I Can't Believe...

...I never posted pictures of my trip with Mara on here! Here is an abridged version.

For those of you who don't know, Mara is my aunt who lives in Boston and promised me she'd come visit during my time in Australia. Lo and behold, she wasn't lying (not that she ever would!) and we got to take a whirlwind trip around OZ at the end of November. We started in Melbourne, where we stayed at Robinson's in the City, a wonderful B&B run by our friendly host Paul.

Robinson's is housed in an old bakery, and breakfast is served right next to the old brick ovens. They give the room a great atmosphere! This B&B was really nice and Paul was friendly and helpful during our stay in Melbourne. I'd definitely go back if I had the chance!

Mara and I had a few days to explore Melbourne, and I have to say that it's probably my favorite city in Australia so far. It has a grid-type layout and is small and easy to navigate. The buildings are a mix of new and old, and there are lots of tiny alleyways to explore. There are plenty of great little cafes and boutiques too.

Melbourne has an extensive network of trams that run on almost every street, and add a great touch to the city. To overcome problems with traffic, Melbourne created what is known as the 'hook turn'. I thought this was such a funky traffic rule -- the point is to keep cars that want to turn right from idling in the tramways (which run down the middle of the street), subsequently holding up tram traffic. The solution? Turn right from the left only. Cars that wish to turn right pull all the way to the left and situate themselves in front of the traffic running perpendicular. When the lights change, they proceed straight across the intersection. So funny!

Mara and I left the city for two different day tours, the first of which was a tour of the Great Ocean Road. This is a Pacific Highway-inspired road that stretches along the coastline west of Melbourne. One of the first attractions of the day was an area inhabited by wild koalas -- the first ones I had seen in the wild! They are Southern Koalas and are much larger than the ones I'm used to seeing in Queensland.

The main attraction along the Great Ocean Road are a set of sea stacks called the Twelve Apostles. The stacks are formed slowly as the limestone coastline is eroded by the sea. The scenery is a spectacular contrast of the blue-green ocean, the brown and yellow limestone, and the shades of green shrubbery covering the cliffs. To top it all off, Mara sprung for a helicopter ride along the cliffs, which was beyond words -- so fun and amazing! I had a smile on my face the entire time and it was definitely a highlight of the trip.

The last stop on our day tour was London Bridge. This formation used to be a complete bridge, but collapsed unexpectedly one day, stranding two tourists who had ventured out to the far side. Apparently, while a rescue was being planned the two were circled by news helicopters for hours! Imagine the frustration!

Our second day tour was really an evening tour, and took us to Philip Island, home of the Little Penguin. This species of penguin is the smallest in the world, and the colony on Philip Island is one of the largest ones in Australia. Unfortunately I didn't get any actual pictures of the penguins (photos were not allowed), but it was also an amazing sight to see. Tourists line up on special viewing platforms and wait as the sun disappears. Slowly, groups of these tiny penguins emerge from the surf and start to waddle up the beach and into the hills of the island to their respective burrows. In a matter of minutes the numbers double and triple, until the whole island is inundated with penguins calling to their mates and making the most hysterical squawking noises. It's an amazing sight, and pretty cool to think that it's been happening over and over every night for thousands of years.

Our next stop was Sydney -- my first time to this city too. We were exhausted the first day and made the wise decision of taking a relaxing harbor cruise. Sydney Harbor is really amazing -- huge, and beautiful. We also had a lovely day, so I was lulled to sleep shortly after Mara shot this photo of the bridge and opera house!

We also got tickets to one of the hop-on, hop-off buses and managed to see most of the main sights in the city. I've got to say that besides the harbor and the landmarks, Sydney is really just like any other big city. It was nice, but I think I prefer somewhere a bit smaller!

Mara and I got a great tip from one of the travel agents at the visitor's center, and booked a tour with a new wine touring company called Southern Crush. Our guide Seamus is a Napa transplant and took us (and one other couple) on a wonderful day of tasting in Sydney's Southern Highlands. This was probably one of my favorite days on the whole trip, but then again they were all favorites! We visited four boutique wineries and enjoyed a three-course lunch with paired wines, plus a cheese-plate at the end of the day. I was so stuffed with food and wine by the end of the day that I could barely move!

After our time in Sydney we traveled to northern Queensland, where our next host Julie collected us from Cairns airport. Julie and Rod run Zimzala B&B, which is located in Holloway's Beach just north of Cairns city. This place is fabulous!!! The town and beach are both tiny, but have everything you might require for a short stay. Mara and I walked down to the beach, but didn't get in the water as it was (and still is) stinger season. The jellyfish (stingers) that pose a threat in the northern parts of Queensland breed in the estuaries during the spring months. As the summer progresses the coastal areas fill with singers, so on the hottest days residents can't even hop in the ocean! There are several different types -- the weakest will just make you feel a little silly, while the most lethal can kill a grown man in 3 minutes flat. They are no joke. Holloway's Beach has a 'stinger net' (standard for beaches in northern Queensland) which provides a 'safe' area to swim, but it's also surrounded by signs like these:

This comforting sign reads "All bathers are advised to wear additional clothing such as a t-shirt, especially children and persons with sensitive skin. The stinger resistant enclosure is designed to afford a reasonable measure of protection from dangerous marine stingers, but users are advised that no warranty is given of absolute protection." Additional clothing? Reasonable protection? I definitely want to get in the water now! Swimming pool, anyone?

Luckily Julie and Rod have a fantastic one, where is where we spent the end of our first day in Cairns. The next morning we were scheduled to head off into the Daintree Rainforest on a day tour, but not before Rod presented us with our first Zimzala breakfast. Can you say...heaven! Those of you that know me best know that I am a lover of fresh fruit, and Rod's breakfast starts out with an amazing platter of it. All kinds of stuff -- mango, melon (water, cantelope, honeydew), lychee, nashi pear, paw paw (papaya), passionfruit, kiwi, pineapple. Seriously, heaven. But, that wasn't all! Fruit is just the appetizer -- we also got delicious pancakes separated by crushed banana, freshly baked croissants, juice, and coffee.

Here I am, on could 9 (notice the completely devoured plate of fruit)

Our day tour of the Daintree was fantastic -- great guide and great group of people. We traveled north and stopped to take a rainforest walk -- this was also my first time in tropical rainforest, which was beyond humid and lush.

Our guide pointed out this Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher

We traveled farther north and stopped to take in Cape Tribulation, where we saw more comforting stinger signs (there was also a sign opposite this one warning that the waters are inhabited by crocodiles)

Next we took our 4X4 bus up the Bloomfield Track, which is a famous 4X4 track that stretches along the coast into Far North Queensland. Our guide took us to one of his favorite swimming holes, which felt like a really tucked-away special spot. Normally you wouldn't want to go swimming in any of the rivers this far north because of crocodiles, but this one was far enough inland that we were safe. I wasn't brave enough to jump in (those of you who know me also know that I am seriously afraid of water with leafy bottoms), but Mara was a total badass and plunged right in!

Afterwards we had some tea and a tropical fruit tasting (like I needed to eat more fruit). Clockwise from the left are: pineapple, paw paw, sapodilla, Amazonian custard apple, sugar banana, dragonfruit, and lychee. I really enjoyed the custard apple -- the creamiest fruit I've ever had! The sapodilla was also interesting, and tasted just like caramel.

Our last activity of the day was a quick boat tour on the Daintree River -- one of the largest rivers in the area and home to a large population of saltwater crocodiles. The banks of the river are covered in signage warning you of the danger -- the largest crocs known to live in this river are 5 meters long. This is really hard to imagine, and I can't really describe it too well -- I've seen a saltwater croc in a zoo here that was probably 3 meters long, and it was terrifyingly huge. These guys are massive, and really dangerous. Really tragically, last week a 5 year old boy (whose father is a tour guide on the river) was taken by a crocodile when he tried to shoo it away from his dog.

But, the river is also a beautiful one. A thunderstorm slowly rolled in as we motored along in our tour boat, so it was really kind of eerie and still on the river that afternoon. We only spotted one crocodile, and it was too submerged to make out clearly. It does add a kind of 'Jaws' like feeling though, gliding along on this glassy water and knowing there could be these huge dinosaur-like beasts just under the surface.

The next day was our Great Barrier Reef tour, and Rod came through that morning with another incredible breakfast. This one was the amazing fruit plate, followed by fresh homemade banana bread with mango and raspberry sauce, honey, and mascarpone cheese. This was so rich and wonderful, I have no idea how I ate as much of it as I did!

We were booked on a boat called ReefMagic for our tour, which took about an hour to speed out to its own floating pontoon on Moore Reef, part of the outer reef system. I've done a fair bit of snorkeling and diving on fringe reefs in the Whitsundays, which are considered part of the Great Barrier Reef, but had never been on a freestanding reef before. I was excited! For safety-sake, and to protect us from the sun, we actually paid the crew to outfit us in these ridiculous nylon stinger suits! There are stingers out on the reef, but the most dangerous ones stay close to the shorline. However, better safe than dead...and when else would I get to wear something this dumb?!

The snorkeling was indescribable. The reef comes right up to the surface of the water, so we could get extremely close to the coral and sealife. There were fish absolutely EVERYWHERE. The pictures can't do it justice, but here are some of my favorites:

This guy is a sea slug -- feels kind of like a big fleshy worm. The best feature of this animal was that if you turned him around and squeezed his anus, water would shoot out like a gun! Gotta love that.

This was my favorite fish on the reef -- I have no idea what it's called. I like to think of it as the 80s fish because it has all those great neon colors that were so popular when I was a kid. Really striking and bright!

Some lovely fish -- I believe the one on the right-hand side with the white tail is called a 'Bitten Chocolate' something, because it looks like a piece of chocolate that someone took a hunk out of.

Mara and I left Cairns early the following morning and headed to Brisbane, where she stayed another few days before heading back home. I was pictured-out by that time, so I don't have much to share of her time in Brisbane! I took her to all the usual sights, including Lone Pine where she got to cuddle her own koala...

How sweet is that?

And make friends with the kangaroos...

The day we visited was pretty hot, and a big group of the kangaroos had collected in the sade of a tree for a nap. Jody (who came with us) and I thought it was so funny that we decided to pose with the 'roos...most of them ignored us!

Mara also happened to be in Brisbane for two hard days for each of us -- first, my dog died on Thanksgiving, and the following day was her wedding anniversary to her late husband and my uncle, Stephen. It was really nice to have her around, and we had a really nice day on her anniversary when I took her up into the Glasshouse Mountains north of the city. I've talked about these on here before, but I had never actually been into the area. The mountains are the leftover cores of ancient volcanoes, and are very significant spiritually to the local Aboriginal people. The area surrounding them is filled with lovely countryside and sleepy towns, and we had a nice afternoon wandering through the valleys and taking in the scenery.I'm hoping (and pretty sure) that her trip was fantastic and magical for her, because I know it was that for me! I'll always be grateful for all the things we got to see together -- I never would have gotten to all these places on my own, and it was even better to see them with someone I love. Thanks for the memories Mara!