Sydney - Final Leg

We were back in Sydney.  All the hiking in the outback got us thinking beach and beer for our second last day in Australia.  We met up with a friend who offered to show us around.  We went back to Circular Quay to catch the ferry to Manly Beach.  The ferry ticket was $9 AUD per person and took about 30 minutes to get to Manly.  The ferry was well worth the time and money to do since it passed the Opera House and Harbour Bridge on the way out.  We got some great pictures.

When we arrived we saw a little beach next to the deck with a bunch of kids playing around.  I thought to myself "What is the big deal with Manly Beach? It is so tiny!".

I was mistaken obviously.  We walked about 10 minutes and the real Manly beach revealed itself.  We got some fish and chips by the beach and fully took in the beautiful sights.  To burn off all the fried goodness, we took strolled down the beach.  

We got caught in a shower that lasted about half hour, then a rainbow came out over the horizon.  I can really get use to this!

We walked all the way to Shelley Beach.  It had quite of a few snorkelers and divers in the water.  I guess this is the spot for that.  We even found these two little divers on shore.  They were no more than 3 inches tall.  There were a bunch of these sculptures along the beach walk, but if you weren't paying attention you would've missed these little gems.

Our friend Victor gave us a tour of the not so touristy parts of Sydney including a quick stop over at the Palm Beach.  This red sand beach was different from Manly.  It was quiet with no tourists (other than us).

It was a great and relaxing way to end our 3.5 week Australian adventure.  Drake was such an easy traveling baby that we can't wait to do another trip with him very soon.

Here is a picture of Drake pretending to be a koala bear.

The Outback - Uluru and Kata Tjuta

Driving back to Uluru, we took our time and stopped at viewing points we missed.  The vast outback desert with its red sand and rocks. No wonder this region is simply named the Red Centre. 

Mount Connor between the desert and cool cloud formation.

We checked into our hotel in Yulara before sunset.  The town is run by one company with several accommodations for all range of budgets.  We had a long day so we didn't go check out the sunset.  Instead we put Drake to bed early and enjoyed a nice dinner of roast chicken.

The next morning we had another late start but we had a lot of time to do both Uluru and Kata Tjuta (or Mount Olgas).  Driving to the Uluru park entrance took less than 10 minutes from Yulara.  The park entrance fee was $25 AUD per person which was good for 3 days and both rocks.  We had to sign our name on the ticket and ticket had our car plate name, I guess all this to prevent people from reusing them.

We stopped at the cultural centre first to get some background on the region.  Then we decided to do the 2.5 hour walk around the base of the rock.  It was all flat trail, so we were able to push Drake in his stroller.  The rock was larger then life.  The climb to get to the top of rock which started at the parking lot was closed due to high wind.

Small part of the base walk was on the side of the highway.

About half of the rock, didn't allow photography due to cultural reasons.  There were also about 3 or 4 rest stops along the way which we could fill our bottles with drinking water.  Compared to King's Canyon, this was a cake walk.  Many say Uluru is a spiritual place.  We thought the formation was very unique and beautiful to look at but unfortunately we didn't make much of a spiritual connection.  In fact, we were a bit bored about half way through the walk.

Midday in the outback was getting pretty hot.  We got back to the car and saw the climb to the top of the rock was open.  It looked really steep with just a chain to hold onto.  There were a few people making their way up.  I heard on the radio that next year the climb will be closed permanently.  I have mixed feeling about not climbing it this time.

Kata Tjuta was a totally different rock formation than Uluru.  Instead of one piece, it was a cluster of red rocks.  It was about a 20 minute drive from Uluru.  We were not going to do another long hike today, so when the map said the valley lookout was an 1 hour hike we turned around promptly.  Kata Tjuta was just as majestic admired from afar.

By the time we returned to Yulara it was still early.  The resort offered free activities like spear and boomerang throwing, Aboriginal art classes, etc.  We gathered by the main square and enjoyed an interesting aboriginal dance show that was performed by 3 "white" guys.  They claimed to be descendants of various tribes.  I took their word for it.

Shortly after 6PM we drove back to Uluru.  They had a viewing point especially designated for sunset viewing.  There were already hoards of cars parked waiting for the moment.  The famous Uluru sunset didn't disappoint.  It changed colour which made it looked different minute by minute.

We flew back to Sydney on our fourth day in the afternoon.  I thought that was perfect amount of time in Uluru.  Most of the flights conveniently coincide with this time frame.  If I would to do this over again I would probably land in Uluru and fly out of Alice Spring or vice versa, especially when most car rental only gave out 200km instead of unlimited km.  King's Canyon was fairly close to Alice Spring.

View from our flight out of Uluru.

The Outback - King's Canyon

We almost took Uluru out of itinerary since it was so far out of the way but we ultimately decided to fit it in.  All flights to Uluru (Ayers Rock) transit out of Sydney.  Uluru used to be called Ayers Rock and that's the name of our flight destination.  The tiny town of Yulara is the closest town and was about 5 minute drive from the airport.

The flight was 4 hours.  We were seated at the back of the plane with an empty seat so Drake was able to nap quite comfortably.  We were glad we reserved well ahead for a rental car, the rental car companies at the airport were all out of rental cars.  

The dry desert heat hit us right away as soon as we got off the plane.  Definitely a change from the rest of our trip.  We got on our way right away towards King's Canyon first. King's Canyon was about 3 hours from Uluru and it was a good idea to get there before night fall, the animals like Kangaroo liked to cross the road at night and hitting one head on can do a lot of damage to the car.  The car rental companies out here tend to exclude any driving between dusk to dawn for insurance coverage for this very reason.

Driving on the left was really strange for us, Greg drifted to left at times and made me really nervous.  We made it in really good time. The town near King's Canyon only had one resort.  After checking in, we had plenty of time to walk over to the viewing area to watch sunset over the canyon.  We read that the bugs in the area is horrible, I wished a more specific term was used instead.  The bugs were really just the black flies.  We picked up a natural bug repellent lotion in Sydney, it was completely infective against these annoying things. We saw people with nets over their heads.  We thought those things were kind of silly but after five minutes I would've paid anything for one.  I couldn't even enjoy the beautiful sunset.  We ran back to our room and stayed there for the night. Besides beware of the dingo signs were everywhere.

The next morning, we went to fuel up our car at the only gas station (hence, the expensive fuel) in town.  By the way, this gas station was also one of the only 3 gas station along our 3 hour drive.  We also grabbed 3 bug nets.  They were 2 for $15 AUD.  Outrageous considering they were so cheaply made and would've cost 10 cents probably elsewhere but truthfully I think we would've paid more.  BIG HINT for anyone going to the outback, buy the net before your trip!

Last night at check-in, the bulletin board at there said canyon hike should be avoid between 10AM to 4PM.  Well, we didn't get to the canyon parking lot until about 10AM.  We took a 2 litre bottle of water which wasn't smart.  It was a 6km hike which took about 3 hours so we really had to ration ourselves the last 2km.  The hike wasn't too difficult except for the first 15 minutes which was a steep path up the canyon.  Greg and I took turns carrying Drake in the Kelty Kids on our back (our stroller which turned into a backpack).  Around noon, it got pretty hot, probably around 35 Celsius.  Our bug net was awesome, the flies were everywhere and the net kept them out of our faces.  Greg's camera bag had about 100 files on it hitching a ride.  Also our bug lotion actually did work but just on our body and not on our faces and ears.

Despite the hot temperature and flies, the hike was well worth it.  The view into the canyon was breathtaking and rock formation was pretty out of this world.

We also took a little detour to "The Garden of Eden".  It was an oasis complete with a water pond and palm trees in the middle of the canyon.  Again well worth detour to take.   While we took a food break there, another hiker actually jumped into the pond.  He was brave.  I would be really scared of what was in the water, like a snake.  He said the water was really really really cold.  Considering how hot it was, I was really tempted to jump in.  But again... snakes.

The last kilometer Drake became really tired and probably very hot.  He was quite fussy as he attempted to fall asleep between me stepping up and down the rocks so we picked up the pace and rushed back to our air-conditioned car.

In the parking lot, there was a water tap with drinking water.  I have never suck down so much water in one gulp.

It was around 2PM in the afternoon that we started our way back to Uluru.

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Location:Uluru

Sydney Part I

Drake was great on the flight from Brisbane to Sydney flight.  He was really getting use to flying, but I spoke too soon since he freaked out in the car and putting him to bed was a bit of nightmare.  Even the most mellow baby have bad days.  All the beach combing must've really tired him out.

Day 1 in Sydney, we were in a car again headed for Blue Mountain and its most famous rock formation, the Three Sisters.  We hit a bit of traffic so by the time we got there, it was lunch time.  We had lunch at Paragon Cafe in Katoomba.

Paragon was a throw back to the 30's and served the most mouth watering warm scones with butter cream and jam.  Writing this last bit is making my mouth water.

Three Sisters was another 5 minute drive away from Katooma.  The aboriginal people had different versions of the folktales of these rock formations.  Much like the 12 Apostles, there was a viewing point we could drive up to.  It provided a panorama view of the rock formation and valley.

We also hiked a short trail (it looked really far from the view point) right up to the Three Sisters. The little wooden bridge that connect to the Three Sisters was really scary for me to cross.  I wouldn't dare to look down the steep drop.  There were quite a few interesting trails that would've kept us occupied for days.

We fought the traffic going back to Sydney and had a late dinner at Moo Gourmet Burger at Bondi Beach.

Day 2 in Sydney, we finally made it to one of the most iconic sights in Australia.  The Opera House and the Harbour Bridge (they were closer to each other than I thought) are both located in the bustling Circular Quay.  There were many tourists just like us strolling around the waterfront and taking pictures, having a beverage at one of the many patio cafes, listening to dijurido music and loving the sunshine.

I wasn't expecting to see them, but we could see very clear the groups and groups of people climbing the Harbour Bridge.  Because we had Drake with us, we didn't consider doing this 3.5 hour climb.

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Mostly Sunny in Surfers Paradise

After Zorbing, we headed for Surfers Paradise.  Surfers Paradise was different than I imagined, many high rises buildings and shopping malls.

As we drove in, we saw the night market was being set up right next to the beach.  The market happens every Wednesday and Friday night.  Perfect plan for after dinner.  It had been overcast all day and we got caught in the rain halfway through strolling through the market so the night was cut short.  The next day we continued our stroll on the beach.  The beautiful beach was really picturesque.  The rest of the city reminded me of a mix of Atlantic City and Niagara Falls with laser tag, wax museum, duck tours, bars and clubs.

We had lunch the Bavarian Bier Cafe at Broadbeach before we went back to Brisbane again (for the third time) to catch a flight to Sydney.

Goodbye Heron Island, Hello Zorbing

Greg was disappointed that he didn't see much yesterday while snorkeling so he decided to try his luck early this morning.  Getting up early really paid off.  Apparently this snorkeling was the best, even better than his two dives.  He wanted to see sting rays, he saw about 40 of them, so many that they were laying on top of each other.  He saw sharks feasting on little fishes and tons of sea turtles.  I really regret sleeping in with Drake!

Like most hotels in Australia, upon Greg's return we had to pack and check out of our room at 10AM and leave our luggage outside for pick up.   We had an issue at check out.  It involved a upgraded room that was given to us without our knowledge, then the resort tried to charge us additional fee for the upgrade.

In the end we were able to sort out the misunderstanding, but we ran out of time to do anything meaningful and we weren't too interested in the free bird watching tour.  We just lounged around the pool and bar.  Lunch wasn't included after checkout, it costed $25 AUD per person.

At 2PM, we hopped on the ferry back to the mainland, Gladstone.  Flights to Gladstone and out of Gladstone were all pretty much at the same time everyday, so the ferry's departure time all coincide with the flight time.  The ride back was much smoother than coming in, I barely felt it.  I also took stronger medication.  Drake again was happy as a clam, didn't get seasick at all.

When we arrived at the Gladstone marina, the bus to take us to the airport was already waiting for us.  We flew back to Brisbane for the night.

The next day we rented a car and headed for Surfers Paradise.  I had seen on TV a few years back about zorbing.  There was a place on route, so we had to stop at Ozball.  There were two types of rides and we tried them both for $120 AUD.  It was regularly priced at $45 per person per ride.  It was really quiet and  we were the only customer there so they gave us a deal.  The price even included baby sitting!  The operator who caught us at the bottom also watched Drake. I hope that wasn't bad parenting...

A dry ride which involved us being strapped inside of the giant plastic ball and pushed off the hill.  We were tossed around like laundry for about 5 minutes.  It was so much fun!  I wanted to do it again and again despite being a little dizzy.  The second ride was the wet ride.  The inside of the ball was fill with about 3 litres of water.  We didn't have our bathing suits with us so they provided us with board shorts and towels.  We hopped in and again was pushed off the hill facing forward.  We were able to face forward during the ride.  It felt like we were about to face plant into the grass any moment.  I wanted to do it again and again despite the yellowish water!

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Heron Island (Great Barrier Reef) - Day 3

Today was my turn to dive! I showed up for my refresher dive at 8AM. I was a bit nervous since it had been at least two years since my last dive. Also I was still concerned about the sharks. I had to demonstrate a few skills such as taking the regulator in and out and goggle clearing. Now I was more confident about the dive.

We took a quick ten minute boat ride to dive site called Bommie.  The dive lasted about 45 minutes. I saw big and small colourful fishes, huge stingrays hanging out at the sandy bottom, a sea turtle with a coral stuck to his fin (he did manage to get rid of it when he started swimming), and white tip sharks.  I am glad I change my mind about diving.  It was one of the best dives I have ever done.  The only thing I notice was the coral wasn't as colourful as I thought.  I read somewhere Great Barrier Reef is dying at a rapid pace.  What a shame.  I only hope someday in the future Drake will be able to see the reef for himself too.

After lunch we took Drake to play in the ocean.  He splashed the water around, picked up shells and dug into the golden sand.  He absolutely had a ball.

Heron Island is surrounded by reefs that you can just walk to.  I strapped Drake in the Ergobaby and we went for a walk.  Drake fell asleep almost immediately.  The reef, of course, didn't have as many fishes around them as the Bommie, but if we looked closely we can still find little fishes and star fishes.

Tides started to come in.  Greg decided to go for a snorkel by the jetty and the HMCS Protector wreck.  He hadn't seen a sting ray yet, he was hoping to find one or two.  He came up short and didn't find anything too interesting.  I was able to spot a few lemon sharks and told him whereabouts from the jetty.  He wasn't fast enough to catch a glimpse.

I decided to go for a snorkel as well since it might be my last chance.  It turned out the lemon sharks hung around to say hello to me.  I came to about 3 feet with one.  As soon as I caught the face of the 5 foot fish with very intimidating teeth, I swam away as quickly as I could like a scaredy cat.

Heron Island is known for a lot of turtle activities and the resort offered free guided turtle watching at sunset.  We put Drake in the Ergobaby again and went for a little moonlight beach walk in search of baby turtles making their way to the ocean.  We were warned that this was the tail end of the turtle hatching season and the island had a very low activity level this season.  After a hour of walking back and forth, we saw a turtle nest which was just a pile of sand (the eggs were buried deep in the chamber).  We didn't see any baby turtles.

I guess yesterday we got rained in, today we did a lot to make up for the lost time.  I am a little sad we are leaving tomorrow.


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Location:Heron Island

Heron Island (Great Barrier Reef) - Day 2

Greg got up really early for a morning dive. The dives were 70 AUD each. Only the tank and weights were included in the price. BCD and other equipment can be rented from 7 to 22 AUD.

Drake and I slept in and went for a late breakfast. I had originally planned to snorkel only, but this is the GBR! After breakfast I signed up for a dive tomorrow.

Greg returned from his dive around 10:30. He had to do a refresher first which was right off the jetty and there were sting rays and sharks. Sharks!? What?! Hmmm... I'm not so sure about this. The dive trip was only 1.5 hours since they only had to go ten minutes out. He said the dive was amazing with more turtles and sharks. I was starting to get excited for my dive tomorrow.

The beautiful morning had turned into rain, so we lazed around the resort until lunch.

Greg went for his second dive in the rain at 3PM. The resort offered 3 dive trips per day: 9AM, 11AM and 3PM.

Upon his return I decided to go snorkeling off the jetty. Apparently the fishes liked to gather under the jetty to get away from the heat. Late afternoon was high tide and was a good time to snorkel. I saw a big turtle and lots of colourful small and big fishes. I came really close to a white tip reef shark, so I was told by Greg who was walking on the jetty with Drake. I was grateful I missed it. I had left my sandals on the beach but the tide had came in so fast in less than half hour while I was in the water.  I nearly lost the sandals if someone hadn't moved them to higher grounds.

It rained for the rest of the day and night. Hopefully tomorrow there will be sunshine.

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Location:Heron Island, Australia

Heron Island (Great Barrier Reef) - Day 1

This morning we caught the 8:50AM Virgin flight to Gladstone. The flight took just over an hour from Brisbane. Drake was an angle and slept through it. When we arrived, we were put on a bus for a quick ride to the marina where we were checked in for our 2 hour boat ride to Heron Island. This island is very small, it only has one resort and it is very famous for great snorkeling just off the shore.

We were told the sea was very rough today and were given ginger extract sea sickness pills. I also wore sea sickness wristbands. I felt covered. I was wrong. I should've known from the stash of barf bags on the table. The sea was so rough that it felt like a roller coaster ride that lasted 2 hours. Half of the boat had the barf bag attached to their faces. I lasted about 1.5 hours, then I up-chucked my morning salad. The boat crew was very experienced, they helped everyone switch out bags and handed out cold towels. Drake again slept through the entire ride.

I guess one has to ride through hell before arriving in paradise. We were greeted by the warm sea breeze as we stepped off the boat. The nausea disappeared instantly.

We grabbed a welcome drink and set our watch one hour ahead and then we were off to a late lunch at the restaurant. I was hungry since I left all my stomach content on the boat. The buffet style food was excellent. Lamb curry with rice, fresh arugula salad, antipasti and orange chocolate cake.

After lunch we found and settled into our room. The room was very roomy with full amenities. There were only a couple hours left before our preset dinner reservation (which was only done on the first night, after that we made our own). We decided to go walk around and get ourselves oriented. It was also happy hour at the bar. Greg grabbed a draft beer to go for 6 AUD (regular price 6.50 to 7 AUD).

There were a lot of different birds nesting in the trees. Good potion of the resort pathways were covered in bird dropping which smelled "great". Our room also came with ear plugs. Apparently these birds can be really disturbingly loud.

Dinner was again awesome. It was a seafood feast - raw oysters, smoked salmon, mussels, and really big prawns to start. I had dhal and rice for main and red velvet cake for the big finale.

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Location: Heron Island, Australia

Quick Stopover in Adelaide and Brisbane

We had a good restful night in Warrambool.  Today's plan was to drive to Adelaide which was about a little less than 7 hours away.  I think if we were to plan it again, we would rather turn back onto Great Ocean Road and go back to Melbourne.  The 7 hour drive didn't have much in turns of exciting scenery.  It looked like any road we have been on, however we did make a unplanned but worthy stop at the Princess Margaret Rose Cave about 20km off the highway A1.  On route we spotted a bunch of Emus running in the field.  One more Australia animal checked off.

The cave entrance fee was $16 AUD per person.  It was a guided tour that happened every hour.  We got a ten minute background information before we descended down to the caves.  Photography was allowed, but video was not allowed.  I asked why during the tour, the guide said because once someone was video taping he wasn't watching where he was going and tripped and broke one of the rock formations.  Stroller was also not allowed in the cave so I strapped Drake in the Ergobaby.

It was a little chilly in the cave.  We all stood around in an area that was about 800 square feet listening to the guide.  I have never been to a limestone cave.  The cool formation was cool, but I started to wonder if that was all we were going to see.  The guide then walked over to a light switch and turned it on, we saw the rest of the cave which was completely dark without any lights.

The tour lasted about 45 minutes.  We could've loved to check out other stuff that was above ground of the cave but we had another five hours to go before reaching Adelaide and we needed to beat the check-in hour.  When we approached the Rose Cave earlier, we also saw a sign for a place called Platypus Cafe.  We asked the guide at the Cave if the cafe actually had Platypus.  She told us the cafe had been shutdown due management issues.  It was really too bad, Greg was really hoping to see a Platypus on this trip.

We reached Adelaide just after sunset and went to bed shortly.  The next day we only had the morning to check out the city before boarding a flight to Brisbane. We headed to Henley Beach since it was really close to the airport.  The water was really clear and we even saw a diver diving around the pier.  The Henley Beach Square offered affordable restaurants and ice cream shops.  We grabbed a quick lunch and headed to the airport.

We were actually only passing through Brisbane as well to get to Gladstone.  Then a ferry ride from Gladstone to Heron Island aka Great Barrier Reef.

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Location:Adelaide

Great Ocean Road - Day 2

We got our day started a little early since there were a lots to see today. The target was to spend the night in Warrnambool (2.5 hours from Apollo Bay). Last night, our inn keeper told us about 20 km back by Kennett River we are guaranteed to see koalas hanging out in trees.

We back tracked to Grey River Road by Kennet River. It took us no time to find a few koalas sleeping high up in the trees, especially there were already a small group of tourists gathering. Instead of turning back onto the GOR, we kept on driving on Grey River Road hoping to spot more of these cuddly bears a bit closer to the ground. The detour rewarded us with a few more koalas and a young kangaroo waiting by the side of the road.

Eventually we got back on GOR after about 1 hour. Next stop was the oldest lighthouse in the Australia. Our original research told us the road that led to the lighthouse is full of koalas. But the inn keeper in Apollo Bay told us, it wasn't guaranteed unless we went to Kennet River. Well, we spotted a big koala almost right away hanging out on a tree branch that was practically arm length from us.

This Cape Otway lighthouse cost us $18.50 AUD to get in. We were able to climb to the top and the 360 degree view was pretty spectacular. The rest of the grounds had an old bunker, a small simple museum and a few pieces of sculpture. Nothing to write home about.

Drake so far has been doing really well in the car.  He played with his toys in the car and slept a lot.  I think the motion really soothed him.  I did feel really bad having to take him in and out of the car, especially when he had just fell asleep.  Our next stop was Wreck Beach. Unlike the Wreck beach in Vancouver, this one actually had ship wrecks instead of anti-clothing enthusiasts.  Unfortunately we got terribly lost by taking the wrong turn onto a road called Old Coach Road.  To be fair, although it looked completely unpaved and full of giant pot holes, the road had a name.  Our logic was why would anyone bother naming a road if it wasn't meant to be traveled on.  After 30 minutes of driving mostly on the shoulder of the good old Old Coach Road, we gave up and turned back.  It was good thing.  When we finally found Wreck Beach, we were certain Old Coach Road probably would've led us off of a cliff.

Wreck Beach also took 300 steps to get down to.  By the time we got there, it was already high tide.  We didn't want to trek too far to seek out the wreck in fear of being trapped by the water.  Despite not finding the ship wreck, the beach was still beautiful to see.  Soft yellow sand met with sapphire blue waves.  It was worth getting lost for until we had to take the 300 steps back up to our car.

We drove on for about ten minutes.  "What is that?" We spotted a slow moving animal waddling on the side of the highway. A bulldog? As we approached, we collectively screamed. It was a large koala! As we got closer, he ran up the nearest tree. He stayed low and stared at us as we stared at him in awe.

For the grand finale, our last stop of the day was the 12 Apostles, a collection of limestone formations by the GOR.  We first stopped at Gibson Steps which was a set of stairs (much easier than the Wreck Beach steps) that led to the beach where you can see the first Apostle up and close.  Another 500 meters past Gibson Steps was the viewing spot for the rest of the Apostles.  There were only 7 left standing.  The rest collapsed into the ocean over time. The viewing point consisted a platform that extended out into a rock formation, so you can view the Apostles face on.  Watching the Apostles against the sunset and the white capped ocean was an amazing feeling.  It was an awesome way to finish up our day.

Nightfall had set in.  The road got really dark.  We drove another hour to Warrnambool to settle in for the night.  We were tired, so the hour long drive felt so long.  We wished we had just stayed in Port Campbell which was the town closest to the Apostles, but that meant we had a lot of driving to make up tomorrow to reach Adelaide.  When we reached Warrnambool at 9:30PM to check-in to our hotel, we were surprised to find out we almost missed the reception hour.  I was really surprised since all the hotels I have been to in North America had 24 hour reception.  Glad we made it! Time for bed!

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Location:Great Ocean Road, Australia