First Stop - Hawaii!

The first part of our trip was actually Erik's genius idea. First, you should know that originally we had planned to visit Africa for 3-4 weeks during December/January. However, once my sister announced that she would be having a baby in November, I decided I could not miss out on holding my nephew as a newborn, so we would still visit Africa, but we would travel there via the United States. I looked at airfares for months, and it is bloody expensive to fly to America around Christmas. I checked flights from different airports in Oz and to all of the major west coast US cities. It was my smart husband, however, who suggested flying through Hawaii. Fortunately, a budget airline in Australia, Jetstar, flies direct from Melbourne to Oahu.

Originally, I figured we would arrive in the morning (flight arrives at 6am), spend the day on the beach in Waikiki and then fly out that night (most flights to the mainland of America leave at 10pm or so, putting you on the west coast in the early morning hours). However, Erik suggested that we stay a few days, and seeing as we were about to embark on a pretty crazy 2 weeks of US travel plus 3 weeks of Africa travel, I was obviously up for his idea! We went to Hawaii on our honeymoon over 6 years ago, but did not visit Oahu, only Kauai and the Big Island. I was excited to see the North Shore of Oahu and thought that would be the perfect place to chill for a few days. 

Due to the fact that we were traveling like crazy, we wanted to do Oahu on a budget, which is not easy to do because Hawaii is expensive, at least compared to mainland USA. I found a place on Airbnb that was not too pricey and just steps to the beach on the North Shore. We decided that we would take "The Bus" up to the North Shore to save money on transport. However, upon arriving at Honolulu airport at 6am on December 17th, we were told that we could not take our luggage with us on The Bus (we each had our hiking packs which are about 55L and each had a daypack). Thanks to the power of 3G and the fact that I had activated my US sim card before we left Oz, I searched for car rental deals and found that we could rent a car for 3 days with Firefly Car Rental for $90. Sold. I booked on my mobile and we boarded the bus to pick up our rental car about 15 minutes later. FYI: we later learned that people take their luggage on The Bus frequently, so it is probably do-able if you are wanting to use public transport on the island!

Now that we had wheels, we could do some additional exploring before heading up to Haleiwa. First, we visited Diamond Head, where we walked to the top for views of Waikiki, the coastline, and the crater itself. I would definitely recommend doing this early in the morning like we did, otherwise I think it would be HOT!

After a few hours there, we headed up the east coast, stopping at a few beaches and overlooks along the way.

With Airbnb, sometimes you actually stay in a person's home, but this one was a self-contained cottage that was so cute! They also provided beach chairs, surfboards, bikes, etc., so pretty much everything we could ever need was there. 

The beach closest to our place was Sunset Beach, which is aptly named for the gorgeous sunset views.

In addition to lounging in the sun, we rode our bikes to Haleiwa town to check out a few shops and to get a little exercise. There are bike trails along much of the North Shore that run between the beach and the road, which is really nice. The place where we stayed was close to Ted's Bakery, where we enjoyed a meal or two. Also, you cannot leave the North Shore without trying shrimp from a shrimp truck. My mouth is watering just thinking about how delicious those shrimp (prawns for my Aussie friends) tasted!

Matsumoto Shave Ice. YUM!

We were staying very close to Pipeline, and the famous annual surfing competition had unfortunately just finished when we arrived. However, we did get the chance to watch some decent surfing from our own beach. 

First time I've ever seen a surfer's circle. Not sure who the tribute was for but it was awesome to watch!

We stayed for 2 nights and flew out late on the 3rd day. Our Airbnb hostess was super flexible and let us check out late, so we hung out on the beach before taking the inland road (as opposed to the coastal road) back towards Honolulu. Along the way we stopped at the Dole Plantation, which was really touristy but the pineapple soft serve ice cream was quite tasty! We actually made it back much quicker than we expected, and I was interested in seeing Waikiki Beach, so we headed that way in search of dinner. Duke's was the answer for dinner, though it was a bit pricier than the one we ate at in Kauai in 2007! Nevertheless, it was a good dinner and we had sweet seats for an another amazing Hawaiian sunset. After dinner we were on our way to the airport to say goodbye to warmth and sunshine and hello to winter in Minnesota!

A crowd gathers to watch sunset on Waikiki Beach

Wine, Cheese, Chocolate, and Beautiful Beaches!

After returning back to the mainland from Rottnest Island, we headed south along the coast of Western Australia. Our destination was Margaret River, a region known for its wine making.

Rockingham. Apparently there is a spot here where you can swim with dolphins.

Bussleton. This jetty is the longest in the southern hemisphere...almost 2km long!

Once we arrived in Margaret River, we settled into our accommodation for the next two nights. We walked into "town", where we found food for dinner and strolled along the main street. The next day we were up early, so we decided to check out the Margaret River Pro surf competition. The waves were big but sloppy, so it wasn't the best of conditions, but it was fun to watch and experience a major surfing event.

From there, we spent the rest of the day visiting wineries. We stopped at 3 Oceans, then the cheese factory (Erik's favorite stop, of course!), Howling Wolves, and Providore, followed by a stop at the Margaret River Chocolate Factory and then two more wineries: Hay Shed Hill and Knee Deep. There are SO many wineries in Margaret River and they are really close together. Lots of bang for your buck, you could say!

These distances are in kilometers, so even closer than miles, folks!

Spotted this kookaburra at one of the wineries

Needless to say, we were quite tired that evening, but we headed out to a local pub to watch the footy game (the two teams from WA were playing each other, so it was quite the rivalry). In the morning, after a short run along an awesome wooded path near our accommodation, we said goodbye to our lovely host, her "chooks", and the family (mom, dad, and joey) of kangaroos that we saw wandering through her yard that morning. It was a hard place to leave!

We drove south until we reached the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean. Pretty cool, huh?

The Indian Ocean starts just beyond the lighthouse.

We stumbled upon a black sand beach, reminiscent of our honeymoon in Hawaii!

From there, we started working our way north again, and our next stop was Hamelin Bay. This was one of the highlights of our trip for me. The beach was absolutely gorgeous, and I had read that manta rays frequently swim along the shore here. Apparently if you let them they will suck on your toes, which we did not attempt, but it was really cool to see the rays swimming along in the shallow water.

I thought our experience of seeing a few rays was great until I came across this YouTube video showing someone's experience at Hamelin Bay. Awesome!

We drove north through Leeuwin Naturaliste National Park, home of the famous karri tree, the third tallest tree in the world.

We continued the drive along Caves Road, stopping at another winery or two along with a second (and even better!) chocolate factory, Gabriel Chocolate. Then it was time to check out more beach views, so we stopped in Yallingup and walked a short portion of the Cape to Cape Track.

We also visited Bush Shack Brewery, where we shared a sampler of tasty beers. I was lucky enough to be doing most of the tasting on this trip, as Erik volunteered to be my driver! That afternoon he drove all the way to Mandurah, about an hour or so from Perth, where we stayed for the night. In the morning, we took a walk around town before hopping back in the car, where we drove north of Perth to check out Cottesloe and Scarborough beaches before heading to the airport for our late flight back east.

Scarborough Beach

After our trip to WA, I am now even more interested in going back there for a longer period of time. In fact, if we both did not have jobs in Melbourne, we might consider moving there. There are certainly downsides to living there, mainly the high cost of living and the isolation from the rest of Australia (it is the most isolated big city in the world, I've been told), but the lure of the Indian Ocean coupled with lots of sunny days is hard to resist. Until we meet again, Western Australia!

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!