Westbound Boarder

This is another one of my favorite photos from the trip.

Look closely…

Remember when you were 16, and you were just learning how to drive?  Do you remember the moment you walked away from the DMV, permit in hand and huge smile on face, and begged your mom to let you at least drive up the street? (I do, I nearly drove my mom and I into a ditch).  Well, imagine learning how to drive all over again.  But on the other side of the road.  In a foreign country.  With a “110” speed limit (so, that’s miles per hour, right?)

After (reluctantly) leaving the Whitsundays, Drew and I boarded a flight back to Brisbane to complete the final week of our journey through Australia.  We arrived at our terminal (we were, again, very early, especially considering that check in took all of five minutes since there were only two gates at the Whitsundays airport) and soon we were back on our way to Brisbane.  Since we were headed to a few different places in Brisbane and the surrounding areas, though, we had decided to rent a car once we arrived.  So when we finally arrived on Friday around 2pm, we went straight to Hertz, filled out our paperwork, and hopped in our tiny car to continue down to Byron Bay.  As soon as we got in the car, we kind of paused and thought, “wow, it is so easy to rent a car here.  They didn’t even ask us if we knew how to drive on the wrong side of the road!”  We pondered this thought for a millisecond, and then Drew started the engine and we were off.  Of course, Drew hit a few cars in the parking lot on the way, but at least he got the hang of it before we got on the highway (Oh wait a minute, that’s what would have happened had I been driving).

When we were originally planning our trip to Australia, trying to decide which cities to visit (because we did only have a limited amount of time) nearly everyone I spoke to told us, “you must go to Byron Bay!”  So naturally, we decided to go to Byron Bay (we had to cut out Frasier Island to make room in our agenda), and throughout our trip whenever we told someone we were headed to Byron Bay, the typical response we received was, “Oh I LOVE Byron Bay!”  Somewhat off the beaten path, the small town is most well-known for being a laid-back “hippie town,” though we were also told that it has become somewhat touristy as of late.

But back to driving.  One of the things that really frustrated us about driving in Australia (especially through the small towns) is that street signs are rare to find.  However, fortunately for us, signs saying, “hostel this way” are not, so once we finally stopped looking for the street signs and started looking for the hostel signs, our accommodations were much easier to find.  We pulled into the parking lot at Nomads Byron Bay, and walked on in.  When I had registered for this hostel initially, there were no private rooms available (except for the very expensive private king suite) so we were all set to stay in a four person dorm (which we weren’t too thrilled about, but whatev; it would do for two nights), however, when we checked in the receptionist told us, “Oh hey, we’ve upgraded you to the king suite for the first night!”  So, like any normal person would say, my response was, “Oh no, you know, I think we’d rather not have to switch rooms after the first night of our stay, thanks though.”  About the same time I was nudged by Drew in the stomach, a different receptionist turned around and said, “Hey, this is a free upgrade, I’m staying in an 8 man right now, I’ll take it!”  and then the other receptionist said, “yeah, this is a $260 a night room!” at which point I gave in to the free upgrade (while also thinking, who on earth would spend $260 to stay in a hostel when you could buy a room at a nice hotel at that price!)  Anyway, our room was pretty sweet.  We had towels laid out, a coffee pot, and even little mini shampoos and soaps (ah, the things we had taken for granted while traveling through Australia on a budget!)

After getting ourselves situated, we took a quick stroll through the city (emphasis on the word “quick,” as the city was only a few blocks long) but we admired the diverse restaurants and laid-back, hippie vibe.  Then, in traditional Andrea and Drew fashion, we walked around looking at the menus at all the different restaurants, trying to decide on a place to eat.  We eventually decided on a place called Asia Joe’s (“healthy” Asian food, as the menu proclaimed) and it was delicious (and budget-friendly, too!  Which is not easy to find in Australia…)  Oh, and it was also BYO, which was even better.  We ended our night at an outdoor lounge called The Beach Hotel (named as such for its location right next to the beach), and we really liked this place as well.  It was definitely one of the most happening places in Byron that evening.

The next day (Saturday, 1/14), we had fully planned on doing absolutely nothing but sunbathe on the beach, but we woke to dark clouds and a breezy mist, which only got worse as the day went on.  So instead we enjoyed a nice, long breakfast at a place called The Byron Orion Curry House (I loved this place; I ordered a huge plate of mushrooms on toast, although the dish was a lot more glamorous then I just made it sound. In fact, I think on the menu it was even titled “fungus on toast;” with a name like that how could I pass it up?)  It was still raining when we were finished with our meal, but we were determined to not let a little rain ruin our one day in Byron Bay, so we did the “lighthouse walk,” a 2.5 or so hour round trip walk to the lighthouse.  The walk took us right along the bay, which was beautiful.  We walked past the most easterly point in Australia, and eventually came to a point where you could apparently see dolphins.  We dolphin-watched for a while, and sure enough, we saw about three of them off in the distance.  We walked a bit further, though, and noticed a small crowd of people excitedly gawking over the side of the ledge, so we peered over to see what they were looking at and saw an amazing thing – a school of about 30 baby dolphins were swimming along the side of the bay.  We watched them for a while, and it was so cool!  Definitely one of the coolest things I’ve seen all trip (but apparently, if you visit Byron Bay in bla, you’ll see tons and tons of whales in place of dolphins, which would also be very cool to see).

By the time we arrived back to our hostel, exhausted and wet, it was time to check into our new room (a slight downgrade from the king suite we stayed in the prior evening).  We had intended on taking a quick nap before going back outside, but the slight drizzle had already turned into a quick downpour, which made it tough to really do anything.  So, instead, we decided to revisit our undergraduate college days and participate in the hostel’s “beer pong tournament.”  The tournament commenced at 4pm, which gave us just enough time to clean up real quick and head downstairs to join the fun.

Of course, we had at least a good 5 or 10 years on everyone else hanging out and participating in the tournament, so like any sociable adult would do, we broke out our books while we patiently waited on the couch for our turn.  We did look up and watch the other teams compete during the intense moments, though.  For example, there was one team of two girls playing, and at one point one of the girls knocked her cup of beer over.  But before anyone had the opportunity to have the bright idea of grabbing a napkin to wipe up the mess, the girl who had knocked the cup over proceeded to use her hand to wipe the spilled beer from the incredibly gross and disgusting table back into her cup and put it back into play.  It was right around that point that Drew and I decided we were just too old to play pong at Nomads, so we went back to our room to finish our books in peace.

For dinner, we had already planned on doing something a bit nicer (I wanted to go to a place called The Balcony, but upon a second glance we decided that the place just looked a bit too overrated and touristy for our liking), so we headed to a small wine bar and café across the street called Mokha.  At Mokha, there was primarily outdoor seating, and there was a lovely slow rock band playing right outside (and as an added bonus, every entrée order came with a complimentary glass of wine!)  We ordered the pumpkin risotto and the fillet sandwich, and after the conclusion of our meal we decided that it was one of the best we had had all trip.  If you ever get out to Byron Bay, I highly recommend this place (and make sure you order the risotto!)

In the morning (Sunday, 1/15) we went to a casual breakfast joint called The Rocks (again, very good) and then we began our four-hour drive to the Sunshine Coast.  Overall, we enjoyed Byron Bay (although I think I liked it a lot more than Drew did).  There are a lot of great boutiques and restaurants, it has a fun vibe and atmosphere, it is beautiful and different, and I thought that, in general, it has something for everyone – a great beach for the kiddos, a fun bar scene for the youngsters, and elegant shopping for the adults.

We’re finally back from our 3-day, 3-night cruise through the Whitsundays, and though Drew and I are both a bit dirty and disheveled, I think there’s really only one word we can use to describe our trip – amazing (although, we could also use the words astonishing, beautiful, relaxing, wonderful… you get the point).  I’ll try my best, though, to put our trip into just a few more words.

After spending the day relaxing in Airlie Beach (we had to check out of our hostel at 10am, so we were kind of just wandering around at that point) we headed down to the docks around 4pm to catch a late lunch/early dinner (although, I think this was actually the worst dinner we’ve had all trip, so if you’re ever in the Whitsundays, don’t eat at the Italian place near the Airlie Beach dock).  At 6:45pm on the dot, we arrived at Gloria’s café, the place where we were to meet our group for departure.  We could even see our boat – The Anaconda III, our new home for the next 3 days and eves – out yonder.

As soon as we walked onto the ship, we were greeted by a friendly staff of 8 and a glass of champagne (mind you, this would be the only beverage we’d have that didn’t come out of a box or can all weekend).  One staff member gave Drew and I a tour of the boat (which took all of 3 minutes), then dropped us off at our cabin to get situated.  Now, I’m not gonna lie, our cabin was pretty (ok, really) tiny, but we figured we wouldn’t be spending much time in there anyway.  Soon enough, we were off, and Drew and I watched from the top deck of the boat as Airlie Beach got smaller and smaller.

That first night, we sailed for a few hours then docked at Hook Passage to sleep.  Our aircon was broken that night for some reason, which made our cabin pretty miserable (it miraculously fixed itself the next day, which was nice) but we tried our best to catch a few z’s.  The breakfast bell woke us up bright and early (I didn’t realize how early until I glanced at Drew’s watch after breakfast and it was only 7am) and we were already on our way to our first location, Tongue Bay.  Tongue Bay is the gateway to the famous Whitehaven Beach, so I was pretty anxious to arrive.  We docked around 8:30am and a dingy took us up to the shore.  We had two hours to walk around, view the beach from the lookout point, and hang out on the beautiful Whitehaven sand (it was even more beautiful than I had even imagined).

At 10:30am, we hopped back on the boat and headed to our next destination – Luncheon Bay.  Now, before I signed up to go on this trip, I did expect to snorkel, but since I am not scuba certified I never dreamt I’d ever scuba on this trip.  So it was much to my surprise that, when we docked at this Bay, the two scuba instructors on board told us they’d give all of us who weren’t scuba certified a mini crash-course in scuba diving.  I was in group 4, so I grabbed a snorkel and pair of flippers and hopped into the ocean to snorkel a bit before it was my group’s turn to scuba.

Summertime in Northern Australia is well-known for having plenty of one thing – jelly fish.  Most jellies are relatively harmless, however there is one species of jelly fish whose sting is often fatal – the Chironex Fleckeri jelly fish, more commonly known as box jelly fish, and they only stray to the Northern Coast of Australia during the summer when the water is warm.  Had I have known this before booking our trip to the Whitsundays, I may have reconsidered, but needless to say I was terrified of jellies.  So terrified that when I saw a group of harmless jelly apples floating in the water (these are jelly fish without stingers) I refused to get in the water.  But one of the crew members assured me the jelly apples were harmless, and if I did happen to come across a stinging jelly fish, the stinger suits we were required to wear when swimming in the water would more or less protect me from their stings.  So reluctantly, I jumped into the sea.  The water was a bit rough at this bay (and I was still a bit scared of the jellies), so after a few minutes of trying to fight the waves I got out and patiently waited my turn to scuba.

Soon enough, one of the crew members signaled to my group that it was our turn to scuba.  We put on all our gear and formed a tight knit circle while our instructor, Roger, explained to us the three most important rules to remember (“never stop breathing,” the number one most important rule, followed by a few key hand signals).  Then he Roger let out the air in our vests that was keeping us afloat, and the weights on our belts took over and pulled us under the water.  At first, scuba diving was very odd, and my first reaction was to swim right back up to the shore, but then I figured, “if everyone else did it, why can’t I?”  We stayed under water for 20 minutes or so, still in our tight little circle, while we went around our small group of 4 and practiced some of things Roger taught us above water.  Soon enough, we were finished with our brief lesson, which meant that later on in our trip we could try to scuba for real!

After spending a few hours in Luncheon Bay, we got back on the boat, ate lunch and headed to our next destination – Mackeral Bay, right off the coast of Hook Island.  These waters, unlike the rough waters at our former location, were nice and calm, and of course, beautiful.  Here, Drew and I decided we’d snorkel for a bit.  I was still a bit scared of the jellies, but to my relief there weren’t many jellies hanging out at Mackeral Bay.  I absolutely loved snorkeling around this bay – there were so many beautiful and interesting fish, and the reef was absolutely stunning.  At one point, Drew and I had drifted into somewhat deep waters, so I took out my snorkel and started swimming around to the bottom.  All of a sudden, Drew started yelling at me under water, but he was just far enough away for me not to hear him.  So when I came up to catch a breath before swimming back down again, I took a look around and saw Drew swimming in the other direction, away from me.  “That’s quite odd,” I thought, at which point he looked back at me and yelled “shark!”  Of course I thought he was teasing (as scared as I am of jellies, I think Drew is even more terrified of sharks), but realized he was not when he turned around and frantically started swimming again.  So I followed, and when we were far enough away Drew told me that I had been swimming right next to a shark, parallel to and a few feet away from it, that was just about my size.  But I was obliviously looking in the other direction, so I didn’t even notice.  That was enough to get Drew out of the water, so we hopped back on to the boat and relaxed until dinner.

The next day, our boat left Mackeral Bay very early in the morning as we continued to sleep, so once we awoke (again, sometime around 7am) we were nearly to our next destination.  After breakfast, we arrived at Bait Reef where we were to spend the entire day and night.  We read our books for a bit (I had already finished one book and was halfway through Moneyball, at this point) and once the heat was too much to bear we hopped into the water for another snorkel.  Not being near a beach, this bay was much deeper than the others, but it was situated right along the Great Barrier Reef, so there were tons of neat things to look at.  There was even a group of very large fish that hung right around the boat, so we enjoyed watching as the crew threw pieces of chicken right next to snorkelers and the fish jump right up to get them (and we were secretly thankful it wasn’t us in the water at that point!)

After lunch, Drew and I both decided we’d scuba dive.  We figured we should do it at least once on our trip because, after all, when else would we have the opportunity to scuba dive through the Great Barrier Reef? (Especially without a scuba license).  Soon enough, it was my turn (Drew went with a different, more experienced group, since he does technically have his license, even though the date of his last dive was in ’03).  We geared up, and Roger took me and 3 others out to sea.  I surprisingly wasn’t the least bit nervous to scuba for real, although I really can’t describe the feeling I felt once Roger took the air out of my vest and watched as I drifted down to the bottom of the sea (which, this time, was a much further drop than our scuba training session).  I all of a sudden became very nervous, but I just remembered to focus on my breathing, and soon enough it felt natural enough to possibly enjoy.  Soon enough, our whole group was down under water (we went to about 30 feet under, which is all we were allowed to do as unlicensed divers) and we scubad around, checking out the reef and underwater life for about 40 minutes.  It was so quiet and peaceful swimming around under the sea, only turning to our groupmates to signal when we’ve spotted something worth looking at (we didn’t see anything terribly exciting, although Roger did scare a sting ray into swimming out from his cave, which was pretty cool) but I did thoroughly enjoy the experience.

We hung out at Mackeral Bay the rest of the day and evening, and very early in the morning (while we were all still asleep) our boat departed for Blue Pearl Bay, otherwise known as fish bay.  It’s known as fish bay for one very good reason – there are TONS of fish swimming around this bay!  Drew and I put on our snorkel gear one last time and, again, jumped in.  The fish were, indeed, beautiful (and everywhere) and we had a lot of fun watching them all swim around and eat the coral.

After our morning snorkel, Drew and I grabbed our books and sunscreen once more as our boat headed back to Airlie Beach.  Overall, we had a fantastic time, and this was just the relaxing break in our busy trip we needed.  The boat was fun, the food was decent, and we had a great time!  We visited the pubs in Airlie Beach one last time that night (and we did manage to snab free pizza deals at, not one, but two different bars – apparently it was free pizza Friday?) and then hopped on our plane to Brisbane.  Only 6 more days left for us to enjoy Australia!

In a few hours, Drew and I will be headed out on a cruise through the Whitsundays.  We arrived at our new hotel in Airle Beach yesterday afternoon, and the beach is just gorgeous.  The town is really cute as well (I snapped the below photo of Drew hanging out in front of our new, waterfront hotel).  I’ll write a longer post later, but for now we’re off to enjoy the Whitsunday Islands on the Anaconda III sailboat operated by Oz Magic Tours.  We’ll be back Friday!

After two days of blistering heat in Melbourne, needless to say Drew and I were more than ready to move on.  But as our flight to Sydney didn’t leave until 8:30 at night, we had plenty of time to kill.  So we checked our bags at our hotel and set off to explore the city one last time (and, of course, consume one last “Kick My Arse” latte from Pie Face).  We tried to go to the Queen Victoria Market, which is apparently very cool, but of course with our luck we arrived at the market only to find that it was closed on Wednesdays.  So instead, we walked around Federation Square a bit, then watched a portion of the cricket game on the big screen while simultaneously reading our books, but we were really quite exhausted and felt as if we had really seen everything there was to see in Melbourne, so we just headed back to our hostel, grabbed a quick lunch, and worked on our laptops inside the air-conditioned lobby.  Now, when we had asked the gal working at the front desk of our hostel about transport to the domestic airport (we were leaving out of the domestic airport this time) she had said we could take the SkyBus shuttle.  But when we went to double check, we learned this shuttle did not go to the domestic airport, and the shuttle that did would only get up to the airport about 45 minutes prior to departure.  Seeing as how Drew always loves to be early, we stressed a bit that this wouldn’t give us enough time, but the shuttle operator assured us we’d have plenty of time.  Well, when we arrived at the airport we found out why – it was tiny, with only about 5 terminals!  So we waited for our flight and boarded with plenty of time to spare.

And then finally we arrived in Sydney.  Deboarding the plane was a piece of cake, and our luggage was right there waiting for us as soon as we walked into the baggage claim area.  Two minutes later we were in a cab and on our way to the city.  If only travel in America was this easy…

Unlike the air conditioning-less hostels we stayed at in Melbourne, we were all set to stay with friends of Drew’s grandparents (Mr. and Mrs. Sharp) in Sydney.  They lived in a very nice, upscale neighborhood in Sydney called Surrey Hill.  Drew and I absolutely loved Surrey Hill.  There are so many nice restaurants and bars in the area, many situated right along Crown Street, and it was only a short 10 – 20 minute walk to the city center.  And The Sharps were fantastic hosts.

As soon as we walked into their house on that first evening (it was nearly 11pm at this point), the Sharps sat us down and said, “now, we were thinking we could go over your itinerary tomorrow.”  Oh wow, they had an itinerary for us!  The plan was to eat breakfast at 8am, leave the house precisely at 8:30, and Mr. Sharp would take us and drop us off at a little park that had a nice view of the Opera House.  We’d admire the view for 30 minutes, then he’d swing back around, pick us up again, and drop us at the Sydney art gallery.  We’d head to the bottom floor to view the Aboriginal art (the famous artwork of the native Australians) for about 30 minutes, spend 20 minutes walking through the Royal Botanic Gardens (we had to walk by the tree with all the bats), and then we’d catch the next tour of the Sydney Opera House.  That would last an hour, and when we were done we were to phone Kiley (the Sharp’s daughter) to come pick us up and take us to a nearby Yacht Club for lunch.  It sounded like we had quite the busy day ahead of us!  So after chatting for a bit then taking a quick stroll around the block, Drew and I headed off to bed to rest up for our big morning.

The next day was busy, but very fun, and we loved the Sydney Opera House, which is without a doubt Sydney’s most famous monument.  We were very glad we took the tour because we learned that there is so much history and controversy behind the legendary building.  For example, the idea stemmed out of a design contest, and the winning (now standing) entry nearly wasn’t even considered because it was received late and broke many rules, but one judge insisted upon including the design in the competition because he knew it was “the one.”  Additionally, the city projected to spent 3 years and $7 million on the project, but 30 some-odd years and $103 million later (and after the lead designer quit due to extreme pressures placed upon him by the city), the monument was finally complete.  The building is absolutely stunning, and a must see if you ever travel to Sydney (although, really it is hard to miss).

After lunch at the yacht club (Drew and I had the grilled barramundi – a delicious fish that is native to Australia; we loved it) Kiley drove us all around the city (she works as a tour guide, which worked out great for us!)  We visited Bondi Beach, “The Gap”, and drove through the richest street in Sydney (at one point it was rated the 9^th most expensive street in the world) to look at the beautiful houses and views.

After Kiley dropped us back at home, Drew and I took a very quick nap and then The Sharps took us out to a wonderful dinner at a Japanese restaurant down the road called Monkey Magic.  It was delicious (definitely one of the better meals we have had since arriving in Australia), and we especially loved the food presentation.  Drew and I then walked around and visited a few of the local bars (Surrey Hill has many fabulous little pubs) and then we went home and went to bed.  What a day.

Our next day (Friday) was just about as busy as the prior, if not busier.  After breakfast in the morning, Mr. Sharp dropped us off downtown and we caught a ferry boat to Huntley Park, the stop nearest Kiley’s house.  Kiley’s house was a quick, 20-minute drive, but The Sharps thought it would be fun for us to take the ferry (and it was!)  One neat thing about Australia is that the ferries essentially run like metros to take people from place to place via the waterways.  Kiley picked us up and we drove about 45 minutes to the Featherdale Wildlife Park.  We spent the morning here with Kiley and her two adorable little girls, and I think out of anything Drew and I have done so far this was one of my favorite things.  The zoo in Melbourne was cool and all (and the Sydney zoo is supposed to be magnificent as well), but aside from the tiny kangaroo exhibit it was really just like any other International zoo, and who hasn’t been to one of those?  I loved the reserve, though, because it only featured Australian animals, and unlike the 4 kangaroos we saw at the zoo, there were hundreds bouncing around here.  We got to feed and pet the kangaroos and ostriches, take photos with koalas, and view live crocodile and penguin feedings.  And of course I got tons of great photos to send back home to mum.

From here we went back to the city center to the fish market, which was the perfect place to go for lunch.  Being right on the water, Sydney has fabulous fish.  Kiley quickly showed us around and pointed out the best place to eat, so Drew and I selected a grill assortment of fish and Kiley headed on her way back home.  We then walked to the aquarium, which was cool, but crowded, and we were hoping to see a live great white, which we did not.  But there was a pretty neat shark tank and Great Barrier Reef exhibit, so I think Drew was very satisfied with that.  Once we were finished, we thought it would be a nice change of pace to walk home so we could see some of the city by foot, and it really wasn’t a long walk at all.  That evening The Sharps cooked dinner, which we were very thankful for after nearly two straight weeks of meals out, and then Drew and I left to enjoy our Friday night out in Surrey Hill.  We went to a few different bars, but The Clock was our favorite.  We sat upstairs in the club section for a bit, but then decided it was too loud and noisy so we moved downstairs to sit and enjoy the oldies music along with our brews (at which point we also declared ourselves “old”).

After two crazy days exploring Sydney, all we wanted to do on Saturday was relax!  So we slept in a bit then took the bus down to The Rocks, which is a nice (kind of touristy, but nice) shopping area with a large open air craft market on the weekends.  We browsed around the crafts for a while (which really were quite amazing) then caught the noon ferry boat to Manley Beach.  It was only about a 30-minute ferry boat ride, and it was well worth it.  Manley Beach is beautiful, and the perfect way to relax after our busy agenda.  When we arrived, we walked around the town a bit (it is an adorable little beach town with many cute restaurants and boutiques) then headed to Shelley Beach (upon Kiley’s recommendation) which is just a 10-minute or so walk past Manley Beach.  Shelley Beach was nice because it was a bit more secluded, less windy, and since it is the only beach in Australia that faces West (we think – this was actually a small topic of debate the previous night at dinner) it is sheltered from the waves and catches the last bit of the sun’s rays.  We laid out there and read our books for a few hours, grabbed a quick lunch in town, and hopped on the 4pm ferry home.

Once home (and after a quick nap) Drew and I went down to Hyde Park for the evening.  Each year, Sydney hosts something called the Sydney Festival, which includes a nice lineup of local bands and DJs, food and drinks at various locations around town, and fortunately for us Saturday was the opening day.  The festival began at 3pm and ended at 11pm, so we went around 8 to catch the last few hours.  We had a blast listening to the DJ that was playing at Hyde Park, and we laughed at the fact that the crowd went wild as soon as the song “New York” came on.

The next day The Sharps had planned on taking us to the Blue Mountains for the day, but they weren’t quite feeling up to it (and to be totally honest, neither were we!) so Drew and I welcomed a much-needed lazy Sunday hanging out I Surrey Hill.  I, of course, took the opportunity to take a nice, long run through the city (my first of the trip – whoops) then Drew and I went out to a fabulous brunch at this place called Patisserie (or so we thought – that’s what it said on the window, anyway, although after thinking about it that seems like an odd, very general title).  Their eggs benedict was to die for.  We then sat at an Internet café for a few hours then went back to The Sharps and just relaxed.  Around 4pm, we got together with all the neighbors for an impromptu block party/barbecue of sorts, then headed off to bed in preparation for our early morning flight to The Whitsundays the next day.

Good morning, blog.  First things first – Happy New Year!  As you Americans are still enjoying New Year’s Day Parades and Sunday football extravaganzas, our New Year’s here in Melbourne has already come and gone.  It’s now the 2^nd, and while Danielle is off playing in the snow (wow, that sounds pretty amazing right now!), Drew and I are slapping on our 50+ sunscreen and getting ready for a long day at the beach (it’s supposed to get up into the high-90’s today!)

New Year’s Eve in Melbourne was quite entertaining.  Obviously, not being locals, Drew and I spent some time researching things to do in Melbourne on this holiday, and one thing everyone told us to do was go to Federation Square.  Federation Square is this huge square in the center of the city, and they have a big New Year’s Eve party every year, so we had decided early on that this is where we’d go.  After lounging around the whole day (we went to the park and read our books for a few hours, sat at a coffee shop called Drugstore Espresso for another few hours – we really just needed to relax after the past few busy days we had) we went to a beer garden near our hostel to grab a few brews before our big night out.

Federation Square was nothing short of crazy.  There were tons of people, a big concert, and fireworks at midnight (when we first heard the firework show was at midnight, we thought the city must be joking!) but we had a lot of fun.  After the show we crammed back into the metro, along with the rest of Melbourne, and headed home.

Now, most of you who know me, even the slightest way, know that there’s one thing I love (almost) more than anything in the world – coffee.  I love my coffee, and obviously since Drew is dating me, he’s learned to love it just as much as I do.  We’ve tried several different coffee shops in the few days we’ve been staying in Melbourne, but we were particularly attracted to a small chain that we stumbled across while walking around the Melbourne City Center a few days ago – Pie Face.  This chain boasts an edgy menu with uniquely-named coffee blends such as “Still Asleep!” (that’s decaf), “Open My Eyes!” (soft blend), and “Kick My Arse!”  Ever since we first walked past this coffee chain, Drew’s been dying to go, so we decided we’d go on New Year’s Day… to start of 2012 with a kick in the pants, of course.  Drew even said, after I suggested we go to a local spot one day earlier, “I don’t want a baby coffee! I want pie face!”  Clever marketing, Pie Face.  Anyway, Drew rang in the New Year with a “Kick My Arse” latte, while I opted for the one degree lighter “Start My Heart” white coffee.  Now, in Australia, as in many other countries, you really can’t find just a simple “black coffee” that is most common in the US.

After Pie Face, we hopped on the train and headed to the Melbourne zoo (it came highly recommended to us by Drew’s grandmother).  My mom did tell me that the one thing she wants me to bring back from my trip is a picture of a kangaroo (I think when she said this, though, she was envisioning kangaroos running around like dogs in the wild, which isn’t really the case, so I had to cheat just a little).  Anyway, the zoo was pretty cool, and I did get just the photo my mom requested (see below!)

After the zoo, we went to Fitzroy street for dinner.  According to the bit of research we did, the Fitzroy corridor is supposed to have the best Italian food in town, and our guide books really weren’t kidding!  As soon as we hopped off the bus, we were instantly greeted by a long row of Italian restaurants, so we proceeded to walk up and down the entire few blocks to look at the menus at each place to ultimately select our final destination (Drew and I do have a habit of taking at least an hour to decide on which place we’ll eat, and Italian row was no exception).  After looking each menu and narrowing down our choices to our top 3, we walked by a restaurant toward the end of our route, and the owner standing outside tried to persuade us to come to his restaurant.  As we were looking at the menu, he then adds, “come here and I’ll throw in complimentary bruschetta, garlic bread, and two free drinks each!  New year’s special, just for you!”  Not one, but two free drinks?  Each?  Okay, sold.  Melbourne isn’t really known for its cuisine (to be completely honest, we haven’t really had a great meal yet) but I think out of every place we’ve gone so far, Fitzroy street was my favorite.  Not necessarily for the food, but the experience was fun.

Anyway, this morning we switched hostels to The Ritz for Backpackers in St. Kilda, a beach suburb just outside of Melbourne, and good timing because we’re expecting a heat wave coming on soon!  Now to go find a place that serves good coffee…

Like most in the Intermountain West (and more), we are desperate for some snow (except for you Jackson Hole, thankfully we will see you next week). Despite the slow start to winter, I have had a blast shredding the groomers and catching air off of rocks and dirt. Here are some of my early season pics. Hopefully more will follow that include white-outs and face shots. Until then, enjoy!

A couple of weeks ago, we made our way down to Sundance Resort just about 15 minutes outside of Orem, UT. We have always wanted to check this place out for a number of reasons, but on top of this list is the fact that we hear that this place is a ghost town on Sundays and it sounded like the perfect escape from the hustle of Park City Mountain Resort (where we call home during the snowboard season). As Sundance is located just outside a heavily dominated LDS community, not many neighbors to this ski resort make the trek on Sundays. So we thought, why not? And the rumors were true.

Granted it was opening weekend and the snow pack was less than I want to admit (the Wasatch mountains in Utah have been bone dry this season ). Despite the low snow pack, we had an excellent time at this quaint and scenic resort. We had the place to ourselves, enjoyed some fast groomers and scratched another local Utah resort off of our list. We look forward to getting back to Sundance in the thick of the season when we can really get to know this place a little better and see all the terrain the resort has to offer.

Sundance is is smaller than some of the more well known Park City resorts, but there are far less people and has a super chill vibe. The chair lifts are also older and slower, but it fits the slow pace and chill vibe of the resort. Check out our photos, we had a blast and will definately be back to Sundance Resort when the snow starts falling (fingers crossed).

Well, its official – Drew and I are here in Australia!  We arrived the day before yesterday (which, because of the time difference, was really two days after we left, so as my friends on the East Coast are probably getting ready to pack up their laptops and hit up the nearest happy hour hot spot, Drew and I are just awaking to enjoy our New Year’s Eve day.  Correction – I am up getting ready to enjoy my day, while Drew is still asleep.)

We had a relatively easy and uneventful flight over here, which is a bit abnormal, considering my track record of international flight mishaps.  Super Shuttle picked us up from my Grammy Dot’s house around 7pm (and our driver was awesome – he was a Starbucks International executive who handles their site checks and consumer marketing strategies in the APAC region 6 months out of the year, and he just thought it would be “fun” to be a shuttle driver in OC the other 6 months).  We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare, so naturally, we visited the one bar in the international terminal and watched basketball while enjoying extremely generous (and expensive) pours of beer and red wine.  Soon enough, we heard the loud speaker announce our flight number, we boarded our Virgin Australia plane, and we were off!  I don’t remember much else past that point, because pretty much as soon as I sat down in my seat I passed out and didn’t wake up again until about 11am (PST) the next morning.  That was 6am Australia time – we only had about 3.5 hours left to go!  Psh, easy flight…

After deboarding and grabbing our luggage, we hopped on the StarBus that we had reserved through our hostel and enjoyed the 30-minute scenic drive to our hostel.  We arrived just before 11am, and since our room wasn’t quite ready (they told us to come back at 1) we left our luggage and went to find a coffee shop.  Our hostel, Claremont Guesthouse (which is quite nice and pleasant) is located in the South Yarra area of Melbourne, just 2 metro stops South East of the City Center.  I really like the area – it kind of reminds me of the more upscale Georgetown of DC, as opposed to the crazy downtown area.  There are many nice restaurants and coffee shops, and, of course, tons of great shopping.

We finally found a restaurant that looked like a nice place to sit and enjoy a latte, so Drew ordered an Americano and I ordered a “regular coffee.”  “Okay, you don’t have that? How about a drip coffee? Not that either?  Hm… I’ll just have what he had.”  We sat outside for about an hour and a half and watched a couple break up a few tables down (it was a long, drawn out, and quite entertaining break up) and finally when we realized no waiter was ever going to bring our check, we asked for it.  A few minutes later, she brought us water.  Hm… ok, totally makes sense?  After waiting a few checkless minutes longer, I finally got up and paid inside (and later we learned that paying inside is the norm in Australia, at least in Melbourne).  We walked around for another hour and finally headed back to our hostel to check into our room.  We did pass by the coffee shop again on our way back, and the couple was still breaking up (or perhaps they were making up, as the girl had now moved from sitting across from her beau to next to him).

After checking into our hotel and getting situated, we walked down to the Royal Botanic Gardens, which were so beautiful and reminded us a bit of New York’s Central Park.  We then went (after trying for a while to figure out how to use public transport – Drew wanted to cab but I was determined to travel like a local) to Victoria Street for dinner upon the recommendation of someone from our hostel – apparently this street has the best authentic Vietnamese food in town.  After walking past several of the restaurants, we selected the one that we thought had the best ambiance and largest crowd (which, coincidentally, we noticed after we had sat down was also the one with all the white people).  The food was delicious, but my favorite part of the meal was the bottle of wine we purchased at the tiny liquor store next door.  Since the place was BYOB, we opted for a mid-range 2001 malbec, cab, shiraz mix, and it was soooo good – definitely one of the best bottles I’ve had in a while.  And after that fabulous meal (and long day), it was time for bed.

The next day, we went wine tasting.  The previous day, after we had arrived to our hostel, we had decided that this day – the 30^th of December – would be our best opportunity to go, since it would likely be tough to go on New Year’s Eve or Day.  However, when we looked into booking a wine tour, the prices were quite high (at least $110 per head for the most basic options).  So, we decided to try and find our way to wine country on our own.  Now, not having a car or any other sort of reliable transport, this proved quite difficult, however we did eventually come across a train that could take us from the Melbourne City Center to Lilysdale, which is very close to Yarra Valley, the heart of wine country in the Melbourne region.  The Yarra Valley website said we could get off at this stop and easily take a bus to many different wineries, all for the price of a $11 round trip metro ticket.  Sold.

Hargreaves Hill Brewery, Yarra Glen

We woke up, bought a couple coffees at this trendy little coffee shop across the street from our hostel, and set out to Lilysdale.  The entire trip took us less than an hour, however, when I had previously envisioned us stepping off the train at Lilysdale, I had imagined a large sign that read “wine country, this way.”  In reality, there was nothing of the sort.  So I walked up to the info. booth and asked, “which way to the wineries?” and he responded, “well, which one you trying to get to?” at which point I responded, “I don’t know, any winery.”  He said he didn’t know the area well, but he recommended I go ask the bus drivers.  So I went and asked the bus drivers, “Excuse me, but which bus goes to wine country?” and after going back and forth a bit, one bus driver piped in, “you can take the 685 to Yarra Glen, he can take you to a winery.”  Okay, perfect!  We waited about 45 minutes for the 685, and after telling the bus driver what we were looking for he said, “I go right by a winery on my route, it’s a really popular one too.  I’ll drop you there.”  Ten minutes later, the bus driver dropped us off at the Yering Station winery. We walked around a bit (the property was beautiful) and then headed to the tasting room to try some of the wines.  That’s when we met Chris.  Chris led our tasting and told us all about the wonderful wines, and he even gave us a long list of things to do in Melbourne and restaurants to try.  We tried all the wines on the tasting menu (my favorite by far was the Shiraz, and Drew’s was the Merlot) and Chris even had us try a few wines that weren’t on the tasting menu, such as the way-out-of-our-price-range Cabernet Reserve (it was delicious).  Chris also recommended a brewery right up the road, which of course piqued Drew’s interest (I think he was over wine at that point and wanted a big, manly brew) so after lunch we attempted to walk to the brewery.  By “just up the road,” I think Chris really meant “just up the road if you have a car and you’re not walking,” but after about a 20-minute walk in the smoldering heat (there were no cabs to be found, either) we finally arrived at the town of Yarra Glen and our sought-after brewery.  Conveniently, the route 685 bus stop was right across the street from the brewery, so after making our way through the tasting menu we stumbled over to the stop and made our way back home.

Its finals week (you can read all about my crazy weekend over at my Financial Times blog here), and there’s only one thing getting me through – the fact that in just 17 days, I will be stepping off a plane in Melbourne, Australia.  That’s right – I’m headed to Australia for 3.5 weeks, and simply put, I can’t wait.  So stay tuned, because there will be plenty of Australian adventures to be shared!

~Andrea

« Older Entries