Meatless Mondays!

Whether you're the type of person has has lots of meatless days of the week or the type that orders their steaks at a restaurant "still mooing" (y.i.k.e.s.) the concept of "Meatless Mondays" can still rock! I think I originally heard of this concept as more of a health based suggestion. It's true, reducing the amount of meat you consume weekly can be extremely healthy for you! 

Check out this list from www.meatlessmonday.com -

• LIMIT CANCER RISK: Hundreds of studies suggest that diets high in fruits and vegetables may reduce cancer risk. Both red and processed meat consumption are associated with colon cancer.
• REDUCE HEART DISEASE: Recent data from a Harvard University study found that replacing saturated fat-rich foods (for example, meat and full fat dairy) with foods that are rich in polyunsaturated fat (for example, vegetable oils, nuts and seeds) reduces the risk of heart disease by 19%
• FIGHT DIABETES: Research suggests that higher consumption of red and processed meat increase the risk of type 2 diabetes.
• CURB OBESITY: People on low-meat or vegetarian diets have significantly lower body weights and body mass indices. A recent study from Imperial College London also found that reducing overall meat consumption can prevent long-term weight gain.
• LIVE LONGER: Red and processed meat consumption is associated with increases in total mortality, cancer mortality and cardiovascular disease mortality.
• IMPROVE YOUR DIET. Consuming beans or peas results in higher intakes of fiber, protein, folate, zinc, iron and magnesium with lower intakes of saturated fat and total fat. 

 I don't know about you, but for me the words mixed up in the bullet points above are some of the scariest one's I've ever come across. Cancer?! Diabetes?! Obesity?! and of course LIVING LONGER - that's a big one! Might be worth throwing in some "Meatless Mondays". 

For me "Meatless Mondays" mean even more to me than just the benefits we've already talked about. I really (really really really really) love animals. I really am struggling lately with how ridiculously cruel our nation is to animals. I think I was made so much more aware of this while I was in Australia and there was no concerns of pregnant pigs being so caged up they will never in their LIFE do anything other than lay down or stand up - literally MILLIONS of them, forced into a constant state of pregnancy, injections and hormones. SO SO sad and quite frankly down right disgusting. That fact - I learned from a site I subscribe to, and their investigations of Tyson industries. (you may want to steer clear of all things Tyson ever day of the week!) 

All around environmentally though, here are some benefits to "Meatless Mondays":

• REDUCE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization estimates the meat industry generates nearly one-fifth of the man-made greenhouse gas emissions that are accelerating climate change worldwide . . . far more than transportation. And annual worldwide demand for meat continues to grow. Reining in meat consumption once a week can help slow this trend.
• MINIMIZE WATER USAGE. The water needs of livestock are tremendous, far above those of vegetables or grains. An estimated 1,800 to 2,500 gallons of water go into a single pound of beef. Soy tofu produced in California requires 220 gallons of water per pound.
• HELP REDUCE FOSSIL FUEL DEPENDENCE. On average, about 40 calories of fossil fuel energy go into every calorie of feed lot beef in the U.S. Compare this to the 2.2 calories of fossil fuel energy needed to produce one calorie of plant-based protein. Moderating meat consumption is a great way to cut fossil fuel demand.

                          

I've reduced my meat intake a lot more than just on Mondays at this point - but you have to start somewhere and I think "Meatless Monday" is a great place for a beginning. I'm going to start posting what we had each week on Monday for dinner! 

Last night we tried this: 

Trader Joe's Mushroom Ravioli with mushroom truffle sauce. It was delicious and took about 7 minutes to make. We also had a salad to start. We ended the night with a very yummy blended fruit shake for dessert!

If you have a "Meatless Monday" recipe I'd love to see it!

Melbourne...or Melbin for the locals - Day 1.

The first thing to know about Melbourne, AU is not to pronounce it Mel-born. It's properly pronounced Melbin. Since this city reminded me quite a bit of New York, you don't want to sound like a tourist - because there are people who will take advantage of you, and well - that's not cool. So say it right.

When we landed in Melbourne, we made our way to the hotel (probably via the longest route we could have chosen, which Derek tried to convince me it was a "Free" tour of the city), got settled in and of course headed to a pub for fish and chips (ok and a pint - ok two pints, sheesh). We had good reason for needing the pints. After 2 weeks of international traveling I unfortunately hit my limit of rude people. When we were waiting in line for the bus to take us to the hotel, a lady came up and budged in front of everyone. I let that one slide. Then, once the bus actually got there and parked in front of the rest of the group and not her, she budged again in front of us. Finally, when the bus driver got out and told people to bring their suitcases to the back she literally pushed Derek out of the way to rush her suitcase back and be the first one on the bus. Sadly every single annoying person/thing that had taken place during our vacation came to head and I had an "oh no you didn't just push my husband" moment. I got on the bus and the crazy broad already knew I was annoyed with her because she looked, smirked and said to her friend "blondie doesn't like me". This is the part where I should have just shut my blond face but instead I went with "No, actually it's not that I don't like you - I don't like you pushing my husband!" She of course claimed she did nothing of the sort and I then explained to her she was the last person to that bus stop - the rest of us had been waiting at least 15 minutes and somehow she had found herself on the bus first. I asked her how she could possibly explain being last there and first on without being pushy - apparently she didn't know because she only flipped me off. Yes - she literally flipped me off on a tourist shuttle. Then I said "As I can see you're Australian, I only hope somebody is as nice to you when you visit the US as you have been to us" She just flipped me off again, and by this point Derek was begging me to be over it. Ugh. (mind you Australia is FILLED with Asian tourists - who are about the most difficult people to travel around, they are VERY pushy (literally) and totally rude. Rude as in I saw two different ones spit loogies on the carpet at the airport. Gross and totally rude. It was after all that I had my "oh no you didn't moment". I'm not sorry - and if I ever see that scruffy old broad again, I'll tell her the 20 other things I thought of after I was no longer with her.

On a much more relaxed note (thank goodness) - we had a "Little Penguin Tour" scheduled at 4:00pm so we made our way there next. The penguins live on Phillip Island. This was one of the tours I was the most excited about before we left for our trip - I had no idea though the level of crazy awesome this was going to be. Little Penguins is actually their name, not just something I call them because they are adorable (even though they are!) and tiny. They weigh around 2.5 pounds. Every night just after dusk the Little Penguins come up in "rafts" from the water. Their groups are called "rafts" because before dusk, if you can spot them hanging out further in the water - they get so close to each other it looks like a big raft. The Little Penguins are coming in to go to their burrow's for a night or two before they have to go back to the water and fish. The coolest thing to me about this whole event was the way this part of nature has been preserved by humans. The visitors center and everything in it is 100% non-profit/volunteer. Every penny goes back into keeping these penguins in their natural habitat, living the way they were born to. LOVE it! The first great thing we had a chance to see were all of the penguin burrows up in the woods. Who knew penguins would come in at night and climb a pretty steep hill, and go to their burrow. Penguins are apparently very sensitive about their space and do not share burrows - unless it's with their partner. Hanging out by the burrows in the daytime though when we were there was a lot of Wallaby's! These ones were pretty large too which was cool.

 Mac (our tour guide) explained to us since all native animals in Australia are "soft footed" (as the Wallaby is) they are harmless to the Penguins burrows. Also, they are not a predator to the Little Penguins. Seagulls and hawks are their biggest predators. This is why they do not come up out of the water until dusk. It helps them feel safer. We went down the boardwalk which was again surrounded by burrows, to the benches we could sit on to watch the show. The penguins can literally go anywhere they want - it's 100% natural for them, so you have to check under your car before you leave:

We waited about 10 minutes and since we were less than 50 yards and up higher from the water, we had a chance to see these little black floating things surfing the waves in. Suddenly then as the wave pulls back into the sea- you can instantly see this entire raft of penguins standing up in unison and coming all the way out of the water. It was nature at it's absolute best and I couldn't believe it. Then the Little Penguin's start walking towards their own burrows. Some went up the path they have made on the hill, some went the other direction, but some went down the patch RIGHT next to us. If we would have reached our hand just an inch out of the barriers we could have touched them all. All in all about 2500 are living there, so through out the next our or so rafts of Little Penguins kept surfacing and the all kept dispersing. When they came out of the water was my favorite. They come up in their groups because they feel there is safety in numbers. Once they are out they do some grooming too. After about a half an hour we heard the sounds they were starting to make. The ranger told us they are calls to their friends to let them know they got to their burrow safely. We did hear one fighting with another one - over a burrow apparently. We weren't allowed to take any pictures - even without flash. The rangers are super sensitive that the penguins stay as natural as possible, and they do not want camera flash's or noises effecting them. I did purchase some pictures though which was good. Phillips Island is absolutely beautiful too - here's a pre-sunset picture we took. 

This experience was an absolute favorite of mine on this trip!!

Cairns Day 2 - The Great Barrier Reef!

Changing travel plans mid-trip over seas can be kind of a well...pain in the ass. This change though I'm SO GLAD we made. Our original itinerary did not include a trip to Cairns, but after all the work of traveling just to get here we last minute decided on this addition. So obviously Tuesday morning I flew in, did the rainforest and then Wednesday morning it was time for The Great Barrier Reef. I found a company online that got great reviews called Passions of Paradise (which definitely sounds like much more of a scandalous situation than it actually was - think passion of the reef not the other kind!).  We had our first McDonalds experience since we've been in Australia, for breakfast. Interestingly enough - most people we meet somehow work McDonalds into the conversation after they find out where we're from. We've had people tell us they call it "The American Embassy" and they all call it "Mackers". Nobody will really tell us what mackers is slang for but they do all kind of giggle when they say it - so I'm pretty sure it stands for crappy fatty American food. Also, the McDonalds here has avocados on everything.

After breakfast, which we basically ate while running to the boat - we loaded up onto good 'ol Passions and took off for the day. The boat was medium sized compared to all of them around it and held 80 people. I think about 75 were on our trip. It really didn't even seem like that many. The staff on these boats definitely lives for this job. They were all so nice and fun - it made the trip even better. 

One of the guys figured out right away we were from Iowa and kept asking us all day if we had any corn - (at least better than the guy who was convinced I should be missing potatoes so much). He was actually born in Missouri. He had been in Australia long enough though to pick up an Aussie accent (which I can see how that happens, because yesterday I was saying something in reference to rude people and I literally said mid-sentence "bloody rude locals" and it even shocked me!) Watch out for my Aussie lingo when I'm back, Happy Medium team!

So the reef was about an hour an a half ride out. When we started driving by the Harbor the water was somewhat dingy because it was mixed with river water (remember the waterfall from the day before?!) then throughout our ride out the water went greener, bluer and then absolutely clear! As we were nearing our snorkeling location, we had a little speech on what to do if anybody goes overboard (yikes), then they made fun of the French people on the boat by telling them not to swim like frogs. They also gave us a somewhat more serious lecture about it being the height of jellyfish season, which basically meant we all had to wear these black suits in the water that covered you from head to toe (yes they even had mittens on the end of them). Russel (one of the workers) said if you got stung it won you a trip back via helicopter and a week in the Cairns hospital. We opted for the suits. The boat stopped and it was time for snorkeling, the water was really choppy and I wasn't sure if I was over my surfing trauma. Luckily as choppy as it was it was far less than Manly Beach and we jumped in. Derek went out on his own, and I decided to go with one of the guides they offered so they could point out different things. I'm so glad I did - because we saw some AWESOME things! 

One of my favorites was the giant clam - like four or five footballs combined giant. The guide we were with went down and must have tickled the inside of it (yes his whole hand and arm fit inside of this clam) because after he did that the clam snapped shut - it was SO SO cool!! While he was down there he also found a starfish that he brought up and let me hold! He was super sensitive that I held it correctly and then he put the little guy right back where he found him. They all take huge cautions with the reef from every type of boat, engine, fuel and equipment they use near it. It's really nice. I also saw this giant fish that looked like a big rock and he swam RIGHT below my stomach - so close I felt his top fin! Also another favorite was this pretty big teal fish that has a hot pink fin. I liked him a lot too. Derek had some good luck as well, he saw an Octopus and Squid. We also both saw Nemo fish. The other of course super cool part is the reef itself. Coral Reef is actually animals (did you know that?). There had to be 1000's of different kinds down there. I think the coolest one I saw was on a giant stick like stand and it was a big white globe at the top of it - Derek thinks it's called a Brain reef. After snorkeling, we went in and they fed us lunch. Then we headed over to this Quay - pronounced "k" (basically an island, but they said to be considered an Island it has to have three trees - this had none, so Quay it is) - which basically reminded me and actually everyone else of the Alfred Hitchcock move "The Birds" because there were TONS of birds - like 4,000 which I consider a ton! So instead of going to the Quay, we opted for the glass bottom boat tour. We bought some more beer and jumped on. 

This area had lots of clams - we saw so many and I loved when they snapped shut! Beer on the boat by the way was $5, which is by far the cheapest we've found beer so far - the next cheapest is $8 per bottle.

After the glass bottom boat tour, the crew did a fish feeding. There were two main fish eating up the goods - one was a Trevally and the other (which would soon become my bff) was a Batfish. One of the crew members was trying to show off that he could temp the Batfish with food then grab one so I could get a picture - so I scooted down next to him on the steps. On his third attempt to catch this Batfish with his hands - the play went completely awry and I ended up with a dang Batfish on my THIGH! I'm not sure who was flapping around more, me or the poor Batfish. He luckily finally made it back in the water and thankfully I made it back to the main part of the ship where I belonged. The great news though, it earned Derek and I a free beer! Sign me up for the next Batfish/thigh encounter. (The Batfish - if you can see in this picture are the big triangle ones with yellow-tails)   

As if the trip had not been a total bucket list cross off already, instead of using the engines they put the big sails up and we said literally into the sunset back home. It was not anything you're picturing right now probably. If you're like me you thought that meant nice and calm sailing, hand holding, and staring into the sunset. Since the waves were choppy this was extreme boat riding - the boat was up and fully down constantly. It was really fun once you got your bearings and the waves were sometimes OVER the entire boat! Towards the end though when our clothes were completely soaked through, we went inside the cabin and Russel pulled out one more trick - some card magic! He was actually really clever and showed us a few card tricks. It really was an all-inclusive boat. If you ever find yourself in Cairns we would definitely recommend Passions of Paradise.

Since we had to fly out yet this evening back to Brisbane, we were fortunate enough to have stayed the previous evening at the Hilton in Carins and they let us use the showers there. A quick shower and then somehow we still had time to squeeze in an BEAUTIFUL dinner on the harbor before our flight. Here was our view:

Derek had his first Clam of the trip - he went the route of the Clam shot, which looks like this:

He said it was "tolerable" - so if you're looking for "tolerable" Clam's - this is probably your best bet.

All in all - it was a super trip and I can't believe we can cross The Great Barrier Reef off our bucket list!

Cairns Day 1

Scheww - I knew it was going to be a whirlwind travel week, but I've officially started recognizing flight attendants. We left Sydney for Brisbane. We were lucky enough to get a room in Brisbane that had a washer and dryer (which I was actually excited to see) so I spent the next day and half getting us re-organized. Derek flew out the very next morning to Roma for his last work trip. We had one hitch with our first domestic flight, in they wouldn't let Derek's carry-on rolling bag on the plane, so we had to check it with our two main bags. This of course put us over our allotted Kilo's (pounds) which would have been $150, luckily the lady assisting us felt bad for us so she knocked it down to $30. We knew we wouldn't be this lucky on our next 6 domestic flights so we decided to ship it home. The Australian post office looks like a freakin spaceship. It was beautiful, extremely modern looking and all of the women had on matching red polka dotted ruffly shirts! After waiting in line, of course nothing can be easy, the guy told me the suitcase must have a padlock on it. Next stop - Australian Wal-Mart. (better known as big W) With padlock in hand I sent our suitcase off and another package for the bargain price of $250. (still cheaper than paying $150 each time!) 

After that I went to a park and called it a day. 

The next morning I flew early to Carins (pronounced Cans). Derek was still in Roma and had a flight to Carins late that evening. When I arrived in Carins you could definitely feel it's tropical weather, plus it was the first time I saw rain since we've been here. I arrived at our hotel and 30 minutes later the tour busI had booked to the world famous SkyRail was picking me up. First stop on the tour apparently was a large tree around the corner in front of the grocery store which the driver pointed out the (at least) football sized BATS hanging from it. There were probably at least 50 in there and they were huge - yikes. I was definitely in the rainforest now.

The SkyRail Rainforest Cableway is a gondola that rides right above the tree-tops of the rainforest. It is just a little over 5 miles, and at it's highest it's 1,788 miles above sea level, or 133 miles up. It was awesome! I saw my first wild kangaroo (I think it was a Wallaby). I rode up with another guy that was on his own and we decided it sounded like the sound machines you buy that make "rainforest sounds" - this place sounded exactly like that, only naturally. I loved it!

 There were a few stops during the ride, the first stop had a great boardwalk where you could actually experience the rainforest from the ground. During the first stop I saw a spider that was larger than if I put my middle finger's touching and my thumbs touching. It was GIANT! There were also a ton of beautiful colored butterflies. The second stop though was by far the best. We had our first close-up's of Barron Falls. This waterfall has to put a good fight with Niagara Falls - I've seen both and I think they are both mind boggling - I always wonder how ALL that water just continues to come down. They even use this falls to generate power for our next stop.

 The next stop was a little village called Kuranda. It was a town at the very top of the rainforests, with the population around the same size as Algona, IA! It was really cute, with lots of shopping, some Koala experiences and some serious locals. I spent about an hour and a half there and then it was time to head back. I had the option of taking the SkyRail back down the mountain or taking their train down. I went for the train option (why not?). Mining (coal) is the main reason Australia's economy is so strong. 

 They've been mining forever, so often it seems like a lot of their attractions somehow came to fruition because of mining. The train was no different - the railway was originated to get the miners up to the mines of course - then during WWI it was used for medical services. 

Now though of course, it's for tourists. It was such a fantastic ride down the mountain, and even a little scary. The rail basically goes on the edge of the cliffs the entire way down - you could look straight down out of the windows. We did have the chance to get an even better view of the Barron Falls though! 

 After I got back to the hotel and checked in, I decided to take a walk on their harbor. Everywhere here has such a beautiful harbor and every night I keep thinking I've seen the greatest sunset ever. I had dinner and then found the boat we would be boarding the next morning for our trip to the Great Barrier Reef!!

Derek arrived at the hotel around midnight which officially made him finished with "work" for the rest of the trip!

Sydney Day SIX...(last full day)

Knowing it's my last day in a spectacular city is always bittersweet for me. Of course on one account I'm so happy and thankful I was lucky enough to even be there and take everything in. On the other hand - it always crosses my mind this might be my one and only time in my life I'll be visiting that city. With that in mind - we set out into day 6. We started the morning visiting the Sydney Fish Market - since it was Sunday we weren't able to see the fish auction, but we could see the shops getting all the fish out and placed behind their counters for that days sales. My favorite was this lady:

She was shucking Oysters (a whole new type of shucking), which means first she pried them open with a knife, then to clean them out she loosened the actual Oyster inside and cleaned around it. She was very nice in explaining the process to us. She also told us sometimes she will wear a pearl necklace and tell gullible tourists she made that necklace from all the different pearls she's found while shucking Oysters. :)
After that we went to Chinatown. I don't have many positive things to say about Chinatown except don't go. Long story short I found a bar called Star Bar - which of course sounded like home to me so we (I) just had to go in for a drink. While in there we saw a casino was attached so I grabbed my $10 AUD and went in. Absolutely nobody was in there, I put my money in a machine and hit bet one time before some bat crazy Chinese man came running in and screaming at me that it was his machine and to get out. SCREAMING I tell you. In comes Derek who knows as much about the situation as I do. The guy literally pushes me off the machine and sits there himself. I headed to the bar to talk to the bartender. She had to call this mysterious "manager" to have him "check the camera". Basically in the end we decided it was definitely some sort of scam, and they usually just try to seem so confused and act like they have no idea what you're talking about so you finally just give up and leave your money. We did not give up and finally the girl gave us $10 out of the register. After that - we got the hell out of Chinatown.

Finally it was time for us to do the two coolest things you can do in Sydney, Australia. First the Sydney Harbor Bridge. We had a tip from several Aussie's over the week that if we were short on time to just climb to the top of the towers on the bridge and walk across the bridge for free rather than do the official "bridge climb".  I'm really glad we went this route. I think if I ever make it back to Sydney and am looking for things to do the bridge climb would be cool - but it was about $300 total for us both to do it and $22 for us to climb the tower in it (which was still 200 stairs). The tower also had the entire history of the bridge, how the idea of it came to be, and how it was built which was fascinating. It was built from 1924 -1932. I think its amazing people were able to engineer and build something that size with no computers, hard hats, harnesses, or any other safety precautions. The Sydney Harbor Bridge ties in size as the largest bridge in the WORLD with San Francisco Banyon Bridge.

Here's me practicing my photography / minor editing skills:

Clearly we were parched after this so we went to the Australia Hotel - which it took me one week in Australia to realize "hotels" are actually "bars". This "hotel" had beers from all around Sydney which was fun. I've been drinking a ton of cider beer - they are very tasty here.
Saving the best for last we went then to the Sydney Opera House. I had no idea the entire white parts of the Opera House actually is made out of ceramic tiles all grouted together. It was fun to walk around it and see it. The Opera House was only finished in 1972 so really it's a very young historical building. I think next time in Sydney I'd consider seeing an Opera there, it was really expensive to do so though. We had dinner at the Sydney Opera House bar and watched our final Sydney sunset looking over the Opera House, the bridge and the rest of the harbor. I could definitely have sat at that same location every night looking at the view and watching the boats for a REALLY long time. It was stunning and I don't think I've ever seen a prettier harbor.
I grabbed some night shots of the attractions and then we said good night to Sydney.

Sydney Day FIVE

After all of the surfing excitement it was time for some scenic therapy. We decided to go on a Blue Mountains tour. I'm really glad we decided to do this. It's always a risk taking a guided tour that lasts for the entire day. If it sucks - you've just lost a whole day in a city you've traveled very far to spend a very limited time in. Luckily though - this did not suck. Meet Sam - our tour guide. He was fun and was willing to trade out Australian information in exchange for us answering questions he had about the U.S. 

We started off the trip mostly through Sydney. It turns out it's actually quite difficult to get out of Sydney because it's so vast, land wise. We drove for about two hours away and were still in Sydney. I like tours like this because they tend to give you a lot of local information you probably wouldn't have any other way. For instance, we found out the cheapest housing to purchase in Sydney is around 300k (AUD - so basically 330k USD). Sam said at that price you don't even have a bedroom, that is a studio apartment. The biggest difference here though is for Australians their pricing on goods is relative to their income. Starting wages here for even non office jobs is around 60k (AUD) Derek and I noticed right away most, if not all, of the people that waited on us in restaurants were older adults - Sam said starting pay for waiters/waitresses is about $25/hour. Because it's so high though. tipping is not really customary here. Tipping only really happens if you had a special occasion, or something went wrong on your part (your baby threw food everywhere etc...). Otherwise - tipping is not so much here. It's actually really hard to get used to the idea, I still feel bad every time we don't tip. I keep asking different Australians their opinion and it's all the same. No tipping. I suppose when you pay $18 for two beers though, it makes sense. We also found out Australians don't pay for health insurance - they have a universal government provided health insurance. Because of this their government really pushes a healthy lifestyle. I have yet to see any sort of even remotely overweight Australian. (seriously! It's almost strange) They also seem to be very content people. I feel like in the US everyone is always competing - who's got a bigger house, better purse, better cars etc.... They don't seem to have status symbol concerns as much here. They also seem fine with working really hard for their paychecks. I think every dinner has had some of the highest service I've ever experienced - and all for no tip. They just are proud of their great work. I wish I could bring that mentality home to the US as a souvenir for the whole nation. Instead of working hard, we have people taking welfare just to cheat the system, or there's always people complaining about how hard they have to work for their paychecks. I suggest they spend some time in Australia. They seem to have it figured out. They are also the best "green" country I've ever seen. They do the following to protect the earth in their country:


1) All city busses run on natural gas


2) The government here pays you to install solar panels on your homes. They will pay HALF of the installation, then if the solar panels are providing enough energy for your home AND others they will pay you monthly too and you won't have an energy bill.


3) It's been practically impossible to find any rubbish (trash) anywhere it's not supposed to be, it's so clean here I'd consider eating off the ground. (consider)


4) Every piece of meat served to you anywhere is considered Organic. They do not have giant chicken or cow manufactures that have animals that have never and will never see the light of one day or one blade of grass. Every animal they have as food here was originally free-range and never fed one preservative etc...of any sort. It's really amazing. Every single menu promotes eating organic and being aware of where your food comes from. Every menu also has full on vegetarian options. I haven't really seen a lot of vegan - but a TON of vegetarian options. It's really awesome!
First top on the tour was the Featherdale Wildlife Preserve. This place rocks and is is a definite must do for anybody traveling here. It's basically one large up close and personal with the animals experience. It was SO cool. They had almost every bird that is found in Australia, which is a ton and some are very colorful and beautiful. We saw a Tazmanian Devil (he did not spin around in cyclones - to my dismay), a dingo, and my favorite the Koalas and Kangaroos. They have a whole area you were allowed to just walk around with the Kangaroos. You could also buy ice cream cones filled with food for them to feed them! It was fun but a little scary - there were no employees around just Derek and I and the two French people we were traveling with - left to our own devices with the Kangaroos. We were also the first people in the park that morning and they were eagerly anticipating the food we brought them (never mind their giant piles of food the keepers had already put out). This picture really only tells part of this particular story. This is Derek nicely feeding one - but look at the big Kangaroo to the left approaching - the baby Derek was feeding took that cone. The big Kangaroo did NOT like that so he (she?) went over to the baby and kicked it to get it to surrender the cone! Literally kicked it! Poor thing - so we turned over our only other cone to the baby. We did both pet one (not that big one!) baby Kangaroo. Then at the end of our tour one of the keepers put a bag (pouch) over my neck that had a really tiny Kangaroo in it! 

After that we headed to the Botanical Gardens where we also had lunch. The view was spectacular. I'm not sure I've ever seen something so huge and filled with so many trees. Sam kept telling us it was similar to the Grand Canyon, but that (to my memory) was brown and dry. These mountains (more like rolling large hills really) were filled inch to inch with trees. Again, it's Fall here so some of the flowers were starting to wilt -which is so strange to think because ours are starting to bloom! Here's a really cool flower we saw though!

After these gardens we went driving through the mountains. They are called the Blue Moutains because from a distance you can see the oil reflecting off of them and it gives them a blue tint. These mountains make up 60% of Australia's National Park land. Sam took us to three different stops for great views. The first stop was not a usual tourist stop - it was just a location he had found. He told us he thinks some people come here for an "Australian Divorce" a.k.a. push your spouse off the mountain. It was really high up, but Derek and I climbed on the highest rock we could find and it was breathtaking:

Next we went to another stop and saw a natural waterfall! It was just so unbelievable how large these mountains and valleys were. 


Finally we stopped by "The Three Sisters" rock formation. The original settlers in Australia (the Aboriginals) have a legend of how these rocks were formed you can read here. These were very cool too and gave us some great pictures. Also, we found out most of the worlds Opal's come from Australia. There were a ton of Opal shops around the area. 

We finished off the tour by driving through their Olympic Park. The Sydney 2000 Olympics were held here. The area the park is in now is actually really flourishing and the hot thing is to live in the athletes housing. I don't think I had ever seen an Olympic Park before (if I have my Dad will prove me wrong), but it's amazing how large they are. Also, how much was built around it - hotels, grocery stores etc... just to try and manage the crowds.
We took the ferry back to Circular Quay to avoid the Saturday rush hour traffic. I would definitely tell anybody to make sure they take this tour if they are visiting Sydney.


At night we went to one of the most beautiful dinners I've ever been to. It was a grill called Wolfey's and it was right on the harbor. It was just so beautiful I was giddy like a school girl the entire meal. We took this picture before - and our restaurant was about 10 steps from here. 

We absolutely had the best table in the place and it was all open so you could feel the evening's air while we were eating. I think it was one of the best views I've ever had for a meal. I ordered a Caesar salad and it came like this:

Derek had Baramunda fish for dinner and I tried one of their pizza's. Both were great. After dinner we went to a bar, that had a band playing. Every single song they played was something you would hear at a wedding at home. I asked the bloke (guy) next to me if they ever play any non-American music. He said no. There were also a bunch of Bachlorette parties taking place where we were, and the guy next to me looked at me, rolled his eyes and said stupid Hen's. I clearly look confused because he then explained to me they call those pre-wedding parties "Hen's Nights". The other unique thing about Australia is their bars don't have chairs at the actual bar. It's strange to see and normally Derek and I will grab a seat at the bar, clearly though we have left normal. 
Yet another amazing day and you won't hear any complaints out of me - maybe just that we have to leave this city soon....

Sydney Day 3 + 4!

We've officially been here long enough now the days are starting to run together just a bit. Plus we've been so busy it's been hard to find time to do any "regular life" things - a.k.a. blogging. I'm determined though to have this blog to read as a great souvenir when I get him and I want it to be as fresh and accurate as possible so I'm going to get caught up!
Sydney Day 3 - Derek was still gone on his business trip, so I decided to take advantage of the quiet and do some actual relaxing on this vacation. I figured it might be my only chance - because I knew once Derek was back I'd go all Chevy Chase in "Vacation" on him and leave not even one spare second for relaxing. (This apparently was true to form as you can tell with the lack of blogging) I walked town to Pitt Street where they have the 2nd biggest mall I've ever been to in my life (first= Mall of America, naturally). It was really nice - they had quite a few options at multiple price points. I found the Forever 21 Australia version stores but also saw about three Louis Vuittion, Channel and Burberry stores too. They seem to have quite a bit of couture here yet no real strong style one way or another. The way they dress reminds me a lot of when I was in Japan where the girls' outfits definitely did not "match" per say but they did look like it was intentional and very pulled together. Sort of planned chaos I suppose. Anyway - the other interesting thing here is it is officially their Fall season - they consider it to be a bit chillier right now where Derek and I are running around in shorts because it's mid 70's. (20's Celsius) All of their clothes were sweaters and jeans etc...Shopping was also a bit of an experience to try and do the european sizing conversions. There was also a lot of touristy trinkets and trash shops, most of which carried hundreds of versions of UGG's. (probably fake)
In the afternoon I had a massage and facial scheduled. We've been lucky enough to be put up in the Four Seasons which is in the heart of the Circular Quay (which I keep referring to as the Circle K when I ask people how to get home and they get very confused until I remember I'm referring to an American gas station) 
Here is our beautiful view:

I spent the night hanging out in the giant bed with the giant down comforter continuing my reading of Hunger Games. It was very relaxing and now a few days later I'm very thankful I took that time because we've been going like crazy! 

Day 4 approached quickly. This morning brought my surfing lesson at Manly Beach. I had to leave the hotel by 7:30am - which on vacation, suddenly seems VERY early. I had to catch a ferry - my first time on the ferry. Sydney has GREAT public transportation. We bought a ticket each for $42.50 on the first day at the airport, which is valid for one week unlimited ferry, bus, and train rides. It's been really great and MUCH cheaper than what paying each time or taking cabs would have been. They are all pretty easy to navigate too. The Manly Beach ferry was about a 25 minute scenic ride from Circular Quay. For some reason, probably because I'm an Iowan, I took this day to go ahead and assume I did not need to figure out directions from the dock to the Manly Surf School. I guess I figured I would just ask somebody and certainly they would know. Turns out - they didn't. Nobody really knew exactly what I was talking about - but with perseverance, and about a 2 mile extra walk, I finally found it. I was rush off (because I was late) into a wet suit, t-shirt and given a surf board. Margo (a guy) was one of my instructors. On our walk down the beach to meet the rest of the group I learned two things that lessened my excitement for my first surfing attempt. 1) Today (of all days) was one of THE HIGHEST waves Margo had ever seen when teaching a surfing lesson (awesome) and 2) Margo followed a "broad" to Wisconsin, went to college (University) there and it didn't end well. Her name was Katie. (double awesome). He told me he promised to take care of me though - and since he was all I had, I grabbed onto the hope. During the first half an hour of surf lessons they basically explain everything NOT to do because (and they said this following sentence at least 10 times) it will literally break you neck. yikes! Then after you learn how to surf on land - the real quest comes, and it turns out the hardest part to surfing is actually getting your giant, bigger than yourself board out past the rip. (part where the waves are breaking) I kid you not when I say the waves when they were breaking were 2.5 (AT LEAST) times my height. They were so big that day they made us stand near where they were breaking without our boards just to get used to their strength. So going in blindly thinking - how hard can this really be - (said the girl who recently flipped a snowmobile) I jumped right in. First attempt out I made fast friends with another girl in the group because at the first wave break our boards went horizontal and pushed us both down under it and slammed us into the shallow sand bar. Lita (our other instructor) to the rescue though because he came up - basically told me to hang on, took my board out - flipped me around and caught me a wave. Then he said "JUMP JUMP JUMP!!!" so I did and I can officially say I stood up for 1.5 seconds. YEA!!! So that was fun and I grew some courage. Up next Margo took me out  and I was exited until I realized the thing about surfing is once you're headed out with your board (attached to your ankle mind you) there's only one way to get back in, and it's catching a wave. So on the time I went out with Margo - I'll admit it - I TOTALLY freaked because the waves grew in seconds to twice the size of when they started. I started yelling - I WANT TO GO IN! Margo said Katie - you're fine - I'm going to protect you remember? I said yeah - I just really want to go in. He said there's only one way in (a fact I now noticed they DON'T tell you when they are teaching the land portion of the class). My last words I yelled before the wave hit us - YEAH - BUT I'M FROM IOWA DAMNIT! It turned out though Margo knew a bit more about surfing than I did, he was able to catch me a wave and I got up AGAIN! (maybe only for 1 second this time, but it's still up!) After that I was exhausted - it was extremely tiring. I decided to watch the experts after that. My teachers tried to get me out again but after you're in your head about it - it's over. I think I would definitely try surfing again, but with the following changes. 1) Get a one-on-one instructor and 2) get smaller waves - maybe I'll try surfing at Sailorville or Okoboji this summer? I think that would be more my speed. Here's a picture of one of my instructors and me:

After surfing though, Derek met me at this great bar called "Hemmingway's in Manly" it had old books everywhere. I'm just amazed we actually were able to find each other in a place we'd never been and with no phones. That afternoon we had fish and chips (of course) and laid out on the beach for just a bit. The sun is REALLY hot here so an hour and a half was all we really needed to be red. 

This night we went to a beautiful restaurant called Cafe Sydney. On the way though when an elevator stopped on our floor we got in,like normal of course, but what wasn't normal was Lenny Kravitz in there! He had a show here that night and it was funny because I had overheard some Aussie gals talking about how excited they were for the show earlier that morning. He was very nice and even said "ladies first" to me. Of course Derek and I must have looked like Shrek to him because he was very short. Dinner though was great, I had a gnocchi dish and Derek had Tazmanian trout. It was definitely an amazing day.

Sydney Day 2!

Theres always a day on every vacation I go on I get all sorts of "working-out" rejuvenation and decide I need to go run a few miles, even though I haven't ran in a long time. Today was one of those inevitable days. Derek had to leave this morning for work things through Friday so all the more reason for my running choice. About 10 steps straight out from our hotel and 5 steps to the left is the harbor which holds the Sydney Opera House. It's an area called "The Rocks" and it's very beautiful and has a ton of character. I ran through here amongst a lot of other Aussie's running members. It was a VERY beautiful run. After that I came back, got ready and decided to venture out to Bondai beach and the Padington area.  First challenge though was the bus system. It turns out the busses are much more difficult to figure out than the trains - so much that I walked up and down the street with the multiple pick-up's of the various busses about 4 times. On the 4th trip back and forth a guy from england asked me if I needed help - he had only been her a day longer than myself. (excellent on the ego) Finally I (we) figured it out though! 

Padnington was a historic area that was victorian housing transferred into stores and restaurants. It also apparently is the current residence for "Occupy Sydney". Seriously - an Occupy Sydney camp! I saw it when I was on the bus so I didn't get a picture, apparently though, the 99% is also residing in Sydney. 

Then I headed to Bondai - luckily two guys with surf boards got on the bus I was on and I was able to follow them to the beach. I thought the surf board guys were very nice to help me out until the asked me where I was from.  When I said Iowa - they of course asked if I was in potato withdrawal (sigh) then asked me if I like Mitt Romney?! I told them Iowa is known because we lead the Caucuses. First they told me they've never heard of a Caucus, and after explaining it they told me that's called a Primary (double sigh). Just when I was hoping I was finishing my surfer guys conversation they explained to me that New Hampshire actually leads the primaries in the states - they suggested I Google it to get a little more information. To end it all they asked me what temperature it was in Iowa right now - I told them it's unusually warm and before I left it even hit 82 - to which they explained that is impossible because people would boil at that temperature - literally boil. I told them we function on Celsius and if they wanted more information they could Google it. They still ended with a nice "Cheers" and got me to the beach so I'll take it.

Bondai is beautiful! The tour book I have says it's filled with backpackers, tourists, and very attractive bodied locals. (yes - it seriously says that). After a quick look - I completely agree. 

I was starving so I wandered around for a bit and two older guys told me I should eat at the Bondai Surf Club and invited me in. (it was a private club so you had to be with a member). Finally I had my first Fish and Chips and I was not let down by the food or the view! I tried to watch the surfers for some tips before my surfing lesson Friday. I think the only tip I came up with is wear a life jacket.

After lunch I went for a walk on their infamous path along the ocean from Bondai Beach to Bronte Beach. It was definitely not a walk along the beach kind of walk, it was more of a walk over the cliffs to the other beach. Luckily I had just went running. right. Half way though I needed a break so I found some cliffs off the path and parked up for a while to finally start reading Hunger Games. Here was my view:

I realized yesterday with just only one totally free day on my own how crazy our life really is. With nothing to do and no specific schedule the day went by SO SLOW! I actually had time to think and enjoy everything. I could say now I'm going to try and get better about that when I'm home, but I've made and broken that promise to myself too many times. I can try though to relish the quiet while I have it. 

After the beach I went back to the hotel and talked myself into going out for dinner. I'm SO thankful I did because when I got side - this is the first thing I saw:

Beautiful all the time, but especially at sunset! I had dinner at an italian restaurant and had a beer at "Sydney's oldest bar" (according to the sign). I should have drank more because my body still hasn't transitioned to the time. I didn't sleep until about 2:30am. Maybe though, it was the absolutely inspiring view of the city at night from our hotel window - I couldn't stop looking at it. 

SYDNEY...Day 1!

Ta da....we made it! After 26 hours of traveling we finally made it. I was just reaching my peak of patience with traveling when I sat up on hour 12.5 in the plane, opened my window for the first time and saw this:

It was literally breathtaking, this picture doesn't even come close to doing it justice. Seeing this though suddenly made everything worth it and I was VERY excited to get to Sydney! Traveling always makes me so inspired and give me the feeling I can conquer the world, this image was so bright and vibrant I could tell it was going to another great trip! 

We were fortunate enough to sit next to an Australian on the plane who encouraged us to take the train to our hotel instead of a cab. The train was a little crazy, but definitely worth it - it ended up saving us about $150 in transportation fees. (did I mention Australia is EXPENSIVE -  like $8.50USD for a small red bull expensive!) In our quest though to see everything and to get ourselves time adjusted (as I type this it's 5:45pm on Tuesday in Sydney, and my computer which is still Iowa time says 1:47am Tuesday) we decided to not let ourselves sleep and get out to see this city!

In my first hour here I noticed two things right away: 

1) Australians seem to be very anxious to help tourists out - they are VERY nice!

2) The progressive insurance commercial here has an australian FLO - she looks almost like our FLO, but she has a thick Australian accent.

We had a great tip from another seat mate on the way over to check Sydney Groupon when we arrived, so far we've found passes for four exhibits and I signed up for surfing lessons on Friday!) 

Since it started out foggy, we did not want to go on the bridge today - so this afternoon we went to the Sydney Aquarium and the Sydney Wild Life Experience first. We crossed off one of the things I was the most excited for - to meet a Koala. This little gal's name is Lara and she was super soft! The Koala keeper told us Koala's sleep 18-21 hours per day, Lara woke up for our meeting though which was only proper considering how far we traveled to meet her! She was very soft - which surprised me, I thought her fur would be a little more coarse. Also, with our "Koala Experience Package" we were given a key-chain with our picture with Lara in it. Mom - I'm glad your birthday is coming up!

After these two awesome stops we went for a drink and some lunch. They have Bulmers (an irish cider beer the states does not have) here! That made me very happy - and Derek found he likes Murray's - an Australian beer. After that we went to the Chinese friendship garden which was very pretty and friendly of course! Then we made our way back to the train station. 

We're supposed to be going out for dinner in a half an hour, but Derek is officially sleeping. We've made it SO long today, yesterday and the day before that which out much sleep. Hopefully we can push through just a few more hours and we'll be set! All in all today was great, I'm very proud of us for really getting our bearings and we have figured out how to get around. 


"green note" - Australia is RIDICULOUSLY clean! I noticed right away how little trash (or as they refer to it - rubbish) - was on the ground. It seems like they are very earth sensitive as well as what their carbon footprint is. I love that!


Cheers!