8 Mar: Fraser Island (QLD).

Maheno shipwreck on Fraser Island

Our package at Kingfisher included a tour of part of Fraser Island called the 4WD Highlights Tour. +Marc and I were picked up in only what can be described as what you would imagine transport to be on the moon. Seriously it was a 40 person coach that had 4WD tires and wacky suspension. Reason: Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world. So 99.9% of the island is sand and that is what you drive on.

Marc getting mocked by young Aussie when he complained the water was too cold

Anyway we went off on the bus tour and it felt like a roller coaster. Our driver actually termed part of the road we took to one of our destinations "the roller coaster"! If you get car sick or motion sickness of any kind, Fraser Island is probably not the place for you. We saw Lake McKenzie, the Pinnacles (different to what we saw in WA), the Maheno shipwreck, Eli Creek (Marc floated down with the current) and Central Station, which was an old village where people lived when logging was still allowed.

Overall it was a good day and other than a rain shower as we were coming back from checking out Lake McKenzie, it was nice to be outside enjoying some warm weather. I'll say that wearing the Deet gets old quickly even though it works. We caught a sunset on the jetty, had some dinner and called it a night since we had another tour booked for the next day.

Thanks again for tuning in. Oh, and no dingoes yet on the island - they definitely have a good concentration of them here!

7 Mar: Noosa (QLD) --> Fraser Island (QLD).

[NOTE: We are now officially on Tropical Cyclone "Sandra" watch, and no, the name is not a joke - for my NYC metro folks.]

Well +Marc and I totally lucked out with the weather had yesterday. Our hike yesterday was briefly interrupted by some rain showers and then it was mostly sunny for he rest of the day. This morning was humid with a storm waiting to happen. I still wanted to get a run in, so I ventured out for 5k around Noosa in some areas that we didn't hike in the previous day. 

I ran on the beach, watched some surfers, tried to avoid some dingoes and other crazy animals, and just attempted to make my time out there respectable. My 1st mile was pretty crappy and then I settled in a bit. Not a great run, but I saw a paddleboarder with a pup on it, which made me think of my friends, Libby and Tricia. :-)

After catching some breakfast, we headed over to "Costa Noosa Espresso" for Marc to get his 'long black'. Given that I am a Godfather (I &II) fan, I loved the name of the place. Fellow fans will get it. Then we headed up north a couple of hours to catch the ferry to Fraser Island. We're now at the point in the trip where the last time I was in these parts was in 1998 on a Contiki tour, so lots of flashbacks. And as luck would have it as we were checking in to the ferry and resort, a Contiki bus pulled up.

Jill and Marc keeping it classy during sunset

They all looked pretty hungover, tired and happy - to be fair, the same as our group 15 years ago. I was chatting with the bus driver on the way over and he laughed when I told him about my Contiki experience. Apparently not much has changed since my tour or when Lisa and our friend, Tracy, took the tour, which I would say is good, although I AM VERY HAPPY that there wasn't any social media going on back then. ;-) Oh, we did see some dolphins in the water on the ferry ride over.

Sunset on Fraser Island looking towards mainland

We arrived at Kingfisher on Fraser Island and got settled in. I remembered that on the Contiki tour that we were segregated from the "general population" (HA!) once we started walking around the resort. Marc and I grabbed some dinner, found out an all-day tour was included in our agenda and just unpacked. Oh, and we caught a decent sunset as well. 

We are looking forward to seeing what Fraser Island has in store for us. And yes, Tropical Cyclone Sandra (I wish I was kidding about the name) can have a significant impact on our plans next week since we are due to sail in the Whitsundays from Wednesday to Saturday. Fingers crossed that it stays away!

Thanks for tuning in and a happy birthday to brother Glenn....

6 March : Noosa Heads

We began the day thinking hike. This happens often.

I got up early to swim in the hotel pool. One other lady was swimming slowly and aimlessly around. Despite the fact that I was doing heads down crawl back and forth, she managed to cut me off twice with so much free room to meander about. 

+Jill and I went over to a place called Aromas so I could get good coffee and I ended up with a good breakfast too. After we packed the day pack and grabbed some fresh lunch to go, we walked along the beach walk to the ranger/info station to glean details on the walks.

We changed our minds on the hill due to lack of scenery. Despite my desire to avoid backtracking, we made the right choice and did the ocean walk - mostly out and back.

This truly is a surfers paradise due to the multiple point breaks that allow riding waves quite far. It was fun walking along and watching the surfers in the water as well as those walking the same path to get out to surf it all again.

Clouds were coming and going but we got some great photos on the walk that was essentially flat. We ate our lunch out at a point and I meandered around taking photos.

Once we got back, I changed into my bathing suit and we headed to the closest beach with lifeguards so I could swim "within the flags" which is what you do over here. The sign today (which I did not read) said don't go out past waist deep. I was out way past any standing depth. I guess I didn't really need to swim between the flags given that I wasn't obeying their rules.

The current was relentless and I was constantly swimming sideways just to stay at the same point relative to shore. I had a great time out there and then we went for a little hotel pool action (after showering the sand off).

We drove a few minutes to a different area of Noosa to go to a restaurant recommended by Chris and Shelly. Chocolate dessert was pretty good - Jill can chime in on other stuff. We ended up talking to a couple that have a vacation home here but live in the Sydney area. Nice way to end the day.

5 Mar: Brisbane (QLD) --> Noosa Heads (QLD).

I was still recovering from last night's dinner when I woke up and realized that I signed +Marc and I up for a class at a local Crossfit in Brisbane at 9:30am. It's been awhile since we did a proper Crossfit class since I hurt my wrist (diagnosis TBD), but it was time. 

The class was pretty packed, and everyone was super nice. It was a shift WOD where you partnered up with someone. They did the WOD as you counted their reps and then vice versa. Fortunately for me, someone else had a wrist issue so we did a bunch of modifications together. I was happy to see that jumping rope wasn't impacted so now I have no excuses to do that along with lower body stuff in the hotel rooms going forward (in addition to running).

[NOTE: Double-unders will be my Crossfit goal in 2013 once the wrist gets better as it is "all in the wrist".]

Anyway Marc and I both worked out, and he gave his all as usual (and then laid on the floor in a uncommunicative state for 5 minutes - hey, just like home with Martha and Angie!). Then we packed up to move on to our next destination up north. First we needed lunch and we had a very important stop to make en route to Noosa Heads. 

Wait? We can't take this dude home?!?

I found a place in Time Out Brisbane that seemed interesting - Mrs. Luu's Vietnamese. Yep, that was the name. Parking was a nightmare at lunch, but the place had plenty of locals. The food was tasty and we lucked out by getting there when we did because soon the line was out the door! OK, then off to our next destination.

I was pretty excited about this place because I was here 15 years ago on my 1st trip through Australia with Contiki (READ: Drunkfest). It's called the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and they let you hold koalas, etc. They also had platypuses - for now, we are saying that is how you say platypus in plural form - and let you feed kangaroos. 

We got to the sanctuary and saw many, many koalas. One could almost get overloaded. They had koalas at all stages of life, and we got to see a little joey on the back of his Mom (yes, cute). I got to feed some kangaroos, Marc saw the platypus, and of course, we got to hold a koala. FUN!!!

Ice cream from "Nitrogenie" in Noosa

After that, we continued up north to Noosa Heads, which is a beach resort town. The weather was sort of all over the place, but we got settled in at the hotel and ventured to dinner where I was able to get more Moreton Bay Bugs (local crayfish). Happy day! Oh, don't worry - Marc ended up just fine, especially when we found an ice cream place that makes it from scratch from liquid nitrogen.

Thanks again for tuning in. We continue to be humbled by the messages we are receiving - publicly and privately - about how some of you are enjoying our posts. And I'll say it again -- we are very lucky people.

4 Mar : Brisbane --> Lamington National Park --> Surfers Paradise --> Brisbane

After breakfast, we grabbed a lunch to go for our hike of the day. It was reasonably pleasant in Brisbane and on the road for most of the journey. +Jill wanted to go to Mt Warning but it is closed because of all the rain they have received in the past 4-6 weeks. So we decided to go to Lamington Natl Park (Coomera Circuit) which isn't closed but happens to be a rainforest. As we got up into the mountains, it got darker, and grayer, and ... more rainy. Hence the rainforest. It wasn't too bad as we exited the car that was the ONLY vehicle parked there but as we were looking at maps and trail options in the information centre, it started dumping.

As we drove the additional 1k to the shortest option (a 2k return hike), it was coming down and I declared I would happily wait in the car while Jill walked the trail.

Jill decided to abandon this ship as well - I'm just too scarred from hours in the rain to the top of Mount Kozi. We took a few photos from the car at turnouts and descended back to sunshine, vitamin D, and the Gold Coast.

En route we stopped at a small outlet mall where Jill got 2 bathing suits and I got some new sunglasses for under AUS$175 total. Once we got to Surfers Paradise, most of the beaches were closed. Given that we were dressed for hiking and not swimming, that was fine I guess. I walked the beach while Jill did a 5k run along the coast. We ended up salvaging the day decently. I love hanging out at beaches and even more when the alternative is rain soaked walking tracks.

We walked over to Lure Restaurant where Jill ordered bugs and mud crab for her meal. Both of these shellfish require digging out the meat. Jill did a marvelous job and they gave her a bib which came in handy. I ate my entire main before the mud crab was extracted and ready to eat. So I sat sipping a glass of port while watching Jill consume the meal she worked so hard on removing from the shell.

3 Mar: Brisbane (QLD).

+Marc and I had brunch plans with a long time friend at 10am, but I felt like I hadn't run in awhile (or hiked that much) so I wanted to squeeze in a quick one. It wasn't super quick relatively speaking but the 4 miles got done in some pretty humid conditions. At first I thought it was in my head and then it started dumping as I was about a block away from the hotel finishing up. But a great way to get a view of Brisbane and the riverfront.

Vicki and Jill on a street in Brissie

We walked on over to a section of town called Fortitude Valley, where they have plenty of shops and places to eat. As a side note, we found a store called "Wheel & Barrow" that does kitchen and housewares -- hmm, another take on Crate & Barrel in the States? In Australia and NZ, they have a store called "Kathmandu" which makes you feel like you are in REI back home. Seriously. Although it must be said that we have hit "Kathmandu" a number of times on this trip so it has been a lifesaver for us.

Anyway we were in that section of town to meet Vicki, a long time friend, her kids and sister for brunch. And she picked a place called "Harvey's Bar & Bistro" so we had to think of Harv back home! It was great seeing her, catching up and meeting Jack and Emily. The kids were great sports during catch-up time, and Vicki's sister was excited to take the kids to look at some art while we got to chat some more. Many laughs were shared and she got to know Marc a bit better. It was fun and a long overdue catch-up!

After brunch, Marc and I decided to go find another suitcase. Yes, we have lots of souvenirs plus Marc's current suitcase is on its final voyage. It was shocking (in a good way) to find a place open on Sunday so we were able to get it done. After some more plotting about what we were going to do tomorrow, we walked over to dinner to a restaurant called 'Tartufo' (who doesn't love a good mushroom -- oh wait...). The food was good but the wine was so powerful that I let Marc drink most of it. Bonus for him.

Queensland has been getting a ton of rain over the past month, so we are hoping that trends hold true in that the rainy season is January/February and then the sun comes out. We shall see.

Thanks for tuning in!

2 Mar: Sydney (NSW) --> Brisbane (QLD).

After yesterday's fun-filled day, we had to gear up to organize for the next phase of the adventure - Queensland. We now have a full suitcase of souvenirs and other clothes that we don't expect to need, so we needed to move that to our next hotel in Sydney for the final week of the trip. I know, boring.

Baklava from Xanthi

Given our history in Greece, +Marc wanted to try some Greek restaurants on this trip. Australia actually has a pretty decent sized Greek population, so I wasn't anticipating this being a problem. I found one pretty close to our hotel to try for lunch called Xanthi, and it was pretty authentic. The meats were all freshly roasted on spits and the wine list was all-Greek with plenty of choices (skipped the wine though - we are sticking to Aussie only wines on this trip). The baklava preparation they did was pretty innovative and tasty.

Marc enjoying his 2nd and 3rd desserts of the day plus baklava at lunch!

After lunch, we got our things together and headed to the airport to catch our flight to Brisbane (aka Brissie). The plan is to be in Queensland (the only state we have yet to visit on this trip) for 3.5 weeks before heading back to Sydney. When we landed in Brisbane, it was very stormy and rainy. Not fun. We got the rental car, headed to our AirBnB, and got settled in.

Dinner was at Esquire, which ended up being excellent. Our server wasn't so great, but the sommelier saved the day and the food was top-notch. The desserts were distinctive to the point that Marc actually was more interested in my dessert (non-chocolate) than his (chocolate). Don't worry - mine didn't have fruit. Ha! Anyway, it was a good day and will hopefully set us up for a great stretch in the state of Queensland.

Thanks for tuning in.

1 Mar: Sydney (NSW) --> Pokolbin aka Hunter Valley (NSW) --> Sydney (NSW).

Well the forecast for Friday wasn't looking so good so I provisionally booked a car service to take us up to a wine region "near" Sydney called the Hunter Valley. One of our friends, +Chris, who is also a sommelier, pretty much "ordered us" to make time for "the Hunter". It ended up being a great call because the entire East Coast of Australia ended up being dumped on with rain.

I did a quick workout (tried push-ups and failed with the gimpy wrist) and then the driver was downstairs waiting for us at 745am. He took care of arranging private tastings at Mount Pleasant (very good), Tyrells (good) and Brokenwood (best) with lunch at Margan (food - good, wines - ok). And of course once +Marc found out about the Hunter Valley Chocolate Company, we had to stop there as well.

The tastings were all very informative and we got to sample some freshly picked free run juice as everyone was just wrapping up harvest in the Hunter. Shiraz is predominant here as is Semillon. Other varietals are grown but those are the biggies. I enjoyed the Shiraz produced from this region because it wasn't as overpowering as much of the stuff from McLaren Vale and Barossa. 

After "Chockles" got his fix of chocolate, we headed back to Sydney to meet our friends, Mel and +Jamie, for dinner at Chiswick in Woollahra, one of the local neighborhoods outside of downtown (aka CBD). Marc and I really enjoyed our meal there in early January and thought our friends might like it. The wine was very good, the food was super fresh and tasty, and we had many laughs, which included Mel's disappointment that we whacked the bat.

All in all, another great day. Now just hoping that it stops raining in Queensland, our destination for the next 3.5 weeks, as it has been raining there non-stop for a month plus now!

Thanks again for tuning in! We appreciate it!

Oz Travel Note (Special Edition): "The Bat Got Whacked".

[Caption contest alert - puns and everything else fair game.]

[With apologies for the language for some of our younger viewers.]

About 2+ weeks ago, +Marc posted about an incident involving a bat in the room. I wanted to provide some additional context to this event on the trip, thus the 'Special Edition'. 

Marc's post: https://www.facebook.com/notes/marc-beck/12-feb-cradle-mountain-tasmania/10151320047382992

We check in to the Cradle Mountain Lodge in Tasmania after a fairly long day, etc., unpack, walk around the property and then grab a dinner at the pub. It's dark but we are not giving things much thought as we go to bed. While we were sleeping, we both thought a moth was in the room because we both swatted away something a couple of times. Of course in the middle of the night, it suddenly occurred to me that it could be a bat but I didn't verbalize it, which Marc was thankful for. Nevertheless.... great (insert sarcasm mixed with fear here).

We are getting ready to head to breakfast and not 6 inches (I kid you not), there is a black "mound" and I say very loudly, "UHHH, WHAT IS THAT?" And Marc surmised it was a bat, it was now dead and got rid of it. It probably got whacked when Marc turned on the ceiling fan and literally landed 6 inches from my freaking suitcase. 

Can you imagine if I found that thing in my suitcase? I would have completely lost it and said we were going to Melbourne to replace everything in the bag, as well as the bag. I definitely would have screamed. 

Probably a low point of the trip and I thought spraining my wrist/thumb a couple of weeks while hiking was it. Oy! That was nothing compared to the trauma of the batshit (again, apologies for language for our younger viewers) craziness.

Now of course the reactions from the people we have told this story to ranged from:

-- horrified: "wait, you killed the cute bat?"
-- hilarity: "well come on Jill, seeing you have a full meltdown would be awesome! I'd pay for tickets to that!
-- sympathy: "yes, I would have screamed and took the opportunity to buy a new TUMI suitcase."
-- Harv: "so you whacked the bat, huh? Well ok, you do what you gotta do."

On that note, Happy Friday as for most of you reading right now, it's your Friday afternoon....

28 Feb : Alice Springs --> Sydney

This was a much needed day to sleep in - at least until 7:30. +Jill and I got some coffee, mailed some post cards, and packed up for the airport so we could fly back closer to an ocean. We managed to escape a heat spell which was nice, but it also meant no stargazing with so little light pollution and that definitely bummed me out.

The flight was uneventful and a after a short train ride later we were enjoying a NICE shower before dinner at Quay. It was quite the contrast from 24 hours ago. The restaurant sits near the Harbour Bridge with a great view of the opera house (whenever a cruise ship isn't docked next to it). We got some more photos of the opera house and had a great window view all evening as it got darker and darker outside and the lighting was more and more evident on the opera house.

The food here was superb. All of the dishes tasted fantastic and even the cocktail list was innovative and my cocktail was tasty. 

I had ordered the 8 texture chocolate cake for dessert and when Jill's main arrived we thought they had skipped a course AND served her the cake -- at least until they set my main down on the table.

Jill did get their signature "snow egg" dessert which was really good although not chocolate. My chocolate cake was good too (at least to me) and I was particularly happy they didn't ruin it by "enhancing" it with fruit.

One final highlight of the evening was a glass of Penfolds Great Grandfather Rare Tawny Port. We've been waiting to try this. It was good, but I'm thinking the Grandfather is "good enough" and more affordable. I'd need a side by side comparison to convince me otherwise.

27 Feb: Kings Canyon (NT) --> Alice Springs (NT).

Very recent fire damage in Kings Canyon

We had an early morning wake-up call so we could hike the rim of Kings Canyon. When we opened the door and looked outside (it was dark), we saw and heard that it was raining pretty hard. Quick evaluation: 3 hour hike in the rain or take the 1 hour version a couple of hours later? Chose the latter but went down to the bus driver to tell him so he wouldn't be waiting for us.

We fell back asleep somehow and then almost missed the 1 hour walk. It was good to see it and the rain lightened up a little. Still... a bit of a bummer not to have any sunshine on this part of the trip for stargazing, sunset or sunrise viewing. Guess the upside was that we didn't have 45C temps.

Jill trying a camelburger - verdict: undistinctive

The day was spent waiting and sitting on a bus. The tour company does a great job of churning people in and out via multiple tour groups of the area, but it is pretty boring for the passengers. We grabbed lunch at a shack that had camels, cows, and other animals. I actually had a camel burger that wasn't super distinctive. Ah well, part of the true "outback" experience, I suppose.

We finally got to our hotel in Alice Springs at around 715pm. Marc and I passed the time on the bus going through our 2000+ pics so far and choosing candidates for the "Best of" album. Once we checked into the hotel, we decided that it wasn't, errrrr, particularly scenic in a good way, so we picked up a bottle of wine and some takeaway Chinese food for dinner to eat in the room. That was worth a few laughs.

Living the high life in Alice Springs: Wine bottle from Wooly's and takeout Chinese

Wouldn't say the most productive touring day of our trip, but still better than being at the office. We definitely needed to do a tour, as Marc said yesterday, but I would definitely choose a different operator if I was to recommend going to Uluru to someone. Probably my first "swing and miss" of all of the planning that took place. Can't win them all, right?

Many thanks for tuning in. We are having a great time and are looking forward to returning to Sydney and seeing some friends. Oh, and a nice shower too. :-)

26 Feb : Uluru / Ayer's Rock --> King's Canyon

Happy Birthday to Harv!

+Jill and I got up at the crack of early to board a bus/coach in the dark. They took us to the sunrise viewing dune of Uluru to see what happens out there as the sun comes up. We got an overcast day, so the sunrise behind was somewhat interesting for a bit, but the moment the sun came over the horizon, there were too many clouds for direct sunlight on the rock. It was still cool, but...

After this we spent about 2 hours around the rock including some walking right next to it. We failed to buy fly nets for our faces and the flies were simply unbearable. The problem with group tours is they stop and talk to everyone often and this is when the flies REALLY attack (they don't bite, but still)...

So despite Harv's wishes to "stay with the group", we kind of kept moving "in the area" on our own and looked at stuff without the people or the stopping just keeping an eye on their location.

Once the bus dropped us off, we cleaned up and checked out so we could take our next bus to Kings Canyon - all part of a 2 1/2 day tour. We did this because they have satellite phones which is the only way to communicate for several hundred km if there are any problems.

This was a long ride to an even more remote place. We were kind of trapped as there was no way of getting anywhere without the tour bus. That bus was adhering to THEIR schedule which was a bit too slow for us. We'd almost certainly still do a tour again, although perhaps we'd use a smaller company with a few less tourists. We generally could only go a fast (on any walks) as the slowest person in the group. I think we can walk faster on our hands.

We chose the 3 hour rim walk of Kings Canyon over the 1 hour canyon walk for tomorrow. We went to bed hoping for no rain because 3 hours in it did not sound like fun.

Thanks for tuning in.

25 Feb: Sydney (NSW) --> Uluru (NT).

Yep, +Marc and I have now hit our 5th state in the country of Australia. This is in addition to the ACT, which is similar to Washington, D.C. 

So we caught our flight to Ayers Rock, aka Uluru (the Aboriginal name), and met up with an organized tour. This is really the only place that I booked one of these for multiple days because of how remote it seemed. We were dropped off at our hotel and grabbed a bite. You are definitely in "the middle of nowhere" here and we were told about opportunities to see camels in addition to the hikes, etc.

Unfortunately the weather lived up to the forecast and we had dark clouds looming everywhere. We did take a walk around Kata Tjuta, which is in the same national park as Uluru. For me, I really thought Kata Tjuta was more interesting to look at. I mean Uluru is also a pretty amazing place considering the landscape around it (read: semi-arid flat land), but it just didn't hit me the same way as Kata Tjuta. We posted pics on FB so have a look.

One thing that was very noticeable was the flies. Fortunately they don't bite you like mozzies, but they swarm you to the point where the walks can be pretty unpleasant. Some folks were smart enough to get "fly nets" for their faces and boy, did we wish we did that! Utterly annoying and distracting. I was jealous and felt like stealing one off of someone like Jerry Seinfeld did in the "Marble Rye" episode.

After the Kata Tjuta walk, the tour then arranged for us to see the sunset over Uluru. The park literally has places where they have areas for people to see the sunrise and the sunset. Unfortunately for us, the clouds won out and we didn't get much of a sunset. We had been very lucky on this trip with respect to weather, but we ran into some bad luck here. Oh well.

After the sunset, we headed back to the hotel for dinner. It was kind of late, especially because we knew we needed to be up at 4:50am to catch the tour to hopefully see a decent sunrise. 

24 Feb: Sydney

The forecast was for rain, so +Jill and I booked an opera house tour that was planned to take place on just such a day. It turned out to not be that bad (the weather) in the end.

We got some nice tidbits of info during the tour and to see the inside was simply fantastic. Now if they would just show something I'd be willing to sit through...

Since it wasn't raining, we strolled over to our lunch destination - Spice I Am. This is really good Thai food that we thoroughly enjoyed. Jill's dish was "hotter" than she typically eats, but she powered through nicely and ate lots of rice.

We had been looking for somewhere to get my haircut on a Sunday on the walk over to lunch. Jill went into a backpackers place after lunch to ask and they gave us the street with the best chance. We found one open quickly with no wait and, $14 later, I had a fairly good chopping to last a few weeks. So glad it is short again.

We packed up in prep for a trip to Ayers Rock and I went to use the hotel gym. I'm losing that Crossfit fitness level and I'm not too happy with what awaits me on my return. Oh boy.

For dinner, we walked to Billy Kwong in Surrey Hills for a nice Chinese meal. The food was delicious and a good way to celebrate the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations.

23 Feb: Perth (WA) --> Sydney (NSW).

Another EARLY start this morning - this time at 4:15am for a 6am flight out of Perth. Fortunately our return to the airport was uneventful and our flight landed on time, so that was nice. +Marc and I had some errands to take care of in Sydney and shops in Australia aren't open like they are in the States (READ: late and on Sundays).

One of the main things we needed to take care of was Marc getting a new pair of sports sandals. His Keens mysteriously split, and since we only each have a couple of pairs of shoes to travel around with, this was a high priority. Fortunately our friend, +Jamie, who lives and works in Sydney, gave us a location to check out some shops where we could find sandals. He was spot on, and probably saved us a couple of precious hours searching which we really appreciated. So new sandals procured!

We had some other things to take care of, including assessing the packages that we sent back to Sydney with souvenirs and unneeded clothes. The good news is that everything fits in the "Monster Suitcase" that we used to bring gifts over to our friends here in Australia. The bad news is that the huge bag is full and we still have about 5.5 weeks left!! Something tells me we will be buying another suitcase.

It was a windy and rainy day in Sydney, so instead of walking to dinner as we typically do when we are in a major city, we got on the train. We had some tasty food at Movida, a Spanish place in Surry Hills, and then called it a night.

Thanks so much for tuning in!

22 Feb : Perth and "The Cut" (Golf on the Indian Ocean)

+Jill Beck and I got up and departed on an hour drive south to play one more round of golf on the trip. I wanted to play somewhere on the Indian Ocean given that there's a chance that may never happen again to us.

"The Cut" says 13 holes have a view of the ocean but that seems generous - perhaps 9 or 10 to be more realistic. Nonetheless, it was a decent links/dunes layout particularly the back nine which had no houses - unlike the front nine.

Since the restaurant wasn't open for brekky, we just started early and played through one foursome for a 95 minute front nine. On the back nine, we caught someone around the 12th hole but just slowed things down a bit to soak it all in. There was a group in front of them anyway, so we just enjoyed the views.

The entire round AND lunch was just over 4 hours so we got back far earlier than expected. This allowed us time to do more laundry, pack, and prepare to return briefly to Sydney. Flights to Ayers Rock / Uluru only originate in Sydney and that must be part of our tour.

 
We took this final night in Perth as a chance to take Andrew, Fiona, and Dylan out to a Japanese "tapas" type of place called Kuza. It was tasty and worthwhile for all of us.

21 Feb: Perth (WA) --> "Rotto" (WA) --> Perth (WA).

Quokka sighting and a bonus 'Scrabble' word Jill never heard of before

One of the great things about traveling is the people you meet along the way. +Marc and I have been really lucky to get some solid recos on things to check out during various parts of our journey. Our server from Monday night suggested that we check out Rottnest Island (aka "Rotto" to the locals) during our stay in Perth as it was an easy day trip for us.

We slept in a bit because the last few mornings have been early starts for us and because the forecast called for some morning rain, which meant no need to rush out the door. After buying some tickets, we caught a ferry from Fremantle to Rotto, which also included bike rentals. We knew it was going to be another scorcher in Perth, but Andrew, one of our hosts told us that being on Rotto will give us 2-3 Celsius worth of relief. 

Views from the bike ride around "Rotto"

It sure didn't feel like that. The rain passed, as did the clouds. It was hot, sunny and hot (yes, I said that twice). No shade and not many places to refill the water bottles. My refill bottle was boiling so I opted not to drink that. We cycled the perimeter of the island, which is just under 18 miles. Towards the end, Marc wanted to stop at a particular cove to swim and look for sea creatures. We didn't get any snorkel gear but boy, did that water feel good.... Wow. We found out that it was a "cool" 37 Celsius on the island. Oy.

Wait - is that a "Jill in the water" sighting?

While we enjoyed cycling on Rotto (and got to see some native quokkas!!), we decided to catch an earlier ferry back. Lunchtime had passed and I knew we were eating dinner on the early side to accommodate the school schedule of young Dylan. My gimpy wrist was absolutely not pleased with me. Quite honestly all I wanted was some fresh ice cream or gelato, which is very rare these days. No luck in Fremantle. Had to settle for a somewhat all-natural mint chip ice cream at the local supermarket near our friends' house. Oh well.

We decided to cook dinner for our friends again since it's nice to get in some home cooking when you can on a trip like this. We got some duck, sauteed a bunch of veggies, and cracked open some wine. It was a nice way to end what was a very hot and steamy day.

Thanks for tuning in. More entries to come on here and more photos to be updated to Flickr.

20 Feb : Pinnacles area and Perth

The Pinnacles were on the list of top 25 things to see in Australia in the Lonely Planet book and we made the time to drive up there and back from Perth (2-3 hours each way).

At 10am as we were approaching the park it was 40C which is uncomfortably above 100F. It turns out that the walk is 1.2 km which we could do in the heat. A very strange and wonderous place that was worth checking out. After a visit in the
museum and shop (to cool down), we drove the 4-5 km road for a different perspective.

Then it was off to lunch in Cervantes - a town 15km north that has "The Lobster Shack". +Jill got a HUGE crustacean while I drove elsewhere in town to get a NON-seafood lunch to bring back and consume. The Lobster Shack is all seafood all of the time. As we both ate, we filled out post cards before the long journey back to Perth.

Once we got back, a much needed water fight took place around the house between Andrew, Marc and Dylan. Crazy times ensued, and fortunately everyone cooled off while the fun was taking place.
 
We prepared and cooked dinner on the BBQ - steak and mixed veggies over flame. Good long day despite the road time.

19 Feb : Perth

We walked Dylan to school with Fiona and then went to the local coffee shop. They do a capuccino with chocolate on top but I've gotten so used to an Americano ("Long Black" down under) that I couldn't taste the coffee whatsoever. I guess straight up coffee is best.

After this we went to Cottesloe Beach and Jill went for a run in mid 30s C heat (HOT) along the beach while I hung out under a tree. After she returned, I went for a swim in the Indian Ocean. There were lots of fish at this beach!

We had a great lunch at John Street Cafe then we ran several errands before heading back to play cricket with Dylan, Fiona, and Andrew. Dylan taught us some things about the game and how it all works (it was the 1st real sign that +Jill's hand/wrist wasn't right as she couldn't even pitch in cricket). We then went back and had a home cooked meal and ate out on the deck.

18 Feb: Bluff Knoll ---> Perth

+Jill and I woke up at The Lily - the place in south Western Australia with a Dutch windmill - and cooked our eggs from the breakfast basket. We also enjoyed the fresh spelt grain bread from spelt milled right in the windmill. The owner built it himself over a 6 year period after hand cleaning bricks recovered from a fire. He also plays sax and has a few CDs, one of which was playing in our room when we arrived.
 
We were the 2nd car in the lot to hike up Bluff Knoll - 2500 feet of relentless elevation gain in 3.1 km. We arrived at the summit moments after the 4 people from the other vehicle. They spotted us pull into the lot and saw us catching them. I think it motivated them to keep things moving. We exchanged some stories and took photos at the top for each other.

After the walk down, we went to the Bluff Knoll Cafe and the owner said we looked better than most people after the walk to the top and back. He cooked us some lunch and then we started the almost 5 hour drive back to Perth.

We stopped at a cafe at the beach for dinner and a sunset. This was good and also gave us the chance to spot an island which we asked about. Rottnest, known as "Rotto" to locals, is out there and cooler on hot days. We might have to go given the heat in the forecast.