Luxury Australia Vacation Review: Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Tasmania, Great Ocean Road, Uluru, Cradle Mountain Hiking

We really enjoyed Tasmania including hiking in Cradle Mountain National Park.  It's a scenic mountainous island with lots of wildlife...wombats, wallabies, kangaroos, fur seals, and many bird species.  Getting around was easy with good roads and little traffic.  Driving the Great Ocean Road from Melbourne to Adelaide with a few days on Kangaroo Island was fascinating.  There were lots of lighthouses to explore and a beautiful rugged coastline.  The train ride on The Ghan from Adelaide to Alice Springs gave us a chance to talk to many interesting and friendly native Australians while the wild South Australian landscape rolled by.  The Aussies on holiday included a retired sheepherder with his half aborigine wife with many stories to tell us (and questions for us about the USA), and a truck-train driver who drove a truck tractor pulling 4 large trailers across the Northern Territory.  Hiking and camping at Uluru/Ayers Rock, Kata Tjuta, and Kings Canyon with an international group of travelers was great fun.  And one of the biggest treats for us was visiting and snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef.