Travel Review: Australia Family Vacation, Sydney, Melbourne, Hamilton & Phillips Islands, Blue Mountains, Great Ocean Road

About a year ago, for our 20th anniversary we decided to put into motion a life long dream - to go half way around the globe to visit Australia.  Early in the planning we determined that this was going to be too daunting a task to take on ourselves and began the search for a travel agent who could help us plan this once in a lifetime trip.  We had conversations, email exchanges, etc... and narrowed the decision down to 3 possible agents.   One agent recommended a call with our whole family on the line to get to know us and figure out how to best plan our trip.  This travel agent listened intently to what we were looking for, asked us questions about what was most important and crafted what we feel was a perfect two week trip the east coast of Australia.   We were able to see all the 'touristy' things we wanted to, and based on suggestion from our agent we were able to see so much more.  She was able to provide great options from the best the cities had to offer (Sydney and Melbourne), to the relaxing atmosphere of Hamilton Island.  The amazing tours to the Blue Mountains, The Great Ocean Road, and seeing the incredible Penguin Parade on Philip Island were all extraordinary, well run, informative, and offered some of the greatest views I can ever remember seeing.  An incredible trip that blended so many great things - metropolitan, outdoors and interaction with the regional wildlife.  
Unfortunately, the trip was not without a hurdle or two.  To start, we had a cancelled flight from Dallas to Sydney.   The folks at our travel company were there for us every step of the way here.  Upon our arrival in Sydney, all of our plans had already been adjusted to accommodate our getting there a day later than anticipated, and all went seamlessly. I accidentally left a jacket on Hamilton Island, and I just received it in the mail... our agent had it sent back after she had heard I left it there.   
This was the greatest vacation I have ever taken, my family agrees whole heartedly.  We know that we owe a lot of these great memories to the time and effort that our travel agent and her company put into this, and we would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a great travel experience!
-Skip, Kim and Sydney S