Oops!

I have been thinking about writing a blog post for ages now as it has been 4 months since my last post, by far the longest stretch I have gone without blogging since our move here in August 2011. I have an abundance of things to write about too, most notably that the hubby and I are expecting an Australian American to join our family in just 9 weeks. We are excited to embark on what is bound to be our most exciting adventure yet!

I find it extremely difficult to sit down in February and March to blog, since those tend to be the months where the weather is the best it gets in Melbourne. Longer days, sunshine, and warmth mean that I want to spend all of my free time outside and not inside typing away on a computer. Now we are well into autumn, with cool temperatures, rain showers, and shorter days on the agenda. Winter will be here in just over a month.

Signs of autumn on a sunny day

My goal is to revive the blog over the next few weeks (before our lives get flipped upside down with a newborn bub!) and share with you some of the adventures we have had over the last few months. I am most excited to blog about our trip to Vanuatu and Fiji. Sadly, just a few months after we left Vanuatu, the islands were ravaged by a very bad cyclone (hurricane). We are unsure as to what condition the islands are in now, particularly the smaller island of Tanna, where there would be very little protection from a category 5 cyclone.

Accommodation on Tanna (volcano in the background). Not likely able to withstand a cyclone.

Ironically, another place that we visited in 2014 has just been devastated by a natural disaster, as the city of Kathmandu has been hit by a major earthquake. The pictures we have seen so far are horrifying and we are hoping that the death toll does not continue to rise. Both of these countries rely heavily on tourism and both have such poor infrastructure, so we worry about the Ni-Van and Nepalese people and hope that they can bounce back from these tragedies.

Durbar Square in Kathmandu, looking much different than it does today.

Kitesurfing

For the last few years, Erik has talked about wanting to try kitesurfing. Kitesurfing/kiteboarding (not sure if there is actually a difference?!) is huge in Melbourne, and people can be seen kitesurfing in Port Phillip Bay on a daily basis, particularly in areas like St. Kilda in the east and Altona in the west. When a Scoopon (like Groupon) deal popped up for kitesurfing around Erik's birthday, I thought I would take advantage of a good deal and bought a voucher for him.

Lots of kites out on this windy day! Melbourne's CDB is in the background.

The voucher was for a 2 hour lesson at KSS Altona. Erik tried to book in a few weekends ago, but on the day he was meant to go out for his lesson there was no wind. Last weekend, however, there was plenty of wind, so we headed down to Altona for his lesson. Our first impression was not great, as we were told the instructor would be 30 minutes late. 30 minutes turned into an hour, so we ended up waiting quite a while for the instructor to arrive. I actually overheard the instructor saying it was the first time he had taught a lesson, and based on how he was organized, I could tell!

Some instruction going on in this picture. You can see how windy it was based on the waves in the bay!

Eventually Erik and the two other people taking the lesson headed down to the beach. It seemed to take a while for the instructor to decide where to operate on the beach. It was VERY windy and there were a lot of kites out, which made it fun for me to watch.

Erik is holding onto the kite in this picture.

The group went through a lot of set-up and safety stuff which seemed to take forever. After an hour or so, Erik got to steer the kite through the water. His first go was funny to watch as he nearly lost control of the kite. After a few minutes though, he got the hang of steering the kite. However, at that point he had to hand the kite over to someone else in the group. All up he probably held the kite for 4 minutes!

Erik steering the kite!

After the group each took turns steering the kite, the lesson was essentially over, as they went over how to pack up the kite but did not get another chance to steer the kite and they did not do body drags through the water, which was supposed to be part of the lesson. The instructor also ended the class about 20 minutes early. In the end, I think Erik enjoyed controlling the kite, but overall the lesson was poorly run and unorganized. Regardless, Erik was happy to have had a go at kitesurfing and perhaps for his next lesson I would try a different shop, given the slightly negative experience we had with KSS Altona.

Airplanes

Erik and I have spent a bit of time on airplanes during our travels over the last few years. I have developed a keen interest in airplanes with all of that travel, and not just when flying. Interestingly, all of the homes we have lived in have been located within a 15-20 minute drive of an airport. In Chapel Hill we could often see planes landing at RDU. When we lived in Elkridge, we were very close to BWI and therefore could see and hear planes landing. Here in Australia, we live near Melbourne International Airport (MEL), and over the past 3+ years we have spent many evening and weekend walks or bike commutes to and from work watching planes land and take off from MEL.

The Qantas A380 above Melbourne

The exciting thing about watching planes enter or exit MEL is the wide variety of airlines that visit the airport. In America, most airports are busy with LOTS of domestic flights and a handful of international flights. Here, it is always fun to try to see the plane's colors and/or logos to determine where it is coming from or where it is headed. With us both being first born children, we sometimes turn this into a competition! MEL has numerous domestic flights too, but remember there are only a handful of major airports located in Australia, so there are not as many flights coming in from other parts of the country as we used to see in the States.

Heading up the east coast of Australia on a domestic flight. While we are often taking pictures from the windows of planes while traveling, we occasionally take pictures of planes coming into MEL, especially if one of us is at home and the other one is on the plane!

I have an app on my phone that lists all departures and arrivals from MEL, and I can use it to look up which planes are arriving or departing at certain times and also to see if those flights are delayed. In the matter of a few hours, international flights will arrive from Air New Zealand, Emirates, Singapore, Etihad, Thai, Malaysia, Qatar, Cathay Pacific, Air Asia, Garuda Indonesia, and Air India! Also, there are three different airlines that fly from MEL to China that we frequently see; Air China, China Eastern, China Southern. There are only 4 major domestic airlines in Australia: Qantas, Virgin, JetStar, and Tiger. All of those airlines except Tiger also fly internationally to/from MEL, and usually we can tell if it's an international flight by the size of the plane. 

One hour's worth of international departures at MEL

We sometimes try to guess the type of planes that we see in the air. The easiest to identify is the Airbus A380, which is identifiable by the 4 very large engines. It is my plane of choice when visiting the States, as I find it quieter and more comfortable than other long range planes. United has started flying the "Dreamliner" 787 flight from MEL to LAX, and I'm tempted to give that one a go just to see what the plane is like. Nerd or airplane enthusiast? You be the judge!

The Qantas A380 at MEL

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!

"S" is for...

Spring! It has officially been spring in Melbourne since September 1st and our temperatures have been on the rise. It is nice to know that the cold, windy, rainy days of winter are mostly behind us.

A calm spring day. It is often windy in spring, so we relish calm days!

Pretty spring bloom on our street.

A view of the CBD from Albert Park, where our Year 10 students were running the 5km loop.

Swooping season. This is no joke! Magpies in particular are very conscious of protecting their nests and if you walk/run/ride on a footpath near trees with nests in them, prepare to be attacked. Getting swooped is startling!

A warning about swooping in our local paper.

This is how cyclists attempt to protect themselves during swooping season.

Apparently the "protection" is not always all that helpful!

Sunsets. Our days are getting longer every day, and I have been taking advantage of the extra daylight with walks along the river near our house after work. Spring seems to bring some spectacular sunsets! All of these sunset pictures were taken from different spots on different evenings using my phone.

On this evening the sun was blazing an amazing orange color as it dropped from the sky. I had to run in order to get to a spot where I could see it fall to the horizon, and it was worth the extra effort!

Snakes. When the temperature warms up, snakes come out of hibernation. On my evening walks I have started to become a bit more vigilant about being on the lookout for snakes. I have only seen one snake near our house in the three years that we have lived here, and I am pretty sure it was a brown snake, not the kind of snake you want to be bitten by!

Our local paper warning us about snakes in the area

Sausage sizzles. These actually happen year-round, but once the weather warms up, everyone heads out to their local Bunnings (the equivalent of Home Depot/Lowes in America). Each weekend a different group serves up sausages outside the store, usually offering fried onions with the sausage and serving them on a piece of bread. These sausage sizzles serve as fundraisers for different organizations, and shoppers are always keen to have a sausage in the middle of the afternoon on a weekend.

People queuing up for sausages

What the finished product usually looks like. Mind you that is tomato sauce, not ketchup!

Pumping Petrol

One of the things that still baffles me about Australia is the process of putting "petrol" into a car. Fortunately we rarely drive our car, so we only have to fill our tank about once every 4 to 6 weeks. However, when that time rolls around, I am quickly reminded of the differences between here and the States.

Signage at our local servo

"Petrol" is what goes in the tank. This is the same stuff that is called gasoline in America. However, "gas" in Australia is propane, or what you would use for your grill (barbie). Some cars here actually run on "gas" (also called LPG), which you can also get at the "petrol" station. Are you confused yet?! Therefore, because people are generally not putting "gas" in cars, the place is not called the "gas station", it is called the "service station". Of course Australians love to shorten words, so it is actually called the "servo".

A gas tank in Australia

The things I've described so far are just formalities, so while it may get a bit confusing, those differences in terminology do not actually affect the process of filling up the tank. The next two oddities, however, can be annoying.

Most servos are not equipped for us to pay at the pump. Therefore, we have to pump the petrol, wait for it to finish, then walk inside to pay. I cannot remember the last time I had to walk into a gas station in America to pay! Also, while pumping, there is no latch to lock the handle while the tank is being filled, so people actually have to stand at the pump and hold the handle the entire time. I really miss the handle lock in winter when it's cold, rainy, and windy outside!

Look mom, no hands!!

I haven't even mentioned the fact that petrol is in litres here due to the use of the metric system, so we have to do a complex conversion to try to figure out miles per gallon if we want to look at the mileage like we are used to in the States. On the bright side, our local servo has free air for our tyres (yes, tires are spelled differently in Australian English!), which almost makes up for all of those other crazy differences.

Magnetic Island

Our awesome weekend in Townsville was capped off by a day spent on Magnetic Island, often referred to as "Maggie" by locals. Our friends, Joe and Marley, joined us on the day, which made the experience that much more enjoyable!

We took the Sealink ferry from Townsville, and the ride was smooth, taking about 30 minutes. Upon arrival, we tried to hire a "moke" or a topless car, however, those types of cars were unavailable, so we ended up with a tiny regular car for the day. 

Leaving Townsville. View of Castle Hill from the ferry... we would drive to the top later in the evening.

Arriving on "Maggie Isle"

A topless car. Doesn't it look like a Barbie car?!

Our first stop was Picnic Bay, where the scenery was spectacular!

After visiting Picnic Bay, we drove back towards the ferry terminal and along the east coast of the island. There are several bays along the coast that have gorgeous little beaches with no one on them! Eventually we ended up near "The Forts" track, which Marley suggested we walk. It is a really nice walk with great views, particularly as you near the top of the Forts. Along the way there are remnants of structures that were used in World War II. Apparently it is common to see koalas along this track as well, but we did not see any on that day.

I think this is Cape Cleveland

Overlooking one of those bays along the coast

By the time we reached the car park we had worked up an appetite, so we headed to Horseshoe Bay in search of lunch. We ended up at Marlin Bar, a pub with a nice view of the beach. Horseshoe Bay is one of the more popular areas on the island, but we were visiting on a Monday so it was quiet. We enjoyed lunch, a few drinks, and some ice cream before hanging out on the beach for a bit. 

We had some time to kill before catching the ferry, so Marley suggested we stop at Bungalow Bay, where he knew there was going to be a bird feeding taking place. Sure enough, a guide came out with "bird food" and the birds started going crazy! It was actually a bit overwhelming and freaky to have birds landing on our heads.

These birds are definitely not afraid of people.

Hair or hat, the birds like to land on people's heads!

After our bird feeding adventure we headed to the ferry terminal to return the car and head back to Townsville. Once arriving back on the mainland, we headed up Castle Hill, where we watched the sunset and got a glimpse of Magnetic Island from the hill. It was a fitting end to a fantastic day. 

Love these guys! Magnetic Island in the background.

Marley headed back home to Ayr and Joe arranged for Erik and I have dinner from Zambrero, a restaurant chain that is owned by his friend. The concept is similar to Chipotle and while the food was very tasty, it was not really "Mexican". If someone could open up a Chipotle franchise over here, I think that person would be very successful! After dinner and a quick shower at Joe's place we were off to the airport, arriving about 45 minutes before our flight was scheduled to depart. Gotta love domestic travel in Australia, where security screening is a breeze, you do not need a boarding pass to get to the gate, you board the plane from the tarmac, and you can bring your full water bottle with you on the plane. We had not traveled domestically in over a year, so we had almost forgotten how good that was! About three hours later we were back in Melbourne to endure a few more weeks of winter, already missing the North Queensland sunshine. Thanks to Joe and Marley for being such amazing hosts during our weekend getaway to Townsville!

Townsville

For the last few years I have been mentioning to Erik that we should head to Townsville to visit a few of my "Contiki" friends. I know I've talked about them on the blog a few times before, but in case you are a new reader, I did a Contiki tour of Europe in 2004 and fortunately I have managed to keep in touch with a few friends from that trip. Two of those guys came to America for our wedding in 2007. One of those guys who made it to our wedding lives in Townsville, a small town in North Queensland. I have been threatening to visit him and another Contiki friend basically since we moved Down Under, and a few months ago there was an airfare sale that I could not pass up, so we decided to spend our first footy-free weekend (the season just ended) in Townsville.

May 2004. Amsterdam.
Marley, center wearing the black shirt, and Joe, in the striped shirt, are the guys we were visiting!

We flew up on Friday night after work and went straight to "The Strand", or the waterfront part of Townsville. We enjoyed dinner on the water at Longboard Bar and Grill before heading to "City Lane", a new laneway in the CBD with outdoor bars and restaurants. We also walked along the main street in Townsville where many young people were out for a big night!

A store in the Townsville CBD. To be "off your tree" means you are crazy.

In the morning we hit the road to Ayr, the town where my Contiki friends grew up and where one currently lives. That friend, Marley, owns a boat and enjoys fishing and crabbing. He and Joe, our other friend, had arranged for us to spend the day on the water catching mud crabs. Erik and I are accustomed to eating Maryland blue crabs, but we had never tasted mud crab and we had never actually been out on a boat trying to catch crabs. The weather could not have been better for our day on the water. Not only did Marley catch mud crabs for us, but he used a net to catch fresh prawns (shrimp) and set up a boiling pot on the beach so that we could eat the crabs and shrimp right there on the water. It was an amazing day!

Joe waiting to pick up the next crab pot

Erik getting in on the action

Marley baiting up a crab pot

Can't remember which cape this is! Note the white dots...those are our crab pots!

Measuring the mud crab to see if it is a keeper

Erik got pretty good at holding these guys!

This one looks big enough to keep. They have to be 15cm across and you can only keep males.

A female sand crab. These are protected, so she went back in the water.

This pelican came to visit while Marley was fishing for prawns.

Docked on the beach

Our view for the feed

After 20 minutes in a boiling pot, our crabs were ready to eat!

The best part, the "nippers"

Out of the water just as the sun was setting

That night we went to watch the local rugby game, as our friend Joe is an assistant coach for the team, the Burdekin Cane Toads. Yes, the mascot is a cane toad!

In the morning we headed down the road about 15 minutes to Alva Beach, where we would check in at Yongala Dive to spend the day scuba diving! Last January when I went diving on the Great Barrier Reef with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, our guide mentioned that her favorite dive site she had ever been to was the SS Yongala shipwreck. The ship sunk in 1911 on the way from Melbourne to Cairns, but the wreck was not discovered until 1958. It has become one of the most popular shipwreck dive sites in the world, and it is known for an abundance of fish and sharks. We did not get a glimpse of any sharks on the day, but we saw TONS of fish, small and large, along with turtles, sea snakes, an eel, and two different types of rays. There are some really BIG fish at the site, grouper and maori wrasse, and also huge schools of barracuda. We saw typical fish similar to those we had seen at other dive sites, but the fish were much larger! We used our GoPro, but we don't have the special case for underwater shooting so unfortunately the footage is not great. The visions are still fresh in my memory, however, and for me the dive quickly became my favorite site of the 10 or so dives I have completed. I highly recommend diving the site with Yongala Dive. Normally you need advanced diver certification to dive below 18 meters, but at this site you can pay a little extra money for "deep dive training" (which only includes a skill or two once you enter the water on the first of two dives), which allows you to dive to 30 meters. Here is a YouTube video that helps give you an idea of what we saw down there!

One we hit the surface, we saw humpback whales playing near the boat. According to our skipper, it was a mom and a calf, probably 2-3 days old. We also saw another whale on the way back to shore, as it is migratory and calving season for the whales. Those sightings just topped off an awesome day of diving!

The tides are crazy, so we ended up having to make a few trips back to the boat to carry things to shore.

That night we set out to find a cane fire. Sugar cane farming is the livelihood of many people in North Queensland, and that night you could see piles of smoke coming from various cane farms. Joe got us pretty close to a fire so that we could see, hear, and smell the cane burning. Apparently there are lots of snakes and wild pigs amongst the cane fields, so the fire gets rid of those pests. After the burn off, the next step is harvesting, and we drove by the plant in Ayr where cane is harvested after it is burned.

One of several cane fires we saw that evening

After another amazing meal from the sea (Marley fed us delicious grilled fish that he had caught earlier in the week), we headed back to Townsville for the night to rest up for our Monday adventure, Magnetic Island.