Two long-haul flights, two short-haul flights, and one beautiful ferry ride finally got us to Heron Island on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. The first thing I noticed was the unmistakeable smell of birds—thousands and thousands of them—within seconds my ears caught up to my nose and I was hit by the din of what I later learned was a staggering 70,000 birds!

Heron Island is a sanctuary for the Black Noddy (not the Heron as you might think).

We didn’t have great weather when we visited Sydney, Australia in June, but we managed to avoid rain for the few hours we spent at Bondi Beach. We took the Coastal Walk …

Even though our visit to Sydney was without kids, we did not want to miss the world famous Taronga Zoo. Despite the rainy weather, we had a blast…