Chris' 40th Birthday

The final two days of our trip to Australia were spent hanging out at the beach area and celebrating Chris' 40th Birthday.  We tried so hard to find a good restaurant to eat out at, but were really not successful.  We resorted to Kim's cooking.  We also spent several days enjoying the Sunshine Coast beaches of Marychodore and Moolalaba.  Moolalaba had a wonderful beach front filled with Australian tourists.  It had some great tide pools for the kids to play in safely as well.  We got our final tourist shopping in (a few t-shirts, koala bears for Lily's friends, etc) and just enjoyed hanging out.  It was so wonderful to spend Chris' 40th birthday in such a wonderful place.  His "dream" place.  I think by the time our last day rolled around, we were ready to come back.

It is also here I must mention that we have the best traveling child any parent could ask for.  She was AMAZING not only on the way to Australia, but on the entire way home as well.  We could not have asked for a better girl.  And at three years old it was so impressive.  She definitely earned her travel stripes on this trip with 30+ hours plus a two day layover on the way over and a 25 hour trip on the way home.  Wow.

A few last pictures from the beaches around Moolalaba...

Brisbane

While we flew into Brisbane we really spent most of our Australian vacation on the Sunshine Coast.  Sunshine Coast in North of Brisbane and has lots of great "family" type activities.  Great beaches, the zoo, and lots of artsy stuff around.  The coast south of Brisbane is known as the "Gold Coast".  Here you will find more serious surfers and lots of theme type parks for the children.  We didn't make it to the Gold Coast, but never felt like we missed anything.  The Sunshine Coast was really wonderful.

On New Years Eve, we barely made it past 7:00 pm before hitting the hay.  It actually gets dark pretty early (but light very early) during summer here.  The following morning we woke up early and hit Brisbane for the day, mostly around the Southbank Parklands area.  They had a wonderful lagoon for the families to play in (nicely enclosed swimming pools) just off the river in downtown Brisbane.  Very nice, clean city.  We also took the public transit boat (City Cat) for a tour of the city via the water.  It was a great day out.  And our first time trying the wonderful turkish bread.

The following day we headed to the Eumundi market.  This place was amazing.  Not really a farmers market, but something of a cross with an arts and craft market as well.  Each Wednesday and Saturday the little town of 500 people have a couple thousand people descend on it for the market.  It was crazy, but a fun visit.

City of Brisbane

Lily with her new Koala Bear.  She wouldn't give it up after our trip to the zoo and she is still sleeping with it every night.  Notice the "zinc" on her face.  I was trying to protect her from the sun but think I was also successful in making her look a bit like a ghost.  At least she didn't get a sunburn I suppose.  Do you know how hard that "zinc" is to wash off.  Ugh....

Jet lag?

I learned this week that for every hour of time difference your destination was, it is supposed to take 1 day to get over the jet lag.  Did you know that Brisbane was a 15 hour time difference.  Translation... 15 hours = 15 days of jet lag.  I can honestly attest that this may in fact be true.  Lily is adjusting better than Chris and I.  Chris may be a close second.  And I have honestly been a mess.  Even slept on someones couch at work for an hour one morning.  Yes, just like an episode of Seinfeld.  Luckily I got to sleep in this weekend and get a few zzz's, but the weekday is only slightly better than last week.  For those of you who know my sleep habits... this will just not due.  Hopefully sleep is on its way soon.

I even gave up on blogging for a couple days... thinking that it isn't good to play on the computer before bed.  No help.

I tried lots of wine... while it tasty yummy and made me feel very good inside... no help with the sleep.

So, back to wine, blogging, working out and all my normal things.  Sleep will eventually come.

Pictures from our day at the Australia Zoo

The Australia Zoo turned out to be awesome.  Not only was it a great zoo, but very interactive for the kids.  Everything from feeding kangaroos to feeding elephants to holding koalas.  We got to do it all.  Or at least everything we wanted to.  I passed on the holding of the snakes.  In addition to the pictures below we got an excellent picture of Lily and Chris holding a Koala.  It was very touristy, but a very cute picture none the less.

On the day we visited the zoo, the Irwin family (remember Steve Irwin died... killed by a stingray) but his widow and two kids have taken over his activities and have become crocodile (and other dangerous animal) crazy just like Steve.  The widow, Terri, is actually from Oregon.  The two kids also have their own TV shoes.  They did a great show at the "Crocoseum" while we were there.  Yes, they were crazy at trying to feed incredibly large crocs.  Ugh.  But they were very educational as well.

Lily thoroughly enjoyed her day at the zoo.

Glasshouse Mountains

As I said, we were strategically located to see so many great things on the Sunshine Coast.  The day we went to the Australia Zoo (Steve Irwin's... think Crocodile Hunter) we took a little diversion up to the Glasshouse Mountains that morning.  Finally we saw a kangaroo in the wild.  And the views over the Glasshouse Mountains were gorgeous.  Very nice drive.

Glasshouse Mountains

Our first wild kangaroo spotting.  We actually had a few after these and even saw some kangaroos running through fields.  I can't tell you how funny it was to see both Kangaroo and Koala Crossing signs on the roads. 

Oh and we came upon this camel farm.  Who has a camel farm and what for?  There were like 30 of them.

Woombye (our home stay)

Doing the home exchange turned out to be excellent.  Staying in a little town on the Sunshine Coast of Australia called Woombye gave us a chance to experience Australia in a much less tourist way.  In fact we were definitely the only tourists in our small little town.  But everyone was so friendly.  Always full of good advice on good shops, restaurants, things to do and kangaroos to see.

About 3 km from the house we stayed in there is a huge farmer's market called the "Big Pineapple".  Apparently in its prime, it was the largest tourist destination in all of Australia, but the economy tanked and the market went sour.  However in recent years a family has purchased it and are working to bring it back to life.  Of course the produce as excellent.  But there was a nice little zoo for Lily to visit as well.

Petting zoo at the Big Pineapple

Choo choo train ride to get to the petting zoo

Surrounding area around Woombye.  Lots of tourist towns full of arts and crafts and tea houses.  Not bad views either.

Off to Whitsunday Islands

After spending one day at our home exchange, we had to get up on the 26th to make a flight to the Whitsunday Islands.  Actually flying into the mainland at Airlie Beach and then boating over to Whitsunday Islands.  It was a short two night trip but definitely worth it.  Airlie Beach was a fantastic beach town (half family oriented with a beautiful ocean front lagoon that was perfect for kids and the other half geared toward backpackers looking to take advantage of the Great Barrier Reef).  Our hotel was an apartment styled and was gorgeous with views of the ocean.  We had a wonderful day on a full day boat tour.  We snorkeled, hiked and got some great pictures.  It was a gorgeous day and Lily really seemed to enjoy herself.

 Airlie beach

Lagoon at Airlie beach.  Very nice salt water pool right next to the ocean with lots of stuff for the kids to play with.  A nice diversion from the actual beach.

Chris and Lily on our boat to the Whitsunday Islands near the Great Barrier Reef

 

Overlooking Hill Inlet on the further side of the Whitsunday Islands.  Yes, the sand was really that white.  It was amazing.  And because it was so light it didn't get hot.

Our boat.  It looks a little small in the picture but actually fit about 45 people comfortably.

More pictures of Hill Inlet

Thanks goodness for full rash guard swim suit for Lily.  No burns for this little girl.

We had to wear full stinger suits when swimming in the deeper water or snorkeling.  Apparently in Australia they have over 100 types of jellyfish that are incredibly poisonous.  One sting and you are dead.  Thus the reason for the stinger suit.  I think Lily looked so cute in hers.

We stopped at Whitsunday beach for a nice BBQ.  The beach was wonderful for swimming and we had  lots of fish all around us.  It was a warm up for snorkeling for Lily.

Some little fish while snorkeling.  There were some big ones too.  And we did see lots of jellyfish so thank goodness for the stinger suits.a

 A picture of Lily starting to snorkel on a snorkel board.  The mask was a little much for her but they had a great little board for her to look at all the fish with.  Plus they threw fish food all around her and let the fishes swim all around. I thought she would freak out but she loved it. 

A goanna (large lizard) hanging out while we at our lunch.  He was about 4 feet long which was plenty big for me.  But apparently they get 7 or 8 feet long.

Christmas in Australia (at the beach)

Somehow Santa seem to find Lily in Australia.  Amazing how that happens.  Some candy and a Cinderella video.  We also got to spend a wonderful Christmas day visiting Noosa Heads.  About 40 minutes from our house swap location in Woombye.  It was a beautiful day to be out at the beach taking a hike around the National Park at Noosa.  The shopping was top notch and the hiking excellent as well.  It was strange to see so much activity at the beach on Christmas day.  Seemed pretty normal for the Australian's however.  After some hiking we thought we would drop into a restaurant for a nice meal.  Only to have the hostess tell us that it would be $155 per person (no drinks included).  So we got a salad and burger and ate on the beach instead.  And we did have a great Christmas dinner once we got home.

Main beach at Noosa

Our first Kokabura (remember that song? Kokabura sits in the old gum tree...)

Lily enjoying a little hiking at Noosa Heads National Park... okay she did more stroller riding than hiking, but at least mom got a good workout pushing the stroller

Dolphin point at Noosa Heads

Lots of surfing going on in Australia... although these guys were spending more time waiting for waves than riding them...