Weeks ending 23-April: Great Barrier Reef

View Whitsundays/Heron Island in a larger map

We got up early on Friday, Good Friday i guess, to start our holiday up to Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef for Michelle's Easter break from school. We flew through Brisbane to a small industrial town, Gladstone, which is the launching point out to Heron Island, about 70km off the mainland. Heron Island is coral cay, an island created over kajillions of years of waves crashing into the reef, wearing it down and creating sand that builds up and forms an island. We took the helicopter out there to get views of the reef from the air which was pretty awesome, even though it wasn't the sunniest of days. We saw turtles and rays from the air amongst other things.





We spent 4 nights on the island and it really was a magical kind of spot. From the resort you can wade out into the water (gorgeous turquoise blue/green water i might add) and go snorkeling on the reef or at low tide can go out on a reef walk to see all the marine life. Two or three times a day from the resort they have snorkel and dive boat trips. These boats take you to spots on the edge of the Heron reef or to the edge of one of the other nearby reefs where the sights are usually even more spectacular than what you see on top of the reef.

Our first fully day out we saw a nice sunrise and saw a few reef sharks swimming in the water before breakfast...a perfect motivator to get in the water and do a bit of snorkeling on the reef followed by a "research walk" which is a tour of the Univ. of QLD research station with which the resort shares the island. In the afternoon we took the snorkel boat out and saw amazing fish and corals and our first sighting of sea turtles in the water.





Our second day we took the snorkel boat out in the morning and in the afternoon at low tide went on a guided reef walk where we learned about lots of the marine life living on top of the reef. The following day had much anticipation, apprehension and excitement associated with it because it was the day we took our scuba class and then went out onto the reef for two dives. My initial impulse from breathing through a regulator was to panic that i wasn't getting enough O2, but luckily we were in the resort pool so i survived it and quickly got used to it. We went out and as non-certified divers we did a relatively shallow dive of a little more than 12 meters (about 40 feet)...it was kind of freaky descending and continually equalizing the pressure in your head but once we got down there it was easy to forget to be scared because it was such an underwater paradise! the color of the coral and the fish was awesome...really felt like we were in Finding Nemo. By the second dive we were old pros...we saw turtles and reef sharks (from a distance that felt appropriately safe). We both really had a good time with the diving and i'd love to try it more in the future.

Our last halfday on the island was a rainy one and I think we both felt like we did everything we wanted to on the island so we were both excited to take the boat back to the mainland so we could continue on to new parts of the trip. We stayed that night in Rockhampton (not an overly nice place) and continued the drive the next day up to Airlie Beach. On the way into town we took a detour to a waterfall where we found the road flooded out. We made it to the waterfall after wading through the river over the road and a short walk. Airlie Beach was immediately a lovely little place, despite the deluge of rain we were having. We drove around a bit and saw some of the area but mostly hoped that going to bed would bring us better weather in the morning.

We weren't disappointed...we woke up to a gorgeous sunrise. The views from our motel out over the water were fantastic...we took a little run down near the water and then went to do a short hike to the top of Mt. Rooper which is a viewpoint out to the Whitsunday islands. We came back to the B&B in airlie where we were staying that night and it was possibly the cutest place i've ever stayed. The views out over the water were even better than from the previous night's place. And breakfast in the morning was amazing...the fruit plate we had to start had fruits i've literally never even heard of before.



That next morning we went down to the marina to start our sailing trip for the next three days out in the Whitsundays.


View Whitsunday sail in a larger map

There were 18 of us on the boat, the Alexander Stewart which was about 75 feet long, along with the captain, the deckhand and the assistant deckhand/chef. We sailed out through gorgeous blue water and went to a couple snorkel spots that first day. Everyone said the waters were much clearer than they had been in recent weeks and we certainly agreed. The coral and the sea life didn't disappoint. We were treated to a spectacular sunset that night and sleeping on the boat, while not the best night of sleep i've ever had, was actually pretty nice.





The 2nd day of our sail we moored off of Whitsunday island, the biggest of the 74 islands that make up the Whitsundays and did a little bushwalk up to a viewpoint over Whitehaven Beach which is supposed to be one of the top beaches in the world. The spot was incredible...the sand is completely white (so white that it doesn't got hot from the sun in fact) and the water is a mixture of blues and greens that were striking. We went down to the beach for a few hours (I felt like i was in one of those corona commercials) before heading back to the boat. We stopped for another snorkel before we got to our mooring for the night. Another amazing sunset (its almost tedious to have to write that so many times). Quick sidenote about food: it was actually quite good. We had great fish the first night and lasagna the second night, breakfasts always had cut up fresh tropical fruits and we had big tasty lunches and "afternoon tea" which was a nice afternoon snack at that time between lunch and dinner when i always get hungry.



The 3rd and final day we spent some time on a coral cay snorkeling around and relaxing before making a lunch stop and heading back to Airlie. It was an amazing trip with perfect weather...couldn't have asked for a better time. That evening we had dinner in town and met up with our fellow sailing mates at a pub in town for a couple drinks.



The next day, our last of the vacation sadly, we got up early and did a halfday kayaking trip out to an island from Shute Harbor (10 mins away from Airlie)...it felt good to paddle and actually get a little exercise after 3 days of being on the ship. The kayak was a perfect length, just a few hours out on the water so we came back and did a short jet-ski out on the water (trying to pack in every last little bit of fun before vacation was over!). We had lunch in town and then hung out in the Airlie lagoon (a manmade huge lagoon that you can swim in since swimming in the water isn't advisable because of marine stingers) until we had to get to the airport for our flight back. Awesome trip, we definitely packed in as much as we could!



Check out more photos from the trip here, the very last one might be my favorite...its a sure sign that you're in a really really cool location:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=bqmhkbd.46cidi6x&x=0&y=f1uznm&localeid=en_US

Through 07-Apr: Socceroos and Broken Hill

Wednesday we went out to Olympic Park to watch the Australian soccer team play a World Cup qualifying match against Uzbekistan. The Socceroos, as they are known (seriously) would for all intents and purposes clinch a spot in South Africa in 2010 with a win so people were pretty geared up for the game. It was a good one, the crowd was rowdy and alive and after a scoreless first half, Australia scored two goals midway through the second half and won two-nil. The experience has officially made me a Socceroos fan (I mean come on, with a name like that how can you not be a fan??)



Saturday morning we flew to Broken Hill. Broken Hill is all the way west in NSW right near the border with South Australia and it is definitely what you would call the outback. The town itself has about 20,000 people but the moment you drive past town, the roads turn to red dirt and you feel like you are literally in the middle of nowhere (which is kind of true). Broken Hill became a town back in the day when large mineral deposits, primarily silver, were discovered...not sure there is much other reason the town would have existed!


View Larger Map

First we went to the Royal Flying Doctor Service base and museum. The RFDS flies doctors to the middle of nowhere outback from their bases when people who live out there get sick or injured. Not much other way to treat people who live hundreds of miles from a town. After getting into town and walking around a bit, we drove out to the "Sculpture Symposium" about 15km out of town. It's a great spot to watch the sunset as its up on a hill with views of the outback in all directions and as the sun sets, the colors of the sculptures change.




Next morning we drove out to Silverton, which is an essentially abandoned mining town about 25km from Broken Hill. There are some old buildings from the mining boom days and you kind of feel like you've just traveled into the 19th century. After seeing Silverton we went to the Daydream mine nearby where you can take a tour that goes down into the silver mines that used to be so active and productive a hundred or so years ago. It was a pretty fascinating tour and somewhat shocking to try and imagine working down there in such horrible conditions.




We headed back to Broken Hill and went to a few of the art galleries in town (they have a relatively large art scene) before heading up to the top of the Broken Hill mine that kind of towers over the town. We saw the Miners Memorial which is for all of the miners who have died in the area, and then stayed and watched the sunset and had dinner overlooking town. Up early the next morning for our flight back to Sydney to conclude our quick trip into the outback.



Friday is the beginning of Michelle's Easter break so we'll be heading up to the Great barrier reef to do some diving and sailing so stay tuned for that...

Through 31-Mar: NSW and QLD roadtrip

My good friend from high school, Mackenzie, along with two of her friends, Jo and Brooke, arrived on St. Patty’s day for a two week trip. After showing them the sights in Sydney for a few days (including the beach walk from Coogee to Bondi, the Taronga Zoo and a few Irish pubs in the Rocks) we set off on a bit of a road trip up the coast from Sydney.

View Larger Map

To the 4 girls I was roadtripping with I became known as “Driver!!” barked in a commanding tone followed by some order like “get me my brekky!” We went through the Hunter Valley for a bit of wine tasting and then out to the coast through Coffs Harbour and up to Byron Bay.

Byron is one of those spots that everyone seems to love so expectations were high and I have to say that Byron lived up to, and probably surpassed, those expectations. It was such an eclectic beach town with all sorts of people: hippies, surfers, families, you name it. We spent a couple days on the beach, hiking around Cape Byron and having some good meals/drinks in the restaurants/bars. It’s the kind of spot I could pretty easily spend more time.

From Byron, Michelle had to return to Sydney to continue in her academic pursuits so the 4 of us continued on through the Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise, through Brisbane and up to Noosa where we stayed for a few days. (Surfers Paradise has a great name, but is a god-awful eyesore of a spot. Developers have completely ruined what would otherwise be a beautiful location by developing huge condo towers all along the Gold Coast and completely reshaping the atmosphere of what was once a sleepy beach town. To steal a description from Mackenzie: “if you like booze cruises, foam parties and amusement parks, you would like this town.”) Noosa, on the other hand, was great. The first day from Noosa we took a full day tour of Fraser Island. Fraser Island is a special habitat…it’s the largest sand island in the world and the only sand island on top of which is a tropical rainforest. We spent the day being driven in a 4x4 along the beaches and through the rainforest in the middle of the island. Fraser is known for its fabulous fresh water lakes, one of which we got to have a little swim in. We saw a couple of dingoes, a freshwater eel and plenty of ancient foliage that kind of makes you feel like a velociraptor might appear over the hill at any moment. It was cool.

The following day we spent some time hiking in Noosa National Park looking for koalas (unsuccessfully) but it was gorgeous nonetheless. The towns in the Noosa area I found extremely appealing and I had the feeling they’re the kind of places where everyone who lives there is just very happy and content with life.

From Noosa we drove back down south through Brisbane where we dropped Brooke at the airport (and then there were three) and continued on to Mt. Warning National Park just back across the Queensland border into New South Wales. The next day we set out early to hike to the top of Mt. Warning which gave us gorgeous 360 degree views including out to the ocean, Byron Bay and inland to the rainforests. Mt. Warning is usually the first spot on the Australian continent to get sunlight in the morning (we didn’t quite make it up there for sunrise though).

After descending back down to the car we drove north once again back to Brisbane where we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening seeing a bit of the city. We had to get up at 3:30 the next morning for our insanely early flight back to Sydney so pretty much laid low for the whole day back in the apartment in Sydney. We did make it out for a rugby league match at the Sydney Football Stadium between Sydney and some other part of Sydney (which I couldn’t quite make sense of). One of the Sydney teams won, and the other one lost. (I still don’t get most of the finer points of the game but it was fun to hear the crowd get so animated over things that completely escaped me). The next few days we had great weather and spent time at a few Sydney beaches including Coogee, Manly and Bondi. We spent an evening in the “cross” which always leads to some good stories, most of which aren’t suitable for sharing here! Jo left on Monday and Mackenzie left on Tuesday and after having nearly two weeks of perfect weather for this group of visitors, Tuesday was a rainy, windy, stormy day so they timed things just about perfectly. Now that they’ve all left it’s quieter in the apartment and the estrogen levels have subsided significantly! Mackenzie wrote a blog of her trip which I think she has now updated, so check it out for more details.