Only in Australia

Erik and I just returned from an incredible two week holiday in Nepal. We trekked in the Himalayas, dodged crazy drivers in Kathmandu, and gave an elephant a bath in Chitwan National Park. More posts about the trip coming soon, but for now I want to share two videos of incidents that recently happened Down Under.

Remember my last post about swooping season? Check out this GoPro video from a cyclist in New South Wales, the state just north of our home state, Victoria. The video is in slow motion in the beginning but if you watch until the end, you will see that this cyclist was attacked 6 times in 13 seconds! An article about the video and the attacks can be read here. There is also a website dedicated to magpie attacks so that cyclists and runners can avoid areas where magpies are nesting.

Also in the news this week was a fight between boxing kangaroos that went on for more than 5 minutes! The incident also happened in New South Wales, in a residential neighborhood. Definitely not something that is seen every day in the Lucky Country, so certainly worth a watch!

Grampians National Park

In Australia we celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s birthday, which essentially means that we get to enjoy a long weekend in June with Monday as a “public holiday”. Over that long weekend, Erik and I decided to head to the Grampians, a mountain range about 3 hours from Melbourne that offers hiking, rock climbing, and wilderness.

We based ourselves in Halls Gap, a town of about 300 people that swells during holiday times. Our accommodation was a small cottage surrounded by mountains and frequently visited by kangaroos. The town itself is really cute and has a great pedestrian/bike path that we used to walk from our cottage to town and also to the visitor’s center. There are some hiking trails that start right from the center of town, which is quite convenient!

Seeing kangaroos in the wild never gets old!

We left Friday after work and arrived at D’alton’s Resort around 8:30pm. David, one of the owners, was waiting for us with information about our cottage. It was a little chillier in Halls Gap compared to Melbourne, so we were happy to learn that David had turned the heat up in our cottage before our arrival, making it feel nice and toasty when we walked in the door. The cottage itself had a small kitchen, so we brought plenty of food from Melbourne, as I had heard that food prices were very high in Halls Gap.

Cottages with mountains in the backdrop

Cute and cozy cottages!

On our first day we planned to hike to the top of Mt Rosea, however, about an hour into our hike the clouds and rain came and we had to turn back. The visibility was poor and we decided that it was not worth the hike to the top if we were not going to be able to see anything once we arrived there. After making it down to the bottom, we tried another hike, this one to the Pinnacle, and ended up having to turn back on that hike as well! The weather just was not cooperating, so we spent a lazy day hanging out in our cottage, which actually turned out to be very enjoyable!

We hiked a little past this landmark before turning around on Day 1. 

Crazy-looking rock we noticed on the way down

Sunday’s weather was much more cooperative, and David gave us a tip about an alternative trail to the top of Mt Rosea, so we took that route, which allowed us to enjoy a different hike compared to the one we had just done the previous day.

It kind of looks like I'm about to jump in this picture, but I assure you I was not!

A "selfie" near the top of Mt Rosea

Erik got ahold of the camera, so there are a few pictures of me from our hike!

View of the Grampians from the top of Mt Rosea

Before our second attempt to hike to the top of Mt Rosea, we completed the hike to the Pinnacle, which is one of the more popular hikes in the Grampians. We saw a lot of people on that trek, including lots of young families and school groups. There were definitely more than 300 people in Halls Gap on Queen’s Birthday weekend!

Erik near the Pinnacle, with Mt Rosea in the background

Cool rock formations make for enjoyable climbing with this guy!

View of Halls Gap from the Pinnacle

We also did a short walk at Reed lookout to the Balconies, where Erik decided it was safe to walk out onto a ledge. Actually I sent him out there for the photo, and he was a good sport!

Before leaving town, Erik wanted to get in a quick workout, so he ran some sprints on the local footy oval. He had the company of MANY kangaroos during his workout, which certainly helped to keep me entertained!

These kangaroos often stopped to watch Erik running!

This guy was about to box! This was the first time I've ever seen a 'roo assume this position.

This one nearly hopped right into me when I was taking pictures!

The pouch must be handy on cold days!

Pucker up!

'Roos and mountains!

In addition to ‘roos, we saw a few emu and heard lots of kookaburras on our weekend in the Grampians. The Grampians have endured bushfire damage over the last few years, most recently this past January, and much of the northern park is still closed due to that damage. One of the more popular spots to visit, Mackenzie Falls, has been closed since January, and I would definitely like to make a trip to that area once it re-opens. The Grampians are supposed to be an amazing place to visit in the spring due to the large amount of wildflowers that bloom there, so perhaps a spring camping trip will be in order?!

Macedon Ranges

Yesterday was my birthday, the third birthday I have celebrated Down Under. Technically today it is still my birthday in America, and yesterday it wasn't quite yet my big day in the USA, but we do celebrate our birthdays on the actual "date" in Oz. Due to the time difference, birthday wishes tend to come over a 2 day period, so it is really fun to have an "extended" birthday of sorts.

I have a few more China posts to write, most notably a post about our trip to the Great Wall, but today I wanted to share a little bit about our day trip to the Macedon Ranges. Erik had asked a few times what I wanted to do for my birthday, and I thought that a day trip somewhere within an hour or so of our house would be a good idea. There are many choices that fit into that category, but yesterday I chose the Macedon Ranges.

From our house it only took about 45 minutes to reach Mount Macedon. Once we left the freeway and started driving on the road up to the top, we started passing gorgeous houses. Actually these were more like estates, with gated driveways, tennis courts, pools, and immaculate gardens. I have decided that rich Melbournians must own these amazing properties! The scenery on the drive to the top, which included those beautiful houses combined with a winding tree-lined road, was awesome.

The first thing we decided to check out was the Memorial Cross. This cross is massive, and was rebuilt in the 1990's when it was decided that the cross was unsafe, as it had deteriorated from weather. It serves as a memorial to Australian soldiers who served in the World Wars. You can also see the CBD (Melbourne) from the Memorial Cross.

That is "Melbs" in the distance!

Next we did a short hike to Camel's Hump, which is the highest peak of Mount Macedon. From there, we spotted Hanging Rock, which was our next destination.

Hanging Rock was created by a type of volcanic activity over 6 million years ago. A hike to the top provided awesome views of the Macedon Ranges and Camel's Hump in particular. The rock formations are quite stunning, especially with the backdrop of the ridiculously blue sky that we had yesterday.

Camel's Hump is the high part of the mountain in the background!

This spot actually reminded me of a hike we did in the Glass House Mountains.

When we returned from the walk to Hanging Rock, we found a kangaroo that clearly is used to being around people. This "wild" kangaroo was just hanging out where people were having picnics, eating grass and letting crazy Americans pet it without any sign of distress!

After leaving Hanging Rock, we headed to Hanging Rock Winery to do a bit of wine tasting. I ended up having a glass after the tasting and we sat outside enjoying the perfect weather before hitting the road back to Melbourne. All in all an excellent birthday, made possible by my fabulous husband and by the often unpredictable Melbourne spring weather, which turned out to be absolutely perfect yesterday!

View of Hanging Rock (left) and Camel's Hump (right) from the winery!

Odds and Ends

Since the last few blog posts have been dedicated to talking about our adventures with my parents, I thought I'd do an update on what we've been up to for the last month or so since our visitors departed.

We have been keeping quite busy on the work front, particularly Erik, who is often working one or both weekend days, though sometimes just for a few hours. Up until last week, I was getting called to work at the school near our house nearly every day for substituting. However, my work schedule seems to have come to a screeching halt now that school is winding down for the year. Year 12's (seniors) have already finished with classes and are nearly finished exams, while the Year 10 and 11 students (sophomores and juniors) will be finishing classes this week and starting exams next week. With those students finishing up, that leaves plenty of teachers to fill in for those who are out, meaning less work for substitutes.

Our social calendar has been regularly filled up as well. We attended our first 40th birthday party (if that doesn't make you feel old I don't know what does!), enjoyed dinner at a new restaurant along the water for my birthday, went to our second beer festival in Oz (which left Erik thinking that he might never drink alcohol again given his condition the next morning), enjoyed a few ciders at an Irish pub along the Yarra River, and just yesterday we had our first "go" at surfing down under.

The weather is starting to be consistently nice, though it still occasionally fluctuates between 80 degrees F one day and 60 degrees F the next. Halloween was particularly warm, and we actually ended up with unexpected trick or treaters at our doorstep (who recognized me from the school where I have been relief teaching!). Unfortunately we could only offer them a bit of juice we had leftover from my parent's visit because we were not prepped with anything to give out at the door. Last year we did not see anyone dressed up for Halloween in our neighborhood, but this year kids were out in groups, so the holiday seems to be growing in popularity among Australians.

One other totally random thing that I need to share happened last weekend when Erik was leaving our house for a run. There was a kangaroo on our sidewalk! Under a tree, just a few feet from our house, in total suburbia just 6 miles from downtown Melbourne, stood a kangaroo. Erik came back to the house so that I see for myself, but unfortunately the 'roo was gone by the time I made it outside. We searched the neighborhood for a few minutes to see if we could find him, but had no luck. This type of thing isn't totally unheard of, but it is rare considering that we live in quite a populated area where you wouldn't normally see kangaroos. On the other hand, maybe it is a trend, as just a few weeks ago a kangaroo was found in a parking garage at the Melbourne Airport.

I'll leave you with some photos of our lives from the past few weeks!

Amazing lot of dark chocolate goodies from my sister! Dark chocolate + bacon = AMAZING!
Also received Berger cookies from Mo. Thanks, gals!!
Vosges Haut-Chocolat Mo's Bacon Caramels (Google Affiliate Ad)

E made me Oreo cheesecake for my birthday. DELISH!!

The hubby at my birthday dinner.

Sunset and the West Gate Bridge

Afternoon rainbow view from our balcony.

Southbank, in Melbourne, at dusk.

Ready to catch some waves at 13th Beach, near Torquay.

The first of a few pictures of my progress from lying to standing...

I'm surfing!! Kind of, anyway!! :)

Up again and getting better under the watchful eye of our friend, Ned!

An awesome way to spend a Sunday morning...only an hour from home!

Great Ocean Road Revisited

If you have been reading the blog for a while you might remember that Erik and I took a trip along the Great Ocean Road in February. I personally think that a trip to see the 12 Apostles is a must-do for visitors to Melbourne, so just a few days after my mom and dad arrived, we headed in that direction! Since I had done the drive before (although technically I did not drive at ALL the first time because I was still not comfortable driving on the other side of the road), I planned most of our stops in advance and I booked accommodation in Apollo Bay at the Beachfront Motel, so that we could split the long drive up into two days.

Our first stop on day one was at Bells Beach. This was a very different beach compared to what Erik and I saw back in February. On the day that I visited with my parents, the beach was packed with surfers. According to one of them, the swell was 3 meters (10 feet) at the face of some of the biggest waves.

Next, we made a side trip to Anglesea Golf Club. I had read in various places that this was a good place to spot kangaroos, and I was not sure that we would see any others during the course of our trip. Sure enough, as soon as we turned onto the road that the golf course is on, we spotted a group of kangaroos. This was midday, so I did not know how much movement would be occurring, as the 'roos tend to be more active at dawn and dusk. However, we saw a few of them jumping and others "scooting" during the time we stopped to watch them. In addition, one of the kangaroos that was close to us had a joey (baby) in its pouch! You cannot see the joey's head, but you can see the ears sticking up and you can see that the mom's pouch is full. So cool!!

Mom and I were hoping that the joey would poke its head out!

After leaving the kangaroos, we made a short stop at Split Point lighthouse and then stopped at the Great Ocean Road monument. Shortly after that, we stopped for lunch in Lorne, where we ate a filling lunch of fish and chips just a few steps away from the Southern Ocean.

We then made our way to Teddy's Lookout, which has beautiful views of the ocean and offers a glimpse of cars driving along the famous road below. After taking some pictures, we were back in the car (at this point I was feeling bad that we have a two door car because getting in and out is not an easy task and we were doing it often!) and off to our next stop, Grey River Road, for more koala spotting. We were again successful at finding several koalas. In addition, we saw our first "wild" kangaroo along this road, who was just having a meal when we wandered by him.

How cute are they?!

This cockatoo was not happy with me taking his photo!

Our final stop of the day was in Apollo Bay for rest, dinner, and sleep! It was super quiet in town and most things seemed to close at 5pm, though this was a weeknight in the spring and the population of the town is quite small, so I guess that is to be expected. We ended up not being very hungry for dinner after our massive lunch, so we tried a tapas place called "Chill" and we were pleasantly surprised with the food and the delicious sangria. The decor and feel of the place was very modern but also laid back, and I would definitely recommend checking it out if you spend some time in Apollo Bay.

In the morning, we ate a nice breakfast at Cafe 153, just a few steps from our motel. After brekkie we were off to do some more exploring. The night before, we had decided not to drive down the road to the Cape Otway lighthouse. I knew that this was a great place for koala spotting, but since we had already seen so many, mom and dad agreed that our time would be better spent elsewhere. However, when we approached the road to the lighthouse, we were making good time and I kind of just felt like we should drive down the road, so I made a last minute decision that would turn out to be a good one. There were tens (maybe hundreds?!) of koalas in the trees on this road, including the most adorable baby koala in the world (seriously!). Furthermore, we witnessed two koala "fights", as apparently they are very territorial about their tree spaces! Check out the video below to see one of the fights (yes, that is my mother you are hearing during most of the fight). Also on the video is a climbing koala who startled me as I was walking into some tall grass to try to get a better view of the joey. All of the sudden, I heard a rustling in the grass, and this koala came walking out straight towards me, crossed the road, and then proceeded to climb up the tree. I thought I captured the entire thing on video, but apparently not. Mom and dad were standing there too, and I think my mom caught most of it on her iPhone!

720p from Ashley Hanson on Vimeo.

Koalas seem to fall asleep in the funniest positions!

After we parked, we realized there was a koala right above our car.

These two were actually getting along well. Check out the video above to see the koala fight!

Cutest.Koala.Ever!!!

Yes, this picture is *almost* the same as above, but I cannot get enough of this joey!

Mom is checking up on baby...

...and then they rub noses. So sweet!

Don't you just want to take this thing home with you?!

Another mommy, holding her joey while sleeping. Note baby koala leg sticking out!!

The next part of the drive is through Otway National Park, which is full of twists and turns and unfortunately made my mom a little car sick. Needless to say, she was happy to get out of the vehicle when we arrived at the 12 Apostles.

Again, how cute are they?!

From the Apostles, we drove up the road to Loch Ard Gorge, where we did a little more sightseeing before jumping back in the car to return back to Melbourne. We drove the inland road home, which is about two hours faster (though not nearly as pretty or exciting!) than driving back along the Great Ocean Road. This was a lot to see and do in two days time, and I probably completely exhausted my parents, but they seemed to keep up rather well and enjoyed nearly every second of our trip along the road that is consistently named one of the greatest in the world for its scenery.