(Sadie’s post from backpacking with her brothers through southeast asia for two months) First beer in Thailand! We made it to Bangkok, let the fun begin! We were told later that that particular beer has formaldehyde in it. We landed in Thailand the night before and had to walk through a protest to get to our room, because the taxi driver refused to drive through the protest. We stopped for this first beer after exploring Bangkok the first morning there.
February 28, 2011
The time has come to depart this beautiful country! We are packed up and ready to head to the airport first thing in the morning. Bondi Beach turned out to be ok after all. Not my favorite place, but ok none the less, with an amazing beach and famous walk along the rocky coast, which covers three other beaches.
Yesterday we took the bus into Sydney for the day. We explored the “Opera House” and the “Harbor Bridge”. The “Opera House” is amazing and very impressive. I read that the Architect that designed it got the idea from an orange. He was eating an orange and playing with the peels when he got the idea for it. If you take all the sail looking pieces of the Opera House and put them together, they form a sphere.
Today we had a lazy last day and tonight the older kids are taking the bus into Sydney to go to “Kings Crossing”. I guess it is a popular place for the young people to go out at night.
We have met so many travelers that have traveled to so many places; places I have never even heard of! It seems it doesn’t cost that much more to go to numerous countries than to just one. One young German couple was traveling around the world and it only cost them $200 more to go around the world than to go to New Zealand and back home. We made connections in both New Zealand and Australia and have friends should we ever want to come back.
We have done an amazing job of getting along with each other and leaving with positive feelings about group travel. We have planned meals, shopped together for them and then prepared them together “every single day”, oh, and worked on clean up together too! No complaints! The longer we’re together, the sillier we get. These days we’re laughing over just about anything! We’ve had numerous discussions about everything under the sun. We’ve gotten very relaxed and comfortable with traveling and moving from bed to bed.
Our statistics:
*We took nine flights
*Flew 50 hours
*Traveled for 86 days
*Slept in 37 beds
*Drove 10,000 Kilometers “on the wrong side of the road!”
“Cheers” Australia!
February 26, 2011
We’re in Bondi Beach today and we’ll be here until we leave for home on Tuesday. We heard that Bondi Beach is famous for its beaches and surfing. We didn’t actually want to stay in this town, but this happens to be a very busy week-end in the Sydney area and “everything” else was booked up. We’re only about 15 minutes out of Sydney so we’ll still go in for the day. Bondi Beach isn’t what I expected. It’s crowded and not very pretty or quaint. I guess you could say this is the first place we have been to that I was not excited about. Maybe it’s all in the plans, so I’m not too sad about leaving!
The kids are at a Rugby game in Sydney tonight. They took the 5:00 train, so I have the night to myself. I bought a nice bottle of red wine, fixed a vegetarian dinner for myself, and am quite enjoying the night.
Before getting here, we spent three nights in the Blue Mountains. Oh! What beauty! The Blue Mountains are two hours west of Sydney and unbelievably beautiful. We spent two days hiking and saw numerous waterfalls and the most wonderful forests. The hike on the second day had 900 steps down into the valley and 1000 back up! It was all worth it and we did it with no problem.
In the Blue Mountains, there were flocks of Cockatoos everywhere. I love watching them in nature and can’t imagine ever caging such a happy, free animal, or any animal for that matter. They were loud and not real serene sounding. There are also Black Cockatoos. I didn’t get to see them but Eliot saw a flock one day while we were driving.
Australia has been a real treat to visit. The people seem to be very relaxed and kind. I guess it’s hard to be in “the fast lane”, here as 95% of the roads are two lanes; including the freeways. The speed limit isn’t very fast and there are reminders everywhere to slow down and take a break. Driving the coast to this area was about a 10 hour drive and it was through little towns and forests. The freeway goes through the towns. It would be the equivalent of driving US1 all the way up the coast vs highway 95. In fact, that is the way my family traveled to Canada for many years before highway 95 was built.
I recommend visiting this country to anyone that has ever wondered about it. There is something for everyone here. It was nice to see that there isn’t as much “fear” of the crocodiles as we heard from the states, or of the great white sharks. Things are always different when you get somewhere. I’m happy that I have been able to see, first hand, what life is like in Australia and New Zealand! If my kids would come, I think Joe and I would try our best to move to one of these two countries.
February 23, 2011
We spent two nights in Bryon Bay! Byron Bay is a quaint, old, small hippie town a few hours south of Brisbane. Byron Bay has beautiful beaches, and one of the things that make them so beautiful is the coast line and the mountains in the background. There is a Lighthouse you can hike to and this Lighthouse sits on the easterly most point in Australia. At this point, the way the waves come in and break, surfers can get a 20-25 second ride; which is a long time standing on a surf board! Again, the tides were very strong; like it was hard to even stand in one place without being pulled. I guess that’s the story everywhere here.
We’re on a 10 hour drive to the Blue Mountains. It is supposed to be very beautiful and a great place to hike. We’re being brave and daring today. We started the day out at 6:30 and went to a place called “Minion Falls” for a five hour hike. It was drizzling when we got there so we decided we would start with an hour in and then reevaluate. About the time to reevaluate, we began noticing little inch worm leaches on our ankles and shoes. We had another encounter with them a few weeks ago and it wasn’t pretty! They look cute at first but then you realize they are burrowing into your skin at an amazing speed and you have to pull hard to get them off. They even burrow into shoes and socks! We decided with the rain, blood suckers, and the long drive ahead, that we had seen enough of Minion Falls. On the way out we got to see two large “Kookaburras”, which allowed us to get very close for observation.
Two things I love about Australia are the National Parks and the birds. Everywhere you look, there are National Parks to hike and explore. Although there is less than 10 percent of the Rainforests that was once here, there still seems to be a lot. The birds are so amazing! At Byron Bay there were flocks of hundreds of beautiful, colorful parrots flying around and chattering. The Magpie’s have the most amazing voice and I could never tire of listening to them. The Kookaburras too are so outstanding to see and listen to as they make a loud “laughing” sound, even in the nighttime.
Our time is nearing the end here and I am feeling a bit sad about it. I love this country and the diversity it has to offer. I am trying to remain on the vibration of “love” for what I have experienced here and not let the feeling of sadness enter. One of the most important lessons I have learned on this trip is “trust” and the faith to “let go” and know that there is a plan and it will be revealed every step of the way. We have completely lived one day at a time here and so many times what we thought we were going to do didn’t happen but something just as good or better did! I don’t even think more than a day in advance anymore. I wonder how that will work when I get home!
February 20, 2011
We’re chilling at “Gold Coast” at “Surfers Paradise” beach! Gold Coast is a coastal town just south of Brisbane with crystal clear water and beautiful wide white sandy beaches. It also has enormous high rises all along the beach; so high and so many that by late afternoon, the beach is completely shaded. It’s quite a site! I will definitely post pics of it! It is a vacation destination for Australian’s with money and I think that’s how it got its name. This is our first experience of actually “swimming” in the ocean in Australia. You can only swim inside the flagged areas that are patrolled by lifeguards, and the flagged areas are very small and scattered. The ocean has strong tides that seem to change frequently throughout the day and a swimmer can easily be swept out to sea. The life guards are diligent about using their megaphones and keeping swimmers within the flags.
Our original plan was to just pass through and take a look, but since Eliot and Julian wanted to go to a theme park close by, we decided to hang out for a few nights and make the most of our time. We ended up with a two bedroom condo on the beach with the most magnificent views and ocean breezes. We slept with the sliders open and listened to the Pacific all night. Nick got us up at 5:00am to watch the sun rise and that was beautiful as usual! The further south we get, the higher the cost of beds. Hostels at this point are $30 a bed, so $150 for the five of us, and we got this place for $150 a night. It was first quoted at $190 but I was able to bargain them down to $150 if we took it for two nights. That was the third time I’ve been able to bargain and get a room for a lesser amount.
The three nights before getting here, we stayed in Brisbane. Brisbane is the capitol and the third most populated city in Australia. It is along the coast and about 8 hours north of Sydney. It turned out to be a great city to walk and explore. I found the most beautiful tropical gardens near the hostel and spent a few hours walking it one afternoon and counted at least 30 water dragons. At first, I was a bit nervous to walk past one, as the first one I spotted was about three feet long and sunning itself in the middle of the sidewalk. I got my courage up and walked past, practicing what I knew about deep breathing and blending in with my surroundings and he never flinched. After that, it got easier to walk past them. While I was there, I met an amazing woman named “Moss” that had 10 month old twin girls with her. It turned out that she had a doula and had natural childbirth. I loved listening to her story! The next day Eliot and the kids went to the gardens with one purpose in mind…………to let Eliot catch a water dragon! Much to my dismay, they went and yes, he caught one!
While traveling in Australia I became friends with a Birth Advocate/Author, Sarah Buckley on facebook and discovered she lived in Brisbane. I contacted her when I got here and she invited me to pizza night with the family and I accepted. I took a bus to the hospital her husband works at, here in Brisbane, and rode home with him, and she brought me back at the end of the night. It was fabulous! Sarah Buckley is a trained GP/family physician with qualifications in GP-obstetrics and family planning. Her work critiques current practices in pregnancy, birth, and parenting from the widest possible perspectives, including scientific, anthropological, cross-cultural, psychological, and personal. She is the author of: “Gentle Birth Gentle Mothering”. What a treat for me to be able to hang out with her!
Tonight we will barbeque kangaroo meat! Sounds morbid, I know, but it’s one of the “must do’s” on the kids list so we’re doing it! A cool thing about Australia is that they have public “barbecue’s” everywhere and they’re very simple to operate. They have a large flat stainless steel surface and you simply push a button to get it hot. Here though, it’s called “Barbie” to everyone! So, we’re having a Barbie tonight!
February 15, 2011
We’re in the little beach town of Hervey Bay at a lovely, quiet hostel across the street from the beach. Kids are out exploring and I am enjoying a much needed moment to myself with my book (“The Secret the Power”), cup of java and computer. Luckily we don’t have internet right now as that would steal my time from me for sure! I am reading about Gratitude and how the more you express it, the more you feel it and how it doubles everything in your life to be grateful for. I love the reminder. Years ago, when Julian was a baby, I read that each morning you should start the day with a mental list of 10 things to be grateful for, and to really feel it. I have practiced that since and I believe it is one of the practices that helped me fall in love with life.
It appeared, yesterday, that we hit a block and had made a wrong choice. Thank you Julian and Nick, for stepping up and reminding me that it was all ok and we were still going to have a good time! We had the idea that we wanted to visit a place called “Frasier Island”, as we have read so much about how beautiful it was and that you could go sand boarding there. We left the farm yesterday around noon to head in the direction of the island, six hour drive, got here and realized it would cost $740 for the group to go for the day! On the internet we had checked out taking the car, as it has a “car ferry price” listed, but it didn’t exactly say that your car had to be 4 wheel drive and that you had to rent it from them at $170 for the day. Anyway, we weighed out every possible option and came to the conclusion that we could live without seeing Frasier Island. It was dark by the time we drove to this little town and found a hostel. Turns out to be a great little town! The hostel has kayaks too, for $5 for the entire day! We’ll be here for another night. I got up this morning and Nick had already been up and done everyone’s laundry! He even hung it on the clothes line all nice and straight! Nick is a great team player.
We’ll sit with the map later and see what other sort of “changes” we may need to make. We are definitely learning “all the time” and most of all learning to “go with the flow”!
It was hard to leave the farm. In such a short time, we became so close to the family. I love getting to that level quickly with someone and knowing they have touched my life, and vice versa. The night before we left there was a party on the “ant hill”; which is the highest point on the property with a great view of the meadow below and the sunset. There were about ten other farming families with adjoining farms. It was a potluck. Everyone also brought beef sausages to grill. They all loved the Florida travelers and were curious about our experiences. I met another traveler who was working on one of the farms. He was interesting. He was Dutch, about 25 years old, and has been traveling for two years. He said he never liked school and after a few years at University (Uni they call it here), he woke up one day and admitted that he “still didn’t like it”, dropped out, got a visa and left. He has read all the inspirational books I’ve read and his intention in life is to live everyday in the present moment. He says he wants to “live his life” not just “do” something as a means to an end. Life happens all the time, right, and every moment is to be treasured.
February 12, 2011
We’re on day three of farm work in the bush! We’re two hours from the closest town. Tonight they served us a traditional Australian meal of Lamb Roast, roasted vegetables, Pavlova for dessert, and a delicious Australian red wine. The farm is a certified organic cattle farm. During the recent storms in Brisbane, the river flooded and the entire property was a lake for six weeks. The family moved back a week before we got here. Fences are down, grass and garden is dead, and house was inundated with bugs, dirt, and an invasion of mice. We came at just the right time! The kids have been in the pastures every day with Rodger (dad), doing all sorts of farm work and I have been helping mom with kids and getting the house back in order. I consider it post partum doula work. The kids are (almost) two, and three and a half and mom is still adjusting to motherhood and farm life, after a career as a Family Practitioner. Life on a farm isn’t as glamorous as some make it out to be, for sure. You are completely at the mercy of Mother Nature! Two years ago they suffered from a draught, last spring they were stuck in the house for three weeks from the river flooding overnight and they couldn’t get out, and now it happened again for six weeks.
They are very grateful to have us here. I am very grateful to be here! When I see the interaction between Rodger and the kids, and hear the stories each evening of what he shared with them, and what they helped with for the day, I feel like it’s the best education ever! It’s more than an education; it’s an inspiration for them. They are working with a man that loves what he does and is as interested in them and what they want as they are in him.
It is beautiful here! Australia has as many birds as South America and there is always a flock singing their songs. The Magpie is definitely my favorite; their song sounds like a flute. Something I have noticed about a lot of the birds is that they are very people friendly, even though there’s no one out here to be feeding them. When they’re on the hunt, you can walk very close by and they don’t flinch. There are also tons of insects! At night it’s loud with crickets, frogs, and what have you. On the night that we drove in (2 hours drive!), it was around 9:00 and we hit a few places where there were cows sleeping in the road! Lol! They would be slightly startled by the car, get up, and then stand there and stare at us. It was hilarious! There was a bull that was directly in front of the hood having a standoff with the car. It took a while to get around them; then the calves were in the road and ran in front of us trying to get away, rather than running off the road!
The kids are seeing kangaroos on a regular basis out on the farm. They are very fun to watch. They use their hands/paws on their front little legs to hold onto plants when they eat them. There are savannah monitors all around the property and the birds love to tantalize them. Eliot has tried his hand at catching one but hasn’t been quick enough. He’s getting his fill of riding an ATV once again! He’s also working as long and hard as the others and not complaining; that’s a good sign for sure!
Here at the farm, they have guest quarters in a separate little “cottage” (sort of). There are two rooms and a bathroom. One room is a bedroom for Sadie and I. The other room has a small kitchen, table, and bunk beds and a trundle. The boys sleep there. We have a deck, outside table, and camp stove for cooking on. It’s as close to camping as I’ll get while here. I wanted to camp but don’t have the equipment.
So, it’s off to work every day at 8:00, home around 5:30, dinner, and then play cards until bedtime around 10:00. There are breaks for “morning tea” and lunch. Kids are fitting in reading also, and swimming down at the river.
We will take a break when we leave here, spend a few days at the beach, then off to another farm!
February 8, 2011
We’ve been in the “outback” for three days! What an adventure it was getting here! I’ll regress a little……On Saturday, while driving home from hiking the rain forest, Nick and Julian said they would really love to go to the outback. That wasn’t on the agenda at all. We got back to town and started talking to people about exactly where and what was the outback. Turned out, no one really knew. All we got was, “it’s way out west and there’s nothing there”.
We got the map out and picked a place 12 hours out and decided to head out early the next morning. On the way, about 2 hours into the trip we stopped at a bakery for a cup of coffee and the owner told us we better get bread if we wanted it because he was the only supplier for the outback and he had been out of power since Cyclone Yasi. He also sort of “smirked” when we told him where we were going. He seemed to think it was entertaining. We got bread (solid soft white like Eliot likes it!) and headed west. Nick got to get behind the wheel and boy did he love it! We drove for hours, like six, and only saw about three other cars and a few big trucks. We passed through little towns with a population of 60. These towns would be about two hours away from each other, and about the time we thought we were there, we were back out of town. We crossed the Great Dividing Range early in the day. The landscape was hilly at times and very rocky. The first thing of interest we saw were the huge termite, or ant mounds that we’ve all seen on National Geographic. They were everywhere! We saw lots of cattle and it was all a “no fence” zone. We stopped numerous times throughout the day because cattle were meandering across the road. They were so cute! Sometimes they would get to the other side, stop, turn around, and just stare at us. We saw calves too! We hit flat plains that stretched as far as the eye could see. In certain zones, you would have to drive your car through a car wash on the side of the road, to wash away any “seeds” that might be stuck from the previous zone, so as not to spread them. We saw beautiful parrots that were eating road kill. They were large, white, and pink on the chest and under the wings. We drove for six hours and then hit a “road closed” sign. Checked at the local police station, which was inside of a small house, and he said it was closed due to flooding; we were in the monsoon season! Got out the trusty old map again; boy was that hard for Julian and Nick! They wanted to keep going deeper and deeper into the outback. We discovered we needed to back track about two hours to the closest road big enough to take us south until we could head west again. Did the drive, got to the road heading west again and hit another “road closed” sign……… We talked to a local and she explained about the rainy season and how the roads flooded regularly. We told her what we were looking for and she told us the best place to go that was not flooded and would give us the experience we wanted. Still keeping our spirits up and knowing that it’s all ok, we drove further east and found a room for the night at Charters Towers.
Next day, bright and early, back on the road. Today we were driving on the hottest, flattest land I have ever seen. We stopped sometimes to stretch our legs and the blast of heat when we opened the doors was unbelievable! We couldn’t even open the windows while driving because the heat through the car was too much. We liked it though! It was the Australian Outback! About the time Eliot was feeling like he just couldn’t take the car anymore we decided that on such a long flat desolate road, he could take over the wheel. He drove for about 30 minutes and did a very good job. On the road(s) in the outback, most only have one lane and about four feet of gravel on either side. The roads were designed for cattle “trains” to go through. A cattle train is an 18 wheeler pulling two or three trailers with cattle behind them. It is proper courtesy to pull over and stop when you see one approaching. We saw cattle trains but never another car so we didn’t have to figure out what to do in that instance. As evening approached, we got to see our first actual kangaroo! We saw two or three of them, along with wallabies, dingoes, and lots of beautiful birds including cockatoos! Before leaving the beach, between the rain forest hikes and the boat trip, we did get to see a crocodile, green possums, and a variety of bearded dragon species.
We made it to the town of “Longreach” by afternoon and found a room for the night. Longreach is bigger than any other town we have come across in the last few days but still very small. I can’t really use the word “quaint” to describe any of these towns because they aren’t quaint, but old and homey. The owner of the Longreach motel we are at is a great, friendly Australian. He joined us for part of the meal last night and gave us a thirty minute lecture on Australia. There is a large Barbeque area by the pool and that’s where we are cooking our meals. We decided to stay again tonight while waiting to hear back from farms that we want to work at. In the tree across the street, there are hundreds of white parrots living in it and I can hear them chattering all day! This morning we got up at 6:00 to hike to the river in hopes of seeing kangaroos, but didn’t see any. Damian, from the motel, says in the winter there are literally millions of them here. Most of the locals drive four wheel drives with cattle bars on the front, because in the winter you are very likely to hit a kangaroo on the road at night and with a regular car, the radiator and front of it will be taken out by the hit.
We have farm work lined up for the next few weeks. We’re ready to work and live with some real Australians!
February 4, 2011
We survived Cyclone Yasi and are back on track! We ended up being awakened at 6:45am and told to pack up and leave asap as the beachfront was being evacuated. It was kind of tough deciding what to do next; evacuation center or time share high rise for $220 night. We ended up at the time share because we heard the evacuation centers were filling up, and we were told that they had aluminum roofs vs the cement and steel construction of the time share. Safety was definitely the first priority, and also the thought of a very crowded place, sleeping on the hard floor, eating ‘who knows what’, vs a very nice, clean, comfy 2 bedroom time share with three balconies to keep an eye on the storm and an ocean view (it was two blocks away so wasn’t evacuated). We stocked up on food, cooked what we could before losing power (which never happened!), got comfy and lived in luxury for 24 hours! At times during the storm we would go out onto a balcony and the last time, the wind was so strong that we had to duck down and hang on for dear life! There were Magnolia Trees across the street with hundreds of the giant bats swarming around and screeching. I don’t know if that was their normal behavior or if they were confused due to the storm. Very cool to observe! The kids got pics and videos of them. Next morning we decided to rent a car, pack it up with all of our stuff and go driving to the Daintree Rain Forest.
The Daintree Rainforest is a World Heritage Site and this area contains the highest number of plant and animal species that are rare, or threatened with extinction, anywhere in the world. It is said to be the first place for plants to flower and is the oldest rain forest in the world. World Heritage Sites are actual “places” that are endangered and protected by the United Nations. The road getting there was a bit of a mess but the drive was beautiful. Australia is much more scenic than I expected. We got there, took a ferry over the Daintree River, and drove along the windy beach road that goes through the Rain Forest. It is also home to the endangered “Cassowary” and there are 86 of them that live there. The Cassowary is the largest land animal in Australia and is actually a bird. We were the only people we saw that day in the forest. We found a place to hike. The trails were covered with debris from the storm. It was our first “outback” sort of experience and we weren’t sure what to expect! Because of all the talk of poisonous insects, snakes, and so on, we were feeling rather daring. It was very damp, due to being a “Rainforest” and the weather conditions from the Cyclone. We heard birds of every nature and insects. We had numerous “panic” moments when someone would be covered with hundreds of funny looking ants and doing the “ant dance” while knocking them off. There was a vine that was very thin and covered with spiky thorns that both Sadie and I got trapped in and of course we panicked to the point where you would have thought we were being strangled! Lol! With each panic moment we would all end up laughing to the point of tears!
On the way back to Cairns from the Rain Forest we saw Wallabies all along the fields off the road! Wallabies are like small kangaroos and live in Australia. We called them kangaroos because they look just like them and were 3-4 feet tall! We saw so many of them! For Australia it seems as common to see Wallabies as to see Deer in the country in the north in America. That was a real treat! So, Wallabies and giant bats are the two most unusual animals we have seen so far! More to come, I am sure!
We got back to town and checked back in to the hostel. We’ll be here for the next 3 or 4 nights and then we will head south. We’re ready for a real “out back experience”!
February 1, 2011
Today we went on a boat to the Great Barrier Reef. It was an all day excursion. We took the introductory scuba diving class and were able to scuba dive. We also did hours of snorkeling. It was beautiful and basically looked the same as any other reef I have ever snorkeled on. The crew was entertaining, the buffet lunch was nice, and the wine and cheese and crackers at the end were delightful!
There is a category four cyclone (same as our “hurricane”) expected to make land fall tomorrow! We have been advised to pack everything up before we go to bed tonight as if we were leaving in the morning. We are directly across the street from the beach and may need to be evacuated. Julian thinks we should consider renting our car if we get evacuated and just driving north, out of range of the storm. We’ll have one or our regular “meetings” (lol!) in the morning and decide what to do. It’s interesting being on the “tourist” end of a storm coming. We’re just loving life and relaxing while the residents are in a little bit of a panic about being flooded and having their roofs blown off!
So far, we haven’t seen any dangerous or scary insects or animals in Australia. Before coming here, everyone in New Zealand said things like “why would you want to go there? There are insects everywhere and some that can kill you and it’s so noisy with all their sounds!”. The gigantic bats, which are called “flying squirrels” are the only thing out of the ordinary at this point. It seems that there may be some competitive spirit between the New Zealanders and Australians and whose country is best. The Australians joke about the wimpy country of New Zealand! I think New Zealand is a pristine, peaceful, beautiful country and I do hope to go back some day.