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August 22 Jay & Brenda's Aussie Adventure Pt IMy one and only visitor! Yay!
Jay came to Sydney for 2 weeks at the end of July/beginning of August, and I took the time off work so we could travel around Australia. We spent the first couple of days in Sydney, just chilling, meeting up with friends, and giving Jay some time to get over the jet lag. On the third day we flew to Cairns, and spent the afternoon there, but it was pretty boring as the town is very tacky and touristy. The next day we drove up to the Daintree area - Port Douglas, Mossman Gorge and Cape Tribulation. It was an amazing day overall - we walked along the beautiful Four-Mile Beach in Port Douglas, hiked around the rainforest at Mossman Gorge, and went "jungle surfing" through the rainforest at Cape Tribulation! Cape Trib is where the Great Barrier Reef meets the Daintree Rainforest, and it is a really beautiful area. The "jungle surfing" was basically ziplining through the rainforest! (http://www.junglesurfingcanopytours.com/surfing.html) They have various posts set up throughout the jungle, and they put you in a harness and send you ziplining from post to post. It was a bit scary but a lot of fun! The guys who run the tour were pure jokers.
The next day we hit the road and drove for 8 hours down to Airlie Beach to start our Whitsundays sailing adventure! The Whitsunday Islands are a group of 74 islands off the east coast of Australia. We spent 3 days and 3 nights aboard the Anaconda III, a 101-foot mega-yacht.
 (http://www.sailingwhitsundays.com/anaconda_III.htm) We had a private cabin, which was a tiny (and rather musty-smelling) closet sized cabin, but I guess that's what you'd expect living on a boat! The "ensuite" was a toilet/shower closet, which was also a bit stinky.  Well it wasn't luxurious, but for 3 days, when you're seeing and doing the coolest things, who really cares! There were about 30 people on the boat in total - everyone (except for a few anti-social ones) was really friendly and got along really well. The crew was amazing - very entertaining, knowledgeable, and did everything to make the trip a memorable one. The meals were all prepared by our resident chef on the boat, and they were all really great.We set sail at night amongst one of the clearest skies I've ever seen... Jay and I saw 5 shooting stars! The next day we sailed to Whitehaven Beach, one of the top 3 beaches in the world according to the National Geographic. The sand is 99% silica, and squeeks when you walk on it, and its so white that its almost blinding! Yet no matter how hot the sun is, the sand always stays cool on your feet. It was definitely the most beautiful beach I've ever been to - I didn't want to leave! Our resident dive instructor on board our boat took a bunch of ppl who were interested, to do an intro-diving course just off the beach. We got suited up, and he walked us through some diving basics, such as hand signals, how to clear your regulator etc. I made an attempt, but I was too nervous, and couldn't get comfortable with breathing underwater so I bailed out, but Jay got through it ok. After that, we got back on the boat, and headed to this little bay off one of the islands, where we could snorkel and dive right off the beach. Jay went diving with the instructor and had an amazing time... I stuck to my comfort zone and went snorkeling.
Unfortunately I spent most of the time having leakage issues with my mask, so I didn't get to see as much as I wanted to. We spent the night chatting with people on our boat, having drinks, and just chilling out.The next day I woke up to find the boat was swaying A LOT more than it had been the first day... well we had the sails up (we didn't the previous day because there wasn't enough wind so we had to use the motors) and we were also sailing through some pretty open waters, as opposed to being surrounded by islands. Ugh.. needless to say that Jay and I had to start popping the seasickness pills... we were getting thrown all around our cabin!!! We sailed to Bait Reef - part of the Great Barrier Reef!!! We spent the day at the reef, snorkeling and diving in various areas. It was truly incredible - the amount and variety of beautiful tropical fish and amazing varieties of coral. Jay even shook hands with a turtle when he was diving! And then, to top it off, we saw humpback whales swimming right by our boat!! They breached a few times, and even flipped their fins up out of the water - it was sooo cool! We saw lots of whales nearby, spurting air out of the water, and breaching. And just as we were setting sail again to head back to the islands, 2 dolphins swam right up along the side of the boat. How cool is that!
On our last day we sailed to another bay (I think it was called Luncheon Bay) and did some more snorkeling. Again - so many beautiful fish and coral - it was like diving into a tropical aquarium. The coolest part was swimming with the giant maori wrasse known as "Elvis"... he was this massive fish that was friendly and would swim right up to ppl... and he was about the size of ME! After snorkeling, we sailed back to the mainland. Jay and I lay on the deck and listened to our iPods.. it was so amazing... the wind in your hair... the sun shining down... the beautiful scenery... and Jack Johnson playing on your iPod. Pure relaxation!!!!
Once we got back to the mainland, we checked into our B&B and had a much needed and LOOONG SHOWER.... phew!! Haha... then later at night we met up once again with all the people from our boat, and had drinks at a bar... followed by more drinks at another bar.... We met a lot of cool people (mostly couples) on the boat, and it was nice to hang out with them one last time. But by the end of the night I was exhausted and dying for SLEEP!!!!
The adventure continues in the next post....
Pictures will follow later ....August 11 Sunshine Coast... not so sunny...Well I decided to take advantage of the last long weekend I would have in Australia, and tagged along with my friends Liz & Mike on a weekend trip to the Sunshine Coast, from June 9-12. Liz & Mike are hardcore golfers and were planning to golf till they dropped, but since I didn't want to ruin their game nor make a fool of myself, I decided to find other ways to entertain myself. Unfortunately, the "Sunshine" Coast was not so sunny that weekend - it pissed rain half the time!
We flew in Friday night and stayed in Maroochydore, which proved to be a real bore. Saturday after a morning golf game (for Liz & Mike - I on the other hand, slept in and had a nice late breakfast instead
), we drove to Mooloolaba for lunch - it was much more happening there! Too bad it was raining like crazy. After lunch we drove to Coolum and checked into our room at the Hyatt RESORT.. hehe... travelling in style! The resort is set on 30-odd km of property, complete with an award winning golf course, spa, swimming pools, tennis courts, and even a "village square" with shops, restaurants and bars. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we had been upgraded from our studio suite to one of the best "villas" on the resort... sweet! The "villa" turned out to be more like a MANSION... it was totally nuts!! A full 3-bedroom house, with a backyard overlooking the 13th hole. Each bedroom had its own TV and ensuite, and we even had a rooftop patio with a hot tub, kitchenette and bathroom!Our resort package included green fees or spa services, so you can guess which one I picked... hehe... so I got to have a pedicure and a massage
. On Sunday, while Liz & Mike golfed, I took the car and went down to the Australia Zoo, which is owned and run by the Croc Hunter himself - Steve Irwin. I found the zoo to be a bit of a rip-off - approx. $40 CAD for adult admission. The main highlight of the zoo is the shows, where they do demos and tricks with tigers, crocs and exotic birds. After the shows, I walked around the zoo and saw many Australian locals like koalas, kangaroos and wombats. The highlight of the day was when I got to have my picture taken holding a koala! It was totally awesome... he was so cute and cuddly - I wanted to take him home! In case you didn't know, koalas are not actually bears - they are marsupials.. so calling them koala bears is incorrect. They're really lazy - they eat the leaves off the eucalyptus trees that they live on, and it makes them smell nice (sorta minty), but it also makes them lethargic... so they sleep like 20 hours a day! We went to Noosa for dinner a few times - the town is really nice and a bit on the upscale side. I think its where a lot of rich Aussies buy their second homes to retire or something.
Overall a very relaxing and low-key weekend - just what the doctor ordered!
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