Hamilton Island: Great Barrier Reef

I, sadly, just dropped off my in laws and husband at the airport....  Now Im all alone!  I guess that leaves me plenty of time to write all about our WONDERFUL trip to Hamilton Island.

Last week we flew to an island at the Great Barrier Reef.  We got there early Thursday and hopped in our "buggy" (golf cart).  This was the main source of transportation around the island... a few people used cars but for the most part it was ALL buggies!  The island was amazing, the water was beautiful and our view was the best!!

I could have just sat outside on our balcony for hours.... and we did!

Isnt it amazing!?

Very soon after sitting out there we realized we were not the only ones who enjoyed our view....  There were constantly birds all over our patio!  They definitely loved Tom the most (possibly because he shared his chips with them!) We went down to the windy beach, took some walks, saw a lovely sunset at One Tree Hill (the sunset lookout spot) and ate a home cooked dinner out on the patio!  It was a great first day at Hamilton Island.

pretty water (from the boat)

We had signed up for a trip to see Whitehaven beach.... one of the Top Ten best beaches in the world!  The boat ride over was pretty unpleasant... for reasons none of us know, we did not take our sea sickness pills before that cruise.... and that was a mistake!!  The swells were about 2 meters high (thats 6 feet high, folks) and that is enough to make anyone's stomach turn!   We were all pretty relieved to get on solid ground.  It was a tad overcast that day but all in all it was a wonderful beach!  The sand is 98% silica and is great for exfoliating... so we spent plenty of time rubbing it over our hands and feet.  So now Brian and Tom have baby soft skin! :) haha well... maybe not.

Brian: Sea sick or Hungover?!  We may never know.....

That evening (after we survived the wavey ride back to the island)  we had another nice relaxing evening where we ate out on our back patio and watched the sunset from One Tree Hill.  We were all a little nervous about the 2 hour boat ride we had planned the next morning but after lots of talks we all decided to tough it out and go see the GREAT BARRIER REEF!!  After all, we were so close it would have been a shame not to see this great natural wonder of the world!

We came prepared with our sea sickness medicine (and turns out, it HELPS!)  I some how came to the conclusion that on this trip I was going to go scuba diving with Brian.  I have no idea why, since the ocean terrifies me, but I did!  As soon as we got to the floating platform out on the reef (for anyone familiar, we were on Hardy Reef) Brian and I started our introductory diving class.  We, first, had to get decked out in our super cool and, obviously, flattering, stinger suits!  They have some seriously deadly jelly fish out in these parts so in order to better protect ourselves from these tiny, mostly invisible creatures we wear what is known as stinger suits.  Regarding the Box Jellyfish, I read this little lovely tidbit before leaving... "You have virtually no chance of surviving the venomous sting. The pain is so excruciating and overwhelming that you would most likely go into shock and drown before reaching the shore. So don't go swimming alone!"  Thanks for that encouraging note barrierreefaustralia.com  Sheesh... 

There were originally 4 of us in our class but by the end of our training it was just Brian and I.  I was feeling very pleased with myself that I wasn't one of the ones who chickened out! (Although, I was having some trouble with my ears, feeling like my head was going to explode-- luckily it didnt!)  It was very cool and I have to say if I was ever going to scuba dive, the great barrier reef was the place to do it!  I am glad I decided to scuba dive and wish I had some more pictures... we did get these from an underwater photographer!!  Proof that this actually occurred in my life :)  Brian is much more relaxed... can you see little Nemo we were posing with!?

They had tons of stuff to do on this platform... a semi sub, snorkeling, food, an underwater observatory!  We did a little of everything!  

Semi submersible...

Snorkeling....

This picture looks a little creepy to me... with that big, blue, scary ocean!!

The only thing we did not do that was offered was to take the helicopter out... I would have loved to but the weather was still not too great.  If we would have... I could have shown you a picture like this...

Seriously... there is a reef right next to the Hardy reef (the one on the right in the picture) which is in the shape of a HEART.  Ok, its official, Brian and I are making a trip back!!!!

I think we were all pretty pleased that we decided to make it out to the reef!  It was an amazing day and a trip of a lifetime!!  That evening we had a delicious dinner after watching a beautiful sunset!  The next morning, we left for Melbourne.  It was such a great time!!!

We did hear a bit of bad news while on the trip... so if you can make room for a few extra prayers:: for Brian's Aunt Julie who is having complications and not feeling well after starting chemo, also my grandmother had a stroke and is still in ICU.  Both seem to be doing better.  We also found out that Brian and my house in Houston got broken into. Luckily we got a tenant who is one tough cookie... I don't think we should be having trouble with robbers in the future after she got through with them... look at this video...

We had such a great time with Tom and Deanna!!!  You guys are welcome to come anytime!  We love you and couldn't have had 2 better people with us on our adventures this month!  I hope you enjoyed Melbourne and Australia!

Kings in the Outback

HAPPY EASTER everyone!!  Brian and I (unintentionally) have made an Easter tradition of being out of town... although there is not a much better way to appreciate the salvation of God than by enjoying the beautiful places on earth he has created!  This years travels were to the Australian Outback :)

My wonderful in laws, Tom and Deanna, arrived last week and after keeping them super busy around Melbourne and eventually getting over the jet lag, we made our first trip across Australia (next week we have another!)  Tom had been talking about going to Alice Springs (AKA a town in the middle of NOWHERE Australia!) ever since we told them we were going to be moving to Australia so when they planned their trip to visit we decided that we HAD to include a trip to the outback!  

We flew in Thursday morning and arrived in Alice Springs!  Brian had done some planning and we decided that there were many more places in the outback that we should see, so we got in a car to head to our first destination-- Kings Canyon.  

The drive was long.  We only passed 2 cars in 3 hours.  The road was unpaved and red for 2 of the 3 hours.  Zero towns along the way.  Sounds exciting, right!?!  haha but we had a good time.  It was pretty overcast and we even got a little bit of rain.  Apparently, it has been raining more than usual so the "red centre" looked more like the "green centre" to me.  It still looked like a desert just not quite as sparse and red as I had imagined!  

The over cast weather was worth it-- we got a view of an AMAZING rainbow for a good portion of the drive!  If Brian has a thing for waves pictures, I have a thing for rainbow pictures!!  I took SOOO many shots as we were driving along!  

After our long bumpy ride we finally came to a beautiful sight-- Kings Canyon!

Not bad, considering this was taken from a moving vehicle!

We had been in the car for a long time so were excited to hop out and go for a quick walk (it was getting dark so didnt have too much time)  It felt so nice to get out and walk a bit (or walkabout?  seems more fitting!)  I took a few pictures but with the lighting it doesn't do the red cliffs much justice....

Oh well (don't worry we got more pics the next day!)  We then checked into our only option of accommodation in the area-- which was actually pretty nice, then went to dinner and SLEEP! 

The next morning we started off on a 3 1/2 hour hike around the canyon  (the picture to the left was the super steep steps to get up!!)

It was a beautiful walk!  The cliffs were straight down but a nice red color.  It was pretty hot out-- about 100* F but there was enough cloud coverage to make it completely bearable!  One thing that was NOT bearable were the pesky flies!  They were all over us!  I swear they all really wanted to be in my eyeballs-- not a very comfortable place for a fly to keep landing!  A lot of people got fly nets and we ended up getting some bug spray because it was such a nuisance!  I am not being dramatic-- I later found a post card that seems to accurately portray the problem...

And this was Toms back the whole time.... they really had a thing for him :)

Other than those pesky flies we had a really enjoyable walk... I will show you a few of the many pictures we took of Kings Canyons.......

The "Garden of Eden" oasis in the desert (Tom is there-- really small on the right!)

They had a nice pool of water at the Garden of Eden and Brian stripped down to his skivvies and hopped on in... I was a bit jealous since it was hot out but with all the families around I thought that might be a little inappropriate!  

More Kings Canyon pics.....

Shake your tail feathers--holler at your girl  (Male bird trying to show off to the girl, typical!)

water hole from above

 Ok, this is going to be a long blog, but we have so many pictures!!  Sorry!

EMUS!!!!!

After our hike we filled up on gas (there are very few stations so you got to get in when you can!-- It is also pricey in the middle of nowhere, $10 a gallon!  WOW)  We stopped at a small "station" for a walk and potty break and they had strange looking patrons... EMUS walking around!  Those are kinda scary birds!

We then left for Ayers Rock.... now known as Uluru.  They officially changed the name back to the Aboriginal name in the 80's so that's what we should be calling it, their names for these landmarks are a little trickier to say than the English version but what can ya do!? :)  Ayers Rock= Uluru, The Olgas= Kata Tjuta

"Uluru is one of the greatest natural wonders of the world and considered by many to be the spiritual heart of Australia....Uluru is the worlds largest sandstone rock formation which stands 348 meters (1100 ft) high with the majority of its bulk still underground"

I got that straight from the guide book... so basically, this is a HUGE rock.  2/3 of it is still underground just waiting for the ground around it to be eroded away so more of it can be shown to the world :)  I am not sure how to describe how beautiful a giant rock is but seriously, it is really nice!

We drove around the whole thing when we got there (since it was getting later after our long drive to get there!!) then we decided to sit out, drink some wine and beer that we brought along, and enjoy the sunset while staring at this massive ROCK!

Here are a bunch of pictures with us and the rock, sunset etc :)

Eating chips with a fly net on is hard to do!!!! :)

We had a great evening!  We then went back to a real big oasis in the desert-- our hotel/ resort!!  They upgraded us because they over booked the rooms so we had a really nice stay!  Dinner then more wine out by the pool as bunny rabbits hopped all around us!  (Yes, the only hopping creatures we saw on this trip were rabbits...)  

The next morning we had a little time to get up close and personal with Uluru so we walked around a little part of it--

Aboriginal cave paintings

We then went to see another nearby rock formation, The Olgas (or Kata Tjuta) and had a FABULOUS view while we snacked on sandwiches....

We did a quick walk then headed back to Alice Springs for a nice Outback dinner (Brian got the "Roo fillet"!!)  On the way home (which doesnt take as long as I thought considering they don't have speed limits on some of the highways) we spotted some CAMELS!!  They used camels for some building or railway work back a long time ago then when they were done just let them go in the outback.... now they just live there in the wild.... it was super cool to see!!!
 

old telegraph station

The next morning we took a few pictures around Alice Springs, including the original telegraph station where the town started and an area called Emily Gap where we saw some more aboriginal paintings in a beautiful gap!  This was Easter Sunday so after this we went to the airport and left for Melbourne!

Emily Gap

aboriginal paintings

My handsome Kangaroo Jack :)

When we arrived in Melbourne we made a delicious Easter dinner: pork tenderloin with a yummy wine and mushroom sauce, cheesy potato casserole, fresh salad and bread pudding for dessert!  It was so good!  Then the Outback Kings decided they needed some rest.... that was a busy few days!! 

HAPPY EASTER!!  I will probably be updating again soon because we have a FABULOUS trip to the Great Barrier Reef-- we leave on Thursday!!!  Cant wait to tell you all about it :)