balhannah's VirtualTourist Home Page

Even though I was born and have lived in Australia all my life, I still love seeing Kangaroos.

Have started the New Year differently, with a weeks Caravanning holiday to Coffs Harbour and Grafton. We usually don't take holidays at this time of the year as its too busy with all the children on school holidays. It was good to re-visit these towns, and at a different time of the year. We had a good time and a much needed rest, ready for the year ahead.

Have returned from a holiday visiting Thailand, Holland, Turkey, Greece, Belgium. Visited lovely, interesting places and now busily writing tips and downloading photos!
Back to the grindstone too! Plenty of gardening that needs doing and the usual chores when you are home.

I found this site one day when I was researching for a holiday.

What a find! Lots of friendly and interesting people to communicate with, and we all have one main thing in common, TRAVEL! and often, other interests are the same as well. Its so interesting, even if I'm not planning a holiday, to read about other peoples travel experiences. I also get to visit the unknown towns that I have never heard of , learn about different cultures, I get to travel the world on the cheap.

I am the more adventurous of the two of us, enjoying experiencing the different cultures.
Our children have married and left home, so we are getting to live our dream a little bit. We have just starting venturing overseas as we have seen a lot of Australia, and think its better to go now while we are still healthy and able to get around without problems.

Australia is a long way away from most places, so our Airfares are a large hunk of our cost. Because of this, we try to see a lot in the longest time that we can spare. How I would like to live nearer other countries, like you lucky ones in Europe, we would be travelling every weekend.



We are both from the country, and enjoy country life rather than city life, so, we tend to get onto the back roads at home and overseas.

In Summer, Water skiiing is enjoyed at Lakes Moogerah and Maroon near Boonah and Rathdowney. We love this area at any time of the year, I have put on some pages to show how beautiful the scenery is, only its off the tourist track, you need a car.

Don't be frightened about driving in Australia, the roads are quiet especially around these areas, not like overseas. If you have one, go!

We both enjoy seeing Birdlife & Wildlife. When we built our house, I planted the garden to attract birds. At that time, all we had was a couple of hundred water birds that came when the floodplain in our paddock had water. Beautiful! Black and White Ibis, variety of Ducks, Water hens. At a certain time of the year, a pair of Jabiru Storks come, these are mainly found in the Northern Territory. We've also had Magpie Geese, a big Black and White Goose.

NOW, the garden has lots of native Flora and lots of Birds of all types.
Brightly coloured Parrots, Honeyeaters, Wrens, Finches, others, too many to list. The Blue Fairy wrens come to the back door, the Magpies feed out my hand. At the moment they have babies, so are busily feeding them.

We are lucky living here, and in Queensland, as Winter is usually sunny, and a lovely time to sit, enjoy the sun, and relax.

Travel in Australia is with a Caravan, a great way to see this big country, and an added plus, you can stay right by the seaside, for a fraction of the price.

There are so many Australian places I could put on the VT site!

Countries visited so far:

ALASKA
BELGIUM
BORNEO
BRUNEI
CAMBODIA
CANADA
GREECE
JAPAN
LAOS
MALAYSIA
NETHERLANDS
NEW ZEALAND
SINGAPORE
THAILAND
TURKEY
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
VIETNAM

And of course, lots and lots of AUSTRALIAN PLACES

Lots on the wish list, but unless the Euro picks up against the Australian $, they may now be on the never, never, instead of next year as planned.

Meeting other people and sharing experiences.

SCENERY

Lots of beautiful scenery, but some standouts were,

GLACIERS IN ALASKA, so many, so close together

BRYCE CANYON, U.S.A. so pretty

ARCHES NATIONAL PARK, U.S.A. different

WATERTON NATIONAL PARK, CANADA outstanding beauty

MONUMENT VALLEY, U.S.A. beautiful colour, huge Mesa's

PAMUKKALE, TURKEY called the "Cotton Terraces" stunning

CAPPADOCIA, TURKEY amazing, so different

SCENIC FLIGHTS

Misty Fjords in ALASKA.

Kakadu in AUSTRALIA

Grand Canyon in AMERICA

LASTLY............... If you look at my pages or read my tips, it would be lovely if you left a comment or a tip rating, then I would feel that all my time has not been wasted and that I have helped others, that would be much appreciated.