ (Far North Queensland) to Brisbane. This is the bit where the size of Australia really hit home – every drive to our next stop further south was at least 4 hours. In fact, with hindsight, we should not have counted driving days as 1 of our nights stop in a place as it typically meant we lost out on a clear day at the spot eg we would pitch up late afternoon, can’t do much, full day to explore the next 1 or 2 days, then off again.
On this section I particularly loved our stay at the Crystalbrook Riley in Cairns; Hamiltion Island in the Whitsundays is breathtaking even though in my opinion it is Centre Parcs on steroids (next time we know better the hotel to pick); the sand island that is K’gari and in particular Lake Mckenzie at the top of the island with its clear, warm water and breathtaking scenery; finally the unexpected pleasure that was Brisbane.
The downside to this bit of the trip was the weather – temperatures were fine, but cloudy skies and rain were anticipated but not to the degree we experienced. Think we were a bit unlucky there.
New Zealand was simply stunning. Lake Tekapo is the most beautiful spot I have been to; Queenstown was as buzzy as hell (though I’ll pass on anything Lord of the Rings next time). I even liked Dunedin (Nikki didn’t) and Christchurch was a great send off to Australasia. Here we flipped the Australia weather – clear skies but 15c lower. If we can plan trips, more time in this beautiful country, at right time of year, would be among them.
Little did we realise that we had saved the best until last. Singapore was amazing and Raffles defies decription. So much so we bought half the merch in the boutique!
The negatives were few and far between. The disappointing weather was the main one. We were surpised as hell that Aussies and Kiwis do not want to stay up past 9pm, and have no qualms about closing their businesses around you!
Main lesson learned – next time make fewer stops, but for 5 nights not 3, and accept longer travelling day between each. If it’s a really lengthy drive, you can always stop for a couple of hours to have a break and see somewhere unplanned.
Finally, my partner in crime, Nikki. Spending 57 days with just one person, no other family or friends, could be tricky. Would we run out of things to chat about; would there be friction; would we get bored with each others company? From my perspective, a resounding no. I think we had an absolute hoot and I thank her for it and love her for it xx. Mind you, STOP TELLING ME HOW TO DRIVE.
Nikki says ...
Another trip, months in the planning, and what a fabulous time we had. It seemed to fly by in a blur at times, whilst still affording us lot’s of relaxation and fun along the way.
Eight weeks seemed a lot, but it wasn’t enough time really to take in all we did. We should have gone for 3 months allowing us another couple of weeks in Australia, and a month in New Zealand. We tagged NZ on to the end of the trip on the basis that whilst we were in that neck of the woods it would be a shame not to go, but 10 days barely scratched the surface of the beautiful South Island, and we will have to return again in the future, perhaps when it’s a little warmer.
It’s difficult to pick out highlights, but I will try 🤩, along with some lows !
My personal highlights include:
- Favourite Airline: Singapore Airlines for me, I’m sure Steve will say Emirates
- Best Airport Lounge: Emirates at Stansted & Dubai
- Best flight: London to Dubai (Emirates)
- Worst flight: Singapore to Paris, 10 hours of really bad turbulence on a 14 hour flight (don’t tell Lucy)
- Best movie watched on a plane: Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring
- Best Accommodation: Raffles, although our air BNB in Sydney is a very close second
- Best hotel slippers: THE most important test in my view – Raffles
- Best animal made from a towel: Hilton Palm Jumeirah
- Favourite Country: That’s an easy one, New Zealand South Island by a country mile
- Best Weather: Perth
Worst Weather: Queensland (the whole of it) - Favourite Island hop: K’gari
- Favourite town in Australia: Port Douglas
- Favourite town in New Zealand, Queenstown
- Best skyline: Singapore at night
- Most beautiful lake: Lake Tekapo, New Zealand
- Most breathtaking view: The Southern Lights at Lake Tekapo
- Best botanical gardens visited – Sydney
- Best boat ride: Ferry on Brisbane River
- Best bridge walked over: Story Bridge in Brisbane
- Best boardwalk: Daintree Rain Forest
- Worst Drive: golf buggy on Hamilton Island 😝
- Most fun transport: The Tram in Christchurch
- Most dangerous activity: Capricorn Caves, although our drive from Yeppoon to Hervey Bay is a close second
- Worst excursion: Antarctic Centre at Christchurch, due to a really really annoying tour guide
- Funniest moment: Steve and I trying to get out of the beach deckchairs at Port Douglas
- Cutest Animal: The very friendly Rock Wallaby’s on Magnetic Island and baby crocodiles at the Croc Farm in Coorooman
- Scariest Animals: full grown crocs (DUH)
- Best Bar: Bar Hernandez in Potts Point Sydney
- Drink most drunk: Low carb beer, only 3.5%, saved me from a hangover on many occasions
- Best Value for Money: Free buses in Perth and 50c ferries in Brisbane
- Best Food: Parmy in Townsville (chicken schnitzel covered in cheese, ham and sauce)
- Worst Food: Burgers, didn’t have a good one anywhere, I should have gone to McDonalds
- Things lost along the way: my electric toothbrush
- Best purchase: sun hat in Perth
- Things I should have packed: Steve’s cagoule (I packed mine by mistake and it didn’t really fit him)
Hamish says ...
I’ve had enough of staring out from balconies to last me a life time! But thanks for taking me with you.
What's next
Assuming World War III doesn’t break out, and the Orange nutter finishes in Iran and doesn’t start anything in Greenland, Cuba or wherever…..
On 25th July we celebrate our silver wedding and plan to spend around 6 weeks either side of it at home in Vilamoura, Portugal. For the actual anniversary we will be going to Granada in Spain where we met and had our minimoon when we married. We did our big party when we retired, so this will be a small affair of dinner with family and a few close friends at the Alhambra Palace Hotel.
Assuming we can all get there ….
2 Responses
What an amazing adventure! Thank you for sharing, I’ve loved following your tour! 😍
I’m going to miss this blog as I’ve loved hearing about your adventures.
Thank you for sharing it x