Weekend In the Whitsundays

Joel and I took a long weekend off for his "birthday"and headed north to the famous Whitsunday Coast! (I had already taken a week off for our trip south and had to make up a good story to get another Saturday off, wink!). This is supposed to be one of the top places to visit in Oz.  We flew out Thursday morning from Brisbane and our trip did not start out too smoothly.  Joel was already in a bad mood thanks to morning traffic and Melba's recalculating, and it worsened when he found out how much he had to pay to check his golf clubs!  He was pretty miserable to everyone from the point on.  

Our flight was delayed by half an hour (sick crew member).  We arrived in Prosperine and had to take a forty five minute or so bus trip to Airlie Beach.  Airlie is a small town on the mainland and is the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands (aka it is way cheaper to stay here then on one of the islands so this is where all the backpackers and budget travelers stay).  It's basically a party town and is pretty much made up of hostels, bars and restaurants.  We stayed at a youth hostel, my first time.  We had a private room with our own bathroom and little kitchenette, so it wasn't too bad.  We went for lunch and explored town and pouty pants brightened up a bit.

Airlie sits in between two harbors, but it does have it's own small strip of beach.  It's a secluded area from the marina, which is filled with boats.  Not many people were actually in the water, as it's stinger season (jellyfish), but a decent amount of people suntan on the beach.

Due to the crappy beach, there is a man made lagoon overlooking the marina.  Basically a glorified pool with crappy, grainy sand around it, but most people hang out here during the day to sleep off their hangovers.

We had an early pick-up Friday morning for our Camira sailing cruise through the Whitsunday Islands.  There are over seventy four, but I think only six are inhabited.  We met a new friend, Steve from Leeds, while waiting for the bus and Joel now has a new British BFF.

We cruised on a giant purple catamaran.  We lucked out and had a perfect day weather wise.  We picked up a few more guests from Daydream and Hamilton Island, but I have to say their beaches really can't compare to those in the Caribbean.  At eleven o'clock the booze came out.  It was all free, so you know what that means.  Jacobs Creek wine, especially for me!

Our first stop was at the famous Whitehaven Beach.  It's situated on Whitsunday Island, one of the larger islands, and is basically a national park.  No one lives here and there is nothing there but trees and animals.  It's sand is made of 98% pure silica.  It is the best beach in Australia and the third best in the world.  This area is also where a good part of the Kate Hudson/Matthew McConaughey movie "Fools Gold" was filmed.  We had an hour of drunken fun here where the boys played cricket as I exfoliated my skin.  The silica is supposed to be amazing for it, but I didn't notice any difference.

Back on the ship we had a tasty lunch and more booze.  Our next stop was at the reef, but after the wine I didn't feel like getting in the water to snorkel.  I don't like getting my head wet on a good day, let alone a booze day.  I had a nap instead and ended up getting sunburnt.  I have lovely red marks above my eyebrows where my sunglasses didn't cover.  We met a ton of young travelers from all over Europe and it was cool to talk with them about their experiences in Oz.

In the evening we met up with Steve and some of his friends at one of the hostel bars.  This was our first "backpacker" trip here and we couldn't believe how easy it is to meet and chat to people in the hostel environment.

Saturday morning Joel took a ferry out to Dent Island for some world class golf.  The whole island consists of nothing but an eighteen hole golf course and clubhouse.  He lost alot of golf balls, but said it was worth golfing here (he can't go anywhere without a game of golf).  I stayed back at Airlie and alternated sitting at the lagoon and the beach.

 

 We were going to meet up with some people in the evening, but poor Joel fell asleep after dinner so I read and caught up on the Olympics.  Around five am we were woken by our rowdy neighbors who decided to bring the party home after the bars closed. We had an early morning today to head back home and retaliated by yelling and singing loudly outside their door. 

All in all it was a good weekend.

Now I've seen almost everything on my must see list, save for Canberra and New Zealand.  I'm really starting to feel ready to come home.  Our apartment lease is up on August twenty-second, so we will be on to another adventure then.  We decided on... Sydney!  We really debated on Adelaide, but in the end thought it was a long drive and the work situation might not be as wide.  There will be tons of work for us both in Sydney and I think that will give us the "true" Aussie experience.  Rents look pretty pricey unfortunately so we'll be downsizing (again) and probably living farther out of the CBD, but I think I will be much happier there then I am on the Gold Coast.  There are seven Audi dealerships and tons of golf courses, so Joel is ok with it too.  I'm already planning in my head the road trip south and counting down the days till I can hand in my two weeks notice! I'm really looking forward to finding a new salon.  Though I'm happy to at least have a job when they are so short, it is really not my style of salon at all- no one else wears heels! 

Sydney, I'm In Love!

On Monday night I flew down to Sydney and I was instantly in love!  Even in the dark of night it is an amazing place.  Dad picked me up at the airport and we drove into the harbor to check out the Harbor Bridge and Opera House lit up by night.  That bridge is huge!  The neighborhood around it is called The Rocks and was one of Sydney's first suburbs.  It still has lots of old buildings and I could truly imagine what it would have been like walking around the streets when the city was still new.  Around the Opera House there are tons of restaurants and lounges.  We lucked out and found a twenty four hour diner (it was eleven pm on a Monday so most places were no longer serving food).

We were up bright and early in the morning.  As I had a six pm flight that night we had to make the most of my day!  After a filling breakfast we took the bus into the CBD to explore.  First stop was the Queen Victoria Building.  This is now a shopping center but in the past has been home to all sorts of different things, including a concert hall and library.  It has tons of stained glass and cool, giant clocks hanging from the ceilings.  It was rainy and cold and I didn't want to ruin my tan BCBG pumps, so I got a new pair of Ugg boots!  They have leopard print on the back- balla!

After that we walked back to the harbor to check out the Opera House and Bridge by day.  The Opera House is actually three separate buildings, although it looks like one.  The largest one is the main theater, then there is a second, smaller theater and a restaurant. 

We explored the The Rocks neighborhood a bit, then walked the bridge.   There is a museum and look out point in one of the pilons which Dad and I climbed up to (200 stairs).  Awesome views of the city.  There was also a group of climbers going across the bridge.  I learned that the bridge was opened in 1932, after over one hundred years or proposed building plans, and created many jobs for the unemployed during the Great Depression.

It didn't take as long as I thought to walk across.  We stopped for lunch, checked out Sydney's Luna Park, then took to ferry back to where we were staying in Balmain before it was time to head to the airport (there are tons of ferries connecting different points along the harbor).  On the way out we made one last stop at Bondi Beach.  The weather was crappy, but it looks like a pretty nice beach. 

At the airport I said my goodbyes (again) to Mom and Dad and checked into my flight.  I learned that on domestic flights within Australia you can bring as much liquid/gels/creams as you like in your carry on, as well as shaving razors!  Once again, no one asked to see any ID.  Sydney airport also has free wine tasting stations, so I had a little mosacto before my flight.

I had such an awesome day with just me and my parents exploring Sydney.  I'm glad I got to have one last day with them to enjoy their company!  Love you both!

Liebster Award!

While updating myself on my blogger reading list last night I discovered that my little blog won a little award!  Woo hoo!  It's called the Liebster Award and was awarded to me from my friend Lisa over at notladylike (which is an awesome blog and I think you should check it out!).

The Liebster award is given to upcoming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. The meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome. 

Rules for receiving this award:

1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.
2. Answer the questions that the tagger set for you, plus create 11 questions for the people you've tagged to answer.
3. Choose 11 people and link them in your post.
4. Go to their page and tell them.
5. No tag backs. 

OK, here are my eleven things:

1- My favorite color is green.
2- I have severe allergies to nuts, fish and seafood and I carry an epi pen at all times.  This can make dining at Asian restaurants difficult.
3- I love lists.  I'm always making myself a million to do lists so I always have tons of post it pads around.  I also love to organize.
4- I am a computer junkie!  On lazy days I can spend hours on my laptop checking out other blogs, facebook and pinterest.
5- I love to travel and see new places.  I have been to sixteen countries and counting.
6- I have a serious shoe addiction.
7- I've always driven a standard and don't plan on switching to an automatic anytime
8- I am scared of heights.  I'm fine in airplanes, but tall buildings and ferris wheels terrify me.
9- I hate buttons.  I won't wear anything (besides pants or a jacket) featuring buttons.
10- My favorite flowers are stargazer lilies and bird of paradise.  They were both in my wedding bouquet.  On a side note I hate babies breath.  This was also in my wedding bouquet and I pulled them all out.
11- I recycle.  If there's not a recycle bin nearby, I will take my recyclables home with me.

And here are the answers to Lisa's questions to me:

 1. What/who inspires you to blog?  I guess just life in general.  I started blogging last year with my Project 365 to document every day life and this year to document my travels, so me blogging is basically a way to keep a record of my life to look back on.  

2. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?  I'm not sure anymore!  I always wanted to live in London or some other super cool city far away.  Now that I'm actually doing that I've learned I miss my friends and family too much!  I would love to live in a decent sized city somewhere closer to home, with milder winters.  Looks like Vancouver might be my current winner!

3. What do you always have to have on your person at all times? Lipgloss.  I go nuts without it.

4. Favourite place to eat out? My very favorite restaurant is Matahari's on 124 St in Edmonton.  Otherwise I'll never say no to a good Italian place.

5. What's your greatest personal attribute? This is hard to answer myself!  I'd say I'm pretty loyal.  If I love someone/something enough I will stick to it till the end. 

 
6. Do you have any blogging rituals? Like, you always have to sit at the table, or blog right before bed, etc.  Nope.  Although I usually like to blog about something as soon as it's happened so the memories are fresh in my head.

7. Name something you do, wear, say, to make yourself feel powerful and confident.  Killer heels!

8. Name something that always gets you really excited. Example: going out for coffee with your BFF, "the new phone books are here! the new phone books are here!!" Vacations.  I get a countdown going and get really OCD about packing and prepping a few weeks before.

9. What is something special/new you really want to do this summer?  This year as I'm in the opposite hemisphere my summer doesn't start till December.  Who knows where in the world I'll be at that point- I sure don't!  I am hoping we can get to New Zealand at that point.

10. What's your biggest goal for 2012?  Stop stressing and panicking so much!  So far not turning out so well.

11. Can you whistle?  Sure can.  I love sitting on my balcony at night and wolf whistling at people walking by.  Entertaining to see them confusedly search for where the whistle came from!

Now to tag eleven other blogs to pass the award onto.  I don't even follow that many!  Friends, more of you need blogs, I love to read them!  I'm not going to pick eleven, as I feel strange tagging people I don't personally know.

1-As I See It
2- Ginger's Life of Spice
3- Lines of Best Fit

4- The Beautiful Ordinary
5- twogirlsoneflat
6- Scrapbook Like You Mean It


Now for my eleven questions:


1- How long have you been blogging?
2- What started you blogging?
3- What is your favorite blog to read?
4- How often do you post?
5- What is at the top of your bucket list?
6- How many languages can you speak?
7- Who is your favorite author?
8- What is your perfect day? 
9- How many countries have you traveled too?
10- What is your favorite pair of shoes?
11- Have you heard of the Liebster Award before today?


Geez, this kind of feels like those forwarded emails about yourself I used to get in junior high where if you didn't pass it on you'd get a year of bad luck!  If you don't care to answer, it's ok.  If I didn't tag you and you'd like to play along, go for it!

Anyone have any awesome blogs they recommend I follow?  Maybe have your own that I could check out?  I'm also curious who is following me!  I get pretty good traffic from all over the world and would love to see who's following!

In other news I'm off on an impromptu trip to Sydney tomorrow!  My parents are there till Thursday and I really felt I needed one more day with them.  I have Tuesday off, so will be flying out tomorrow night after work and spending all of Tuesday with them, the flying back in the evening.  Then I work Wednesday and Thursday morning we're off to the Whitsundays.  What a jet-setter I am this month!

 

All Caught Up?

My Aussie road trip and visit with my parents is over and it's back to reality.  I was so sad to say goodbye to them at the airport after spending two weeks straight with them.  Especially since I don't know when I'll be seeing them next.  It's so hard to spend all that time together and then be apart for so long.  I was also sad to come back to Queensland and the Gold Coast.  I quite enjoyed being out of state for awhile!  I'm feeling disoriented too because my carefully thought out plans have now taken a big turn and I don't know what the next move should be.

Lucky for me I had yesterday and today off to recover from my vacation (and catch up on laundry and blog posts).  I spent the first part of  yesterday feeling yucky and trying to figure out our next step.  I was lucky enough to skype with Dewey and Jill this afternoon, then chat on the phone to Kirsten this evening to talk things out.  I love that my friends are always there when I need them and am feeling sad, even though I'm so far away.

I had a good chat with Joel last night about our plans too.  I think he finally understands that I want to go back home because I truly miss the people.  Yes, lifestyle might be better in some ways here and there is no snow, but in the end I need to be close to my support group.   I've learned that my friends and family are what is most important to me and nothing else can make me as happy as they do.  So if I have to tough out some cold winters to do this that is a small sacifice in the long run!

Today (after wallowing for a bit) I finally got out of bed and decided to be productive.  I walked in the sunshine to the bank and the post office, then took my book and sat in the hot tub for a good hour.  I haven't been down there in awhile and now I remember why- my skin is so itchy from the water!  I did some reorganizing (what I do when I'm stressed) and had a shower and feel way better.  I told myself I need to stop stressing about the long term and just focus on the short term future (how to spend our next few months in Oz).  If I keep thinking about life back in Canada it is just an extra stress I don't need on my shoulder yet (I think my brain likes to stress).

 I think we've come up to a solution about where to move and how long to stay in Oz.  I won't say anything yet in case we change our minds (which does happen alot).  We're going to start applying for jobs in the new city and see what happens!

Last Day With the 'Rents

Today was the last day of our holiday and the last day of quality time with my parents for a long time!  We started our day with a trip to the Eureka Tower, which is Australia's second highest building (after the Q1), but has the highest viewing platform in the southern hemisphere (it is at level 88.  Q1 is only 77 but it's needle makes it taller).  I am proud that once again I wasn't to scared to be up this high!  I got a little squeamish on the outer deck, but not as bad as usual.  This building has what's called "The Edge"- an all glass box that slides out of the building for floor to ceiling views.  I definitely wasn't doing this, but daredevil Joel did!

Joel out on The Edge- definitely not brave enough to do this myself!

No fear for this guy!

The Eureka Tower

We took one of Melbourne's old trams on the free city circle loop and Joel and I headed to the one sight in Melbourne he was excited to see- the Aquarium.  We saw tons of under water creatures, including some giant stingrays, and my favorite, penguins!

Almost as cute as a koala!

After lunch we had some time to kill before we had to be at the airport, so we headed to the Docklands to check out Dad's favorite Melbourne icon- Dame Edna!

We got caught in rush hour traffic and had a stop and go drive to the airport.  It was so sad to say goodbye to my parents!  They have one more week in Oz and are going to drive to Sydney via Canberra.  I wish I thought to take off one more day of work so I could carry on with them on the adventure and have a few days with them.  I hope they have a good time!

Exploring Melbourne

We arrived in Melbourne just as the sun was setting and rush hour was in full swing.  We stayed at the Darling Towers, which was basically a two bedroom furnished apartment with all the amenities- Dad picked well on this one!  We were all a bit grumpy and tired from our day of driving, so just picked up some groceries for a simple supper and some ice for my ankle.

We thought we could meet the couple who's home we'll be renting for the next few months while we were here.  I went to send them an email and had an unfortunate message in my inbox- they had to cancel our reservation due to a family emergency!  Cue me freaking out because my perfect plans fell through.  (Maybe this was a blessing in disguise though as Joel decided the next day that he hated Melbourne and would go nuts living in such a busy place.)  Joel and I had an argument about what to do next (he says find new jobs and stay on Gold Coast, I say find a new city) so we decided to take a time out, enjoy our time here in case we don't come back, and worry about it when we get home.  Dad took Joel out for a beer and all was fine.

The next morning the boys went out to check out the job scene for Joel and Mom and I walked around the CBD and snooped in some shops.  We had to go slow and rest alot because of my poor little ankle.  I love the way the shops are arranged downtown- located in old buildings, tucked away in little alleys and arcades.  It reminded me of a combo of NYC and Calle del Serpientes in Seville (Spain).  We picked up some souvenirs, tried on fastenators in David Jones, bought some jewelery at my favorite store Forever New, had lunch at a little Asian bakery and explored one of Melbourne's most famous sights, Flinders Station.  It was nice just to have a day alone with my Mom.

 When we met up with the boys Joel was even more sure that he didn't want to move to Melbourne.  Too much traffic for his liking.  We made a simple dinner and I iced my ankle, then I went out with Mom and Dad for an evening walk and to check out the Crown Casino.  This place is bolla!  Fancy crystal lighting, tons of high end restaurants and shops, and the slots just went on forever.  It was two floors of never ending gambling.  Dad had to play twenty bucks so he could say he'd played at this world class casino, and the gods were with him as he won seventy dollars!  Drinks on him to celebrate.

We went to a cool lounge along the river to sip in his winnings.  I had the best rose moscado made by Innocent Bystander in the Yarra Valley (Melbourne's wine country).  After that we walked along the river and checked out the city lit up at night.

The next morning Joel and Dad were up bright and early to go golfing.  Joel does not feel he has experienced a city to it's fullest without golfing one of their ranges.  Mom and I had another girls day.  We started our day with a little sightseeing.  There are so many beautiful old buildings here!  First stop was the Parliament (for whatever reason I feel the urge to always see parliament buildings when I'm in a city/state capital- maybe because I love the Leg in Edmonton so much?).  So far this was the nicest one I've seen in Oz.

We walked along the north side of the river to our next stop, Federation Square.  This is basically the meeting point of Melbourne and seems like lots of entertainment happens here in the summer.  Below is the Arts Center, aka Melbourne's Eiffel Tower.

We got to Flinders Station and figured out how to catch a tram to Chapel Street, another shopping mecca.  Mom was in her element!  I was very unlike myself and couldn't get into shopping like I usually would because of my stupid ankle.  Joel and Dad met up with us and I went exploring in the car with them while Mom continued to shop.  We drove to St Kilda and checked out Luna Park (famous vintage amusement park with a wooden roller coaster) which was closed (poor Dad- it's always closed when he comes!) and checked out the beach.  Melbourne sits on a bay and their beach really sucks.  We did enjoy some drinks at a little beach side bar (such alcoholics this trip!)

 We picked up Mom and went to see the Shrine of Remembrance, which was built to honor those whose lives were lost in WWI.  It was huge and is by far the most beautiful remembrance monument I've seen.

Not much planned for this evening.  Another low key dinner and fitting everything back in our suitcases as we head back to the Gold Coast tomorrow evening.

The Great Ocean Road

Up bright and early for a Macca's breakfast and back on the road.  Luckily today was more exciting!

The Great Ocean Road starts just after Warrnambool and is a scenic strip of highway that was built after World War One by returning soldiers.  This strip of coast is know as the Shipwreck Coast, as many explorers were caught here back in the day.  It borders the Southern Ocean (don't remember learning there was such a thing from my social studies teachers!) and there are tons of things to stop and see every few minutes.  It's amazing to see how the ocean can change the land so much and erode the rocks into these different formations.

First stop was Loch Ard Gorge.  It was super windy here with gaelforce winds at 30 km/h!

I love that Dad got a photo of me taking a photo- my favorite thing

 

The Grotto

Joel was the only one brave enough to climb out here...

...then had to climb up here (even though you're not supposed to)

London Arch (formally bridge).  It used to be connected to the mainland, but one day the bridge part just fell down!  There were two tourists stranded there for a few hours while helicopters came to rescue them.

 And finally the most famous of them all, the Twelve Apostles.  There are only eight left now.  Unfortunately it was so windy I didn't get too many great pics.  I also twisted my ankle on a hill here, which put a damper on my heel wearing for the next few days!

 

Yep, it really was THAT windy!

You can't really tell from this picture, but the highway got pretty windy.  It literally hugs the coast and twists and turns it's way through hills, valleys and forests.  Dad and Joel had to take turns driving this road!

 Ocean Road completed!

After a yucky lunch in Apollo Bay, we drove past Torquay to the famous Bells Beach.  This is where the world's longest running surf competition, put on by Rip Curl, takes place each year.  Even though it was cold and windy, there were still a ton of surfers out there!

From here on it was back to sleep for me until we pulled into our final destination, Melbourne...