BUNBURY BEACH

Monday we visited Venice Beach, California.

Today it's taking a dip in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean in the sun-drenched town 

of Bunbury, Western Australia. In the southern outskirts of the Perth metropolitan area.

Not as well-known, but certainly a much more serene locale.

2014 Year in Review

"Let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, Adventure."
                                                             -- J.K. Rowling






By any yardstick, 2014 has been, for me, an astonishing year for travel -- and I considered myself pretty well traveled already... 

First, I'd like to offer a strong "Thank you" to every one of my readers who have come along with me along the way. It hasn't been an easy year in some ways, but in others it's been truly amazing.

The statistics alone are startling: More than 65,000 miles on 9 different airlines. According to my FF mileage reports, nearly 90 flights. Business Class, Coach and First. Business and Personal. 24 domestic airports and five international.

Honolulu from above

A handful of delays, and a couple violent weather incidents. (Landings, mostly. Las Vegas -- a monsoon; and Auckland -- tropical storm -- top the list.) But for the most part an amazingly smooth series of flights. There were several cancellations, but not a single missed connection in the mix. That's a pretty solid record for my airline friends.

Storm blowing into Port Douglas, QLD

There were a few new things: my first flight on an Airbus A-380. Still ugly as sin on the outside, but nicely appointed and comfortable on the inside. The much more trim looking 777 was also a first for us. Virgin Australia has done a brilliant job of creating an uber-chic and relaxing environment.

But airline travel was not my only mode of conveyance. A tremendous variety of automobiles

Business Class Cabin - Qantas A-380

 got me around large swaths of territory in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand, adding two new countries and three American states to my list of adventures.

And speaking of adventures, 2014 was a year full of them -- both good and not so much.

By far the most significant was the retirement of not one, but two of three N.O.W. LIFE LIST 2014 goals: snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef, and dipping my feet in the Indian Ocean. Add in side-trips to two wine areas, the Blue Mountains, Perth and Auckland, New Zealand and you can readily understand why our May trip Down Under was not only the highlight of the year, but probably one of the best adventures in the last thirty years.

Bridge to Hanalei Bay

Later in the year we made a two-week jaunt over to Hawaii and spent time in one of our favorite places on Earth: Hanalei Bay. The beauty and tranquility of Kauai's north shore never fails to win me over in a major way. I'm not certain I would want to retire there, but it's easily at the top of my list of Best Places on Earth.

But it didn't stop there. 

You might have noted I wrote "two of three" when referring to my 2014 Life List. The third was a visit to the awe-inspiring Monument Valley, one of the most astonishingly beautiful desert locales in the American midwest. It's justifiably famous for the views it offers, and easily puts man in his place in the universe. 

Monument Valley

Work requirements saw a tremendous leap in my domestic travel, with trips two or three times a month throughout the Western United States. To a wide diversity of locations and environments: Dallas; Missoula; Las Vegas; Seattle; Albuquerque; the middle of South Dakota; Portland; Honolulu; Phoenix; The Bay Area; Reno; Austin; Minneapolis; San Diego -- and in many cases hundreds of miles along the highways and byways in between many of these spots.

Other personal trips included jaunts to San Diego and Las Vegas; an attempt to visit the fog-enshrouded Bryce Canyon; Maui; and a complete circumnavigation of The Grand Canyon -- without a single sighting of the Canyon itself.

Yes, there were some negatives. Being ill on my second day in Monument Valley was no fun, nor were the at-times unavoidable airline delays of hours and hours in airport terminals -- two of which resulted in rough weather at our destination, compounding the inconvenience. 

(As I noted in comments above, the two most memorable were A- an eight hour delay in Melbourne which resulted in landing during a tropical storm in Auckland, and, B- its stateside twin of a four hour delay in Phoenix, with a monsoonal landing in Las Vegas. I'm not a fan of storm-related landings, and these were two of the most energetic.)

Cheers

In summary, 2014 tested my mettle as a traveler, and I enjoyed (almost) every minute of it. (The intermittent health and operational hiccups along the way were unfortunate but unavoidable. C'est la vie.)

As we close in on the end of 2014, I offer a twin toast to the old year and the new. 

May good adventures find you, and liven up your life. Cheers.



Some highlights from 2014, a year On the Road (and in the air):

Leaving Long Beach

Wall Drug Store, South Dakota

View from the new Vegas High Roller

Sunrise in the Bay Area

Live band in Austin

The Great Barrier Reef

Selfie at the Reef

The Sydney Opera House

Stormy skies over Melbourne

Laguna Beach

The Vegas Strip

Seeing the Indian Ocean for the first time

Perth

Skies over Montana

Into Monument Valley

Road to Hana

The Hanalei Valley, Kauai

The New Zealand rainforest

The View from Below

In the Beginning....

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." - Lao-tzu

As I write this, it's early Sunday morning. The 6th of April.

I am on the relatively uncrowded and pleasant Virgin Australia flight 1413 on my way from Sydney to Cairns, the northernmost true "city" on Australia's east coast. It's the second leg of a three week journey started last Monday evening with an equally enjoyable flight from LAX to Sydney. (Actually, the LAX-SYDNEY may qualify as the single most relaxing and enjoyable flight in my rather lengthy travel life. But more about that in a future column.)

This trip, planned for more than a year as yet another aspect of my wife and my continuing No Opportunity Wasted lifestyle, is designed to give us our first taste of both Australia and, significantly, our first venture into the Southern Hemisphere. While we are both considered well-traveled, it has all been north of the Equator. And, as ventures go, we recognize this is a light toe into the water versus a complete plunge into the unknown.

But that doesn't prevent it from being a NOW event for us. Tomorrow morning we head out on a boat to spend the day snorkeling around three spots on The Great Barrier Reef. This has been something on our list for years, and nicely fits into the same glove as some of our previous ventures snorkling along Hawaii's Na Pali coast; whale watching in Hawaii, Alaska and among the San Juan Islands; a few days around polar bears in Canada; and swimming with dolphins in Mexico.

Since the vast majority of our travels find us, at one point or another, away from the Madding Crowd and usually off-road, the first visit down under also includes some day trips in rainforests (Queensland and New South Wales) and variations on small group tours for wine-tasting, sightseeing and other local and cultural events. We try to get a taste, unhurried and as untouristy as possible, of the area. In the case of Queensland we want to spend some time learning about the aboriginals and their culture, as well as getting out into areas not necessarily touched on or seen by the majority of tourists who happen to blow through.

Over the next few weeks I will be recounting some of our adventures along the way, from dinner out on a beautiful Saturday night in Sydney to day trips into the Blue Mountains and the Hunter Valley wine region, to adventures which are -- at this point in my voyage -- still to come over the next couple weeks. A visit to the Margaret River; putting our feet in the Indian Ocean; seeing Aussie wildlife up close and personal; a few days in Auckland. But when you, gentle reader, are seeing this I will be back at home and perusing the several thousand shots made during the trip.

From the vibrant city chaos of Sydney to the gentle downpour of the Piha Rain Forest in New Zealand, I'll be sharing it all: my thoughts, some memories and recommendations, and a passel of pictures to bring it a little closer to home.

Stay tuned, and thanks for joining us.

* All photos in this week's entry are from the trip and were added after the text was written.