I am back from a whirlwind tour of Australia and New Zealand and had an incredible time experiencing things that I had always dreamed of and some I never knew to dream about. It was a super busy 4 weeks of nonstop early morning, late evenings and lots of sightseeing. One of the other ladies on our tour had shown our itinerary to an Australian who commented that we were speed dating Australia and I think he was right. We got to see a little bit of a lot but there are a few places that now that I have experienced them then I would like to go back sometime and get to spend more time and see more detail of the area. We saw so much that this post could be pages and pages long and since I go back to work in a couple of days and don't want to spend so much time writing it, I thought I would share the highlights of my favorite experiences instead. So in chronological order of how I experienced them...
The Penguin Parade (Phillips Island)- Every day these Little Penguins wobble out to the beach during the morning sunrise to dive in the ocean and gorge themselves on fish, swim and play all day, and them make their way back up the beach in the evening for what is known as the Penguin Parade and it is adorable! You can't take any pictures because the flashes would hurt their sensitive little eyes and put them at risk for not seeing natural predators. As soon as the sun started to set, we saw the first little penguins making their way up the beach in packs of 5 to 20 at a time. As they make their way up the beach, their mates are waiting for them in the nests and you can hear them calling out. When the penguin finally makes it home there are great amounts of squawking and noise making as the mate welcomes them home! When the penguins are getting ready to molt their feathers, they are not able to go into the water and therefore just prior to the molting process they gorge themselves on fish to get really fat and live off the extra energy stores while they can't return to the sea. Watching the really fat penguins trying to get up the hill was probably the cutest part. One in particular would take about 5 or 6 steps and then fall flat on his stomach and rest for about 30-40 seconds before getting up again and taking another labored 5-6 steps before falling flat again. He just looked so miserable and you could hear him call out to his mates a kind of, hey! wait for me!, that was just too cute for words. I couldn't take any pictures but if you go to the website you can see some pictures that they have posted that were taken with special cameras. (http://www.penguins.org.au) We did the Penguins Plus ticket and I think the little extra was worth it.
Great Ocean Road- The Great Ocean Road is located about 2 hours southwest of Melbourne and is home to the famous 12 Apostles that are giant rocks sticking out of the ocean and worn away at the bases from years upon years of waves splashing against the impressive rocks. There actually were never 12 but it just sounded better and I think there are only 8 now due to a few toppling over from the wear against the bases from the ocean. Mom and I took a 10 minute helicopter flight over the top of the Apostles before getting to go down to look at them from ground level. There are many gorgeous sights along the Great Ocean Road and with literally every turn there is jaw dropping scenery but the 12 Apostles are the most well know. Overall it was a beautiful way to spend a day and was one of the things that I really wanted to do and was not disappointed by.
Feeding kangaroos at the UnZoo- In Tazmania there is a place called the UnZoo because it keeps animals there but also has no outer walls so wild animals are free to come and go through the Unzoo as well. Some of those animals included kangaroos and wallabys. These sweet creatures know when it is feeding time and with a bucket of feed nearby we each took handfuls and had the kangaroos literally eating out of our hands! They were so soft and friendly. We spent about 30 minutes with the kangaroos and it was by far one of my favorite parts of the trip.
Standing on the beach with wild sea lions- On Kangaroo Island (where we strangely didn't see any kangaroos) there was the opportunity to walk down to a beach with a park ranger and stand on the beach with sea lions all around basking in the sun, calling out to their friends, and jumping through the waves that were breaking onto the beach. We watched a baby sea lion emerge from the dunes and call out for his mama as he waddled down the beach within 20 feet of where we were standing and he didn't even take notice of us. It was as if we were just rocks on the beach and something to skirt around as he searched for his mom. So cool!
Champagne toasts at sunset and camel rides at sunrise in Uluru- Sunset at Uluru was not what I thought it would be when we signed up for the tour. Instead of positioning yourselves so that the sun sets behind the rock, we were actually positioned so the sun set facing the giant rock so we could watch the way the colors of the sunset changes the way the rock looks through the reflection of the sunset. Also, I'm a fan of anything that involves champagne! It just makes everything feel more festive. In the morning, we were up very, very early to catch a sunrise camel ride. If you are heading to Uluru, I would say this was a very unique experience that is not to be missed. I had never been on a camel before but from what I was told, in Egypt camels are quite rude and spitting on their passengers, but Australia's camel population is very friendly and mild. We rode Pete who was the tallest camel in the group and when he first stood up, I held on for dear life!! After getting use to being up high and the way a camel walks, it was a peaceful, beautiful ride and definitely worth the early morning wake up call.
Swimming with a sea turtle on the Great Barrier Reef- Dream. Come. True. I have wanted to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef for as long as I knew that it existed. I thought it would be this magical place full of color, fish of all shapes and sizes and after watching Finding Nemo...who didn't want to meet Crush?! It was as amazing as I dreamed it would be but getting to spend time with a green sea turtle who was just as curious about me as I was about it, really made me feel like I was in a dream. After watching the turtle swim and eat under the water, it came directly up to me and looked at me before bumping into me and sliding it's smooth shell against my arm. It was only a few minutes of a blip in time that I will never forget.
Holding a koala!- Dream. Come. True. Ok, I'm repeating myself but swimming with a sea turtle on the Great Barrier Reef and getting to a hold a koala were two things that I have always wanted to do and getting to actually do both of them in one trip was incredible. When I think about it, I can't erase the smile that comes to my face with just the memory. I have gone through my koala pictures multiple times since returning home with this huge, goofy grin on my face every time. It was so sweet and fuzzy with this giant bum resting on my arm and its arms cradling my other arm as if I was a tree and he had this completely uninterested expression on his face. It was amazing.
Climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge- The climb had just the right amount of excitement and adrenaline with being a little bit scary from the height but in reality I was completely safe. I thought it would be hard with so many steps to climb but it was actually very easy. They would have us walk up about the equivalent of 2-3 flights of stairs at a time and then stop, take a break, and look around to absorb the view. You can't take your own camera or have anything lose that might fall to the traffic crossing the bridge below, but my guide took plenty of pictures of us with the iconic Sydney Opera House behind us that we could buy once we got down. The view was beautiful and at one point as a helicopter flew by that seemed rather close it was a bit disconcerting to realize I was closer to the helicopter above than to the boats floating under the bridge below.
Jet boat tour outside of Queenstown, New Zealand- I had 2 people tell me that I had to try the jet boat tour in New Zealand and I would pass that advice on to anyone going to Queenstown. High speed boat that glides over shallow water and does 360 degree spins...what's not to love? Even one of the friends we made on the trip who was worried about the spins because it usually makes her sick, loved it. The speed was fun and the scenery was jaw dropping throughout the entire hour long ride.
Waitomo Caves- When we started planning this trip, I knew I wanted to go to New Zealand as well because I had heard it was beautiful but I didn't have as formed of an opinion of places that I had to see like I did in Australia. The glowworm caves were the exception. They aren't actually glowworms but more like a phosphorescent larvae that cling to the ceiling of the caves to attract bugs into "the light at the end of the tunnel" which turns out to be their web for food. After walking around the cave and viewing the stalagtites and stalagmites and listening to our guide sing a Maori song to demonstrate the excellent acoustics of the cave, we boarded a boat in the dark and rode beneath the stars of the cave in pure silence with nothing but the occasional trickling of water to interrupt it. It was fantastic and serene and I think I could have spent several hours instead of several minutes down there if I had been allowed.
Australia and New Zealand have always seemed like another world to me and almost inaccessible with such a journey just to get there. The almost 16 hour flight to Melbourne from L.A. was not easy but it was worth it. The land down under is no longer a mysterious place I dream of going to one day but now a happy memory that my mom and I can relive together with stories and pictures over and over again. It is a little less intimidating now with the airplane ride under my belt and with any luck I will return one day to explore these delightful countries even more. Which reminds me of a fantasticly bad joke we were told outside of the caves that I will leave you with... Do you think if they cut the tail off of the glowworm that they would be delighted?
