Adventures Down Under: May 2011

Easter break finally rolled around in good ol' Australia and Mama Cap touched down in Melbourne! Thursday night, Prue and her friend Greg picked me up in Geelong and were nice enough to drive me to our hotel in Melbourne. It was great seeing Prue and catching up with her. Once settled at the hotel, I realized how starving I was. Luckily for me, our hotel was right near China town, (the oldest China town in the world) so I walked down the street and grabbed some soup. I brought the soup back to my room and sat down to eat it and watch some television, while waiting for Abby and her parents to drop off Jenn. Jenn went with Abby's family to see Australia's famous Little Penguins that night, so I offered our hotel room in Melbourne for her to stay at for company and so she didn't have to sleep in the Melbourne train station. Once Jenn arrived, we got in bed and fell asleep pretty quickly.

Day One:

The next morning, we woke up bright and early for Jenn to catch a train and for me to find my mother at Southern Cross Train Station! After some breakfast and a good read through the paper, Mama Cap arrived after the longest flight of her life. We made our way to our hotel, figured out our day and off we went. Our first stop was the Eureka Skydeck. For this we headed up to the 88th floor of the Eureka tower and took in Melbourne from up high. It was pretty cool seeing the entire city from a bird's eye view, and there were even scopes that pointed to landmarks in Melbourne. After this, we made our way to Federation Square to get picked up for our Penguin Parade tour! I have been looking forward to the Penguin Parade since way before I even left for Australia. Hundreds of penguins (the smallest in the world, standing about 40 centimeters tall) march up onto the beach and head for their borrows like clockwork every night. Our tour guide was pretty good. He was knowledgeable and to kill time he took us to the point of Phillip Island to show us the landscape and some wild wallabies! My mom and I upgraded to the Penguin Plus, which I would recommend for any penguin lover. This special boardwalk got you closer to the Little Penguins. Going closer also meant hearing them. These little guys were very talkative and very funny. They would run to catch up with each other, and some would hang back. To run up the hill they would have to gain momentum and put their heads down and charge up. They were a hit in my opinion. As great as it was experiencing the penguins, it was a very touristy area, so that was the only downfall.

Day Two:

After some breakfast, we headed to Bonza Bikes for a bike tour of Melbourne! I thought it would be difficult navigating the crowded city on a bike, but it was actually a lot of fun! Our tour guide brought us to different parts of the city and told us the history and fun facts about each area. On this tour, we met a mother and son from Michigan who actually were on a similar Easter break as us. After the bike tour, my mom and I headed to Queen Victoria Market in search for some fresh fruit. Fresh fruit is incredibly expensive in Australia and I heard that fruit here was more affordable. We picked up a container of strawberries and headed back to the hotel to get ready for the night's events. We first grabbed dinner on Hardware Street, a street my friends and I discovered one night in Melbourne. It is lined with a bunch of restaurants, so we found a suitable one, ate then walked to Etihad Stadium for a footy game! I figured my mother should be exposed to typical Australian activities, and seeing that footy is a way of life, it was a must. The game we saw was Carlton versus Adelaide, which was supposed to be Carlton blowing Adelaide away, but it ended up being a close game.

Day Three:

Early, we headed to Melbourne airport to head to Cairns in warm Queensland. Cairns is tropical with rain forests and the upper part of the Great Barrier Reef! Once landed in Cairns and settled into the hotel, we walked across from our hotel to the swimming lagoon. This is meant to be like a beach, but instead it is more like a community pool. It was nice to lay in the sun though. Because it was Easter, my mom and I decided to have a nice dinner on the harbor. We picked our a good restaurant and cleaned up for dinner. Dinner was great. I have been so deprived of "real" food for so long, that the steak I ate hit the spot. This is where I introduced my mother to the wonders of peri peri sauce. Peri peri sauce is a Portuguese sauce that has a little kick to it. It is used on everything at the restaurant, Nandos, which I have fallen in love with.

Day Four:

THE GREAT BARRIER REEF! Finally! After years and years of watching and quoting Finding Nemo, my dream of scuba diving the reef came true! Our hotel was right on the harbor, so the walk to our boat was a short walk. The winds were strong so the water was rougher than normal. After my last experience on a boat ("swimming with the dolphins" trip) I was not looking forward to the potential sea sickness, but after finally getting to Michaelmas Cay we got suited up and taught how to scuba dive. We were put into dive groups where we went down to the reef linked arms with an instructor. The other woman with my mom and I was a bit nervous, so I think we did not go as deep as we normally would have. Despite this, it was pretty cool getting up close and personal with the coral and fish. I even saw a clown fish, which made my day! The flight to Cairns I had issues with getting my ears to pop, so the scuba clogged my ears again, but it just added humor to the trip, for my mother at least. After scuba, we went to the cay's beach and snorkeled to see a ray, some giant clams, beautiful coral and some cool fish. A woman even saw a sea turtle while snorkeling, but we sadly missed it.

That night we grabbed dinner at Nandos with Abby, Lauren and Cassie, so my mom could meet some of my friends and went to bed early.

Day Five:

4:10am, yes AM, my mom and I got picked up for our hot air balloon and rainforest adventure! We were taken to the launch grounds for the hot air balloons in Kuranda. The balloon flew over the mountains, rainforest and wineries. It is so quiet in a hot air balloon when you are up high, but for entertainment purposes, my ears got clogged again. Our balloon finally landed, and all of the passengers were put to work! We had to tip the basket (with us in it), roll up the balloon and put it away. Such physical labor for so early in the morning. The bus then drove us to the town of Kuranda. We got dropped off around 8:30 am, and most shops opened at 9am. Our first stop was the Kuranda Zoo where my mom got to see all native Australian animals, including koalas and kangaroos for the first time! We fed the kangas and wallabies, and I got to hold a koala! This was on my Australia bucket list, so I was so happy to check it off my list. It was so adorable and clung to me like I was its mama. After the zoo, we decided to walk the three rainforest trails. After these walks we walked through town, grabbed lunch and satisfied our chocolate cravings, and headed to the beginning of the Sky Rail. The Sky Rail was like an inclosed ski lift over the rainforest. It had two stops, including Barwon Falls. The waterfall was huge. Apparently, in the dry season it trickled down the mountain. When my mom and I saw it, it was powerfully rushing down the mountain. The Sky Rail brought us back into Cairns where we got brought back to our hotel in time for cleaning up for dinner. Originally, my mom and I planned to hit the beach on our last day in Cairns, but because we had such access to the Great Barrier Reef, and it was one of my favorite things in Australia thus far, we decided to sign up for a half day snorkeling trip the following day to Green Island in hopes to seeing some of my favorite characters from Finding Nemo come to life.

Day Six:

After breakfast we boarded our boat to the Green Island. It was a cloudy/ rainy day, but we still made the most of it. We went out into the water, FULLY suited up. Our sting protector suits had hoods and hand covers, so I took advantage of these. My mom and I started snorkeling around and saw some pretty cool stuff. We got to this one area where there were these huge, rainbow fish and lots of colorful coral and I felt really good about the area. We hung around these colorful fish for a little, I looked left and BAM there was a sea turtle! I was so excited, so I made sure my mom saw then I began stalking the turtle. I followed as it gracefully swam around, till it realized I was following it and it picked up speed, then it lost me. It had to be the coolest thing I have experience to date in Australia and maybe all my life. After the turtle we swam around then it down poured so we called it a day, and headed back to the boat. We showered at the hotel afterwards then headed to the airport for our flight to Sydney. Our flight was at night, so once flying over the city of Sydney we landed right after seeing the Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge from the air! We took a train to our hotel, settled in and explored Sydney a bit. Our hotel room had a partial view of the harbor, so we could see the bridge from our room. Too cool.

We walked the main streets of Sydney and explored the Rocks, the area of Sydney were you can see both the Opera House and Bridge.

Day Seven:

Thanks to Oprah, my mother and I discovered the Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb. We headed to the start of the climb, got suited up in the official bridge climb wear and got ready for our climb! Our climb instructor was named Dean and he was great. He was hilarious and knowledgeable, and made the climb fun and entertaining. Sadly, the weather was not that great, but the bridge climb people took care of us and suited us up with rain pants and coats. Even in the rain, the bridge climb was a must. The rain did not hinder us at all, and was still incredibly cool. I loved seeing the city from above, but not only was I above the city looking down at the skyscrapers and the Opera house and the Blue Mountains, but I was ON THE SYDNEY HARBOR BRIDGE! I still can't get over how cool it was. I would recommend it to anyone. After the climb, we made our way back to the hotel to change and headed to the Opera House for lunch on the harbor and a tour. The tour of the Opera House was great too. It is absolutely the most beautiful building I have ever seen in my life built in the modern day. Learning the history of it was good too, and sadly my mom and I didn't have time for a show at night. My mom said this, but I can agree, it officially felt like we were in Australia after seeing the Opera House. After the tour, we walked the path around the bay through the Royal Botanical Gardens so we had the view of the Opera House in front of the Bridge. We walked back, saw a rainbow, and got ready for our night on the town! When I say a night on the town, I mean the musical Jersey Boys! First we grabbed dinner near the theater, then headed over to find our seats. It is kind of funny if you think about it, seeing Jersey Boys in Australia and being from New Jersey, but overall the show was great. I knew the music and it was a really fun show. The guy who played Frankie Valli was spot on also.

Day Eight:

Originally, this day was left open to go to Hamilton Zoo in Sydney to hold koalas and feed kangaroos, but since we did this is Kuranda, we had time to take the recommended ferry to Manly Beach. First, we saw the Royal Botanical Gardens. It had a lot of trees and vegetation and tons of trees full of bats. I don't think I ever saw a bat before this, and we saw tons. It was a bit of a cool and cloudy day, but the ferry ride was nice going through Sydney Harbor and seeing all of the famous landmarks. We arrived at the beach, and it rained, but we got to watch some surfers, walk around the town and eat lunch at the delicious Nandos again. Mama Cap couldn't get enough peri peri sauce! The sun came out, so we laid on the beach until the next wave of cold air and rain came in. We made it the ferry before the rain and headed back to the city. We then walked to Darling Harbor for the Sydney Aquarium! I loved the aquarium, and got to see life forms from the reef, right in front of me. After we got back and cleaned up, we started to watch the Royal Wedding then decided after we saw Kate Middleton's dress, we could go to dinner. After dinner, I got some delicious Copenhagen ice cream that I discovered in the Gold Coast. My mother and I both decided, we needed more time in Sydney. There was simply too much to do in such a small amount of time.

Day Nine:

My mother and I took the train to the airport. Sadly, we had to get off different stops because I was flying domestic and she was flying international. We said our goodbyes, and I made my way back to Melbourne. After many hours waiting for trains and buses, I made it back to Geelong after a fabulous and amazing break with my mama.

Recently, I have been incredibly busy with school work. I finally got all my major assignments out of the way for the most part. Only two more essays to go. I got a 100% on an essay for my class for Marist, which was nice to see. Friday night, I am leaving for Perth to honor the late Heath Ledger (he lived in Perth) and to visit Claire and Lindsey, my camp counselors from my old gymnastics camp. I am pretty excited to see the opposite side of Australia and my old friends! I am also looking forward to warm weather! While all you lucky ducks are experiencing the warmth of spring and the start of summer, Victoria, Australia is heading into fall and winter. It has been chilly in Geelong. My heat is on full blast in my bed room and I walk around in sweats, sweatshirt and slippers when I am in my room. Thank goodness my mother brought me thick sweatpants! Who knew it would be this chilly. I would say, luckily it doesn't snow in Australia, well only in the mountains, but that would be me speaking too soon. Why you ask? Oh, well it snowed today in Melbourne for the first time in 24 years. They have been having some bizarre weather in Victoria this year. They had a cold summer, and now snow. I read that they last saw snow in 1986, but the last time it was a snow storm was in 1951. I think in parts of the surrounding towns of Melbourne saw about 15 centimeters of snow. It also has been recorded as the COLDEST May for a while in Melbourne, with chilling temperatures of 7 degrees Celsius at night, meaning about 33 degrees for us Americans. Melbourne also experiences some high winds and hail today. Geelong had some high winds, so I power walked to class and stayed in the warmth of my room as much as I could. Lucky for me, as all my friends head into Melbourne for the entire weekend, I am headed to Perth where if the rain holds out, I should have some beach weather. According to Claire, "the weather report lies. It never rains in Perth." We will see...