Australia, Stop 2.5: Port Douglas + Opal Reef, 15 Aug - 18 Aug

The weather was a bit wintery upon arrival, but it was still relatively warm compared to Melbourne or Wellington. It even rained a little bit that night, but I was still able to walk around in shorts and a light shirt, which was nice... almost forgot that it could be warm while it was raining thanks to Wellington! =) Anyways, we ate dinner at a Mexican Restaurant called "Tortillas" on the main street of Port Douglas, which was chock full of touristy shops where you could book trips out to the Great Barrier Reef. This little town was actually very beautiful in its own right - you could just feel that it was a more exclusive town than Cairns, like old, rich people lived there or something.

Afterwards, we hit up a local pub down the street a bit for a quick beer, near the Anzac Park (about a 3 minute walk away). A live band was playing so that drew us in. I think this was when I realized there were a lot (A LOT) of cover bands in Australia (the first one we saw was actually down in Melbourne). Not that there's anything wrong with cover bands - it's fun to hear songs you know and the slightly different variations people add based on their particular styles. The singer had a great voice, the guitarists had mad skills, and the keyboard/saxophonist/singer girl was pretty good too. It was only about 10 p.m. but time for bed because the next morning was the journey to Opal Reef, one of the outer less-crowded sections of the Great Barrier Reef!

And great it was. I think that Pixar movie Finding Nemo kind of spoiled my expectations of what the reef would look like, what with all of its vibrant colors and HD resolution, heh heh. But kidding aside, this is definitely one of the great wonders of the world. It's simply amazing how diverse the flora and fauna are in this marine park, the largest in the world. It's sad to think that this amazing structure will disappear one day, but it's good to know that Australia is doing as much as they can to conserve this gem of the world. Yeah, I'm sounding preachy and a little bit like Leonardo DiCaprio now, but the tourguides on our boat (I only remember Kenny's name) were extremely nice and honest people, giving us some great insight into the Great Barrier Reef.

On the final full day in Port Douglas, we checked out the rainforest Habitat, which was like a little wildlife park containing many of the indigenous animals and birds of rainforests and other niches of Australia. Giant birds walked by and koalas munched on eucalyptus leaves nearby. I even got to pet a kangaroo! Cheesy and touristy, I know, but definitely fun. Even got to pretend to act like a crocodile hunter - well, maybe just take a picture next to a croc or two in their pen, a safe distance away!

There were also some great waterfront restaurants and even more cover bands, and it was definitely nice to continue the theme of R&R in this little town! The last morning we checked out the famous lookout point, from which we could see the whole of the "Four Mile Beach"...The view was pretty gorgeous, with the mountains and the ocean in the distance...

Next stop: back to Cairns briefly and then a quick stop in Sydney!

Australia, Stop 2: Cairns, 14 Aug - 15 Aug

Cairns, our second stop in Australia, was really just a launching point for our real destination, The Great Barrier Reef, which deserves a post of its own. Nevertheless, Cairns was very beautiful in its own right, with its tropical temperatures and bright sunshine. If I could steal one thing about Cairns and bring it to Wellington, it wouldn't be the crazy party scene at night (which got a bit tiresome after a short while), nor would it be the curious little lung fish that crawled and twisted on the mud awkwardly like little, slimey sock puppets with no feet. No, it'd be the flippin' nice, warm, slightly humid, comfortable-in-your-shorts-and-sandals weather of the place! We walked around the small little town pretty quickly, and opted not to go to the botanical gardens because we've seen enough of those and just chilled a bit. But it was definitely nice to stroll lazily through the tropical warmth that was Cairns. It really felt like we were on holiday at this point, just relaxing! Indeed it was a great little break before our next adventure to come in Port Douglas, just an hour by shuttle north of Cairns (where our boat charter to the Great Barrier Reef would be)!

Australia, Stop 1: Melbourne, 11 Aug - 13 Aug

Howdy folks, wise men say "pictures are worth more than a thousand words", so here's a link to my somewhat bloated album of Melbourne (totally felt like one of the many asian tourists in Australia). For some reason I felt compelled to take as many pictures as possible because this was my first real "holiday" in another country (not counting New Zealand because I came here to work). Anyways, one of the best things about Melbourne was its variety of places to eat! We had so many different restaurant experiences, and they were all excellent!

First place we ate at was this hip and trendy bar/restaurant called "Bear Brass". Don't ask me what that means, I was too tired from the plane ride to ask the waiters. Wiebke and I ordered some grilled haloumi (a cheese) and some steamed pork wontons, which were all exquisitely garnished. The portions were a little small, but we didn't mind as we had a really good tall glass of "Pure Blonde" - an Australian beer that I've come to like the most. The view was amazing to boot! We overlooked the Yarra River and had a panoramic view of Melbourne's cityscape - simply amazing.

Next, for dinner, we hit up a recommended polish restaurant called "Borsch, Vodka & Tears". Don't let the name of the place fool ya! The food actually tasted really good. I had a chicken schnitzel with mash potatoes and it was heavenly. They also have a huge variety of vodkas of different flavors, most of which I've never heard before. We tried a few vodkas and ate a lot of good food, followed by a taste of the local nightlife scene in St. Kilda (the suburb of Melbourne in which this restaurant resides), which was way better than expected - good times!

The following morning we had a big, hearty breakfast at a nice little cafe, and I ordered the "omelette of the day", which was amazing. The scrambled eggs on toast that Wiebke ordered were nice and fluffy as well - everything was made to perfection. The only funny thing was that one of the waitresses was arguing with the boss behind us because she couldn't speak English very well. I didn't really mind because I hadn't had an omelette for a very long time, and it hit the spot.

Besides food, there was a lot of other attractions to Melbourne. You'll see most of the things we saw in my photo album, but among the big things we saw was the 20 Years of Pixar Art Exhibit at the Federation Square building. They wouldn't let us take pictures inside, but there were clay maquettes, concept paintings, and videos demonstrating the brilliant art from all of Pixar's films, including the early shorts. We also checked out some museums and walked around Chinatown (where we had authentic Hong Kong style wonton noodle soup and I used my excellent cantonese to order, w00t!) and much of the entire town. Their tram system is very efficient and for just a few dollars, you can pretty much traverse the length of town and even head down to the St. Kilda suburb in less than 20 minutes!

The final day we visited and walked around Albert Park, which is most famous for, notably, the Formula 1 race circuit that surrounds its beautiful park and lake. Being a Formula 1 fan, I geeked out a little as I was able to walk on the tarmac road that the likes of Schumacher, Alonso, and Raikkonen have raced on at speeds in excess of well,... more well than you can imagine! Look for the picture of me walking over and straddling the checkered finish line! Woot!

All in all, Melbourne was a beautiful city and I felt like we accomplished a lot in just 3 days! Next post, Cairns, Port Douglas and the Great Barrier Reef! Stay tuned!

A Post in August

Hey folks, I've been busy doing a lot of stuff in the past month or so since I've talked to you and I hope you've been keeping up to date on my web album photos!

Anyways, I just recently got back from a trip to Australia last week, and I've taken 4 GB worth of photos and videos!!! Thank god for canon digital elph cameras' ability to read 4GB SD cards! Originally, I was going to take last week off to travel around the South Island of New Zealand and maybe even Japan, but those plans fell through when my friend Eric couldn't make it over because of work. Anyways, I still had that time off, so I decided to leave it around just in case another opportunity might happen to come up... and it did! My friend Wiebke, from Germany, was going to do a month trip in Australia as part of her work/holiday down here in the Southern Hemisphere, so we decided to head over to the land of Oz for a week together - the week that I had conveniently requested to be off! It worked out really well and we had a fantastic time!

My itinerary was: Wellington -> Melbourne -> Cairns -> Port Douglas -> Great Barrier Reef -> Port Douglas -> Cairns -> Sydney -> Wellington. That's a lot of stuff to do in 9 days, and I'll be posting about each city and revealing photos from each place as I go along.



There's a small map of my trip and again, I had a wonderful time! Next post - Melbourne!