What the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, the Opera House is to Sydney, its iconic roof rising over the harbor like billowing sails. In fact, the Danish architect’s father was in the shipping business, which had an influence on the design, not only the roofline, but also the windows, which angle out over the water and you feel like you’re on the bridge of a ship. What appears at a distance to be a solid white roof is actually...

Yes, they do call their friends “mates,” and crocodiles really exist in abundance, waiting to chomp on unwary tourists. But there are a lot of different things you won’t necessarily have heard about or seen in the media, like different signs… …and different foods. There are very different plants… …and insects (these green ants weave a nest of leaves, but don’t get too close, they bite!) and...

Where I’m staying, just outside the town of Cairns, may look like an ordinary neighborhood, but it’s surrounded by hills covered in rainforest. A short drive away you can catch a cablecar that goes above and through it, or stop and see the giant curtain fig tree. It doesn’t always rain in the rainforest, there’s a dry and a rainy season, or, like now, a relatively dry rainy season. A short jaunt and you’re in the...

  Acclimating to a new country can be challenging, even when the native language is English, especially after a long flight and crossing many time zones. The first leg of my trip, to Australia, took 30 hours, and includes a 15 hour time difference. But it was made so much easier by my lovely hostess Lenore, her housemate Lindsey, and 4 legged friends Lucas and little Patch! Lenore picked me up at the airport, and whisked me off to the local...

Have you let go of anything recently? Maybe some shirts you never wear, gave to GoodWill, or a few books you’ve already read, shared with a friend? It feels good to let go, even if it’s something small. But what about the big things? A job you dread going to every day, or a marriage that died long ago, even if you’re still living together? A house you can no longer afford, or that’s just too big now that the kids have...