A Sydney New Year’s Eve

Ah, new year’s even in Sydney. You can’t get much better than that!!  Heidi and I started out the day by doing morning tea at the QVB. It was yummy and they had these blood orange macaroons. They were to die for. So far I’ve not seen any around to buy, otherwise I might have to buy another suitcase just to bring them back!

Later that day we met up with Justin at his sister’s house to head to dinner and then to see the fireworks. So apparently Australians love to blow things up therefore this was going to be a spectacular fireworks display. They actually had a 9:00 fireworks for families and a midnight fireworks for wild and crazy folks like us.

So, now to let you know what we did for new year’s eve. The day before while we visiting the aquarium, etc we saw a guy with fliers about a new year’s even cruise. After talking with him we decided that we would give that a shot. Apparently if you want a good spot for fireworks you pretty much have to camp out starting at 2:00 or 3:00 and then a lot of your day is wasted. So we decided to spend some money in hopes to get a good view and not  have to deal with tons of crowd. The crowds were similar to that of New Year’s Even in NY at Times Square. Let me just say that we made the right decision on the cruise.
So we got on the boat about  6:30 and it pretty much just cruised around the harbor until it was time for the 9:00 fireworks. We were close to the last people on the boat so we had to actually sit inside. Turns out that was a good thing, because it was cold and windy up top. When it was time for the 9:00 fireworks we just headed up top and watched them. So the view was awesome. They were actually shooting them off in several directions, so being up top you could see them all, but you did have to focus on one set b/c the others were actually behind us.
Oh,one other thing I forgot to mention about this cruise, was that we were also in a parade of lights. We were on a whale watching boat so we had a big whale lit up on ours. Or so they say, I never did see it, since when we boarded the boat it was still light.

Once the 9:00 fireworks were over the dancing began!! We had a blast! Then of course when it was midnight we brought in the New Year with even better fireworks. It really was awesome. The experience of a life time!

We got off the boat around 1am or so and headed to Justin’s sister’s place and then drove out to his mom’s place because the next day we were headed to the blue mountains…..

Sydney Bridge Climb

Today was another busy day. We met Justin around 11:30, but prior to meeting him, Heidi and I toured around the Queen Victoria Building (QVB). It was beautiful and full of shops. Who could ask for more!!!

We met up with Justin and his sister and his mom for Yum Cha (we call it dim sum). I had never had dim sum and I have to say, I really enjoyed it. After lunch we went to the aquarium, the sky tower and the wildlife center and Heidi and I got our picture taken with a Koala. We couldn’t hold them because it is illegal apparently. But we did get to pet it so I was happy about that.

After we saw all the wild life and sea life we could stand it was getting closer to time to do the bridge climb! We went for dinner in The Rocks area which was very near where we needed to get on the bridge.

So now, our Bridge Climb adventure begins. Now, most of you know that I am adventurous and like to do lots of stuff, but I will admit that I was a little nervous/scared to do this climb, especially after seeing the bridge. Once we got there we were in the waiting area and watching a video of what all you were going to do the prepare. We had already gone to the bathroom, but noticed in the video that you would get a chance to use the restroom before the climb. So they began by giving us the wind suits. Our guide was amazing…she looking us all up and down and picked out the exact size for each of us. No one had to change for a different size. So we get the wind suits on and Heidi and started wondering are the going to give us a bathroom break before we get all of the gear on? So far no break…so the next thing we do is grab our harnesses and put them on. Once we had them on I really started to wonder how in the world I was going to go to the bathroom with that rig on. Next it was headlamps, fleece jackets in a pouch incase we got cold, and radios so we could hear our guide. Of course the radio was only one way…we couldn’t communicate with her through them, so I guess if we found ourselves hanging off the side of the bridge we were SOL. 

Next we did a test run inside on the steps that we would be climbing while on the bridge. Well of course everyone breezed through them, they were probably only 12ft off the ground. They didn’t practice what to do if you panic climbing those stairs high above solid concrete with cars traveling below.

So the climb finally beings. The first part was a little scary b/c it was a small walkway and you were looking down at cars/concrete below you. But over all, it was not as scary as I had made it to be in my mind. And I am very glad we did it at night. The city was full of lights. It was gorgeous. We took pictures on the bridge with the Opera house in the background, then once we were at the top we took a group shot of everyone in our group. The group shot was complementary, but we did buy some of the other pictures. 

I would recommend if you are ever in Sydney to do the climb.

Sorry I have no pictures to put on here for the climb, but  they are all on CD and my little laptop doesn’t have a disk drive. I’ll have to post them when I am back home.

Finally in Sydney

We have finally arrived in Sydney!! Now, we might be walking around like zombies….but we are here. We got in late from the Penguin Parade last night and still had to finish packing. Our apartment in Sydney is okay. It is very secure, but the apartment stunk of cologne….and it was strong. It took a few days for us to either get used to it, or it could have finally gone away…who knows.

Justin gave us some ideas of things to do the day we arrived and then we would meet up with him the next day. So we began to wonder around to see where things were. Our neighborhood we were staying in was pretty decent in a 2 block radius, but then it seemed to go downhill from there. As we were walking around we ran into lots of homeless and guys doing cat calls. We finally got out of there and found Hyde Park and the Botanical Gardens. They were both beautiful!! We got lost in the gardens, but eventually found a different route back to our apartment that was faster and safer then the route we took to get to the gardens. For dinner we found this little restaurant  about a block away and actually had an American waiter from New York. Pretty cool.

We met up with Justin the next day out at Manly beach. Apparently all the tourist go to Bondi beach, and Manly is left for the locals. So it was good to go with a local to show us around. While at Manly we ate lunch. Heidi was dying for some prawns and I wanted fish and chips. So we found a place that had a dish that we could split that had stuff on it that we all wanted. Well besides the oysters so Justin got those. So the food comes out and guess what? Heidi’s prawns had eyes and legs!!! You better believe I was glad I wasn’t eating those things. She attempted to crack into the prawn and when she did it’s poop squirted out! EWWWW. Justin was over there saying….just clean it off and eat it. I couldn’t help but laugh. She finally got them down though

After lunch we began some whirlwind site seeing. Justin took us up to the heads that had some wonderful views, then we headed back down to Manly and went to ocean world….which is pretty much an aquarium. It was pretty cool. We got to see a seahorse giving birth!! From there we  headed into the city and went to the Summit Bar. It is a revolving restaurant. So we sat up there for a while and had a drink while we revolved around the city and Justin showed us where everything was.

We had Chinese for dinner and then walked around Chinatown for a bit before we all went our separate ways for the evening. Tomorrow will be another busy day.

Dunedin…the Scotland of New Zealand!

Today’s stop was Dunedin. They call it the Scotland of New Zealand. Today we did two tours. One to the Cadbury Chocolate Factory and one to Larnach Castle….the only castle in New Zealand.

Let’s start off with the Cadbury tour. Can we say HEAVEN!!! The actual factory was closed so we couldn’t tour it, but we were able to tour other parts. The  tour started off by giving us each a bag of 4 candy bars. Uh…yeah baby…now that is my kind of tour!! On the site they had 2 silos that they used to use for making chocolate, but no longer do. We were able to go up in one of them. It was several stories high and there were these chocolate bin type things going up the middle of the staircase. Once we got to the top our guide told us to yell….”We want chocolate”. We did and he flipped a switch and a chocolate waterfall just opened up from the ceiling. We weren’t allowed to take any pictures, but I can just tell you that it was amazing!! After that  chocolate waterfall we headed down and he took us into a room where we sampled “liquid chocolate”. Basically it is just the initial base of melted chocolate before they do anything with it. YUMMMY!!!!!!!!!!!

At the end of the tour we actually got caught in a hail storm. Luckily it didn’t last long, but it did not stop us from making a run for it to get to the shop where we could purchase candy. Once inside….I was a kid in a candy store….literally. There were so many different kinds of chocolate. I bought a ton and guess what….I wish I had bought more because a lot of the types you can’t get in the states. Supposedly there is another factory in Hobart….might just have to make a stop by there and get more!!

After we were loaded down with chocolate and trying to keep it from melting, we headed on our tour of the Larnach Castle. The highlight of this tour was our tour guide…Max. Too bad we couldn’t bring him home with us. He was mighty fine! The castle was beautiful too though. The grounds were so green! Again, it’s one of those you’ll just have to see it for yourselves some day.

Next on the agenda is 3 sea days. One of those (tomorrow actually) is cruising around the Fiords.

First stop - Tauranga

So the first day of the cruise is always fun. You are excited to get in your cabin and get everything unpacked…the the first stop after the cabin is ALWAYS to find the buffet! Then you pretty much spend the rest of the day trying to find your way back to your cabin. Who needs to go use the gym. I mean I think we’ve walked miles just trying to figure out where things are on this ship!

Our first stop on the cruise was Tauranga that is located on the North island of New Zealand. We were being bussed into the city from the port and were told about a tour that was headed to a place called Rotoura. In Rotoura there was this  Thermal Village where the Maori people live.( I will not attempt to spell Maori out for you phonetically since apparently I don’t even know how to pronounce it. So I will just let you give it a go for yourselves like I do every time). We did a tour of the village and got to see how they live. Boy was it hot in there. The steam comes up from the ground and just to touch the ground was so hot. It would surely melt those $2 Old Navy flip flops. But luckily I was in tennis shoes. Crazy. There were also geysers in the village that would shoot up and we happened to be there when they were. Apparently they are not on a set schedule….just random as to when they want to show up.

The Maori’s also put on a cultural show for us. I thought it was great!

After we left the Thermal Village we headed to Kiwi 360. I guess I never knew how kiwis were grown but I would have never guessed they would grow on vines like they do.
Our tour guides were great. Jackson was the main one and he was Maori. He had us doing all kinds of chants and dances while on the bus. We later found out that all the pictures that they took that day were going be posted on Facebook. Great…seeing as how Heidi and I were in the very front seats where the pictures were being taken….I doubt we escaped being photographed waving our hands in the air.

That was our Tauranga stop. After the kiwi farm it was back to the boat! I can’t comment too much on the boat….okay well yes I can. We are having a good time, but since we have been been on several cruises before and one of them actually being Princess I think we had high expectations. So far it has not impressed me. Not many activities going on and the food is okay. Oh well, we still have another week or so….maybe it will get better.

Too good to be true…..

Auckland, NZ oh how we aren’t really sure what we saw in your city since again we were zombies on 3 hours of sleep.

Once we arrived in Auckland we decided to walk around a bit and attempt to find the free shuttle around the city that we were told existed. We were wondering around the visitor center at the Skywalk to try and find a brochure of some sort on the tram, with no luck. So we finally asked a guy at the information desk where the bus stop was so he told us. But either he gave bad directions, or we can’t follow directions (which on 3 hours of sleep I’m pretty sure it was us who didn’t follow the right directions). Needless to say we sat at this bus stop for a while and nothing. Finally a city bus pulled up so we asked him and he said it was further up. So we starting heading where we “think” he is pointing. So next thing we know we hear honking. Okay well whatever, we just kept walking. We heard it again and kept on walking. After hearing it a third time I finally decided to turn around. Sure enough the bus driver was honking at us…why?? Well we were going the wrong way of course. So he pointed to where we needed to go and we finally found it.  So we hopped on and did a circle of the city.
So apparently the day we arrived in Auckland was a public holiday so there was quite a bit of stores that were closed. Let me just go off topic for a moment and say….Is every day in Australia and New Zealand a public holiday? Geez! I think every city shuts down between Christmas and New Years. And apparently since Christmas and New Year were on the weekend this year they get the Monday and Tuesday off of the following week as public holidays so nothing is open!! We’ve enjoyed our time over here, but would advise people to come for New Year and stay after and do everything, not the way we did it.

Okay, back to Auckland…. I must tell you about our accommodations in Auckland. It was a “too good to be true” moment if I have ever seen one.  So the cost was $52 and that included the tax. That should have thrown up a red flag right there. But I think we had spent so much money on the trip already we were ecstatic to find a place so cheap. Our room…..it was smaller than a cruise ship cabin that is located in the bowels of the ship. I do not lie. Unfortunately I didn’t  get a picture. Check out was 10am and it was past 10am and we were in the hall waiting on the elevator when I remembered that I had not gotten a picture. I went back to grab a quick photo while we were waiting and bam…key no longer works. Shoot they don’t mess around. I’m glad  I didn’t forget anything in there. When they say 10am….they mean 10am!!

On our way down to check out we ran into this guy in the elevator. It was a short ride, but long enough to learn that he didn’t like the accommodations either.  We were all in agreement that you get what you pay for when you buy it off the internet!! I personally think it was a backpacking hostel of some sort, but it clearly spun it’s ad on the internet! I guess you gotta give them props…because apparently we weren’t  the only people that they fooled!  Oh and they also didn’t mention the “Adult” store that was located right next door!!

Well, we went to bed early to try and catch up on some sleep that we lost….although you can never really catch up on lost sleep. We didn’t get any sleep that night either. There was no air so we had to sleep with the windows up and there was this annoying siren that went off ALL night long!!! I kept meaning to ask someone what it was, but never did.

The next day we shopped around some more, ate lunch at this HORRIBLE hamburger joint. We ended up throwing most of it away. I’d rather have McDonalds.

It was finally time to board the ship….and it was painless.It was so fast to get on board and of course we headed to the buffet 1st thing after we found our cabin. FOOD!!!!!

Phillip Island and the little “fairy” penguins!

So today we decided to head to Victoria Market since the first time we tried it, it was closed. We had arrived to Melbourne on a Wednesday and the Market just so happens to be closed on Mondays and Wednesdays….of course! We headed down and had some crepes and fruit salad (strawberries, bananas, cantaloupe, honey dew and kiwi). After we had finished we headed toward the market. Guess what?? It was closed! Of course it was! It was boxing day after all and turns out it was actually closed for a while. I guess we will have to try and catch it on our way back when we stop in Melbourne while on the cruise. So since we couldn’t do the market and since we called the tram car restaurant and were able to get a reservation for the day we are back with the cruise we decided to call and see if we could get a tour to Phillip Island to see the little fairy penguins. Score…we were able to get in…something was going right today after all.

The tour started at 1:15 and took us up to see wild Wallabies and wild Kangaroos. It also took us out to see some furry seals…although you had to pay an arm an a leg to see them through binoculars so we just decided to pass on the furry seals. I mean if you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all right? After all, we really did this tour for the penguins, everything else was just extra. Of course what we didn’t know was that Boxing Day is the one of the busiest days to go see the penguins….of course it is.

So on the brochure it said we’d get back around 9:00 – 11:30pm. Of course we just looked at the 9pm and then while on the tour he mentioned that we wouldn’t be getting back til after midnight. What? We had to try and get a tram and then pack and get up for our flight to Sydney in the morning!! Oh well, we then realized that it did say “seasonal” next to the times and realized that it was the summer over here and it did get darker later. And we learned that the penguins don’t come out til it’s dark.

Now these little penguins are called “fairy” penguins, but now they just call them “little” penguins and they are the smallest of all of the penguins….and instead of black and white, they are black and blue. So basically what they do is they go out in the morning and swim and look for fish all day and then at night they come in from a long hard day and they go and meet their loved ones who have been back home all day and they go and mate! So the penguin parade is basically watching the penguins come in at night from the the water on the beach and make their way home. Unfortunately I couldn’t take any pictures because they are sensitive to the camera flash and it can kill them. So the postcards will have to make do. I have to say this was an unexpected highlight of the trip! The penguins were so cute and who knows if I will ever be able to see something like this again. These little penguins came out of the water in droves! The night before they said some 2,000 penguins come out of the water and I can totally believe it!!

If you are ever in Melbourne and anywhere else that has a penguin parade you must do it. It is worth every penny. And maybe you can be like me and have lots of souvenirs too. It was very cold and rainy so I am now the proud owner of a penguin parade blanket, poncho, and socks!! I think penguins are my new best friend!!

Christmas at the zoo

Today is Christmas in OZ. Since we are here on Christmas and are away from family and seeing as how Christmas is celebrated here as well and everything is closed…the question of what to on Christmas was lingering in the air.

We noticed that one of the zoo’s was open on Christmas day so we though, what better way to spend Christmas down under than to see a bunch of animals roaming around. It was an open range zoo so the animals were really just roaming around, although not like the kangaroos and the wallabies were in our Cairns adventure. We were on a safari bus that took us around. Most of the animals were African animals thought which just made my desire to go on an African safari even greater. Below are some pictures of what we saw!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Baggage, baggage, baggage

Today we are flying to Melbourne. I am actually writing this as we are on the plane.  Our luggage has been an adventure in and of itself this trip. This flight that we are on was the weak link in the chain and our bag could only weigh 20 kg (44lbs). Well, I knew my bag was well over that weight limit. Before leaving for our trip we stuffed an empty duffel of Heidi's in my bag in the event we needed to move some stuff over to a second bag. Unfortunately the website wasn’t very clear on the cost of an additional bag and/or additional weight! According to one chart on the website you’d have to pay $40 for an extra bag online or $80 at the airport.So I decided that we’d try and pay online. Once we got the spot online the numbers changed and it charged by excess weight and could be up to $100 extra for 20kg extra bag. We decided not to use the extra bag and just gamble with what the weight of our bag might be and if I had to pay an arm and a leg, then that is just what I would have to do. Luckily when we got there, yes my bag was over weight, but they did not charge! Whew….relief!!! Now I can buy some souvenirs!!
Who wants a t-shirt? You know....the ones that are like 10 for $10???? :)

Cairns and the Skyrail

Today we drove back to Cairns since we would be staying one night there and flying out the next morning to Melbourne. Our hotel was literally only minutes from the airport. We decided to do the the Skyrail to see what the rain forest looked like from above. It was beautiful!! The skyrail is basically a cableway to the top of the rain forest. You had to get off to change at a couple of stations, but each of those stations had a little walking tour you could take. We decided that we’d go to the top first and then stop at the stations on our way back since we were running close on time. Once we got to the next to last station we got stuck there for a while. Thunderstorms came through (apparently it rains every day in Cairns) and so they had to suspend the service until it moved out of the area. While we waited we decided to go ahead and taking the walking tour at that station. While there we ran into an Australian family and we offered to take their picture. It was funny because they asked us if we were from the US. We said yes and they said that they loved listening to us talk. Pretty funny since we loved listening to them talk.

The thunderstorm  finally moved out, but the rain stayed. We made it to the top and it was pouring rain. We got a shuttle to the little village but because everything was shutting down it was the last shuttle and it would not be brining us back. So we had to walk back in the rain. Basically it was a little village with shopping and such. They did have a Koala park and also a butterfly sanctuary, but we decided not to do those. We made our way back to the railway and headed back down.

Since there was one station that we did not get to stop at we got off and went for our walk. We ran into a tour so we decided to tag a long. I felt like we ran into Crocodile Dundee!! We talked for him a bit after the tour. Turns out he is actually from NZ.

After our skyrail adventure we took back the rental car and headed back to the hotel. It was time to eat and we decided that we wanted pizza….since the night before we watched Undercover Boss Australia and it was about Dominos!  Wow, who knew ordering a pizza could be so difficult. Apparently they don’t have just “hamburger” as a topping. Each time I asked they would say…”do you mean bacon double cheeseburger"? Uh….no…We ended up ordering just a cheese pizza from Pizza Hut. Oh but the adventure doesn’t end there. The lady at the hotel gave us directions and said it was just up the road 4 blocks. I don’t think she knew what she was talking about since we never did see the Pizza Hut and we practically walked to the airport. We finally gave up and saw another local pizza place on our way back and decided to just eat there. Sorry Pizza Hut, hopefully someone got to take home a free cheese pizza!

Next stop…..Melbourne!!!!

Great Barrier Reef Adventure!!

Today we got up early and headed down to Cairns to catch our boat that would take us to the Great Barrier Reef. It was a 2 hour ride out to the boat that we’d be staying the night on. The Kangaroo Express!! So let me start by saying that the place where we were staying provided beach towels so we brought them with us. But, for whatever reason when we were unloading our bags from the car we decided to leave them in the car, thinking that they would provide towels…at least to shower since we were there overnight. Well, we soon learned once we boarded the Kangaroo Express that no towels of any kind were provided. And here we had perfectly good towels just sitting unused in our car. Now coming in out of the ocean it was fine…I mean it was blazing hot so it was very easy to drip dry.  But we had to get a little creative with our shower. I had a swim shirt  and Heidi had a similar type shirt that we ended up using as our towels because they would dry fast! Oh yes, nothing like drying with a shirt!!


Since we were spending the night on the boat we were allowed 5 snorkels.. The first place was absolutely beautiful. I have never seen so many bright colors in the ocean in my life. I took some pictures, but they just do not do it justice. The starfish were electric blue, some of the fish were purple and teal and  there was one that looked like it had leopard spots. Amazing!!!
Later that day I decided that I wanted to do an intro dive. I have never done any sort of scuba diving before so I thought why not give it a shot on the great barrier reef!! There were three of us that did the intro dive and our instructor pretty much did everything for us. We just had to breathe….and breathe I did. Maybe a little too much, but I am happy to say that I finally calmed down and did not panic. It was great and now after giving it a shot I definitely would like to get certified!

I really enjoyed the the time on the boat. The food wasn’t so hot, but maybe it was because I didn’t have much of an appetite since it was so hot where we ate….it just made the food not appealing!. 

Now those who know me know I get sea sick pretty easily  and have to wear the patch when doing any sort of sailing or boating deep in the ocean.  Now the boat ride back to the shop wasn't as fun as the rest of the trip. First of all I was sitting on the edge and the waves were so  rough and high that I was soaking wet within 20 min. of the beginning of the trip and had to get up and move. It all went downhill from there and  I was wearing the patch and still feeling sick!!! So Jennifer…..you aren’t the only one that can get sick even if on the patch! Luckily I didn’t, but oh I came so close!!!! I was never so happy to reach land!!!

I loved being on the water. It was so blue and the reef spots were so turquoise.  Like I said earlier. I can't even describe it's beauty!

Daintree and Cape Tribulation (Australian Rainforest)

Today we headed up to the Australian Rain forest. The drive was beautiful and it actually looked a lot like Hawaii. We just spent the day driving and stopping off at different spots. We had to take a ferry to continue on our journey. We knew that the ferry was going to cost about $21 to get across and back so I am thinking that it is probably a big ferry... one where you park your car and can get out and walk, etc. So we pay for the ferry and were told to stay in our car. I am thinking oookaay! We get to the ferry crossing and it was like…are you kidding me? We payed $21 for this? I could have probably swam it, it was so close.

 While we were waiting for the ferry to get back to our side of land so we could board everyone got our of their cars. We met our very first Aussie redneck!  I’ll let you use your own imagination. I think his sole purpose in life was scare tourist talking about crocs and stingers! Which by the way, we already knew about the stingers as we were told only to swim in parts of the beach that had stinger nets. The way we handled stingers…we just didn’t go to the beach or get near the water. No worries mate!

After we made it on the ferry we stopped off at the Discovery Center. It was pretty cool in that you went on a walk through the rain forest but never touched the forest floor. The majority of the tour was suspended above. Unfortunately we didn’t really see any wildlife, which was a bit disappointing.  Once we were done with that our next stop was for ice cream! We stopped off at this little place where this lady made homemade ice cream. Yummy!!

We drove a little further then decided to turn around and head back home! It was so beautiful…lush and green and the weather (besides being hot and humid) was nice and sunny…no rain!

We stopped by Mossman Gorge on our back home which was pretty nice. It had a little watering hole for swimming. We were there at dusk, but it would have been nice to be there in the hot of the day, but apparently the water was pretty cold. There were still a bunch of people there when we got there!

Tomorrow we head to the Great Barrier Reef!! I can't wait!

Kangaroos, Wallabies, and Cassowaries....oh my!

Since we were still jet lagged from our long trip we decided that today would be an easy day here in Port Douglas. We talked to the people where were are staying and they suggested that we go the Wildlife Habitat that was just down the road. This place was really cool! And I mean cool as in neat and not cool as in temperature because it was blazing HOT in Port Douglas!! Hot and humid!! there were no good hair days in Port Douglas. But anyway, this place was sort of like a little zoo, except all of the animals (with the exception of a few) were just roaming around. We were asked to stay on the footpaths, but apparently the animals don’t have to follow the same rule and stay in their area. They would cross our paths at anytime they felt the need. And the birds...oh the birds. Several times they dive bombed passed us!

I’d say the highlight of this little place was the fact that we got to feed the Kangaroos and Wallabies!! They were so gentle and so cute! They would eat right out of your hand and you could barely feel them touching you. Okay with one exception. I must have fed a teen-aged Kangaroo because it was a bit aggressive and I felt it’s teeth. He didn’t bite me or any thing, but let’s just say he only got one handful of food from me and then I moved on!

They also had Koalas there as well. There was a short presentation on the Koalas and the information was very interesting. Turns out that the gum leaves that they are always eating don’t have a lot of energy so that is why they sleep all the time. They only use 60% of their energy. Although we found one that was very energetic. Either that or he was trying to figure out how to escape!

Now the Cassowarries apparently roam around the rainforest up here but are very private animals so they say you rarely see them Luckily we were able to see one here because have not been able to see them anywhere else, even though there are tons of Cassowarry crossing signs like we have deer crossing signs.

We had lunch while we were here and we are learning that there are definitely differences in food. One of the options on the menu was a chicken salad sandwich. To us, chick salad is chunks of chicken with mayo, and whatever else people put in it. Here in Australia, chicken salad is just chicken with lettuce, tomato, onion, etc. It was very good though!!

Off to the rain forest tomorrow...

Driving in Aussie Country

Oh what a joy to drive in Aussie country. My first driving experience happened to be in the dark on a long and curvy road. Of course they drive on the other side of the road, and the steering wheel is on the other side of the car, and everything else in the car is opposite from us. Including the turn signals. If I turned on my windshield ( or windscreen as they call it here) wipers then I turned them on a million times trying to turn left or right. Luckily the drive from Cairns to Port Douglas was a straight shot….minus the round-a-bouts. They like to use round-a-bouts instead of stop lights, which I have to say is pretty nice and keeps the traffic flowing pretty well. Luckily I did not get stuck in any like Clark Griswald. Oh and I should also mention that there are a million round-a-bouts.

On our journey to Port Douglas we got stopped by the 5-0!  (No ladies it was not Steve McGarrett...one could only hope!) Well, not stopped in the since of they were behind me and pulled me over, but they had a roadblock set up. So we slowly inch up and I roll down the window to see what is up. So the cop asks me if I want to blow in the breathalyzer.  Apparently I was a little too eager and was like “yeah sure”….knowing that I had not been drinking! The cop then looked at me, laughed and told me to just go on!! He’s probably like….”crazy American!!”

Our rental car was a cute little red Hyundai Getz. Although our bags were about as big as the car!! It got us around though.

The feeling is so strange driving on the opposite side of the road. I did catch myself every once in a while wanting to go to the right. Heidi and I had to constantly chant…left, left, left…to make sure we were always going left! I think the passenger side was scarier than driving though! I know I found myself hugging the far left line and not the center line because well, it was a little unnerving when cars were coming at you on the opposite side than you are used to. Heidi and I talked about it and apparently we both did the same thing because at times we’d have to close our eyes in the passenger seat because it looked like the one driving was going to drive right off the road. The road from Cairns to Port
Douglas is an ocean road and therefore very curvy and at times nothing but cliff right beside you.

All in all though it wasn’t so bad and we both think we have finally gotten use to it. We are renting (hiring) a car in Melbourne for the day so hopefully we’ll be okay.

Australia or bust!!!

Well we are finally in Australia after an extremely long trip to get over here. We had so many segments that American Airlines couldn’t even check our luggage all the way through to our final destination. Let me give you a brief rundown of what we did. We flew out of Raleigh to Dallas and had a 2.5 hour layover. Then we head to LAX where we had a 5 hour layover. Next, we hopped an Air Pacific flight to Fiji. It was about 10 hours long, but luckily we were in business class living the life of luxury. Once in Fiji we had about a 4 hour layover before we were to catch our flight to Brisbane. Oh…I’m not done!! Once in Brisbane we initially had about a 5 hour layover before we were to catch our final leg of the trip to Cairns. However, bad thunderstorms rolled through the Brisbane area making our layover even longer adding an additional 3 hours. You better believe were were nasty!! We left on a Tuesday and got there on a Thursday. But we skipped over Wednesday all together because we crossed the international date line.

While we were in Dallas we saw Jim Bob Duggar. Do you know who that is? Yeah, me either, but Heidi thought it was funny to see a cast member of 19 Kids and Counting. He was with a bunch of kids, but apparently they weren’t the kids from the show. On our flight from Dallas to LAX we sat behind these 2 little girls. Cute as can be. Turns out, they had just come in second place in America’s Got Talent, but I can’t seem to find them online so who knows if that was even real, but they were sitting up in first class with us.. Those were our only brushes with celebrity. I am very sad that Hugh Jackman was not on our flight back to his homeland. Maybe on the way back..

Once in LA we met up with our friend Justin who was actually supposed to have gone out the day before us, but because of some flight issues he ended up in LA the exact same time that we were there. We met up with him and he hooked us up and got us in to the Admirals Club. We stayed in the Admirals Club up until about 2 hours before our flight to Fiji, but quickly learned we should have allowed 3 hours. We got stuck behind this family of 4 it looked to be who were either planning to move to Fiji or just did not know how to pack light for a vacation. I swear they had about 4 bags each! Therefore it took forever just to get checked in and then we had to go through security all over again. We finally got to our gate….or so we thought. There was nothing about our flight once we got to our gate so I looked at the boarding pass again and we had transposed the numbers of the gate. Our gate was supposed to be 120 and we went to gate 102. Once we realized it we took off running. I felt like I was on the Amazing Race except I didn’t have a back pack…I had a rolly bag! Note to self….if I ever do the Amazing Race never take a rolly bag ( I think a team actually did that one year).

Our flight to Fiji was very nice…our seats reclined back most of the way. I love flying business!!  We ate like Queens!! The food on Air Pacific was really good and the people were really nice. I would totally fly them again.
Once in Fiji we were greeted by some local singers…it was great! Because we were flying business we were able to use their business class lounge where we were able to get a shower. It felt wonderful to be somewhat clean, but of course we had almost another day to go of travel.

When we got to Brisbane we were able to use their business class lounge as well so we hung out there until our flight to Cairns although when we got to our gate that is when we were told that flight was delayed due to bad storms in the area.
We finally made it to Cairns!!! Woohoo….oh but it was not time to celebrate yet. We still had to rent a car and drive to Port Douglas where were would be staying. In the dark….on the opposite side of the road…and the car…..

Chapel o' Love

This weekend I traveled to KY to attend my sweet friend Emilie's wedding. The wedding took place in Harrodsburg, KY. Ever heard of it? Yeah, neither had I. We decided to drive since plane tickets seemed outrageous and the trip was only about eight hours total of which we really only had to do 6.5 at once and then we were going to do the rest the next day. That didn't seem so bad....that is until I started driving it. Let's keep in mind that I did not consult a map before I set out on this journey. I just relied on good ole Garmin to get me there. As fancy as Garmin is, it really needs to let you know about toll roads...of course maybe it does, I never did read the manual. Let's just say I miss the days of when the toll was .25 cents and it was a gamble when you made the toss if you were actually going to get it in the basket or not. Nope, now days tolls are no longer in cents...they are in dollars...and multiple dollars at that. Six dollars later we were greeted with a sign.."Thank you for traveling on the West Virginia Turnpike". Yeah, as if we had a choice! It should say..."West Virginia thanks you for your money...sucker!".

Our trip through the mountains of West Virginia seemed to take forever! It was dark and I think that made it worse. I was so excited to see our destination for the evening show up on the GPS with the big checkered flag, Ashland, KY....what a sweet sight! My friend Cat, who was traveling with me, was just as ready to be there are I was and I recall her saying something like..."ah, soon we'll be seeing the 'Welcome to Kentucky' sign". Except we didn't see a "Welcome to Kentucky" sign....we saw a "Welcome to Ohio" sign! What?? How did we end up in Ohio? We were in West Virginia?? So, if you recall from earlier in this post that I did not consult a map before heading out on my journey...well, I also failed to brush up on my U.S. geography. Who knew I would need it, but apparently I did, because I had no idea that Ohio bordered Kentucky. Needless to say we were only in Ohio briefly and we did make it to our destination.

The wedding took place in a small country church that had no indoor plumbing. Yes, you read that right, no indoor plumbing. You know what the means right? It had an outhouse. You know what else that means? It means that I didn't have anything to drink all day because I was not about to have to use that thing. It didn't even have the half moon cut out so light could shine in. I would have had to take a flashlight (or my cell phone since that is what everyone uses for a flashlight these days) or gamble with leaving the door cracked and having someone walk in on me. Although the odds were probably pretty slim that anyone else would actually want to use it either so I'd  have probably been safe, but I didn't want to find out.


The reception was held at Shaker Village. It is also where a lot of the out of town guests stayed, including myself. I honestly did not know what to expect when I arrived at Shaker Village. I had no idea of the vast amounts of land on the property. I thought I was going to run out of gas just driving from where I was staying to where the bride was staying...yes all in Shaker Village.  I just knew that at any minute the "Little House on the Prairie" theme song was going to start playing.  I did learn a little bit about the Shakers though while I was there. They do not believe in sex or marriage. Maybe that is why I didn't see a lot of Shakers while I was there. In one of the main buildings they had  two stair cases...one side for the men to go up and one side for the women to go up. I went up both, just to be a rebel! :-)  I didn't get a the opportunity to tour the village as I would have liked, I'm sure it would have been fascinating.

Although the weekend was a tiring one, it was wonderful and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I was happy that I was able to be there and witness two wonderful people being joined together in marriage. I love you Em and M....may God bless you both in your new life together.