Fertile Atherton Tablelands

Other great things about Queensland include Cassowaries, rainforests, strangler figs and Ulysses Butterflies.

Bad things about Queensland include poor coffee making skills and stingers. When it’s 35 degrees out and you can’t go in the ocean because jellyfish will eat you alive, it’s a bummer.

The elusive Casswary

If you find yourself in Cairns, take a couple days to drive up to Cape Tribulation. Just driving on the twisty road is adventure enough! But then you also get lush, green forests, crocodiles, and cassowaries. For some reason there were very few tourists around when we were there. It wasn’t like we thought it would be…it’s not developed at all. Just a few caravan parks. It really makes you feel like you’re in the wilderness.

On your way back to Cairns, stop for a dip at the Mossman Gorge. The water is chilly, but the view is worth is.

Brrr.....Mossman Gorge

A drive through the Atherton Tablelands is also a must. Magnificent landscapes. I also recommend Paronella Park, which I thought was going to be a huge tourist trap for Japanese Anime Fans. It turned out to be a beautiful fairy-tale forest complex with a lot of local history.

Cairns itself was nice, but nothing too note worthy. The lagoon is a nice alternative to the ocean, which leads to certain death (stingers).

Downtown Hobart

All it took was a week for me to fall in love with Tasmania. Although we only saw Hobart and the area around it, I feel that we got a good taste for the state. It reminded me a lot of Halifax as a city; small, coastal and cheery.

Out of all the markets we visited in Australia, the Salamanca market in Hobart wasby far the best. Bustling with people and buskers, it had rows and rows of stalls with a good variety and quality artisan work. If you’re there on a Saturday it’s a must!

Port Authur was also a favourite. It’s an old penial colony shut down in the 1870s. I know what you’re thinking…the whole country was a penal colony, right? Right, but they weren’t actually in prison. They were given land to work and were basically free but they weren’t allowed to go back to Britain. Port Aurthur was where you went if you re-offended after being sent to Australia. A lot of history there. At one point it even held Canadian political prisoners. Cool.

Solitary confinment at Port Arthur

Wineglass Bay

We visited two beautiful national parks, Mt. Field and Freycinet. Mt. Field has the famous and beautiful Russell falls and Freycinet has Wineglass Bay…one of the top 10 beaches in the world. I’m sure the others are in New Zealand…more on that later.

And, of course, we saw some Tasmanian Devils. So cute! They’re currnetly endagnered due to a facial cancer that’s spread through biting. They’re trying to breed resistant populations so if you’re in Tasmania try to donate to the cause! There’s donation bins at all the wildfile parks and such.

Looks shockingly like the beaches in Canada. haha

Brad and I recently spent the weekend in Lorne, which is a town about 2 hours out of Melbourne on the Great Ocean Road. When we did a day tour of the G-O-R early in our Australia stay we just drove through Lorne but it looked so adorable I wanted to go back!

Look at that cheese! Oh baby!

I had great hopes for some hiking to see the forests and waterfalls in the area but the weather had other plans. We were really right along the coast and about 90% of the time we were there we had a lovely storm. Pretty much a hurricane. Rain and wind like there was no tomorrow. So we watched some footy, ate and read a lot. And I had a nap. It was a lovely weekend to relax at least.

So if you happen to visit Lorne, based on my experiences I recommend you eat at Kafe Kaos for breakfast and get the focaccia that’s smothered in cheese or try the River Tea House and have the fruit toast with brie and stay at The Shed (it’s a cottage with a little kitchen and it was ADORABLE). And you can skip the Lorne Hotel. Bleh. And maybe visit in the summer and not the winter! haha

Now if you were to arrive in Melbourne from Canada and try to order a coffee you would probably be confused and so would the barista. You cannot ask for a coffee. Well you can, but that will be followed by “what coffee would you like?” They don’t even have drip coffee! It’s all espresso made. You can ask for a latte or cappuccino and those are the same. But here’s a mini lesson:

Latte = Latte

Cappuccino = Cappuccino

Flat White = Latte with less foam

Long Black = Americano (like a black coffee)

Short Black = Espresso shot

Macchiato = Espresso shot with a little milk

But here’s the kicker…coffees in Melbourne are better than any coffee I have ever had anywhere. It’s soooo good. I’m already dreading of what will happen when I go back to Canada and need to fuel my caffeine addiction. And it’s cheaper! A latte at Starbucks in Canada is going to be $4-$5. A latte here is going to be $2.50-$3.50. That makes a big difference if you buy a coffee (or three) a day. I’m lucky enough to work at a cafe and get coffees at work, otherwise I’d be poor. This is the plus 1.

The minus 1 is that no one uses travel mugs! I’ve hardly seen anyone go into a cafe with their own mug.  A lot of people do have their coffees in the cafe, and get real cups and mugs, but there’s a lot of take-away coffee cups used in this city everyday. I’m trying to use mine every time I go and maybe it will catch on. Maybe.

Honey Bee huddle at Nationals

Well we’ve gotten to do some more traveling lately after being stationary for a while. The Australian Ultimate Championships just took place in Perth, Western Australia. Did you know it’s the most isolated capital city in the world? (So said one of our guides…I have not actually checked this fact)

I definitely recommend that you make the effort to get there if you’re in Australia. Basically, Australia seems to be mostly concentrated on the East Coast, so I imagine most travelers don’t make it over to the west. If it hadn’t been for the frisbee tournament we probably wouldn’t have made the trip.

We actually didn’t see the city hardly at all. We took a 3 day trip

to the South, going as far as Wapole, where we did the tree top canopy walk, which was a delight for the botanist in the group. We also climbed the bicentenial tree, 75 high. The way up is via a ladder made of re bars stuck into the side of the tree. Totally worth it but also totally insane. This tree ladder would not but legal in Canada.  There were also some wineries on the way and the really cool Ngligi cave.

We spent a day going north to the Pinnicles Desert. It was pretty cool but if you have limited time I might skip it.

And finally we spent a night and 2 days on Rottnest Island. Loved it! Could have stayed longer. It’s a great place to relax, ride around on a bike and meet the local ‘critters’ as Brad calls them (actually called Quokkas). Also, if going and you’re not rich, BYO food. There are minimal places to eat, which surprised us; and that allows them to jack the prices. $16.50 for fish and chips? Ouch.

In summary, it was a great trip. I would have loved to have had the time/money to head up the coast to Broome and other lovely sounding places. But ‘dems the breaks!

Cutie Quokka

Brad and I did a day tour of the Great Ocean Road the other weekend with Go West. We saw a lot! It was a pretty fast paced tour, not a lot of time to get out and explore areas. However, if you have a limited timeline, as in only one day, we were pretty happy with it.

The coast was amazingly beautiful, as you can see from a picture of the twelve apostles I took. There are crazy crazy rock formations. These were just some of the many we saw.

There was also a short trek through a beautiful rainforest. It’s hard to believe there is a rainforest in an area as dry as this. There were lots of amazing tree ferns and craggy, monster looking trees.

If you have time I highly reccommend taking 2-3 days to see the Great Ocean Road, but if you only want to spare a day, Go West was pretty good. Our guide could have used a few more jokes, but you can’t win them all!

Meerkat Manor! Kinda

Brad and I went to the Melbourne Zoo not too long ago. We were able to see a slew of native animals; Kangaroos, Wombats, and even a platypus! There was also lots of non-native species. I saw lions, gorillas, elephants, and meerkats (which were the cutest, see pictures).

I’m a bit on the fence about zoos. I’m not for keeping animals in unnatural, tiny settings, not letting them hunt and socialize like they do in nature. I remember going to the Oaklawn Farm Zoo in Nova Scotia for a biology class. They boast the world’s largest lion. As in weight. This lion was seriously overweight. It was sad to see. And this was on the main sign going into the zoo!

However, many zoos have animals that were rescued and can’t be released. This is often the case with birds. Other zoos really focus on pushing the message of conservation. “Hey Kids, love the river otters? Help protect our rivers!”, etc. I was really impressed with the aquarium in Shanghai, which I felt had a great focus on conservation.
As for the Melbourne Zoo, there was some conservation issues addressed, but nearly as much as I would have like to have seen.
So next time you make a Sunday trip to the zoo, think about what the zoo means for the animals and maybe decide not to visit those zoos without a rescue/conservation emphasis. Support things that are good for animals and good for the environment!

Roos and an Emu!

Blurry fire-damaged areas on the Huma highway

The other weekend we drove from Melbourne to Canberra. Along the way we went through the areas affected by the recent bushfires that have been burning for weeks. It was really amazing to see.

The area we saw seemed massive, and we only saw the damage on the sides of the highway. It went on for kilometres. As you can see from the blurry picture taken from the car window. the trees still have leaves but the ground is black and nothing is growing below the tree canopy. You could see houses that had survived, with blackened groud all around, right beside spaces that had one been a house but now there was nothing left.

I have never seen anything like it. You could tell just how hot and fast the fire burned. I couldn’t imagine being one of the people who stayed to protect their home or the people trying to escape seeing the fire front chasing after their vehicle.

Australia is not taking climate change well. Twelve years into this drought, bushfires and water shortages happen all the time. There’s flooding in the north. I didn’t really realize how bad it was when I was living in Canada. Why hasn’t Australia become the poster nation for climate change? Why aren’t Australia’s, who should be some of the most aware of the danagers of climate change, taking more steps to slow it down? They’re great about saving water, but they should be banging down the door of the rest of the world shouting “Hello! A little help here?” They should have solar panels on every roof! They should have pulled out all the stops years ago. I did see an ad on TV the other day saying a vegetarian diet will help reduce GHGs. Now that would never be allowed to air in Canada…would it Stephen Harper?

Biking on French Island

The hottest week in a hundred years. At least that’s what 7 News said. But they kinda seem like Fox News. Nonetheless, it was freakin’ hot last week. Over 40 for 4 days in a row I think. When you walked outside it felt like you were in a slow cooker.

So here I am in Melbourne. Got a flat off Flatmate Finders. Got a mattress and two desks off Gumtree (like Craigslist or Kijiji) and Ebay. These are good resources if you’re moving here on a budget or temporarily, both of which I am. If you try to get your own apartment you have to go through a real estate agent. Things aren’t done directly through landlords. And you need resumes and references…the market is tough here. So if you don’t have any Australia credit history…well it just seemed a bit much for us. We’re sharing with a lovely roomie (I mean flatmate) and I never had to talk to a real estate agent once. It was the first place we looked at, in an awesome neighbourhood just outside the downtown (or CBD – central business district), and it has a dishwasher. I guess we stuck in our thumb and pulled out a plum (I’m pretty sure that was a really lame thing to say, but I like it so it stays).

An interesting note on Australia…no pennies. Everything is rounded up or down to the nearest 5 cents. It’s lovely. Paper money is actually plastic money with a little see-through window, just like the money in Romania I was so impressed with two years ago. They don’t rip, you can wash them in your jeans pockets til the cows come home (what is with me and lame sayings today!), and you can peek through the see-through window. It’s also lovely.

I know there’s been some discussion in Canada about axing the penny. It’s been said that it costs more than a cent to make one penny. Aren’t we looking for ways to cut corners in this economic downturn? Hmm…it seems so logical. But what about the sentiment…find a penny pick it up and all that jazz. Well I think sentiment needs to take a back seat to practicality. *BTW Happy late birthday penny. It turned 100 last year.*

Have fun in the snow/slush/rain Canada. I’ll make sure to keep updating you on the sun and warm in Melbourne.