Hervey Bay- Day 1- Fraser Island

Our first full day in Hervey Bay was a tour of Fraser Island, right across the bay. Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world, requiring a 4WD vehicle to tour around it. There are few roads through the island and most of them are very narrow. Thankfully, our tour guide Hayden was a seasoned pro at getting us around in our 20 person 4WD bus. A ferry brought a bunch of tourists and some vehicles across Hervey Bay to Fraser Island. We headed to the interior of the island for about 1/2 hour, slow going and very bumpy.

First stop, Lake Birrabeen, a freshwater lake, for a nice swim and beach time. The path to the lake had been washed out due to excessive rains, so everybody took off their shoes, rolled up their pants and waded through sometimes thigh high water to get to the beach.

From there, we headed to the Eurong Beach Resort, one of the 2 main resorts on the island, for tea/coffee.  Then we proceeded up the eastern coast of the island, driving up the beach the entire way- very cool! The Pinnacles were next on our list- a very cool site, basically over the many gazillion years of existance, this island had different colored sands and you could see the hills layered in different hues.



Next was lunch at a beautiful spot called Rainbow Gorge. We saw a bit of local wildlife...

A kookaburra with his catch, a leggless lizard.

A tawny frogmouth.

Our guide Hayden cooked us lunch on the barbi... ;)

Then more beach driving...

To the Moheno shipwreck...

Eli Creek for a refreshing wade...

And a quick rainforest walk before returning to the ferry to catch our ride home...

No dingos were seen, which was kind of disappointing, but we had a great time and learned alot about the formation of the island and learned some folklore from our guide. It was a very busy and fact filled, fun and tiring day. We saw an awesome sunset on the ferry ride home. We ate at a restaurant closeby, the Deck, and had an okay meal (and beers). Then we crashed...long, but awesome day!



Travel Day (to Hervey Bay)

Spent most of the day flying to our next destination- Hervey Bay/Fraser Island. Looks like a nice vacation town, kinda' like the Maine coast, but with MUCH warmer water. We are staying in a suburb of Hervey Bay called Scarness tonight, moving to another suburb called Urangan tomorrow (long story).

This evening we walked for a while along Scarness Beach, then ate Thai food at a restaurant along the main strip (Esplanade). We will be off to bed earlyish tonight, have an early tour of Fraser Island tomorrow...pics to follow...

Sydney- Day 4- final day...

Today made me kinda' sad. I was getting used to waking up, heading for brekky and getting my latest fix- a view of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House along the way. I am not really a city person, but Sydney has been awesome! I have to believe that things may get even better on this trip or I won't leave here! :) Today was a pancake morning yet again. Then off to the aquarium and wildlife world to see the animals...

  Next it was off on a harbour cruise- with tea/coffee and snacks. It was really nice getting out on the water and the weather was a bit overcast, but nice and warm.

Sydney Tower towards the left.

Yeah, the Opera House again, from the water this time.

After the cruise, I convinced Mike to do one more walk over the Harbour Bridge. The sunset was amazing and the harbour is so beautiful all lit up in the evening. Dinner was Italian where Mike made some Italian conversation with our waitress (who was from Rome).  Sydney has been magical, tomorrow we head up to Queensland to continue our adventure. :)



Sydney- Day 3

Today was another beautiful sunny day.

  We were up at 5:30 am to get ready for a tasting tour in the Hunter Valley wine region, a couple of hours northwest of Sydney. A bit groggy, but ready to go at 7 am, our tour guide, Max, picked us up at the hotel. We chose this particular tour because there were few people and food was included (with the appropriate wine pairings). We hit the road and rode for about an hour or so before stopping at the Australia Reptile Park for morning tea/coffee. We got to pat a baby koala, American alligator, and we fed some kangaroos what appeared to be puffed wheat. That was fun!

Mike's new best friend!

The wombats were super cute too!

Next stop was Wollombi Village- where we sampled Dr. Jurd's Jungle Juice- a yummy winey drink.



Next it was off to Hunter Valley- primarily farm and wine country. It is beautiful!

We sampled cheeses at the "Smelly Cheese Shop", had some gelato, and trekked on toward the wineries. We visited and sampled wines from 3 of the gazillion wineries in the area. They were mostly good- my favorites were the Sangiovese and dessert wines. :)

There were a dozen or so people on the tour. We were all very quiet when we boarded the van in the morning- after our first wine tasting, it was amazing how animated and friendly we all became! ;) We also sampled a paddle of beers at a local brewery. They made an amazing (alcoholic) ginger beer at the Blue Skink Brewery.

Our last stop was the local chocolate shop where we purchased chili chocolate (demolished on the way back to the hotel), chocolate covered coffee beans and white chocolate macadamia bark (drooling yet?)... We all piled into the van to head back to the hotel and it was eerily quiet- I was quiet anyway- fell asleep instantly after all of the wine, beer and food!

All in all we had another wonderful day. To top it off, we headed to the Waterfront Restaurant for a late, light dinner. Perfect weather, perfect day.



Sydney- Day 2 (4/20/11)

4-20 was an oercast day in Sydney, but there was no rain, so we were up early and made the most of it. First stop- pancakes!! (that's a no brainer)...

  Staying in "The Rocks" section of Sydney means that you are near all of the tourist attractions and you can pretty much walk most everywhere, so we did.

  Today we did a bit of shopping, booked a harbour tour for Friday and headed over to the Opera House. How many different views/photos can one take of a bridge and an opera house? Many...as they can both be seen from everywhere we went. So yeah, lots of different and interesting (I hope) views.

  We took the "Essential Tour" of the Opera House and then headed to the Botanical Gardens next to it where I annoyed the cockatoos while they dined on some kind of seeds...

and we watched the large bats, they were everywhere.

  After walking the gardens and thoroughly tiring ourselves out, it was back to the hotel room for a bite to eat and a shower- we purchased tickets for a play at the Opera House earlier in the day- Shakespeare's (modified) "Much Ado About Nothing". I had seen this play before years and years ago and wanted to see this version- that and I thought Mike would like this play much better that the Madame Butterfly Ballet- the only other option. ;)

  The play was awesome and I am headed to bed right now to get some sleep before our next adenture- tune in tomorrow to see...







Sydney- Day 1 (4/19/11)

We arrived in Sydney this morning at 6 am, pretty much the longest travel day ever. Weird to think that in a little over a days time, one can be half way around the world. Anyway, a nap was definitely in our near future, even after having been advised to stay up all day...it just wasn't happening. Our room was great and our bed could not have looked more inviting...

  After our nap, it was time to search for food and had my first experience with vegemite (on toast) here:

  Then off the the Harbour Bay Bridge, which we could see from our hotel window clearly, but found getting to the walkway a bit more complicated...

  We found the walkway and set out on our journey, climbing up the many stairs of one of the pylons for a few awesome views:

People climbing on top of the bridge (fun stuff)!

  After much walking- back and forth across the bridge and around the city, it was time for drinks.

And a sunset...

  And a late dinner at Sailors Thai...Okay, enough adventure for one day...time for a good rest.

G'Day Mates! :P







 









Starting at the Beginning

I don't generally approve of blogging, not me blogging anyway, since I feel I have nothing to say. I decided to create this blog to record my travels. Not that I travel all that much, but I wanted a place to write details about my trips so I would remember them and to post pictures in the event that anyone is interested.

Whenever I go anywhere, I always write on a piece of hotel stationary what we did/ where we went every day of our vacation. Mike teases me about it, but I want to remember it all. Usually, that piece of paper gets lost amongst the travel memoribilia/pamphlets, etc. that I take home and throw in a pile in the closet. This blog just seems to make sense. It also gives me a chance to sit back and reflect on my day (yeah, so deep, I know...).

Anyway, here I go...furiously planning for our 3 week trip to Australia in April. I am excited and nervous- mainly about leaving my animal crew, but I am sure that everything will be okay...