Posts under ‘Travel’

Bryan and I had an amazing time in Melbourne. We walked, and walked, and walked all around the city. It has become a big joke about how much we walk on vacations, and this vacation was no different. The first morning we walked about 4.5 miles.  We walked through the city, along the Yarra River and to the Royal Botanical Gardens. The gardens were filled with native Australian plants as well as some plants from around the world. The gardens had a lake in the middle which housed many different birds. We saw a momma goose with her babies and they were so cute.

That evening we took the tram outside the city for dinner. Melbourne has a huge tram system that goes to different places within the city. The trick was getting on the right tram and getting off at the right spot to catch the connecting tram. Thankfully we made it to our intended restaurant. I was also glad that we were able to get on the right tram to get back into the city. I had heard of a bar that was on top of a building where you could sit and have a drink and look out over the city; so after dinner we found the bar and had a drink. The place was by far the seediest place I have ever been. After we got there I couldn’t believe that I had actually recommended going there. Needless to say, we only stayed for one drink. However, I do have to say that they did have a nice view of the city at night.

One of the main reasons why we wanted to visit Cairns was to see the Great Barrier Reef. Great doesn’t even begin to describe our day at the reef. We visited one of the outer reefs called Thetford Reef. The trip to the reef was about 20 miles, but it took us one and a half hours to get to the reef because the water was very choppy. Almost everyone in the boat was sick; however, Bryan and I didn’t get sick and we were able to enjoy the trip out to the reef.

Once we got into the water we were amazed. The variety of coral and fish were abundant. The first site we visited was absolutely amazing, but after lunch we visited a second site and somehow it was even better. I saw giant clams, puffer fish, many different starfish, clownfish, many different varieties of fish I can’t name, and so many different types of coral. I had one of those under water disposable cameras to take pictures with but the pictures didn’t turn out that well and they definitely didn’t do justice to what we saw. However, I posted some of the pictures below to give you a glimpse of what we saw.

On our third day in Cairns we drove around in the Atherton Tablelands. It is an area of farmland and rainforest just east of Cairns. After we had breakfast in a little cafe in Mareeba we drove through Atherton and to Mt. Hypipamee National park. It was there that we saw signs to be on the lookout for the infamous cassowary birds. A cassowary is a very large bird (third largest on the planet). Bryan was dying to see one in its natural habitat; I however, was terrified to come across one. If they are disturbed they will kick you and their kick can easily break bones or even be fatal. We never ended up seeing one on the trail, or even driving through the rainforest in the car. A friend told us that they are very rare and they are hardly ever seen. Thank goodness!!! At Mt. Hypipamee we saw a large crater that had been formed by a volcano and we also saw beautiful Dinner Falls.

After we left the park we stopped at the Millaa Millaa lookout. It was a high point overlooking the beautiful tablelands. Bryan took a bunch of pictures and stitched them together to make one long panoramic picture of the view we enjoyed. The view was absolutely incredible.

Next we drove around the waterfall circuit where we saw Millaa Millaa Falls, Zillie Falls, and Ellinjaa falls. Around the circuit we saw many bush turkeys.

Then we drove to Yungaburra where we ate lunch and saw the famous curtain fig tree. At the fig tree we learned how a seed is deposited in the host tree’s crown. Once the seed germinates it starts to grow roots to the ground and roots that encircle the host tree. The roots eventually strangle the host tree and cause it to die. In the case of the fig tree we saw the host tree actually fell over onto another tree and the fig tree then grew vertical roots down to the ground forming a curtain like affect with the roots. It was such an amazing site to see. Also in Yungaburra we walked along the Peterson Creek walking circuit. At the beginning of the path we walked along a very shaky bridge. On one side of the bridge there was even a sign saying that no more than 10 people should be on the bridge at one time because it wouldn’t hold the weight. On the other side of the bridge Bryan found a huge spider. Then we walked down the path and saw many lizards, butterflies, dragonflies, and birds. At the end of the path there was a platypus viewing platform; however, there were no platypuses to be found there. On the way back along the trail I spotted a baby platypus playing in the water. I called Bryan over to see it and within 30 seconds the platypus spotted us and swam away. Apparently it is very rare to spot a platypus in the wild because we talked to people who had lived in Australia their whole live and have never seen one in the wild. So, we felt very lucky to have seen one. Unfortunately, we only saw it for a short time so we weren’t able to capture a picture of it.

In the late afternoon we went to Lake Barrine and walked along a rainforest trail. We really enjoyed seeing all the flora and fauna that was native to the area. The trees in that area were so unique and grew in strange ways. By chance Bryan spotted a lizard hiding in a log. I couldn’t believe the way it just sat there and let us come close to take pictures. After we finished the trail we were exhaustd and went back to Palm Cove.

Our trip began on the afternoon of Friday May 1st. We flew on a three hour flight from Seattle to Los Angles. Then on a 14 hour flight from Los Angles to Brisbane (pronounced Bris-bin).  When we landed in Australia it was actually 6:00 AM on Sunday May 3rd. Unfortunately that wasn’t the end of our flying for the day, we still had a two and a half hour flight from Brisbane to Cairns (pronounced Cans). Our flight from Brisbane to Cairns was beautiful. We flew along the coast and Bryan was able to get some great shots of the Great Barrier Reef. 

When we landed in Cairns our first travel obstacle began; driving. Australians drive on the right side of the car and on the left side of the road. Fortunately, Bryan picked it up rather quickly but we had some unnerving times when we both saw the oncoming traffic and panicked that we were on the wrong side because it was so unnatural to us. It was funny to observe him driving because everything was totally different. The windshield wipers and turn signals were on the opposite sides as well so every time we went to turn Bryan would accidently turn on the windshield wipers first then the turn signal. Bryan did very well driving considering he had been up for 32 hours. He only drove on the wrong side once; fortunately, it was in a residential area and he caught himself rather quickly.

We stayed outside of Cairns in one of the northern beaches called Palm Cove. We really enjoyed Palm Cove because it was a quiet beach town and not as touristy as most of the larger reef towns. Our hotel was on the beach and we enjoyed walking down the beach to dinner.

One Afternoon Bryan, Michelle, and I toured the aircraft carrier the USS Midway. I have never been on an aircraft carrier before and it was HUGE! I always knew that the boats were large but it is so hard to comprehend until you actually walk around on one. We walked around the bottom of the boat and saw how the sailors lived their everyday life. Then, we walked around on the top deck and looked at all the different planes and helicopters they had. We were able to go inside a couple of the helicopters and it was insane how many buttons are inside the cockpit. Michelle and I got a rundown of all the different helicopters that were flying by. Thanks to Bryan we will always be able to tell the difference between and Chinook and a Seahawk.

Michelle took us to Coronado one afternoon. We walked down the beach and saw many military guys running down the beach. We walked through the Hotel Del where we learned that the Hotel Del opened in 1888. The hotel was in very good condition for being so old. We saw old menus from when it first opened and learned that the military often took over parts of hotels and resorts during the war. Fortunately, for the Hotel Del, they were able to keep half the hotel open and still rent to customers. 

On Sunday, Bryan, Mike, Jenny and I went to Cabrillo State Park. They inspected the light house and we read about how Cabrillo was used to keep the enemy submarines at bay during the war. After that we drove down to the tide pool area and walked the trail along the coast. Unfortunately the tide was too high to see any tide pools but we saw so many other interesting things. There were many spots where you could climb down the rocks and Mike climbed down too far once and needed a little extra help getting up. On our way back to the car Bryan found a prickly plant and he and Jenny cracked it open to see what was inside.  We never figured out what it was and no one was brave enough to taste it.

For the past several days Bryan and I have been in San Diego. On Saturday, we visited Torrey Pines State park with his siblings and Jenny.  We walked around a few of the trails and had tons of fun. Most of the trails followed along the coast line so we saw some awesome scenery! Fortunately, the weather was absolutely gorgeous so we got some great pictures!

One afternoon while we were in Cancun Bryan and I snorkeled at the Punta Nizuca reef. The best thing was that it was in front of the hotel next to ours, and it was completely free! We saw a bunch of different fish and even a couple of squids.  The squids we saw came within a foot of Bryan. We also saw some neat looking coral. We didn’t take pictures of all the fish we saw, but I took a few of the better ones.

We chartered a catamaran one of the days we were in Cancun and the captain took us wherever we wanted to go. We decided to go to Isla Mujeres and had lunch and snorkeled. The pictures are horrible since they were taken with a point and shoot camera. We saw many different fish, starfish, and even a ray. We also saw a huge parrot fish the size of football. On the way back to Cancun the Captain turned off the motor and we slowly sailed back. Since it was breeding time for the Sea Turtles we saw a couple of them surface. We had such an amazing day!