Port Douglas and the Great Barrier Reef!

Hello All!

I know that it has been QUITE a while since I have updated my blog, for which I am sorry!  In an effort to catch you all up on my adventures down under, I am going to start with the latest of my activities and work backwards.  So, first off: Port Douglas and the Great Barrier Reef!

Since we got a week off between the end of classes and exams (normally meant for studying...), I decided to head up to northern Queensland to see the Great Barrier Reef with 3 of my friends.  In order to have fun and get back with enough time to study for exams, we made it an action-packed 4 days!  

As soon as we got off the plane, we rented a car and headed up to Palm Cove for a bit of sea kayaking!  We went on a tour around a small island (called Double Island) with two instructors and just the four of us.  It was a beautiful day...and extremely calm water.  It was hard to remember that we were actually on the ocean!  We stopped for some snorkelling and some fruit on the island and decided to explore a bit.  We found 1 giant spider, 1 GIANT grasshopper, and a plethora of green ants.  The tour guides (with much effort) convinced us to try the green ants.  So, each of us in turn ate the butt of a green ant...which ended up being really tasty!  Since they eat so much citrus off of the trees on the island, they taste just like a jolly rancher!  Haha.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pics of the sea kayaking yet.  The instructor had a waterproof camera and I am still waiting for him to email me some of the good shots.  So you'll just have to imagine for now!

The next day, we went straight to the GB Reef for some diving!  It was unbelievably cool.  There was an amazing amount of fish and they were just all around you.  I saw Nemo and all of his friends too!  I was really afraid to do SCUBA at first, but we had Queensland's best instructor (2008) to guide us and he was very calming.  As we went under, I forgot about the fact that we were 30 feet under when i saw all of the cool fish swimming around me.  We even held a sea cucumber! hehe.  As we were swimming around, the company that we went with had a professional photographer with an underwater camera to follow us around.  Here are some pics from his camera:

NEMO!

The beautiful coral and schools of fish!
Me trying to breath underwater without panicking!  It worked out!
The four of us with our instructor...the ultimate beach guy!
After our amazing trip under the water, we all headed back to our hostel and were asleep by 8pm (very tiring day!).  The next day, we got up and went up north to the Daintree Rainforest in Cape Tribulation.  It was about a two hour drive, but really beautiful!

On the way, we stopped in Mossman to do some river-drift snorkelling of the Mossman River.  We had a real cute Aussie guide who led us around a loop of the river and picked us a wild passionfruit to eat!  It was really cool.  We were floating around and there was rainforest all around us!  See if you can spot me floating in the pic below:

The last area we went through was called the cathedral and was just a really great view of the canopy above us.

After this, we got straight back in the car and headed to Cape Trib.  Views were gorgeous along the way:
Next up, we went ziplining (or jungle surfing as they called it) through the rainforest canopy!  We were really high up, all strapped into harnesses, and just zipped along through the trees.  It was so fun!
The last zip was the scariest because they made everyone do it upside down!  Unfortunately, my camera wasn't quite quick enough but I got a blurry shot of me going along!
After all of these crazy activities, we decided to spend our last day at the beach.  So we drove a little north of Cairns (where we stayed our last night) and found Holloways Beach.  It was very pretty and had a delicious little cafe right near it.  We spent the whole day lounging and I finally got a bit of a tan!  (Its now winter in Wollongong so I have turned back into a ghost)
After saying goodbye to the glorious warm and sunny weather in northern Queensland, we got back on the plane to go home and study for finals. :(  

Luckily, I am now finished with tests for the semester and now have a few weeks of free time on my hands!  Its been a great semester and I wouldn't trade it for the world.  Hope you enjoy some of the hilights in the next few posts!

Caitlin

Royal National Park Hike and Footy Game!

Hello!

Considering that my dear brother-in-law Brett is a CRAZY Australian rules football fan, we decided to accompany him to a game.  His favorite team, the West Coast Eagles, was playing against the Sydney Swans in a great match up!  In order to go sit with them, my friend and I had to dress up as hard core Eagles fans so we could sit in the cheer section.  Here's a pic of me in my garb, ready to go!

We were sitting right behind the goal and were so close, we kept getting hit with the ball when they scored a goal!
Here is a pic of my sister, Erin, and I at the game.
And here is her funny husband Brett getting very excited when the Eagles were winning!  (Unfortunately for him, they lost in the last few minutes of the game!  It was a great game...very close right up until the last minute!)
And finally, here is a pic of me and my friend Jess with all of the worried fans and hecklers behind us. :)
A few weeks later, I went on a hike with my program to the Royal National Park along the south coast.  It was gorgeous!  Here is a pic of the group that went on the hike:

We hiked in to this really pretty little beach and all along it were these rocks that had been carved out by the sea.  It was stunning.
More pretty coastline!
After walking along the coast for a while, we hiked into the palm rainforest.  It was so surprising in the middle of this area but had really dense palm trees everywhere!
Finally, we ended back where we started along the coastline.  It was a beautiful day and a great hike!

That's all for now.  Thought you might enjoy some scenery pics!

Caitlin

Tasmania (or as the Aussies lovingly call it, Tassy)

Hey All!

Next up in my adventures was a weekend trip to Tasmania.  Tasmania is an island state in Australia (although many mainland Aussies think it should be its own country!) located just south of the mainland.  Being south, it was a bit colder than Wollongong but had beautiful autumn colors!  Here is a map of the lovely Tasmania:  We stayed in Hobart, which is along the south coast.

Our first day there was spent roaming around the Salamanca markets.  They are held only once a week on Sundays and go for about 8 blocks along one street in Hobart.  There was a variety of things sold there including dresses, bone necklaces, Ugg slippers (not the brand name...they don't really have that in Australia), and tons of decorative things for houses.  Below is a pic:

Right next to the markets was this really cute little park that reminded me of NYC in the fall. :)

Being along the coast, Hobart has many harbours.  Here is a pic of one we walked by on our way into town in the morning:
On our second day there, we decided to hire a bus to drive us up the tallest mountain there called Mount Wellington.  We were so high up that we were above the clouds!  (And it was FREEZING!)
On the way back down, we stopped at a natural mountain waterfall for a drink. :)
That afternoon, we headed into Battery Point.  A very quaint little area of town full of parks and shops.  Here is a pic the nearby harbour:
And finally...that night we ended up going on a ghost tour!  As Tasmania is where the convicts were first dropped off at when they were brought over from England, there are many historic buildings in the area.  One was called the penitentiary chapel, where convicts were brought for church and court!  Our tour guide was the creepiest man...perfect for the job!  Also...the lighting in the rooms seemed to be quite strange.  My camera didn't have any waterspots or anything on the lens but ended up coming out with these little light flecks in many of the pics (maybe ghosts!).
The next day was our last day in Tassy, so we decided to go and do a brewery tour!  We visited Cascade Brewery- the oldest brewery in Australia, dating back to the early 1800's.  They taught us all about how they make beer and gave a taste of some of their best!
Finally, we had to say goodbye to Tassy and go back to Wollongong.  It was a quick trip but definitely worth it!  There are so many beautiful things to see in Tasmania, I think I could have stayed a week.

Last but not least, here is a pic of me in my normal travel-wear: huge backpacking pack on, and Lonely Planet book in hand!

Hope you enjoyed my tales of Tassy!

Caitlin

Hong Kong and Bali= AMAZING! (Part 1)

Hello!

We got a week off of school (typically called reading week) but most people take it as a "spring break."  Since my boyfriend, Nick, was studying abroad in Hong Kong this semester, I decided to go visit him for 10 days in my time off.  Also, as it was during Easter, Nick had some time off too so we booked a mini-vacation to Bali!  Here are some of the hilights:

First off, the hotel we stayed at was in a part of the city called Sheung Wan.  It was pretty easy to get around to the whole city from here on buses, trolleys, and even ferries!  Here is the view from our hotel: a concrete jungle!

The first day after arriving, we decided to go to the Stanley.  It was a really pretty area of HK with a beach and markets that sold everything from silks to ties to ornate chop sticks!  It was such a pretty busride there, that I would probably rank it as one of our favorite things we did in HK.  Here are some pics:
Me and Nick at Stanley beach
The markets...chaos with all of those people!!
The next day was Easter Sunday, so we decided to try the traditional Chinese cuisine of Yum Cha (tea and dim sum...which can really be anything).  We looked up a place in the Lonely Planet-HK book but we VERY surprised when we got there.  We were the only non-Chinese people there and it was packed.  It took us about 10 minutes and lots of sign language to get a table!  A lot of people in HK speak english but in the very traditional places, you will be lucky to find an english menu.  This was one of those places.  

Usually, during yum cha, you just kind of wait until the waiters come around with these carts of food.  They normally tell you what is on the carts (in these little bamboo pots) and you tell them how many of each thing you want and they give you a stamp on a menu card to keep track of how much you own them.  At this place, however, we had no idea what we were getting as hardly anyone spoke english, so we just kind of guessed what we were eating!  Most of it turned out okay, but Nick made one very poor choice of bamboo pots.  Haha!  He thought that this little wrapped thing was a chicken leg (which I later made fun of him for, as I couldn't imagine there being chicken legs served at dim sum) but later discovered that underneath the wrapping was a duck foot!  (pic below)
Luckily, I discovered this right before Nick was about to take a bite out of it.  I convinced him that it was a good idea to check inside. hehe  It was unbelievable though...the people next to us were just eating these things like a drumstick!

Throughout the next few days, we decided to explore a bunch of different places in the city.  Next up was Kowloon: since it is technically attached to mainland China (although part of the country of HK) we had to take a ferry across the bay to get there. (Pic below)

In Kowloon, we went to a bunch of interesting places including a goldfish market (there is really a block of stores dedicated solely to goldfish and beta fish!) and the Mong Kok markets.  Mong Kok was a crazy area of the city...there were so many flashing signs everywhere it was hard to tell where you were going!  Here's a pic of me on one of the busy streets:
After finding some cool things in the Mong Kok markets (including a really pretty fake Swatch) we headed over to the temple street area.  Here they had this really lovely little "resting" garden and tons of cool temples.  Right next door, they had a few blocks of nights markets that sold tons of little gadgets and statues.  Here is a pic of one of the tables:

The next day, we wandered around the city until nighttime where we walked along the Promenade to see the beautiful lights of the city.
And had the BEST Thai green curry that I have ever tasted!!!!
The city was filled with transportation...busses, taxis, and trolleys made the streets fairly crowded!
One of my last days before Bali, we decided to head up to "The Peak"- the tallest point in the city where you can see the whole place.  To get up there, you take this cute little trolley that is only held up by a thin steel cable.  If it wasn't so steep, I think I would have enjoyed the ride a bit more!!
Finally at the top, it immediately began raining and clouding over! :(  We managed to get a few pictures (Nick has rain in his eyes in this one) before going inside and waiting for the rain to blow over.
Finally, it cleared up to reveal a really awesome skyline!
After visiting most of the areas of HK, we headed over to the more westernized area called Soho.  There were little to no Chinese signs and TONS of restaurants and bars.  We ended up having a meal at this great little Mexican place...my first burrito in 3 months!  (There are almost no Mexican restaurants in Australia!)
The next day, we headed off to Bali for a quick 3.5 day visit!  I broke that one up as this is getting to be quite the novel!

Caitlin

Hong Kong and Bali= AMAZING! (Part 2)

Hello All!

Ok...Hong Kong and Bali, Part 2.  After having an amazing few days in HK, we jetted off to Bali for a quick 3.5 day stay.  We decided to splurge on a hotel room, so we stayed in the beautiful resort Melia Bali in Nusa Dua (a small resort peninsula in the south of the island).  Here is pic of Nick in our room:

The first thing I noticed when we finally got there was how amazing humid Bali is!  I walked out of the door to take a picture and the lens of my camera immediately fogged up!  However, after getting used to the humidity, I found Bali to be beautiful!  Everything is so green and lush, especially on the grounds of our resort:

We spent the first day and a half lounging completely.  There was a gorgeous beach about five minutes walk from our room where we parked and stayed for the whole day.  By this time in the semester, I needed a nice relaxing vacation and this was just the ticket!  Here is a pic of what I like to call the "paradise chairs" haha...
After getting sick of the salty ocean (yeah right!) we spent some time at the tropical pool on the other side of the resort.  The weather was perfect: about 85 degrees and sunny.  Unfortunately for us, that meant quite a nice little sunburn, but it was worth it!  Here are a few pics of the pool days:  
Me enjoying a pina colada in a baby coconut. :)
After our days of laziness, we decided that we should go and see a little of the real Bali.  On the island of Bali, there are a number of smaller cities, but the main one is called Denpasar.  It is where many of the locals live and few tourists visit.  But we thought it was amazing!  We hired a taxi driver to drive us around all day (and for $17 dollars each no less!) and see the city.  The first stop we made was at the Royal Temples.  In order to enter, the Balinese woman who watches over these temples had to dress us in a special wrap and silk belt for respect of the temples.  The temples were so cool!  Inside there were tons of smaller buildings with little offerings of flowers and different rices and things next to them.  Everything was very ornate.  Here are a few pics:

First off, the gate to get into the temples.

Here's a picture of Nick (in his little dress...haha) in front of some of the statues.  It was so strange- in Bali, they dress all of their statues in beautiful silks and flowers every day.
After walking around the temples for a bit, we headed next door to the bird market!  It was the funniest little place.  They sold every type of bird you could imagine plus other animals like monkeys and rabbits!  Here is a pic of me with the little yellow birds:
And this was my favorite thing at the market: I wanted to take him home so badly, but Nick advised me against it! :)
After this, we told our driver to take us to Denpasar's traditional market.  We got there to find this huge outdoor market with every fruit and vegetable you could think of, plus more!  After wandering around for a while, we decided to head inside to take a look at the non-food market.  Since we were the only white people, every store keeper came running to us to try and sell us what they had in their shops.  We didn't end up staying too long because of this, but I managed to get a few packets of spices to take home for my sister in Australia and a really lovely scarf for me.  Here's a pic of the outside:  People were walking around carrying the biggest baskets of things on their heads!  Amazing!
Not only did they have food, but baskets and baskets of flowers!
After getting out of the markets, we went next door to a quieter area where we could find a few gifts.  We ended up getting some really beautiful paintings for super cheap!  Money in Bali was amazing...here's a pic of their 50,000 note.  When I first got there, I thought we would never spend it...until I found out that 50,000 rupiah is only about US$5!
After packing up our things and saying goodbye to the beautiful weather, we headed back to the airport.  And after 2 long flights, we were back in HK for my last two nights before I went back to Australia.  We went back to the same hotel we stayed at in Sheung Wan and luckily for us, they were all booked out of their normal rooms.  So, they had no choice but to put us in one of the executive suites on the top floor!!  It was great...we didn't even have to pay extra because no one had booked that room for those dates anyhow!  On the 34th floor, our view of the concrete jungle was awesome:

After our long flights, we decided to just stay in for the night.  The next day, we got up to explore the city for the last day.  Before we left for Bali, I went and had a tailored suit measured for me so we went across the bay to Kowloon to pick it up and spent the rest of the day just wandering the city.  At night, we did one of the last things on my checklist: visit one of the "sea stores."  In the area where we were staying, they have a 10-15 of these stores right in a row where they sell all kinds of sea products.  I think they are for people to eat, but some of them looked quite questionable!!  Overall, I wasn't sure what most of the things were but it was interesting just the same. :)
The next morning, I woke up and headed back on the underwater subway to the airport!  (It is built on a man-made island right next to Hong Kong as there is no room for it in the city.)  After saying my goodbyes, I was back on a 9 hour flight to Sydney where Erin and Brett picked me up and took me back to stay at their place for a few days.  Going back to school is no fun after you go on vacation!!

Anyhow, next up: Gold Coast.

Caitlin