Queensland trip

We went to Queensland on the east coast of Australia for our anniversary in September. We went snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef near Cairns and then farther north at Cape Tribulation (MUCH better up north).



We spent four days at Cape Tribulation - where the rainforest meets the reef. We stayed in a treetop bungalow and went horseback riding along the beach and hiking through the rainforest!

we stayed at Coconut Beach Resort - a very appropriate name

the view from our room

Cape Tribulation beach

After Cape Tribulation, we went to Fraser Island - a nature lover's paradise. Here is a sample of the many creatures we saw...

goanna

carpet python (not poisonous)

sea snake (poisonous)

young female dingo who sat down right in front of us!

kookaburra (noisy bird who sounds like he is laughing)

dugong (cousin to the manatee)

azure kingfisher

pretty moth/butterfly?

brahminy's kite

wolf spider (poisonous)

honeyeater (one of many birds we saw on a morning bird-watching walk)

The island is actually one of the largest islands made completely of sand - you HAVE to be in a 4x4 to get around to the beautiful lakes perched in sand dunes. Here are some other highlights...

Maheno shipwreck (what's left of it anyways)

Lake Birrabeen (a perched blue lake with white sand)

Scribbly gum tree (from an insect)

another kind of gum tree in the rainforest on Fraser Island

paperbark gum trees (had fish cooked in paperbark one night)

sunset at the pier on our last night

just before sunset

Fraser Island from the airplane (with the perched lakes and sand dunes)

Sydney from the air (touched down briefly to switch planes - the weather was crap again in Sydney)

Road trip with Marisa and Pania

We went for a road trip August 2nd with our friends Marisa and Pania. We headed north of Melbourne and checked out the Organ Pipes - a lava rock formation that looks exactly like it sounds!


Then we headed over to Hanging Rock - apparently four schoolgirls disappeared during a picnic near Hanging Rock and three were never found!!


We also went for a detour to Sunbury to find the Rupertswood mansion - the home of "The Ashes". The Ashes itself is a famous cricket match between Australia and England that dates back to 1882. It got that funny name when Australia beat England for the first time - a newspaper reported that English cricket had died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia. When the English team came to Australia the next year, they stayed at Rupertswood. The lady of the estate gave the English captain a small urn to be used as a perpetual trophy for matches between the two countries. We didn't find that urn but we did enjoy wandering around the mansion - no one was around and felt like we owned it!!


We headed over the Daylesford and checked out The Chocolate Mill - probably the best hot chocolate I have ever had in my life!!

Footy!

Kat's first footy game was the Hawthorne-Collingwood game with Chris and Marisa on August 1st. There were over 50,000 people there and boy do they ever love their Australian Rules football!!

Each team has specific colours and people are pretty die-hard supporters as you can tell by the sea of black and white (Collingwood colours)!

This is Lance "Buddy" Franklin - Hawthorne's star player

Had my first meat pie - a tradition at the footy!

Queenscliffe

On July 26th-27th, we went to Lucinda's family beach house in Queenscliffe - which is just west of Melbourne about an hour or so. We had a lovely dinner and lots of wine and conversation... and the next day we went for brunch at one of the cafes and then strolled around funky little shops. We also went for a walk along the beach and found some interesting things.

Birthdays!!

Kat's birthday weekend started off with an evening at Melbourne's famous Circus Oz - two hours of amazing acrobatic performances and comedy!!


Kate, our flatmate, was a sweetheart and made sure the tradition of a birthday apple pie continued!!

Kat's birthday surprise was a dinner on the Colonial Tram Car Restaurant! We enjoyed a yummy five course meal while we slowly trundled through the city!! We also popped into Crowne Casino briefly for a spin on the one-armed bandits while we waited for the tram to pull up!!




We also watched the sunrise at Chris' work on Kat's actual birthday - we got to sleep in because it is winter here and the sun didn't rise until 7:36!


For Chris' birthday weekend, we went to "the SNOW" as they call it here! We went to Mt. Buller - about fours away from Melbourne. They had been having record snowfall and the conditions were actually not bad. Chris snowboarded while Kat tried to ski on the first day. We were feeling a little sore the next day so we went snowshoeing for a change of pace. I think hiking through the snow gum forests on fresh powder in the silence was our favorite part of the weekend!!

At the farm

On June 28th, we went to the Bald Rock farm again for a visit with Kate's niece Iris (and David and Sally too of course). We played with the baby and the dogs and pruned some of the vines and had a thoroughly lovely weekend!!

The Outback

We flew to Darwin after work on May 29th and made our way through the Northern Territory down to Alice Springs. We met more cool English people, had a few laughs and put in some serious kilometers along the way!

Day One in Litchfield National Park at the Top End

this is Buley's waterhole... otherwise known as nature's spa!

enjoying a back massage from the waterfall!

Florence Falls - we were able to swim over to the bigger falls and hang out behind the veil!!


In the late afternoon we went on a cruise down the Mary River and saw a lot of wildlife...

a wallaby with a joey in her pouch

a sea eagle

a jabiru (can pierce a crocodile's skull)

a saltwater crocodile (big)

a freshwater crocodile (not as big, thin snout)

Day 2-3 in Kakadu National Park

interesting rock art (x-ray style telling a story about the thunderstorm god i think?)

more rock art (a kangaroo... they painted fish and turtles too)

sunset at Ubirr


the sky was thick with smoke because it was the burning season to germinate seeds and protect the area from major fires (this is a controlled fire right beside the road)


these were the tents we stayed in


one of many giant termite mounds that were all over the place


we spent the early afternoon at the top of another set of falls (water was cold)

we went back to Darwin on the third day and checked out the night market by the beach!!

Day 4-6 driving from Darwin to Alice Springs

we went on a helicopter ride to see all 12 of the gorges of Katherine Gorge (almost lost my cookies)



we went on a cruise down two of the gorges - very breathtaking


there were fruit bats all over the place at Katherine Gorge (kinda smelled but cute)

we stopped at Mataranka thermal pools on one of the days


we also stopped at a wildlife farm and saw lots of neat birds


we slept under the stars in swags for the rest of the trip!

we stopped at the Daly Waters pub (one of the oldest) and listened to a local sing Waltzing Matilda

at the Daly Waters pub

the Devil's Marbles about half way through the Northern Territory

(really random but cool boulders)

the Tropic of Capricorn landmark about 100 km outside of Alice Springs where Chris lost his wallet (a kind tourist turned it into the police and he eventually got it back with the money in it!)

Day 7-9 in the Red Centre

a camel ride early in the morning at the start of our
last leg

we went for an afternoon hike around the Kata Tjudas (otherwise known at the Olgas) through the Valley of the Winds... good 4 hour hike

the view into the valley

the Olgas from a distance

Uluru at sunset

Uluru at sunrise the next morning (totally different colour)

we walked around the base as the sun rose... it is not as smooth as one would think! the 9 km hike took us about 3 hours

our tour guide cooked dinner over the coals and we got to listen to dingos howling

on day 9 we hiked King's Canyon... another 4-5 hour hike!

this is an amazing country!!