New Zealand (North Island)

New Zealand sure looks small on the map sitting next to Australia. But I can assure you that after ~1,100km of driving in 3 days, it's just a tad bigger than one might think!

Unlike most other travelers that dedicate their time to one island, Corey and I decided that we could cover both islands across 6 days. Our journey began in Auckland - we actually never saw much of the city, except for the one time when we took a wrong turn on the way to the airport. Our theme for the north island was "Volcano, volcano, volcano." The North Island is a part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire" due to its location above the Pacific Plate and Indo-Australian Plate convergence.

Our first stop was around the city of Rotorua where we toured two volcanic/geothermal parks. Most of the crater pools formed by the volcanoes resembled gorgeous, natural hot springs. This was quite tempting considering that it was winter time in New Zealand, but alas, the pH ranged anywhere from 1 - 3, which is equivalent to gastric fluids, lemon juice, or vinegar.

We were also quite fortunate to see a geyser eruption! Although the eruption does occur naturally, our viewing had a bit of help from our every day laundry detergent (which explains why there was a daily viewing at 10am!).

After developing our basic understanding of volcanoes, Corey and I felt confident enough to walk on an active one! Our next stop took us to White Island - New Zealand's only active marine volcano. It was a bit of a surreal feeling as steam pulsed from the walls around us. On occasion the winds would pick up, blowing whiffs of hazardous fumes into our faces. Luckily, we were supplied with gas masks to use on such occurrences. There was even a crater pool that had a pH of -1; a perfect place for people to "go missing."

Byron Bay

During the second week of May, Corey and I decided to celebrate Mother's Day by taking a weekend trip to the infamous Byron Bay. (Mom - I know you would have wanted it this way!) I say "infamous" because it seems that Byron Bay is the favorite Australian destination for Hollywood stars!

Located approximately 1 hour south of the Queensland/New South Wales border, Byron Bay is situated on the eastern most point of the mainland Australia. The town centre itself is actually quite small, and we were able to walk around it in about 1 hour - including window shopping time.

Corey and I took a snorkel day trip out to Julian Rocks, a marine reserve just 2.5km offshore. It is the remains of a volcanic eruption that occurred approximately 20 million years ago.

I was a bit dubious as it was advertised as home to the "grey nurse shark" - allegedly harmless, but nonetheless a "shark." The snorkel itself was quite incredible! I have never seen such a large variety of fish, and schools of them swam around us as if we were in a fish tank of some sort! In addition to the variety of fish, we also saw a black spot tusk fish, a few green turtles, and a wobbegong - a carpet shark that was also allegedly not dangerous.
As we took a break from the snorkeling, we observed that the rocks itself was home what seemed like 2 dozen or more of our favorite bird - the cormorant!

Before heading back to Melbourne, we took a quick drive up to Surfer's Paradise. We passed beach after beach on our way there - in fact, the entire area from Byron Bay to Surfer's Paradise was essentially one big beach!

There wasn't anything particularly unique about Surfer's Paradise. It was yet another awesome Australian beach with great sand, blue waters, and waves for those active in water activities. We did notice a lot of these odd looking birds along the boardwalk though.

Roadtrip: Melbourne to Sydney

I’m not sure why, but caravan-ing (if that is even a word), has always filled my mind with images families who cannot afford to travel via faster modes of transportation or retired couples who have the time and money to spend on constant traveling. Here in Australia, it is a way of life.

Over the Christmas holidays, we spent 7 days/6 nights driving along the coast from Melbourne to Sydney. Here are some of the highlights from each of the towns that we visited:

Yanakie (22/12):
- Rained on day one of the road trip, but found nice swamp beach to walk along at the caravan park
- Brown caravan park water and new "neighbors"
- Corey discovered new frog and dead spider shower buddies

Wilsons Promontory/Lakes Entrance (23/12):
- Squeaky beach barely squeaked due to recent rainfall, however had awesome rocks
- Climbed Mt. Oberon which turned out to be an hour and half lower body work out (roundtrip) to see the southernmost part of Australia
- 90 mile beach (2nd largest beach in the world) was reminiscent of Nags Head times 90
- Lakes Entrance caravan park rocked! Communal bathroom felt homely.
- Discovered Target Country is short for Target that has nothing

Merimbula (24/12):
- Stopped for lunch break at Mallacoota Inlet where we were rewarded with the best lamb and rosemary meat pie; also witnessed world’s largest pelicans
- Mallacoota Inlet also was home to the campervan cribs episode
- Purchased Eden’s famous Disaster Bay Chili Sauces
- Arrived at Merimbula, where we stayed at a cliff side/ocean view spot for the next 2 nights

Coledale (26/12):
- Stopped at Mogo Zoo – a quaint zoo with the best “pet” tamarinds
- Wollongong was a big disappointment
- For the second time whilst in Australia, Corey decided to make a U-turn into soft mud, trapping our campervan in a ditch
- Luckily, the very friendly people of Coledale stopped and rescued our campervan and saved us from having to call a tow truck
- Coledale campervan park faced the beach which was less than 50 metres away

Echo Point / Parklea / Sydney (27/12)

- Another rainy day on the road trip to Echo Point/Blue Mountains

- Echo Point was not much to see, and a bit overrated for me

- Decided to skip the blue mountains and drive in towards Sydney for a night view of the city

The Australian Bush Fly

There are not many things in Australia that I have disliked since our move here. With that said, I’ve decided to make a mini tribute to my number one most hated thing – the Australian fly.

As an avid Discovery Channel watcher, I do not recall hearing much about the Australian fly in any documentaries. So much to my surprise, as the warm weather started to take over Melbourne…so did the sudden onslaught of flies! You may think that I am being dramatic, but ask any Australian and you will find that what I am stating is merely the plain facts.

Within a few minutes of being out in the open, flies would start to cluster along your back. The most adventurous flies would hover around your face, looking for any opportunity to land. Swatting of the hand appeared to engage the flies in a “challenge” of some sort that only heightened their determination to cling onto any part of your body. I never managed to get pictures of the pesky flies, but have found this picture online to illustrate my point.

North Queensland – Port Douglas and the Rainforest

Two days later, we arrived back at the Marlin Marina at Cairns. The sun had just set when we saw an odd looking “bird” flapping through the skies. In big cities, it isn’t unusual to see birds at all hours of the day. (In fact, I am convinced that the sea gulls in Melbourne are so mesmerized by the Crown Casino lights that they don’t sleep a single wink!) Another turn of the head, and I saw two more “birds” flapping through the air. I am not an ornithologist, but I was fairly confident that “birds” didn’t have scalloped wings. Within a few minutes, the sky was covered with hundreds and hundreds of flying foxes. It was quite a sight to see!

Shortly after the flying fox spectacle, our bus picked us up and we were on our way to Port Douglas, a laid back town an hour north of Cairns. We spent the next few days primarily exploring the nearby rainforest. One of our day trips took us jungle surfing through the trees. On our drive into the rainforest, we would see signs for potential Cassowary sightings. The Casswary is the most prehistoric looking bird that I have seen - a cross bewteen an emu and dinosaur. Now I have driven across plenty of signs for potential kangaroo, koala, etc sightings, and almost have never seen any. But that day it was different. Just as we passed the fourth sign of a casswary outline, we looked up and there it was! We couldn't believe our luck, as it is very rare to spot a cassowary in the wild!

It was the same day that we were introduced to licking a green ant’s butt. I was a bit hesitant at first, but after one lick of the citrus goodness, I was hooked. I could’ve spent the entire day licking green ant butts! Apparently the ants contain a high dose of vitamin C, so not only did it taste good, but was also a great source of the vitamin.

Enamored with the rainforest, Corey and I decided to get the perspective of the area from the traditional owners of the Daintree National Park, the Kuku Yalanji. We took a hike with our Aboriginal tour guide through Mossman Gorge, learning about their culture and spiritual relationship with the forest. I think the main takeaway I got was : don’t touch anything in the rain forest, because it will probably put you in a lot of pain.

North Queensland – Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef

After months of waiting, Corey and I were finally going to visit the Great Barrier Reef! We were so excited about the opportunity that we booked a 2 day 1 night live aboard adventure. Why visit the reef only for the day when you can stay for two? Neither one of us have ever stayed overnight on a boat before, but what better place to do it then on a world heritage site?

Cairns (pronounced CANNES) is touted as the gateway to the reef, but even the gateway required approximately a 2 hour speed boat ride to the outer edge. Sure it sounds fun on paper, but during those 2 dreadful hours on the choppiest waters known to mankind, we prayed that no one (including ourselves) would fall victim to seasickness and regurgitate his or her breakfast whilst on the boat!

Shorties or stinger suits were provided on the boat, but we brought our own full wetsuits. After watching many hours of the Discovery Channel, I wanted to make sure we took all the proper precautions against the deadly Irukandji and any other poisonous sea creatures that may be lurking in the Great Barrier Reef. Keep in mind that we are living in a country where even a cone shell can kill a human!

It was amazing snorkeling in the outer reefs! We saw tons of unique creatures and coral life just within our few hours of snorkeling – cuttlefish, green turtles, giant clams, sharks, parrotfish, pipefish, manta rays, and countless other species that only a marine biologist could properly identify. I was (and still am) slightly upset that we never ran into schools of larger than life fish during our snorkeling adventure. Maybe my expectations were set a bit high by the zillions of pictures of various snorkeling/diving websites containing people posing among groups of potato cods or wrasse.

After 2 snorkeling trips on Sea Quest (our first boat), we were transported to our overnight boat which is permanently docked in the Great Barrier Reef. It was actually much nicer than I expected, and the boat was fairly clean for a boat! The one thing that absolutely disgusted me was our in cabin bathroom. It looked clean, however, emitted the foulest smell that I breathed through my mouth every time I had to enter the facility.
We embarked on 2 more snorkeling trips whilst on the second boat – an afternoon and early morning “brekkie” trip. There was a night dive in between which was mainly targeted at diving with sharks (although it is just advertised as a night dive), but we decided to opt out. A full day of swimming in fairly strong currents and constantly pulling on and off a full wetsuit had pretty much worn us out! But what an adventure it was!

Kangaroo Island

Lying approximately 110 kilometers (70 miles) south of Adelaide is Australia’s third largest island, Kangaroo Island. I have never been one for history, nor did I think much of how the island came to be named after the Australia icon – the kangaroo. Surely of all the various islands surrounding the US, there is one named after the American icon – the bald eagle. (A quick search on Google confirmed that there indeed is a Bald Eagle Island located on the James River in Virginia, although it is much less impressive in size.)

The island’s name came about in quite an interesting way, to say the least. Matthew Flinders, a navigator who circumnavigated Australia and has many a streets named after him, discovered the island in 1802, and recorded the following in his journal: “'the whole ship's company was employed this afternoon in the skinning and cleaning of kangaroos. After four months' privation they stewed half a hundredweight of heads, forequarters and tails down into soup for dinner, on this and the succeeding days, and as much steak given, moreover to both officers and men as they could consume by day and night. In gratitude for so seasonable a supply, I named this south land KANGAROO ISLAND.”

Now rest assured that that is not the reason why we wanted to visit the island. It was whilst driving around on the island that for the first time I truly felt as if I were in the outback. Most of the roads were unsealed, covered in thick orangey-red dirt. The weekend trip brought as amazingly close to seals, kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, bull ants, and sights that were unbelievable!