Australians often won’t travel internationally for less than 3 weeks. Not sure if you’re still working or not, but if you can 4+ weeks would be better for such a long trip. Jet lag will mess up your first week.
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I’d tell you to minimize time in the cities. You can see cities anywhere. You can see Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge in a day. Maybe knock this off your list on your first day when you’re jetlagged.
My dad and I drove from Darwin to Perth in about 10 days (too short) and it was really interesting and gave you a feel for the outback. Lots of neat landscapes. Exmouth might be a place to try and find snorkeling and diving options. Alternatively the Great Barrier Reef on the opposite side of the continent.
Going against my advice, I’d say go to Canberra (you can take Murray’s busline from Sydney to Canberra ~3 hours, alternatively, there’s train, plane or rental car) and do a night hike at Mulligan’s flat. You’ll need strong headlamps, but you’ll get to see lots of Aussie night time animals including several rarer species. Tidbinbilla nature reserve has plenty of shorter hikes, kangaroos, a few platypus and emus. Also lots of native birds. If you’rea museum person, Canberra has a few different national museums plus Parliament. A shorter drive might be to go from Canberra to Broken Hills to Melbourne. You’d probably see emus, kangaroos and the outback. Plus a massive mine. Driving south, you’re going along the Murray-Darling River which is important to the region.
Driving the Great Ocean Road west from Melbourne is nice. Great area to see wild koalas also the 12 apostles (sandstone pillars). Driving along the coast Sydney to Melbourne is also nice. Lots of beautiful beaches with no or few people. Beware of sharks. Many colourful Australian parrots at the rest areas.
Uluru is definitely worth a visit. I haven’t been to Tasmania, but it’s supposed to be good with many unique species and I think penguins. You might consider driving from Adelaide to Darwin or vice versa, stopping in Alice Springs, Uluru, and Coober Pedy. I believe Coober Pedy is near where the first mad Max movie was shot. Adelaide I believe has some decent wineries nearby.
Many rental car companies prohibit driving on highways at night due to the risk of encountering kangaroos. They also prohibit driving on dirt roads.
If you guys are hikers you should maybe look at getting a couple of appropriate CSIRO bushwalking guides. Also, make sure you have broad hats and get fly mesh. The flies will drive you nuts.
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thanks for putting that together and sharing with us
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Nit pick: it can mess up your first week. It’s also possible to have little impact. Planning your sleep schedule for the plane a bit will make it much easier to get adjusted within a day or two. Whether it’s two decent sleeps or lots of naps on the transpacific, you want to set yourself up for the first day to minimize napping, get fresh air and exercise, and stay up as late as possible.
Agreed that longer is better, but 2 weeks is fine if that’s what the schedule allows.
Gonna give some thought to the 2026 ImpAct meeting in Pittsburgh PA.
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Will Tyrion be there?
The City of Bridges. The Venice of the Rust Belt.
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Pittsburgh for ImpAct: We lived there 20 years ago, were pleasantly surprised at how clean and pretty most of the area was. We’ll enjoy the visit.
I know this is sarcasm, and I think I’ve posted this before, but pre-internet, my spouse and I up and decided one weekend we were going to Branson MO. Not that we’re big country music fans, but this was pre-kids, so what the hell. It was something to do.
Except pre-internet, I had no way to research. All I had was second hand knowledge that someone had said something about a place in the states.
So anyway, somehow I got Brandon Ohio was the place we were going to. And that’s where we ended up. Not Branson Missouri. And Brandon Ohio, not so good.
We got lost. We’re driving around looking for this hotel, and everyone is looking at us - it was obvious (yes, we were the only white folks in the area). We stopped at a stop light, a cop pulls up beside us and rolled down their window. “You folks lost?”. Yep. “Follow me”. And the cop led us out of whatever neighbourhood we were in.
No idea if there was actual cause for concern or just an abundance of caution. But either way, not a good look.
When we were about to move to Topeka after I graduated, my wife and her mother went scouting apartments. Got lost, wound up on the wrong side of town, stopped at a gas station to figure out what to do. Cop rolls up, asks them if they are lost - yes. Tells them they should get out of this neighborhood, take this road west.
We are going to Peru for 2 weeks in April and have been booking our activities.
MP tickets are now fully sold out (they go really fast online) until June.
I also had no idea it was possible to visit Nazca from Lima as a day trip. Just booked the tour flights (from Pisco Airport) that do the Nazca lines flyover. I have always wanted to see them so might as well.
Enjoy Peru. Looking forward to hearing how it goes. Just beware the Lima-Cuzco altitude change impact on your little one. Introduce her to coca tea!
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Have also just booked a family trip to Disneyland Paris (DLP) in July for 4 days + my wife/daughter are staying in Paris for an extra week to explore a llttle bit more.
Our little one is a huge Frozen fan so I relented this time (never been a huge fan of Parks like this that are way too commercial but I relented this year due to the new Disney Frozen attraction going live in March).
I do have to say DLP has a pretty good app. Works quite well. Have been pre-booking all the extras over the last few weeks and it was very easy to do.
Also been using Perplexity Pro to generate itineraries and summarise our activities. Definitely cleaner vs using Samsung notes.
Three grandchildren graduating high school this year: Michigan, Missouri, and Utah. Family time! 
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Maybe we’ll go out east this summer. The US is still a no-fly zone so we’re trapped here in the greatest country in the world I guess. Maybe I should suggest that we do another cycling trip around PEI.
The other thing we’ve been talking vaguely about, is a trip around NFLD. There’s nothing in most of the province that I’m particulary drawn to, though everyone who goes raves about it. But I would love to head to the northern part and visit the viking ruins. What I’d really like to do is buy a side-by-side UTV, land at one end of the island and ride across to the other side, but I don’t think I’m gonna get my spouse to agree to that.
We hope to get to the Maritimes in August as we haven’t been there since the 1990s. We used to go there in our Toronto days when my FIL was a dean at Dalhousie. Hard to beat PEI, NB and NS in summer.
You should try to get to Nfld as well. There is no place like it in the Americas.
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Friend’s daughter is getting married in NB in September. We’re going in convoy formation.
Mebbe Chicago this summer
Just got back from Orange Beach AL. I might book another beach trip sometime before Memorial day.
Will be spending a lot of time at the lake this summer.
I’m going to Spain in the fall.
I was in Honolulu for work and had saturday AM free. So I was able to get to Pearl Harbor for a bit.
Arrived right in time for the national anthem at 8am. Now I think they would play that at opening (7am) or 755 (time of 1st attack). But…8am.
-When they say it takes 8 hours, I believe them. I spent 3.5 hrs and only did the things right there.
-Did not have tickets to the Island that has the Arizona memorial and another memorial or two. That takes planning and i am bad at that.
-I read about each of the 52 submarines that were lost in the war. some had a chance for the crew to evacuate but most lost the crew. Last one on Aug 6, 1945, which is tough timing for that sub and crew. Many merely presumed lost and some of those corroborated with Japanese records of a ship fighting a US sub. Some just missing/presumed gone.
-The videos and the timelines and info shared on site are pretty balanced. The current admin hasn’t put its imprint on the info it seems - which is a relief. I don’t think the local culture would tolerate an overt demonization of Japan, but they clearly mention internment camps and a person’s anger at how the govt was treating them as being of japanese/german heritage.
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U hiring?
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