Cairns and the Northern Beaches

Neal and I were fortunate enough to get to see the infamous “Tropical Australia” for a week in the beginning of November. We headed up to far north Queensland with Neal’s parents B&A to enjoy a week of sun, warmth and adventure. Now some of you must be thinking that we already live in Australia and we must already have this… Melbourne’s winters are damp, cool and wet (think winter in Vancouver, but not quite so cold). So we were really looking forward to the trip. The climate is fantastic as the weather was 30-32 degrees everyday with blue skies and sunshine. There wasn’t much humidity for this time of year and it was the shoulder season so it wasn’t too busy. November is also to start of stinger (jellyfish) and crocodile season. The geography, climate and laid back attitudes reminded me a lot of holidays in Hawaii. There are even sugar cane fields and several surrounding hills. We absolutely loved it!

We stayed 20mins north of Cairns in Trinity Beach at the beautiful Blue Lagoon Resort; where we had a fantastic 2 bedroom apartment for the week. http://www.bluelagoonresort.com.au/

The location was good with several delicious restaurants in walking distance. Such places were the Blue Moon Grill, L’Unico and The Lime Tree. The beaches were nice and the infinity pool was great! The only downside to this area is that there isn’t anything to do after dinner; you would need to drive to one of the nearby communities to find a pub or some night life such as Palm Cove or Cairns itself.

Our first day trip was with The Adventure Company Australia; that we booked through viator.com. We were collected by the lovely and very knowledgeable Shane and taken on a full day trip in an air conditioned coach. Our first stop was the Wild Life Habitat Port Douglas where we got to feed Wallabies and Kangaroos as well as take plenty of pictures of Cassowaries, Crocodiles, Koalas and Kookaburras (just to name a few).

Our second stop was impressive Mossman Gorge. I definitely could have spent more time here and had a swim but we did get a quick tour around to see it and a part of the rainforest.

The Daintree Rainforest is a must see if you are up in the area. If any of you have done the Road to Hana in Maui it is very similar with hairpin turns and tons of scenery.  

We had lunch in Cape Tribulation that was really impressive. I had the steak and Neal had Barramundi, both were delicious and considering what we paid for the day trip we definitely got our money’s worth. After lunch we got to walk the beach and explore Cape Tribulation. It’s unfortunate it has such a miserable name for such a beautiful, stunning place. Apparently Captain Cook hit a part of the reef that actually connects to the Cape and was not impressed so he named it as such.

After lunch we got back on the bus and made our way to the Daintree River for our Crocodile tour. Our guide was impressive and was able to locate 5 crocodiles that I wouldn’t have had a hope of seeing on my own if it wasn’t pointed out to me several times (thanks Neal!) They blend in so well with the Mangroves and brown river water that you would never see these monstrous creatures coming. It didn’t take much for me to remember to keep my arms inside the boat at all times!

We then made our way back home and stopped at a few look out points along the way. It was a great trip and well worth doing through a tour as it was a lot of driving with some very windy roads. It was nice to sit back, relax and just enjoy the day trip. Well worth the money and completely recommended by us!

Tuesday was the infamous “Race That Stops A Nation,” The Melbourne Cup. We headed to a nearby sports bar that was packed with people trying their luck punting on the horses. I had the most luck of the day and bet on the winning horse, Fiorente.

Our second day trip was to the Great Barrier Reef. The four of us SCUBA dive and couldn’t wait for this trip! We drove to Port Douglas and took “The Poseidon” to the outer banks. It’s a 90minute boat ride out there and the ocean conditions were “average” according to the crew. As I have gotten older my sensitivity to sea sickness has gotten worse. I took my sea sick tablets but still battled it the whole way out to the dive site. Unfortunately I was also surrounded by people who lost the battle and were heaving their breakfast up. Once in the water the sea sickness resolved, thankfully. Neal had a GO PRO HERO 3 Camera and Go PRO Pole that was our early Christmas present from his parents (Thank you!). Neal shot some great video at all 3 dive sites. We had 40min dives in each spot and saw a huge amount of underwater creatures such as a white tip reef shark, a green turtle, clownfish (Nemo!), 3 different kinds of Cuttlefish, giant clams and a Hump Head Parrot Fish. The air temperature was 30 degrees and the water was 27 degrees! Awesome! The crew was amazing and our dive instructor Pete was great. We arrived back to Port Douglas and were completely exhausted. After forcing ourselves to stay awake through dinner, Neal managed to drive the 45mins back to our resort before we all collapsed and were in bed by 9pm. http://www.poseidon-cruises.com.au/

Our Third and Final day trip was on Friday to Fitzroy Island with Raging Thunder Adventures. We took the 45min ferry (in much calmer waters) to the Island. The Island has overnight accommodations and a restaurant/ bar. We headed there for a day of Sea Kayaking and Snorkelling. Our guide EJ was great and our crew was complete with 3 Kiwis and 4 Canadians. The coral was incredible and the best I have ever seen snorkelling. We were all decked out in our stinger suits and once you got used to them they were great to wear while snorkelling because I wasn’t paranoid about being stung by the potentially lethal Irukandji Jellyfish. We saw plenty of fish and I found Nemo! We saw some giant clams and since there is no hunting allowed in the waters around Fitzroy Island it is now the home to several Green and Hawksbill Turtles. We were fortunate enough to be able to swim with a green turtle for about 10mins while we were snorkeling. It was amazing! http://www.ragingthunder.com.au/

That night Neal and I took the bus into Cairns and enjoyed some dinner and got to explore some of the city. It’s very hippy with tons of backpackers. There is definitely a lot of things to do for tourists especially if you want to party every night, but we were glad to have stayed away from the hustle and bustle of the town. We found PJ O’Brien’s Irish Pub and got to listen to a talented live band while we danced the night away. It was a blast having our own mini pub crawl and meeting people along the way.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end. On our last day we explored Palm Cove and were impressed with the massively long beach and the extensive choice of restaurants and pubs. We would definitely recommend staying in this area if you are looking for a nice compromise between the busy atmosphere of Cairns and the remote and very relaxing area of Trinity Beach.

That’s all for now. So sad our holiday is over...

We’ll keep you posted on our next adventure over Christmas!

Laur

Adelaide and The Barossa Valley

Neal and I took a well deserved mid winter break and flew to South Australia for six days. Thankfully it is usually very reasonable to fly to Adelaide, Tasmania and Sydney from Melbourne for about $80 one way. We flew out on Tuesday July 16 and took our rental car for the 1.5hr drive to the beautiful Barossa Valley. The information centre in Tanunda was very helpful and we received plenty of wine country maps and guides. Neal was my reliable wine chauffer and drove to some of the bigger wineries in the Barossa Valley. The Valley itself is beautiful and since it was winter time the hills were lush and green while the vines were barren and brown, the contrast was stunning and mirrored the summer season where the extreme heat and the fact that South Australia is the driest state in the driest country on earth it’s the opposite. The Barossa Valley has an impressive bike path that winds around all of the towns and vineyards that comprise the wine region. Had the weather been a little warmer we would have definitely taken this option.

We first visited the Jacob’s Creek Information Center which has several walks you can take around the property, as well as a beautiful cellar door and restaurant.  Following this we went to Thorne-Clarke which makes the well known “Shotfire Shiraz.” Neal had been a huge fan of this wine for the last 6 years and stated that this was the one winery he absolutely wanted to see. It is a family owned and run winery that makes several delicious wines. Since it is pretty easy to buy the Shotfire Shiraz in most liquor stores here we opted to get the delicious 2009 Malbec that they make. Malbec is very uncommon to get in Australia. We also got it because it was our 4 year Wedding Anniversary trip and if you can do the math that means we got married on June 27, 2009. This wine will age well for the next 5-10 years and we plan on keeping a bottle to celebrate an anniversary in a few years. We then went to Penfold’s to taste some wine and found that their cellar door was underwhelming. Since they are such a big winery they didn’t seem to feel the need to make a standout cellar door. We weren’t there for very long and other than their Port we weren’t too impressed. Our friends at home in Calgary recommended Elderton Winery as they did an Australia wine tasting class and really liked it. This was an amazing suggestion S&L! We had several impressive wines and ended up spending our afternoon on the front porch enjoying a cheese platter and a glass of wine. After a well deserved afternoon nap from all of the wine I tasted we went to a delicious Indian restaurant in Nuriootpa called Barossa Indian.

Jacob's Creek

Like a Good Wife...

We stayed at a beautiful B&B called Barossa House. The owners Lee & Judi were great hosts and made delicious breakfasts each morning for us. They also offer guided tours and we took them up on it on the second day. Lee took us to four wineries that were smaller but with very interesting stories. We tend to like the wineries that are more the family run and a bit of an underdog in the corporate wine producing world. We started at Chateau Tanunda and were amazed by the stunning venue and the wine was really good too. Our second stop was Langmeil which has the oldest Shiraz vines in the world that date back to 1843. Let me tell you the $100/bottle Freedom Shiraz was delicious, needless to say we didn’t end up buying a bottle though!  We went to Grant Burke for lunch and a tasting and followed it up with tastings at Peter Lehman and wrapped it up at Whistler wines that have their own Kangaroo sanctuary.  We got to meet Butts (short for Buttons, because he was castrated so he wouldn’t be a threat to the female kangaroos in the sanctuary, poor guy!)

Chateau Tanunda

Grant Burke

Langmeil

Whistler Winery with Buttons!

We celebrated our anniversary with our delicious Langmeil 2010 Grenache Wine in 1918 in Tanunda. We had a delicious dinner of scallops, prawns and steak and wrapped it up with lemon pudding. We really enjoyed our dinner here and would recommend it to anyone passing through. Leaving the Barossa Valley we had 15 bottles of wines from the numerous wineries we visited to take with us. Thankfully Australia Post came through and was able to ship a box of 12 bottles back and insure it for $36!

Our Wine Purchases...

Four Year Anniversary

1918 Anniversary Dinner

On Thursday we drove through the German town of Hahndorf on our way into Adelaide. It is a very cute town and unfortunately the weather was not too cooperative and didn’t allow us to really explore and walk around. Since it was winter the strawberry farms were also closed so there wasn’t a whole lot to do compared to when other people we know had visited in summer.

We also drove to Mount Lofty as the view of Adelaide; which is a small flat city surrounded by the Adelaide Hills, is supposed to be stunning. The view would have been incredible but again we had a wall of rain come towards us so our visit was short lived.

We arrived into Adelaide and were able to walk around a little but before the torrential cold rain started. Adelaide has a few impressive things to see. We really enjoyed the Adelaide Zoo that has the only Giant Pandas in the southern hemisphere.  On the Friday night we took the tram out to Glenerg and had a delicious seafood dinner at The Wharf followed by drinks and live music at The Sunset Bar. There are a few areas of Adelaide that were a little “Bogan” (Australian for red-neck).  Adelaide does have some classic architecture and several beautiful parks surrounding the CBD. We also got a little taste of home at Jack Ruby with mouth watering Buffalo Wings, Cheeseburgers and Onion Rings. We finished our trip with a great dinner at The Apothecary 1878 which had impressive tapas. It was surrounded by strip clubs so don’t let the surrounding environment put you off it, the restaurant embraces that it comes from a less classy part of Adelaide.

Adelaide Central Market

Glenerg

Adelaide Zoo

It was a great trip and nice to see some of what South Australia has to offer. Now we have been to three out of the six states of Australia. We’re half way there with a lot left to see.

My next trip is one that takes me home to Calgary in September. I get two extra weeks holidays than Neal so I am taking advantage of coming home to see my wonderful family and friends for two weeks and to celebrate the marriages of two amazing couples! I can’t wait!!

Take care,

Laur xoxo

House guests in Melbourne

Neal and I were lucky enough to have some wonderful house guests over the last few months. We had Grissel and Jorge join us for a week in February and were officially our first house guests  We had a blast with all 3 trips Jeff & Jess made in between their Australian adventures in February, March and April before they moved backed to Canada a few weeks ago. We were sad to see them leave but so grateful to have been able to share such incredible memories with our best friends throughout our adventures in New Zealand and Australia. Our last house guest was Derek who came and visited us for 2 weeks in March; where Neal and Derek attended the infamous Melbourne Grand Prix for the Formula One in Albert Park.

I will highlight some of the adventures we had around our new and amazing city of Melbourne.

St. Kilda Night Market

During the summer months, the popular suburb of St. Kilda has a Night Market outside of the famous landmark of Luna Park. The small park is filled with incredible food stalls, souvenirs, clothes and vintage records. St. Kilda has more of a backpacker/ hippy vibe and that was evident in the people and music at the night market. We had such a blast there that we went with both Grissel and Jorge and showed it to Jeff & Jess. Along Ackland Street are also the famous cake shops with elaborate displays of all their decadent
desserts!

Melbourne Foodies

Melbourne is well known for being food and coffee snobs. They take both of these very seriously; which is a win-win situation for us because you are almost always guaranteed great food and delicious coffees. According to TripAdvisor the #1 restaurant and most recommended by friends is the Tramcar Restaurant. This is exactly how it sounds and is a restaurant built in a tramcar that includes a 3 or 5 course dinners that you enjoy while taking in the sights of Melbourne. We decided to celebrate Jeff’s 30^th birthday by having dinner here and it was incredible.

The Lui Bar is a very popular place to grab a drink and take in the spectacular views of the city from the 55^th floor. We took all of our house guests up here for pre dinner drinks and to enjoy the beautiful sunsets.

Lygon Street is the “Little Italy” of Melbourne and because the street is chokkas with little Italian Cafes you can negotiate some pretty fantastic deals when coming out for dinner during the week. We frequented this several times with Jeff, Jess and Derek. Neal and I usually come here a few times a month for our pizza/ pasta fix as it is only a 15min walk away.

Kangaroo has been a consistent request of our house guests to try before the leave. We found quite a few places that serve a great kangaroo fillet. If cooked properly it is a very tender, slightly gamey and delicious cut of meat that we have come to enjoy.

There have been so many fantastic restaurants and bars in Melbourne that it would take ages to mention them all. Let’s just say if you love food, wine and amazing cocktails then Melbourne should be on your list of places to see. Neal and I eat out every Friday night and love discovering all the places in the little alley ways and side streets that Melbourne is founded on.

Melbourne Bike Share

Melbourne has a bike share program all over the city. You simply put your credit card into the machine and pick a daily or weekly rental and enter how many bikes you want. You get a code to unlock the bikes and can take any of the abundant bike paths around the city and as long as you dock your bike in a station every 30 minutes then it is free. There is even an app that tells you where the nearest bike station is and how many spaces and bikes are available. Jeff, Jess and Derek used the bike share a lot to see some of the various areas of city. It is a fantastic way to see Melbourne and not be committed to having to use the bike all day. Helmets are sold in the 7-11 for $5, they are unused and you keep them after. Jess and I were even interviewed one day while we went out for a spin, check it out! http://media.theage.com.au/news/national-news/will-free-helmets-save-melbourne-bike-share-4131981.html

Mornington Peninsula

The Mornington Peninsula is one of our favourite places to go for a day trip. It is a 1hr30min drive from Melbourne. We go to relax on the beautiful beaches, enjoy wine at the various vineyards and the small little towns are amazing to explore. We took Jeff and Jess out here and enjoyed our 32 degree summer day!

Yarra Valley

On Jeff and Jess’ last visit with us we spent the day out in the Yarra Valley. It is a 45minute drive outside the city and is in a beautiful valley with the “mountains” in the distance. Neal volunteered to drive so Jess and I got to indulge in the wine/ cider tastings at Punt Road, Coombe Farms and Innocent Bystander. We bought our favourite cheese at Yarra Valley Dairy and ate delicious wood fired pizzas at Innocent Bystander. There is plenty to do in the Yarra Valley that we have yet to explore but it is yet another favourite place to spend a day. The exceptionally large bottle of wine below is one that survived the bush fires in 2009 and Prince Harry also gifted 60 of these gigantic bottles for Will & Kate's Wedding After Party!

Melbourne Grand Prix, Formula One

The Melbourne Grand Prix is a street circuit held every year at Albert Park. Neal and Derek had tickets on Turn One and enjoyed the event despite all of the rain. They were a little disappointed that Kimi Raikkonen won and not Louis Hamilton (Neal’s Favourite).

Crown Casino

Crown is an impressive Vegas size resort complex built on the Yarra River bank in Southbank. Crown is filled with Casinos, Cinemas, Award-Winning Restaurants, Shops and Nightclubs. There is a popular fire show on the several pillars outside the complex running along the banks of the river. We enjoy taking people here for dinner and a night out. It feels like you’ve taken a trip to Vegas without the flights!

We still highly recommend the Philip Island Penguin Tour, which Grissel and Jorge did and thoroughly enjoyed. Derek did the Great Ocean Road Tour, which Jeff and Jess also saw on their drive from Adelaide to Melbourne. This is also a place we have been a few times on our own and encourage people to take the trip out there.

That is just a small glimpse into some of the fantastic things that Melbourne has to offer. It is a wonderful city to visit and live in as there is always something going on. Whether it is concerts, festivals, museums or sporting events; there is a never ending supply of things to keep you entertained!

All the best!

Laura

Happy Easter

Hello everyone, 

We hope you had a wonderful Easter! We spent our long 4 day weekend in a beautiful little town called Anglesea that is located on the Great Ocean Road; 1.5hrs from Melbourne. We spent the weekend with 5 lovely people and celebrated Easter Canadian/ Aussie style. I’ll quickly introduce the group and the dynamics so you can follow along. We met Mhairi (CAN) and Scott (AUS) through the Canadian Club we joined.  Mhairi is childhood friends with Todd (CAN) who spent theirs summers at a lake in Ontario. Todd met Jenna (AUS) when they were working together in Whistler and moved back to Melbourne. Chelsea (AUS) is Jenna’s childhood friend and coincidentally is also a Nurse at the Royal Melbourne Children’s Hospital I work at.

We rented a beautiful 4 bedroom house that was a 10 minute walk to the beach. The weather was a little cool over the weekend so we weren’t able to get into swim. We spent the weekend taking beautiful long walks, enjoying some of the sights such as the Airey’s Inlet Lighthouse and indulging in some Canadian comfort foods! Since there were 4 Canadians and 3 Aussies we decided to educate them on Canadian cuisine. The first night consisted of Beer Can Chicken with Swiss Chalet dipping sauce. Neal and I presented the group with Frank’s Red Buffalo wings with blue cheese dip (a delicacy you really have to look for in Melbourne) and was accompanied with Caesars that we were able to make thanks to the USA food store stocking Clamato. There were plenty of pancakes, bacon & maple syrup to start the days. We also managed to teach the group Drinking Jenga.

On Saturday we made our way to Bells Beach to check out the RipCurl International Surf Competition. It was ladies day and we got to see some incredible surfing on fantastic waves. It was the first surf competition that Neal and I had ever seen and it was awesome!

 The additional houseguest was Manny; Mhairi & Scott's beautiful Golden Lab.

 There was a Camel Riding area at the Sunday market. I have never seen kids riding Camels before!

What a great way to celebrate Easter!

All the Best,

Laura & Neal

A Birthday Like No Other

This year I got to celebrate the last year of my twenties in Sydney.  Most people that know me are aware that I tend to make a big deal about my birthday, or as Neal calls it my “Birth Month” and this year was no exception. The celebrations started off on Saturday February 2 where I spent the afternoon at the hair salon getting a cut and color (I went for the Australian sun kissed look of Ombre). Neal then took me out to “Rockpool” which is an amazing 3 Chef’s Hat Steakhouse located at the Crown Casino. The food there was delicious and although I am a born and raised Alberta girl I do have to admit that the steak was incredible!

I spent the week leading up to my birthday feeling incredibly homesick; it is a lot easier to miss your amazing friends and family at a time of year when I usually get to see and celebrate with everyone. Thankfully I had Neal to cheer me up. Another big difference with my birthday this year was that for my entire life my birthday has been in the dead of winter in Calgary. On the plus side I usually get to see a Flames Game (not that I am missing much this year!). However, a winter birthday usually means needing to wear snow boots to restaurants and changing into heels. On occasion people have not been able to attend my birthday parties as a snow storm had rolled in and the roads were too bad. This was not the case this year; my birthday was in the middle of summer! I finally got to see what it was like to have a birthday with sunshine, beaches and BBQ’s!! It was awesome!

Neal had an amazing opportunity to go to Sydney for a work function that was on my birthday so I decided to take the trip with him. Neal got to spend the evening on the impressive “Starship Sydney” boat in Darling Harbour being wined and dined with the Michael Page consortium. I spent the evening with Jeff & Jess and went back to their home where they cooked an amazing birthday dinner of Flatbread, Steaks, Caesar salad and Caramel slices. Yummy! After Jess and I finished nearly 3 bottles of wine we headed off to meet Neal. Neal also got to take advantage of the open bar that was on the ship and we were all feeling quite happy, we went to two other places and enjoyed a few more beverages (I didn't have a hope of remembering the names the next day).

Jess & I with our matching Havi's!

The following day (aka my Canada Birthday with the time change) was spent enjoying pancakes and recovering at Manly Beach. We met up with the Stoy’s and friends visiting from Auckland (members of Jeff & Jess’ NZ Family) Grissel & Jorge at the Jamie Oliver’s Italian Restaurant.  We enjoyed a delicious meal of fresh pasta and beers. We then watched the fireworks at Darling Harbour which run every Saturday year round at 9pm. I was so excited, I LOVE FireWorks!!

Our last day in Sydney (Sunday) was spent with Neal and I taking the ferry from Darling Harbour to Circular Quay. This ferry offers spectacular views of the Harbour Bridge and famous Sydney Opera House. We walked around the Opera House and took plenty of tourist photos. We had our North American food fix at the Hard Rock Café and then flew home.

What an amazing way to celebrate a birthday!!

… and just to prolong my birthday for a little longer we spent the following week entertaining our first houseguests Grissel & Jorge for 4 days before they returned home to Mexico. We also went to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on the following Friday with our friends Jen & Eric.

Stay tuned for our next blog post “House Guests on A’Beckett Street!”

Cheers,

Laur

xoxo