They're baaaccckkkk...again!

Hello, Friends!

Yes, the Traveling Brucato's are just about ready to set off once again ... yes, again! for parts known and unknown! This time we are headed to Australia to spend a lovely month down under among the hoppy critters and fuzzy wombats! We leave a week from tomorrow (the 29th) and will be back somewhere around the 28th of November. And yes, before you even ask, we will be blogging away as always!

Our great friend Katy, who is an experienced blogger, always starts her new travel adventure blogs off with a map -- so, with her help (and R's expertise!) we are too, so that you can (if you want to!) follow along and figure out where we are at any given moment! I have indicated our routing as follows: Solid lines indicate car travel; dashed lines indicate air travel. Hence, we are beginning and ending in Sydney and making a HUGE loop -- because OZ is nothing if not HUGE! So -- to summarize "the plan" ( which, as we know from this summer's shortened trip to Europe, is subject to change at any moment!) ... Land in Sydney and (hopefully) recouperate for two days. Then pick up rental car and drive north out of Sydney, up the coast, to a place just about mid-way between Sydney and Brisbane, called Coff's Harbour, where we'll share a time-share with Australian friends Norm and Marge for a week. Then we move on to Brisbane where we'll catch the plane for the cross-country trip to Perth. We're in Perth a little more than a week, figuring we'll mostly head south (as heading north leads to tremendously huge wadges of country and deserves a trip of its own!) hitting the Margaret River wine country as well as some ancient tree sites. From Perth we fly to Adelaide, and pick up car #3 for our slow return journey to Sydney. We've highlighted Kangaroo Island, outside of Adelaide, for a special stop, as this is supposed to be a tremendous place to see critters. (We've rented a cottage on the beach for three nights, which supposedly has its own group of "resident critters" who stroll (or hop, as the case might be) up for dinner each evening! How fun!) From there we head to Melbourne, and hopefully a visit with our good friends Joan and Jeremy; and then, at long last, a drive following some (but not all) of the coast back to Sydney and our return flight.

So...that's the plan at any rate! Unlike our last two OZ adventures, we'll be having kitchens in some places, so yes, yet again, we'll be looking for grocery stores and food! So much to explore! I think the only grocery store we've ever been in was a gourmet shop near the pier in Manley, outside of Sydney, and that was SUPER! I'm already wondering if we should buy a small cooler (or take the one we bought for the TDF two summers ago) -- but then the big question comes up: How do they feel about ice in Australia? As in, would we be able to find any? So...these are only some of the endless questions we hope to find answers to by the time we return!

I will email our lists when we've posted from OZ, and let you know that we're on our way in case you would like to log in and follow us along. If you would NOT like to be included, please let us know and we will take your name off our list! (That is if I can figure out how that works...)

So, as they say down under, "No Worries" and we'll be in touch!!
Much love,
m