Australia – My Third Continent

In 1996 I was a sales guy for a 25-person Boston-based software company that had made a reputation for itself in a small slice of the higher education market.  All our customers at the time were either in the US or Canada, but somehow someway a consultant in Melbourne had heard about us and kept on asking me to make a trip there to visit with the university for which she was working.

Remarkably I convinced my boss and the company president that if I could get appointments with six Australian higher ed institutions, I could make the (long) trip over there.  And – whaddaya know – that actually happened.  I think I ended-up with appointments with six or eight institutions and went ahead and scheduled the trip.  I also figured that if I was going to travel that far for work, I’d combine it with vacation in order to really travel around Australia. It would be my third continent, after North America and Europe.

So – off I went, departing July 9th and not returning until August 2nd.  Back then my personal email was via AOL (as were so many others’!), and I sent seven emails (some quite lengthy) to my soon-to-be-wife, parents, brothers, and a handful of other family, and I also sent four very long emails to my work colleagues – for such a small company to be venturing to Australia was pretty remarkable, and there was a lot of interest in (and probably some eye-rolls at) my trip.

For whatever reason, I was smart enough to have held onto all those emails.  Collectively, they comprise, for all intents-and-purposes, my journal of that journey.

That work/vacation combo got me to the south-eastern part of Australia (Sydney, Melbourne), the western part (Perth, Fremantle), Adelaide, the center (Alice Springs, Uluru – once known as “Ayer’s Rock,” and Kata Tjuṯa – once known as “The Olga’s”), the north-east (Cairns), the east coast (Brisbane), and back to Melbourne.  The map at the top of this post has each location I visited marked with a little blue pin-drop.

[just a reminder that if you click on any image it enlarges]

It was a fantastic experience and re-reading those emails brings back lots of memories.  One short story:

On my 15th night in Australia, I arrived in Cairns and immediately booked a tour for the next day to the Great Barrier Reef – an 8 a.m. pick-up at my hotel, drive to the boat, then a day of exploring the reef, including snorkeling and scuba diving.  On that evening in Cairns, I had dinner at the hotel bar, chatted with some locals, and returned to my room to watch – on Australian TV – the 1996 Summer Olympics then taking place in Atlanta.  Given the 15-hour time difference between Cairns and Atlanta, I was watching daytime events in Atlanta and ended-up staying-up late (it was fascinating listening to Australian sports-casters broadcasting the Olympics).  As I later wrote in an email about the next morning:

“Alarm went off. I lay in bed thinking ‘hmmm, another day of, for all intents and purposes, touring. Bummer. But it’s the Great Barrier Reef. But you’ve been touring since you got here. But it’s the Great Barrier Reef. But it’s been here for millions of years and isn’t going anywhere and you want to come back. But it’s the Great Barrier Reef. But you’ve been doing all this stuff by yourself and this is just another solo activity. But it’s the Great Barrier Reef. But you’re only here two nights, then Brisbane for one night, then three days of [work] in a row, then back to the US.’ Decision made. Alarm shut-off. Called [the tour company] to cancel my reservation. Back to bed. No regrets about the decision (though some second thoughts that day, which faded quickly), as I do suspect I’ll be back someday.”

Overall, that Australia trip was successful enough from a business perspective that my company ultimately signed contracts with four of the universities I visited, which meant I got to return to Australia several times over the years, as I worked for that company (and it’s successors) for all but one year between that first trip to Australia in 1996 and 2011.  Those trips got me back to some of those same cities and a brief excursion to New Zealand in 2011.  Unfortunately, among all those trips, I only have pictures from the first one in 1996 and that last work-related trip in 2011.

After that, I wouldn’t return to Australia until 2019, when another job gave me the chance to return to Brisbane for a conference (a handful of photos).  And – in 2023 – I’d return once more – strictly on vacation – as I had to travel through Brisbane on my way to and from Papua New Guinea.

And I’ve still never been to the Great Barrier Reef.

All of the pictures above this are from that original trip in 1996; I don’t even remember what type of camera I used back then, but it most definitely wasn’t an iPhone!

The following are a few shots from my business trip in 2011. I had some time to myself, so made a trek to Port Campbell National Park and the Great Ocean Road south of Melbourne to take in what’s called The Twelve Apostles – a set of limestone “stacks” just off the coast. For a small fee I took a helicopter ride to see them from the air. That same trip also included a small amount of time in Wellington, New Zealand, though there’s of course much more of that country to explore. By this time, I’d upped my camera game a bit.

And the following are some shots from 2019, when a work-related trip took me to Brisbane.

Finally, in August of 2023 I spent some time in Brisbane on the way to and from Papua New Guinea, which I’ve written about here. On that trip, I climbed the Story Bridge, held a koala, briefly visited The Bee Gees’ home town, and went on a whale watch. There are more photos if you follow those links above.

I have nothing but great memories of my trips to Australia – wonderful people, vast, delicious food and beer, exciting cities, gorgeous country and coasts and wildlife. Of all the continents outside of North America, I’ve only been to Europe more often.

But, yeah, I need to go back to see the Great Barrier Reef.