Trekking in the Himalayas!

Deciding which trek to do in the Himalayas was not an easy task. Originally we tossed around the idea of Everest Base Camp, which is about as high as Kilimanjaro. We also talked about doing Annapurna Base Camp or Annapurna Circuit, and for a shorter trek we considered Poon Hill. One thing all of those treks have in common, however, is that they are very popular and therefore very crowded. We wanted a trek where there were fewer people, so that we really felt as if we were walking amongst the world's tallest peaks without hundreds of other tourists along with us for the trek. After a fair amount of searching online and communication via email with trekking guides, we decided on the Mardi Himal trek in the Annapurna region. The trek could be done over a period of 5 to 9 days, and we picked a 6 day route. We decided to use a guide but not a porter, as we wanted to carry our own bags, something we had been unable to do on Kilimanjaro.

About 1.5 hours after we departed Pokhara, our taxi driver decided to do some off-roading on what definitely seemed more like a landslide or waterfall rather than a road. Turns out, because we were starting the trek so late in the day, he was trying to get us as far along the trail by car as he could. We ended up getting dropped off about 10 minutes short of the town Dhampus, where we would begin our trek.

Our driver and guide made some adjustments to the road ahead so that we could pass through!

Unfortunately, once we reached Dhampus, we were suddenly in the middle of a torrential downpour. Luckily there was some shelter at a local teahouse, where we hung out for about an hour before the rain lightened up and we went on our way. We only had about 1.5 hours of trekking to do, but it was nearly 5pm, so we were quickly losing daylight.

Waiting for the storm to stop

The short trek was done in the rain and in the dark, but we made it to Pothana, where Gore (our guide) picked a teahouse where we would have dinner and spend the night. The absolute best thing about trekking in Nepal versus other places is the teahouses. Having a room with a bed is SO much better than sleeping in a tent on the ground after a day of trekking. Some teahouses at lower elevations even have hot showers and Westernized toilets! After a warm shower and a tasty dinner, we enjoyed a good night of sleep in our own single beds (the set up in most teahouses).

Our first night in a teahouse

Fortunately, the rain cleared overnight and we woke up to blue skies and a sweet mountain view out of our window. It was Erik's birthday, and Gore served us breakfast outside so that we could enjoy the view of Annapurna South while we ate brekkie.

View from our bedroom window

Annapurna South

Breakfast with a view

After eating we resumed our trek along a paved path, hiking for just one hour before stopping for a tea break (again, this teahouse trekking thing is pretty good!) in a town called Deurali.

Getting read to head out for Day 2 of trekking

This map shows many of the treks in the Annapurna region and also the peaks in the area.

A glimpse of Annapurna South from Deurali

From there we trekked 4 hours to Forest Camp, our home for the night. That part was mostly through the jungle, where we learned the disadvantage of trekking after rainy season -- leeches. They were everywhere! Leeches are not easy to get off and they are sneaky at finding their way under a sock or hiking boot, so we had to check for them regularly. We also encountered our first wild buffalo that day.

Off the paved path and onto a trail. Life is good!

We noticed many mushrooms along the way. Some are edible and some are poisonous.

Leeches will stick to just about anything!

Buffalo

When we arrived at Forest Camp we met two German guys, our first tourist sighting of the trek! This teahouse was more basic than the first night, but still better than sleeping in a tent. In the evening after dinner, we sat around the fire and chatted. Gore, at my request, had secretly prepared a birthday cake for Erik (impressive considering there was no refrigeration, only solar power, and only a wood burning stove to cook with). We all sang to him before he shared his cake with the group.

There are three teahouses to choose from at Forest Camp

Erik eating traditional Dal Bhat, which means he is using his hands to eat. Most Nepalese people eat Dal Bhat twice a day, both for lunch and for dinner, as it is a cheap and filling dish.

Enjoying dinner together

Birthday boy!

On Day 3 we trekked from Forest Camp to Low Camp, which was supposed to take 3 hours but only took us about 2. There were fewer leeches and it was a really pleasant hike. Low Camp was not as nice as Forest Camp, which made me a little worried about what High Camp was going to be like! There was no cook at Low Camp, so Gore got in the kitchen and made us lunch, our first try of Tibetan bread, which we then had at nearly every meal after that because it was so tasty! We relaxed for about an hour before continuing our trek to High Camp, a 3 hour walk. This part of the trek was also really nice, as we started to get out of the jungle, but it was cloudy so unfortunately we did not have any views of the mountains.

A leech on Erik's hiking stick. Crafty guys!

Relaxing at Low Camp

We arrived at High Camp around 4pm and we were impressed with the facilities. It was a very nice teahouse (particularly for 3500 meters!) and the guy running it, Pradeep, took great pride in making everyone feel welcome. There we found excellent food, a warm fire, great "milk coffee" and eventually, once the clouds cleared, amazing mountain views! We also met our second group of tourists on this trek, ironically a couple from Melbourne. They are also ex-pats, one being Swiss and the other a Brit. That night it was so clear that I witnessed the most spectacular view of the stars I have ever seen.

The mountains finally came out of the clouds!

Machhapuchchhre or "Fish Tail", a sacred mountain, with prayer flags in the foreground.

Even Gore is excited to see the mountains!

Because Fish Tail is sacred, it is one of the peaks that cannot be climbed.

Our next day was dedicated entirely to trekking to Mardi Himal Base Camp. We woke up just before 5am hoping to get an early start, but Gore was not happy with the weather conditions, as it was still a bit cloudy. Because this trekking route is not very popular, the trail is not as clear as the others (treks like Poon Hill and Annuapurna Base Camp are referred to as "highways" by the guides), and I think Gore was worried about getting "lost" in the clouds. At any rate, we started our trek at 6am, a little later than what we had hoped. In our previous trekking experiences, the earlier we left, the better the conditions, as the clouds would likely get worse as the day went on.

A view back towards High Camp during our trek

Our views of the mountains early on were awesome. We also came across sheep, goats, and most excitingly, yaks! During our trek we heard an avalanche in the distance. There were a few harder, steep sections, but overall it was a pretty easy climb. It took us 3 hours to get to the "Upper View Point" which is apparently about 4200 meters high (still 1700 meters lower than Kilimanjaro, so fortunately no altitude sickness on this hike!).

Gore was excited to have his picture taken too!

Amazing views early in the day!

Yaks

Trekking amongst huge peaks with no one else around

We had the trail to ourselves, a welcome change from Kili.

Starting to get deeper into the Annapurnas meant more peaks appeared!

Fish Tail still towering over us, with Mardi Himal Base Camp not too far away.

Gleaming white peaks still poking out from the clouds!

We had a rest and a snack at the view point and the clouds started to close in on us. It was pretty clear that Gore was happy to go back to High Camp at that point, however, we wanted to find Base Camp, which should have been only another hour past the view point. Unfortunately, 2 hours later we were still trekking and had not found Mardi Himal Base Camp. There were no trail markers and we were on some sort of animal trail, so we decided to snap a picture of our stopping point and head back.

The search for Base Camp was not going well at this point!

Our own "Base Camp"

We later learned from Pradeep that someone had apparently moved the sign for Base Camp, and we actually walked right past it on our way from the view point!!! Oh well! Our walk back was done partially in hailing conditions, but luckily we made it back before the heavy hail started. The Germans (from Forest Camp) were there when we arrived, so we played cards, enjoyed the fire, and drank "Mardi Himal tea" with the Germans, the ex-pats, and our new Nepalese friends.

In the morning we said goodbye to High Camp and started our trek down towards Sidhing. We encountered our only other tourists of the trek on the way down, a couple from Israel on their way to High Camp.

High Camp has a pretty amazing location!

Where's Erik?!

Predeep

The trail splits to go back towards Forest Camp OR towards Sidhing

We stopped at Low Camp for lunch, where this time there was a cook. There was also a group of local men who were heading to higher altitude to buy goats for the upcoming Dashain festival. Goats from the mountains are worth quite a bit of money because the meat tastes better, likely due to the quality of grass that they eat. After lunch we continued through the jungle and moss covered trees to Sidhing. We came across a few porters on our way down carrying food to High Camp.

Love this guy!!!

By mid-afternoon we arrived at Pradeep's parent's teahouse, where we would get a shower (albeit cold) and a double bed. It was a lovely place with beautiful landscaping and amazing views of rice fields and of Machhapuchchhre.

Brand new teahouse

Our room for the night

A fun Nepalese snack!

Such a cool-looking mountain!

It's hard to tell in photos, but the rice fields are build on very steep hills!

Our final day of trekking was also relatively easy, down along a wide track. We encountered waterfalls and also landslides, which Gore referred to as "broken road". Our trek took us through some local villages along stone pathways and eventually to Lumre, where we would get a Jeep to the closest town.

An interesting find along the trek.

One of the villages we walked through

We arrived in Lumre around 10:30am and were told we would leave around 11am, but we actually left at noon. There were about 8 of us in the Jeep to start, which we assumed would be it for the trip. However, along the way we stopped and picked up over 20 other people!! People were hanging off the roof and the back, and we were going through water crossings and into massive potholes. It was quite an adventure! Once we reached town, it was hustle and bustle and we were immediately missing our teahouses in the Himalayas.

This Jeep actually carried 30 people inside/on top/hanging on the sides.

I'm amazed by the stonework. Love the hearts!

Hanging out in Lumre

Gore tracked down a taxi for us, which was a 42 year old car! We arrived at the Green Tara Hotel in the afternoon, and Erik and Gore set out for a short trip to some caves while I strolled the streets of Pokhara enjoying the scenery and doing a bit of shopping. That night we invited Gore to join us for dinner at a fantastic pizza place...we were a bit excited to be eating some Westernized food!

Our 42 year old taxi. I wish I had a picture of the control panels up front!

Our home for the night

Our first meal after the hike...Tibetan bread and hard boiled eggs!

Greasy, delicious pizza!

Sunrise view of the Annapurnas from our hotel. A little cloudy for a good picture but still a cool view.

Overall we were extremely happy with our choice of the Mardi Himal trek. It was awesome to get "off the beaten path" in the Himalayas, and despite a bit of rain, we were fortunate enough to get some amazing views of the Annapurnas on several occasions. I don't think Mardi Himal will remain unknown for long, as there are several new teahouses being built along the route. Ten years ago there were no teahouses on Mardi Himal, as it was strictly a camping trek, but much has changed in that amount of time. Even though some teahouses were nicer than others, they still provided shelter where we could walk around, get warm, and not have to wear a hat, gloves, and down jacket to sleep, which was really nice. Trekking in the Himalayas was such a positive experience, and I can only hope that one day we have the chance to visit those mountain peaks again!

Nepal

For as long as I can remember, the hubby has talked about wanting to see the Himalayas. We tossed around the idea of going sometime in 2014, but we were not sure exactly how to make it work. Then, in August, Malaysia Airlines had a huge sale, and we could get an amazing deal on tickets to Kathmandu during my school holiday period. Given the great deal and the time off for me, it seemed like a no-brainer, so we booked the tickets and started planning our trip! We did actually give a second thought to flying Malaysia Airlines but we thought that if we were ever going to fly the airline, now would be the time to do so, since Malaysia Airlines would be trying to make up for the tragedies that have happened over the last year. That being said, we did not tell our mothers that we were flying MA, just to avoid any unnecessary worry (sorry, moms!).

Due to the short planning period, I pretty much put our trip in the hands of a tour company, Vista Trek. During our visit to Townsville in August, our friend Marley told us about a friend of a friend who organizes trips in Nepal. This friend, Arjun, is a director of Vista Trek. I basically told him what we wanted to do, which was trekking (I picked the route…more on that later), a visit to Chitwan National Park, and a few days in Kathmandu. Arjun was really responsive to email (which is not always the case when contacting companies in non-Westernized countries) and helped us to tweak our itinerary given our short-ish trip.

Unfortunately, our trip actually started with a flight cancellation! I received an email at about 2pm from Expedia, who we had booked the flights through, that our midnight flight would now take place the next day at 2pm. Thank goodness for Expedia, as they are really good about notifications of flight changes. This also happened when we were in Africa, and the only way I knew about the flight change was Expedia. We were a bit annoyed because this meant that we now had to spend the night in Kuala Lumpur with a 12 hour overnight layover. I rang Malaysia Airlines straight away and they assured me we would receive complimentary accommodation and food in KL, so it seemed as they had everything sorted.

Our flight from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur was good. It was a relatively full flight, probably because it was two flights crammed into one. We were meant to be on an Airbus but ended up on an older 777 instead due to the flight change. The food was quite tasty and there were good movie options with our seat back entertainment. The flight crew was very friendly and they seemed to be enjoying their jobs, as I caught them taking selfies in the galley once when I went to get some water!

Things took a turn for the worse when we arrived in Kuala Lumpur. When had been told in Melbourne to visit the transfer desk upon arriving in KL to arrange accommodation for the night. The Malaysia Airlines employee at MEL could even tell me which hotel we would be staying in, but she said I needed to get the voucher in Malaysia. The transfer desk was chaos! The queue was about 30 people long and was not moving at all. We were 5th in line and waited 30 minutes just to talk to someone. Unfortunately, the guy "helping" us had no clue what he was doing. He shuffled papers around, made some phone calls, talked to some other employees, and after 15 minutes he gave us dinner vouchers for Burger King and told us to come back in 30 minutes!! We weren't real impressed with Malaysia Airlines customer service at that point and didn't understand why our voucher was not ready given the fact that even in Melbourne they could tell us where we were staying. Luckily, after our free Burger King dinner, the line was shorter and we got a different customer service rep who sorted us out with our accommodation.

Two beds. This was a common theme during our Nepal trip and it started with the Concorde Inn.

Originally when we got the flight change notification we tossed around the idea of taking a train into the CBD to see the Petronas Towers while in KL, but given the craziness of the Malaysia Airlines transfer desk, we ended up just going straight to the hotel to get some rest. The place they put us up, Concorde Inn, was pretty basic, but it was clean and we got a good night of sleep before continuing our journey on to Kathmandu. We also got to enjoy a yummy breakfast buffet in the morning, and we love a good brekkie!

Morning flights departing Kuala Lumpur

The plane to Kathmandu was really nice and we ended up getting a meal and seat back entertainment on that flight as well. It's only a 3-ish hour flight, so before we knew it we were landing in Nepal. We had done some "research" in advance and read that if we picked a seat on the right hand side of the plane into Kathmandu that we might be able to get a glimpse of Everest. Since we were not trekking in the Everest region, this would be our only chance to see the famed mountain. Sure enough, about 20 minutes before landing, we put our window shade up and we could see Himalayan mountain peaks above the clouds. Using the zoom lens on our camera, we were able to get a pretty good shot of Everest and it's characteristic neighboring peaks Lhotse and Nuptse!

Himalayas in the distance beyond the wing, iPhone shot.

Zoom lens shot of Everest!

Approaching Kathmandu

After getting our visas on arrival (Kathmandu now has an automated visa machine that takes your picture, so you do not need to take passport photos with you for your visa), we picked up our bags in a crazy baggage claim area and then headed out to look for Arjun. I had told him about our flight change and he took care any changes within our itinerary, and it was really nice to put that in the hands of a Nepal local. Arjun greeted us with flower necklaces, a Hindu tradition. He then took us to a small restaurant on the airport grounds where we could wait for our connecting flight to Pokhara. Originally we had planned to spend the night in Kathmandu, but due to our flight cancellation, we decided to fly straight to Pokhara, the "base" for all Annapurna region trekking, and we would start our trek the following day.

Arjun

A few hours later we were off to the domestic terminal at Kathmandu for our flight to Pokhara. This airport made the Zanzibar airport look sophisticated. As we sat and waited for our flight, we noticed that many flights were getting cancelled. In fact, a different airline had actually cancelled it's flight to Pokhara, but our airline, Buddha Air, showed our flight to Pokhara as on time. We boarded our Buddha Air propeller plane and received water and candy after take off. It is only about a 40 minute flight, so after a half hour or so, there was an announcement that we would be starting our descent into Pokhara. However, we never started to go down into the clouds. A few minutes later there was an announcement that the Pokhara airport was closed and we would be going back to Kathmandu!!

We've flown on quite a few prop planes in 2014!

Once we got back to Kathmandu we had no clue what was going on and we were not told that there were no other flights for the day, but we heard that was the case by talking to some other passengers. The Buddha Air office was a madhouse with people trying to re-book flights, and Erik managed to get us onto a flight the following day at 12:30, not ideal but we figured we could make it work. Erik also managed to borrow someone's phone to ring Arjun, who told us to get a taxi and he would book us accommodation in Kathmandu for the night (another time I was happy to have Arjun doing the planning for us!).

Our taxi ride to the city was another adventure. Traffic was actually INSANE. We have seen some crazy driving in Indonesia, Africa, and Thailand, and I have seen some ridiculous driving in China, but nothing compares to what we saw on the roads in Nepal. There was one lane of traffic and cars were 3 wide alongside bicyclist, motorbikes, and pedestrians, all trying to squeeze into one lane! It was quite an eventful (and long!) drive from the airport into Thamel, where our hotel was located.

View from our window at Himalaya Traveler's Inn

We ended up at Himalaya Traveler's Inn and Arjun was there to meet us and apologized for the flight issues (as if it was his fault!). He suggested that rather than flying in the afternoon, for the same cost we could get a private car to Pokhara, leaving at 5:30am and arriving around 10:30am. We chose the car option and asked Arjun to cancel our flights. Traffic was a little less crazy in the morning, but we still saw our lives flash before our eyes several times, with huge trucks coming straight at us on winding, hilly roads. About 2 hours into our drive, we came off of a bridge and heard a loud noise. Our driver, who did not speak much English, pulled over and did not seem pleased with the situation. He left us in the car and started walking. We were not near any towns, only a small local store. Eventually he came back with a guy who ended up taking the entire axle apart on the side of the road. To his credit and our driver's, two hours later we were back on the road. As we entered the town of Pokhara and drove by the airport, we saw the flight that we would have been on de-boarding on the tarmac. Oh well, we beat the plane by a few minutes!

Stuck at the bottom of a hill

The house and store that we spent several hours outside of while waiting for the car to be fixed.

This kid was playing with a toy car that was made out of a plastic bottle. We are always amazed by the creativity of non-Westernized cultures when it comes to toys and games.

As we drove through Pokhara, a town much less chaotic than Kathmandu, I wished we were going to be spending the afternoon and evening there. The main street is lined with restaurants, cafes, and shops selling either traditional Nepalese items or fake North Face gear from China. Pokhara is also on a lake, and on a clear day, you can see reflections of the Annapurna mountain range in the lake. Originally we were going to spend the night there, but due to our travel disruptions, we were essentially heading straight to the trails to start our trek. Ready or not, we were off to trek in the Himalayas!

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!