Our Queensland visit began inauspiciously with notices of a hotel change and rainforest tour cancellation due to weather, requiring us to rearrange our plans and drive instead of shuttle through treacherous rains from Cairns to Port Douglas, where we shared seafood pasta at Wrasse & Roe before retiring to our substitute apartment. Our new itinerary took us aboard the Sunlovers instead of Quiksilver cruise to the Great Barrier Reef, where our Dramamine staved off seasickness to let us enjoy the glass-bottom boat, semi-submersible, and guided snorkel tours of colorful corals, giant clams, friendly wrasses, a turtle, and moon jelly kisses for me and Westley. The buffet aboard was better than expected, although the Ganbaranba ramen at dinner was not. Sadly, our rescheduled rainforest tour of Mossman Gorge and Daintree river cruise was cut short by flooding, so we ate Dave’s fish & chips and returned to the apartment where I prepared my talk, Melody napped, and Westley built a crocodile. We trudged through rain for a peek at Four Mile Beach on the way to seafood and gelati for dinner. Our next stop at the Gold Coast began with more fish & chips at Burleigh Heads Fishmonger prior to checking into our beach-view AirBnb. After registering and uploading my talk at ISER, we hiked from Miami to Burleigh across squeaking sand and under rainbows to reach Goukai ramen for dinner. Next morning, I met my friend Sara for breakfast before my talk, then regrouped with family for pho on the way to Springbrook National Park for panoramic views at the Best of All Lookout, Twin Falls, and Purling Brook Falls. We camped in our car to NPR until nightfall, when we could gape at glow worms at Natural Bridge, then went for take-out before bedtime. On Wednesday, we shared pastries on the beach and stocked on banh mi for our visit to Lone Pine Sanctuary. Despite a near miss on tickets, we secured a koala hold and platypus encounter before entering the massive enclosure for kangaroo feeding, then headed to Brisbane for pasta from Enoteca 1889 and ice cream from Cowch. Our last stop to Melbourne was delayed by Uber’s multiple Collins St. listings, where our CBD condo was located. We enjoyed delicate fish dumplings from Shandong Mama then explored vibrant street art along Croft Alley, Coromandel Place, Meyers Place, Strachan Lane, AC/DC Lane, Duckboard Place, and Hosier Lane on the way to Federation Square. We found respite with AC at a Children’s pop-up library and lychee juice from Flinders Street Station before crossing Yarra River past the Arts Centre and NGV to the Children’s Garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens. Our proximity to Chinatown meant easy access to Supper Inn noodles and Instea boba for dinner. Tired of driving, we opted for a bus tour to the Great Ocean Road on Friday, with stops for morning tea in Torquay, scallop pies in Apollo Bay, and myrtle beech trees at Maits Rest on the way to iconic Twelve Apostles and Loch Ard Gorge. We awoke early Saturday for more street art at Union Lane and Presgrave Place, grabbed a “magic” coffee on Guildford Lane, then passed more graffiti on 436 Queen St to Queen Victoria Market, where we sampled cheese toasties, boreks, croissant, and hot chocolate before passing the picturesque Royal Arcade on our back for another Go West tour. Our bus to Philips Island stopped for colorful bathing boxes at Brighton Beach, a wildlife show at Moonlit Sanctuary, and seal and penguin viewing at the Point Grant Nobbies boardwalk, before we took our rainy front row seats to the penguin parade. I made a late-night run for hearty Master Lanzhou noodles afterwards, and returned to Chinatown again in the morning for Tim Ho Wan yum cha and Breadtop pastries for our flight home. Despite covering so much in 2 weeks, we felt that Australia had still more to offer and look forward to returning to this lush, beautiful continent.