sf 2 oz

As we have about three weeks left in Australia (gasp!) we're working on taking care of our bucket list. One of the main things we'd been wanting to do was a sailing trip in the Whitsundays. My friend Chrissy was visiting from SF and since she and Mike know how to sail we figured it was the perfect time to have a bareboat adventure. Being low season and post cyclone Yasi I was a bit worried about the weather, but we got lucky..mostly sun with some clouds and several rain showers. And we did lots of swimming sans stinger suits with no jellyfish stings, phew.

We visited Hook Island, Hayman Island, Whitsunday Island, Lindeman Island and Hamilton Island - definitely covered some ground! We saw and heard some amazing wildlife including dolphins, turtles, rays, a dugong, fish and squid (one of which jumped onto our boat). Many of the islands had bush walks - we even got to see Aboriginal drawings during one hike. There was barely any boat traffic so our moorings and anchorages were so peaceful.. We got lots of use out of the BBQ and downed many a Corona. It was an unforgettable trip and we're already thinking about doing another bareboat charter at some point in the future.

We went through Whitsunday Escape and were really happy with the boat and the whole experience, would highly recommend them. 

Oh yeah, and we cuddled a BABY koala! His name was Elvis and he was adorable. We did this at the Wilderness Park on Hamilton Island (the one Oprah visited a few months ago). So worth it.

We've seen some really stunning scenery in Australia over the past two weeks. Last weekend we were in Melbourne to watch the Australian Open and and took two days to drive the Great Ocean Road, which is west of Melbourne. We drove about four hours to the 12 Apostles, which are really neat rock formations along the beach and cliffs. We drove back via Queenscliff, put our car on the ferry and headed to Mornington Peninsula. We went to two wineries, but were a bit rushed through the area. Really pretty though!

This weekend we had another adventure planned with some friends of ours, Mark and Katy. We hiked the entire length of Royal National Park along the coast - 28 kilometers! We are feeling it now...tired and on the couch..Mike has 10 blisters. Ouch. It was gorgeous though, just one beautiful and relatively deserted beach after another. We stayed at North Era campground, which is a large grassy area right near some dunes and a beach. We walked from north to south, starting at Bundeena (a short ferry ride from Cronulla) and ended at Otway where we barely made the train (only comes every 2 hours) back to the city. Here's the photos from each trip.

After a blustery fall day, last night we had a "cracker" sunset (really good).  I ended up breaking part of my cheapo tripod, and was soaked by a few big waves, but it was definitely worth it.  I've caught a few sunrises as well, but this was the best so far.  Living at the beach has its advantages and hopefully we have many more of these to come.

Apologies that all has been quiet on the blog front..it's been a very busy month! We got engaged in the Whitsunday Islands on February 6, then headed to the US for about 10 days and returned to Sydney to be with Mike's parents who had been cruising around Australia and New Zealand. Phew!

So, for the engagement details.. Mike and I had been planning a long weekend in the Whitsundays for a few months and after much debate on where to stay, settled on Peppers Palm Bay. It looked gorgeous and all things considered, we got a pretty good deal given Summer is the low season in Queensland (hot wet weather and stinging jellyfish).

After landing at the airport on Hamilton Island, we went to catch the ferry (or so I thought) to travel to the resort on Long Island. We were stopped by a woman holding a sign that read Mike's last name and then whisked to an air conditioned van. This was all pretty special treatment for the ferry, I thought, before figuring out that we were doing a helicopter transfer! WOW. We got on the helicopter with another couple and were at Long Island within 10 minutes or so. 

Let me just say, the Whitsunday island are gorgeous...islands covered with rainforest, nestled together right off the coast of Australia. And there's tourism, but it all feels relatively quiet. Peppers was wonderful. Each couple has their own cabin or bungalow, there's delicious brekkie and dinner and a really nice pool (important since we couldn't swim in the ocean safely).

Back to the story. After we explored the resort a bit, we went for a swim in the pool. Then Mike non chalantly suggested taking kayaks out before dinner. We headed over to a secluded beach area and after padding around, went up to the beach to walk around. Then, he asked me right then and there to marry me! He had carried the ring in a dry bag with his camera..sneaky. We went back to the resort where there was a table set for two, right on a veranda by the beach. We had so much fun celebrating, talking and calling people during dinner. 

For the next day we had booked a scenic flight out to the reef to go snorkling and to Whitehaven Beach, which claims to have the purest sand in the world. We felt like VIPs with all these special flights! It was a spectacular day..couldn't stop smiling. Getting to see the Great Barrier Reef from the air was spectacular. It's hard to believe that there's 2,000 km of this up the coast of Australia, especially after seeing all the life underwater. Oh yeah, and it was a perfect sunny day. Lucky us!

The last day we sat by the pool, went on a rainforest hike (which I would not recommend doing in Queensland summer) and kayaked again..this time with handreels and bait. I caught two fish and Mike caught one - the fisherwoman reigns! We threw them back. 

We'll never forget the time we had tog ether in the Whitsundays. Hopefully we get the chance to visit that private beach by Peppers again during our lifetime!

Upon arriving in Melbourne for the Australian Open we quickly realized that people here don't watch tennis, they watch "the" tennis.

Well, we really enjoyed the tennis. I was actually surprised at how exciting it was to see such a high caliber of players battle it out on the court. The first day we had tickets to Rod Laver arena and watched some highly ranked players like Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray...we also got a peek of the Williams sisters playing doubles! The second day we bought grounds passes for $20 each and ended up seeing some great tennis PLUS Roger Federer warming up. It was also a fun atmosphere with beer gardens, live music and sponsor tents everywhere. This whole experience is making me want to see Wimbledon..hmmm.

A lot of our Sydney friends were actually in Melbourne as well - some for tennis and some for other stuff. We had fun during the evenings going to dinner and bars. We even got to celebrate Jess' Dirty 30 at Coda Bar + Grill followed by karaoke in Chinatown (which I think the girls enjoyed more than the guys).

The last day we were in Melbourne was Australia Day, which appears to be a day off from work for people to be patriotic, BBQ, go to the beach and do other Aussie things. Officially it commemorates the first explorers to arrive at Sydney Cove in 1788, the hoisting of the British flag there, and the proclamation of British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of Australia. We didn't really have a typical Australia Day as we were busy exploring a few other parts of Melbourne including St. Kilda and Chapel Street. Oh well, 4th of July is still better!