January 12, 2025
MACHU PICCHU, PERU
WOW! This place is magical! I would also call it organized chaos! There are so many travelers in town, and the first Sunday of each month, when we are there, is free for all local Peruvians. Shockingly it all moves very well - we get the bus to the top of the mountain in a fast moving but very large long line and find our guide right when we get off the bus. We even find the sweet girl, Hi Brittany Mahoney! I sat next to her on the train and we had a great chat about life and love!. She is an MBA student from Houston, and traveling alone and she rides the bus up with us. We entered Machu at 9 am and toured with out wonderful guide until about 11:45. Everything we had been learning about these ancient civilizations really came together while listening to our guide. He really was great at filling in the pieces of the big picture. I also think our questions were more focused, as we gained more info from the multiple days of touring.
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We toured Machu Picchu from 9 am to roughly noon , then took bus back down to Aguas Calientes and had a leisurely lunch at a restaurant overlooking the river rapids. Then we went to the towns natural hot spring pools and relaxed in the heated waters. After, we picked up our stuff at Inn and hustled, to the train station for the 4+ hour trek back to Cusco. I got to dance with mythical character on train ride back too! Stayed at same inn we had been at day before. Think we all dropped into our beds as soon as we checked in. LONG but GREAT DAY!
We got up at 6:45am to get to National Park Forts Walk trail in the hope of seeing koalas . Prior walkers mark trails with tree branches pointing in the direction of their sighting and we were luck enough to see 3 markers in our first hour of hiking. It is so stinking hot and humid the success we had made it bearable. The koala population on the island started with 20 brought over in 1930, to escape fur hunters. Today, the island boast 800 to 1000, and they are so cute and drowsy. They need 20 hours of sleep a day! The early morning is when they are the most active.
Just off the coast of Townsville, Australia is a special little island (that used to be part of mainland, hundreds of thousands years ago). The island was formed by molten granite that was pushed to the earth's surface with volcanic force.Over time the volcanic overlay weathered away leaving an extraordinary landscape of rounded domes and boulders, many as big as a house and spectcularly perched. Over Seventy Percent of the center of the Island is a National Park. There is lots of wildlife here too - koalas, rock wallabies, snakes & birds.
This is my third time in CAIRNS, AUSTRALIA and I really enjoy how walkable, clean and charming it is. The waterfront esplanade and lagoon area is a nice walk day or night. We had 2 nights here in the waterfront Shangri La Marina Hotel while waiting for the Ship to arrive and then 2 additional days in Port.