Family, Friends, and Frivolities

We left off our last blog post half way through our first big holiday in Australia. From the Whitsundays we sped back to Brisbane to trade in our fancy, 'awesome' camper for a super economy Nissan Micra in a beautiful bright blue.  The air-con worked! 

First stop was with cousin Sarah and her adorable family.  Lucy, Emma and Sophie keep their daddy Mark on his toes and fill his arms with cuddles.  Sarah was such a great hostess that we didn't want to leave.

Family fun at the park which was followed by a much anticipated Sunday ice cream!

After a few days with the Lawson's, it was time to visit Uncle Charles and Aunty Sharon in Currumbin on the Gold Coast.  Uncle Charles was able to take a day to show us the Tweed River Art Gallery that has instilled a tribute to Margret Olley, Australia's most celebrated painter for still life and interiors.  I could not take photos inside, however this is the view from the cafe at the gallery.

From the gallery we went to a stunning view point at Byron Bay and Australia's most easterly point.

We saw our first Eastern Brown snake! This was not to be taken lightly.  The conservation officer was keeping a very close eye on it and anyone trying to get by.  It's Australia's most deadly snake, apparently 2nd most deadly in the world.

Even with the snakes, I fell in love with this part of Australia.

And so did Brad, which was the inspiration for this panoramic shot.

We said good-bye to Charles and Sharon and headed south to Lennox Head.  Deanna and Lex were our hosts for what would become the craziest weekend we have had in a very long time.  It was the icing on the cake, the cherry on top of what was already an epic vacation. 

First stop was the Blue Festival in Byron Bay to watch a dozen different artists perform live, including India Arie and Jack Johnson.  For those that don't know, Jack Johnson's song 'Better Together' is our wedding song...and he ended the night with it.

We met Lex's brother Nick and his charming girlfriend Jess.

The next two days were spent on a couple different beaches, with cold beers, beer darts, surf boards, and fish and chips.  There is a funny story about needing to call Lex's boss to pull the truck out of the sand after we were unsuccessful at digging it out...but we're saving those details for us.

We got up much too early on our last day...mainly because we needed to go look for a few lost articles at the beach before catching our flight home...but we got to see a beautiful sunrise.

 

Getting Our Sea Legs

For two weeks Brad and I traveled some of the most beautiful parts of Australia's east coast.  This entry will be the first of a few as there were so many great highlights and it is hard to pick, so you get it all!

Mahdieh Hossini, a long time friend of Brad's, hosted us on our first night in Brisbane.  She was a thoughtful host and supplied us with a HUGE bag of Aussie road trip goodies, vegemite, and Bushman's Deet Tropical Strength which came in very handy for our camping trip in....

THIS! A delightful two person DELUXE camper van.  We splurged on air-conditioning, a running joke for us as it couldn't keep up with the Aussie heat, hence leaving windows open at night, therefore really appreciating the bug repellent.  Thanks Mahdieh!

Our drive to Airlie Beach was an exercise in how many road trip games two people play in 14 hours, but we did see these cool Glasshouse Mountains, sugar cane fields, and banana plantations.

Check it out! All ready for our first night in our sweet digs.

Loved these pit stops.  Free coffee, bickies, and juice on the side of the highway.

 Second night we rolled in to our site in the dark and woke up to this. Good morning Seaforth!
 

The birds woke us up crazy early, but all was forgiven when we saw how pretty they were.

And then we set sail in the Whitsundays on day 3! This was our boat, this shot was taken on the way back from Whitehaven Beach.



This is the galley of the boat which transformed into our bedroom. The crew slept up here too, everyone else was below deck...totally lucked out, the table you see was turned into our huge bed every night...turn down service on the ocean, woot woot!



Our sunset...




Our first mate and senior dive instructor giving us our days itinerary and briefing.

 Some of our new friends.  We now have a place to stay when we want to visit Holland, Brazil, Germany, Netherlands, England, and China!

Group shot of all 26 passengers getting ready to hike up and over the hill to Whitehaven beach.

 Can you see the lizard?



 View from the top of the hill on the hike.




 Time to play! Oh dear, the crew supplied us with Zinc...

 Attack of the Vegemite Monster!

 Da beach is ova there...


I think he's happy...

 Oh myyyyy
 

The trees on Whitehaven Beach inspired Brad to create this haunting image. 

Time to get serious and do some diving.  This is and aerial shot of Bait Reef where we stayed overnight and dove in three different spots.  One of the spots is accessible only a handful of times throughout the year.  We had great weather and missed the cyclone by a day. The white dots are sailing boats, that will help give you some perspective on the size of this small part of the reef.

 The reef from the deck of the boat, we amped up the colours so that you can see the actual reef.

I dove three times on this trip.  I was happy that I did because my first dive experience in Hawaii was not a great one.  I can't wait to do it again.

 

 

 Can you find Nemo? They always travel in twos.

 

We hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as we enjoyed our holiday.  We will be posting again soon with the rest of our trip as this was only the first half of what has truly become our most amazing adventure to date.

 

Wine tours, rugby, parades, oh my!

The last couple weeks have been busy for Brad and I, full of adventures, new friends, and visitors.  First on the blog today are photos of a wine tour day over the long weekend.  The Pyrenees wine region was beautiful and had some gorgeous wines for us to sample.  Woo hoo! Brad drove, I sampled...

 and sampled some more!

The next day Brad and I went to the Begonia Day Parade in Ballarat to cheer on Pleasant Street Primary who came second in the school category. 

Brad had yet another opportunity to take in more rugby! This time it was New Zealand vs Auz.  Canterbury Crusaders had a fantastic win over the Melbourne Rebels. 

I finally had an opportunity to meet some of the other exchange teachers!  There are nine of us in total.  These three are sure to be mentioned in future posts....hehehe.

We had the opportunity to visit Sovereign Hill during the Ballarat ITA weekend and yep, they dressed us up.  Don't we look gorgeous! (snicker, snicker) And look to the far left...Marty and Angela Lewis joined us for the weekend.  Angela was my final kick to apply for this exchange as she did one to Sydney four years ago.  Thanks Ang!

Bowling 1890's style!  I saved you from the original view that Brad shot...thank gawd for cropping.  We then played English Bagatelle and tied for the highest score of the day.
 

The actors on the street are just brilliant.  This lovely creature was so life like that people would avoid her on the street!

Soldiers marched through the streets and fired their rifles.

I tried my hand at gold panning and found a flake on my first try! I'll have to go back again, I've got the fever...

Over the next couple weeks, Brad and I will be getting ready to go to Brisbane, the Whitsundays, and Tasmania.  We'll also be taking in a runway event during Melbourne's Fashion Festival and celebrating St. Patrick's Day and our favorite watering hole.  This was a brief blog so if you have any questions about the pics, please ask!