Melbourne, Australia - The Second City

View from hotel window (Grand Hyatt)

When discussing our trip with friends who have traveled that way, there was one city that kept getting brought up as a must visit.  This cemented in the need to make it down to Victoria to visit the state capital.


Hosier Lane - Great Graffiti

Melbourne had more hustle and bustle than Sydney and also has a developing foodie culture that does not disappoint.  It was impossible to pick from the large range of restaurants and not be pleased with the outcome (A couple near by our hotel which were great: Chin Chin, Yak, Lucy Liu's, Jin Dumpling and Noodle House).  While touring the city, wandering the Yarra River, and enjoying the food, we also made sure to make it into a few of the old cathedrals (St. Patrick's/St. Paul's) along with an epic visit to the Old Melbourne Gaol (former prison).  We not only got to see inner workings of the prison and hear about some chilling stories (that happened all the way up to 1997) but we also got to go through the activity of being detained, questioned, and locked into dark holding cells with fifteen other confused tourists (not sure I'd sign up to do that again!).





Old Melbourne Gaol















As usual, we also used our free time to journey outside of the city to see the wildlife and countryside. 

One day we took a trip out with Christian and Yarra Valley Wine Tours (Yering Station, Domaine Chandon, Rochford, and Yileena Park) to taste an incredible variety of wines centered around Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and sparkling wines.  We also did a cheese and chocolate tasting while in the valley.  At the final stop, at a very small vineyard run by a private couple, we were tasting in their upstairs tasting room and could spot a mob of 50+ wild kangaroos hopping quickly across the hillsides (can't beat that).

Domaine Chandon - Yarra Valley

Our other day trip which was completely planned by Jolene (and I believe was on the top of her list) was heading down to Phillip Island for the Penguin Parade.  This is getting a chance to sit on the coast and watch a colony of Little Penguins (no longer to be referred to as Fairies) storm the beach as they return from fishing in the open waters.  They come up onto the beach and group before doing a hurried waddle through the few annoying gulls and right past us up the hill into their rookery for the night.  This was truly an amazing natural process that is not to be missed.  With good advice from our guide we got great views.  We also had the chance to wander the island ourselves to catch some of the other wildlife and great views of some of the rocky coastline.  This is also the trip we met Yung and Jeremy from Canada out on their month long honeymoon.  We accidentally ran into them a few more times during our travels by coincidence and it was always nice to hear some of the things they saw or heard that we may have missed out on.

Definitely a great time and a special thanks for those of you who convinced us to not skip out on this region of the country.

Sydney, Australia - The Emerald City

The city that was all but unknown to most Americans until the 2000 Olympics and home to Utzon's Opera House was nothing but splendid.  This is especially true if you have the enough luck to stay in Circular Quay.  The Australian people at the in restaurants, hotels, tours, and on the streets were nothing but pleasant and helpful.

The shells of the opera house truly do slowly win you over as you exit the train station, enjoy a boat ride, or enjoy a sunrise/sunset.  I can still easily picture it today after all the times it snuck into view while we were there.

One of the first things we did was find a way to the Taronga Zoo.  It's not just because we have an addiction to visiting foreign zoos but also due to the great reviews we had read and our need to find a koala in the worst way.  Taking a boat to the zoo and taking a sky rail to the entrance as we glided over some of our favorite animals brought flashes of Jurassic Park to mind immediately.  Jolene of course tracked down the koala sanctuary immediately and was like the paparazzi as she tried to capture them at the right angle moping on their favorite tree nooks.

The zoo trip also helped lead me into the purchase of all day boat tickets which led us to Darling Harbour, and to Manly Beach for a daring touch of a Pacific Ocean wave and of course the salt and pepper calamari dinner that Jolene will not soon forget.  This led to her ordering the same dish no less than four times during our trip.

Our favorite area within the city was The Rocks.  It's the oldest neighborhood in Sydney with amazing weekend markets, and narrow streets with good restaurants and fascinating pubs sitting around every corner.  While Jolene will always remember the pumpkin gnocchi at the Pony Lounge, I will remember the pint at Fortune of War (city's oldest pub) or the many at Hart's Pub which serves Rocks Brewing Company's ales lead by 5th/6th generation convicts.

While darting through the waterways was refreshing, we did want to make sure to get outside of the city as well.  We went with a small group to hike part of the Blue Mountains and see the iconic Three Sisters.  We took the cable cars to the valley floor and walked through the rainforest spotting lyrebirds and a couple old coal mine entrances.  This is where I first had to clarify with Jolene that most things in Australia will kill you so you can't just touch plants or just about anything else without knowing what you are doing.

While many well traveled people will tell you Melbourne is the place to be, I am willing to put my name in the hat to back Sydney.


Eastern Gray Kangaroo

Cassowary



Tasmanian Devil

Wallabies

Quokka

Australia Trip (via New Zealand)

As are most things in life, it's not about the end result but the journey you took to get there.  The trip we have been waiting for so long has finally happened. 

It took us on the longest trip we've ever done together in both distance and duration.  It included flights across the US and over the Pacific.  It also included quite a few other flights, van rides, boat rides, and hikes within The Sunburnt Country. 


Let's just say that the trans-Pacific flight, Gillies highway in Queensland, and the fast boat ride back from the outer Great Barrier Reef almost got the best of us (one of us more than the other).

While there were those few challenging pieces, the majority of our travels were a breeze as Jolene did the majority of the coordination.  There is something about traversing a country where everyone speaks your primary language, has a solid infrastructure, and is full of helpful, pleasant, outgoing people that makes everything seem nearly effortless.

We decided to be clever and take advantage of the long travel by utilizing a long layover to cross another country off our list.  We had about 12 hours in between our morning arrival in Auckland, New Zealand and evening departure to Sydney so we made the best of it. (I had read about someone taking advantage of long layovers to enhance a trip so I made an attempt at it).  While our bags stayed at the airport, we were able to take a bus downtown early that morning and enjoy a day in the city.  While the day started with a little bit of rain it quickly cleared after breakfast and we were able to go to the top of a Sky Tower to get a great view of the lay of the land and the harbor.  We also visited Albert Park, Kia Ora (Art Gallery), the maritime museum, and had a great lunch at Degree on Hobson Wharf where I got to cook my own meat out of all local ingredients.

After Auckland our route was a clockwise journey through Sydney, Melbourne, Uluru, Cairns, and then back to Sydney.

Let the journey begin.

Accidental Rock Collection (Part 3)

As usual, a few extra rocks have snuck into the collection.  There are definitely a couple honorable mentions in this group as their story differs from what has become the norm. 

The first is from the Black Hills of South Dakota.  I don't usually keep rocks that I didn't get myself but in this case it was sent to me from my parents from their travels accompanied with an endearing note tied to the history of Native Americans and that area.

The second is a rock that is NOT part of the collection.  As requested by the Anangu people of the Northern Territory of Australia I did not climb Uluru nor did I keep a rock.  Respect.

1. Auckland, New Zealand (wharf)
2. Cairns, Queensland, Australia (Barrine Crater Lake)
3. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (Blue Mountains)
4. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (near St. Patrick's)
5. Seattle, WA, USA (Eagle's Peak near Mt. Rainier)
6. Black Hills, SD, USA (fragment of rock created when working on the Mount Rushmore / Crazy Horse Memorial)

One Year... Who's Counting?

 

We made it!  One year of marriage! It's been a great year and we look forward to at least one more year of happiness :)

We celebrated our Anniversary weekend by relaxing at a local vineyard and sampling some wine yesterday, followed by dinner at Chauhan Ale & Masala House (a fantastic Indian Fusion Restaurant in our old hood).  My mom did an excellent job at preserving our wedding cake topper, so we'll be keeping that tradition by sampling it tonight.  Here's hoping it still tastes good!

Seattle, WA

 

Mike has been working on a new Cloud Project for work which has had him traveling between Nashville, Chicago and Seattle recently.  Since he had two scheduled back to back weeks planned in Seattle, I flew out to see him to spare him another long trip home.  We caught Seattle in its best possible conditions. Three days of 75 degree weather and no rain in sight.  We stayed by Lake Union downtown allowing us to cover all the famous sites those of us who grew up in the Northeast have heard about.


We made it to the fish market, the first Starbucks, and of course the Space Needle.  Mike quickly jumped into his first break from work in the Pacific Northwest and wore his new Space Needle t-shirt everywhere.  There were also quick stops at the zoo, aquarium, science center and a boat ride through the Puget Sound.

The trip was topped off with a trip out to Mt. Rainer National Park and an amazing but strenuous 11 mile hike up to Eagle Peak.  The views were incredible and the final trek through the deep snow to the peak really did solidify the accomplishment of the long, steep climb to the top.  There was a 71 year old couple that also did this climb that day and they try to do it every year.  I've decided that it's a goal of mine that Mike and I have a similar tradition in the years to come.  I will start looking into what will be "our" hike shortly...

Kris Visits The Volunteer State

Nothing is more of a roller coaster than a visit from the little sister.  I'm not going to lie, it took some arm twisting to get her to finally visit.  After she arrived at 6am (I picked the flights!), we took her to the infamous Pancake Pantry for breakfast, then quickly jumped into the full Nashville scene.

We started off with the Country Music Hall of Fame followed by some live music and beverages downtown.  As has become a pattern with guests, I snuck out for an hour or two and put Jolene in charge of showing Kris the rest of downtown.  This of course led to more live music and a break at Jackalope Brewery in our old stomping grounds.  I captured a moment that I'll remember forever known as, "Get off my red couch!!!". 

To round off the trip we threw in some classics.  We hit the Nashville zoo where Kristina got to pet her first kangaroo followed by some super competitive family trivia.  There was some name calling that I'm not proud of as we raced for all the trivia wedges but a win is a win.

 

 

 

To completely take advantage of our guest I also had her help me prep for my big presentation coming up two days later.  Her advice hopefully kept me from making a complete fool of myself and was much appreciated.