Ok so we are still alive, and we have done some fun stuff. A few things of note:

We pretended to be zookeepers at Lone Pine and it was amazing. Jess said she would write about it, and that I'm not allowed, so stay tuned.

(Random Drunk Picture)

We met Christian and Dev in Melbourne several times and celebrated his 30th (Happy birthday!!)



We ate at one of David Chang's favorite restaurants in Melbourne. I felt cool!



We went to the Yarra Valley to visit two wineries and a remote pub with our Airbnb hosts outside of Melbourne. (Thanks Kirsten and Scott!)



We rented a car in Melbourne and drove the Great Ocean Rd. It was quite narrow and very impressive. We literally have 50 unique shots that are equally beautiful as the one I posted. Our nightly stops were Apollo Bay and Warrnambool, which were not really anything special, but we did see some wild koalas, a few roadkill kangaroos, and some emus.



We stopped at a Reef outlet store and I rebought the sandals I bought 3 years ago in Edmonton for $20. It was the deal of the trip by FAR.



Tonight we are in Ballarat, which also is a meh place, but tomorrow its off to Sydney again and heading up to the Blue Mountains! We are super pumped for the Zig Zag railway!!

I see this has already started to fall off... Time to do an update I suppose so anyone who checks this knows we arent dead!

As a side note on that thought though, our stupid Frommers book says that Airlie Beach hasnt seen a box jellyfish in the harbour for years, except last Saturday someone got stung righ in the water we fished 2 days later! Luckily it was on his hand/arm so he didnt die, but its pretty bananas how some publications/people downplay the risk so much, whereas others make it seem like without a full wetsuit you are risking certain death. Regardless now we have gone snorklling 3 times without issue, and we are South enough now it doesnt matter. Whew?!

A few things we did over the last few days:

On the 15th we rented a car and decided to do one of the "Drives of the Whitsundays" from this brochure we picked up. It sounded perfect! Start the day at Cedar Creek falls, which rage after a recent rain fall, then swim in its fresh water (which has no stingers) and walk and explore the forest.




Then we headed down to Conway beach, a local favorite for beachcombers and kite flyers.



And finally down to popular Wilsons Beach for a dip in the ocean in the well established stinger net.



So... once we had finished that 'day trip' by 11am we needed something to do. That something ended up being drive 120km to Mackay to basically do nothing, although we did see a Wallabie, and then drive home. Can't win 'em all I guess.





The next day we did a day trip to Long island and Daydream island, which was pretty cool, and the day after that went sailing on Camira around the islands and back to Whitehaven for a second time. That day was awesome, with lots of sun, a bit of cloud, and even a crazy tropical downpour while we were on the boat in the trampoline area. The catamaran itself was super sleek and impressive, the people on it were nice, and the wine was free and unlimited. No complaints there!

So just to set the record straight, keep in mind on that last post I dont write with smiley faces.

As for the last couple days, I should note that the float plane tour we did was the best tour I've ever been on. We started out on land, landed at Hayman Island on water, then the GBR, snorkeled, then literally a few meters from Whitehaven beach on water, back to Hayman, and then back to Airlie Beach. Totally amazing experience with only 6 other people. And to top it off it was a perfect day of sunshine and no wind.

Next day we just rented fishing rods and fished off the rocks in the evening. Had lunch down at the marina and the proceeded to miss the closing time of every restaurant and we basically had no valentines day. I dont think Jess is very impressed!

Tomorrow I think we are going to rent a car and go to Cedar Creek falls and Conway Beach. Wont matter too much now that its raining, the waterfalls will just be bigger!

Happy Valentines Day from Heart Reef

This photo was taken from our float plane tour we took yesterday over the Great Barrier Reef :)

Jet Skis in Airlie

Our first full day here was spent on a super fun day trip on jet skis. We got

picked up from our resort at 8am and driven out about 45 mins to the launch point (Montes Resort) and we were off! We had around 3 hrs on the water and this is the at the end of the ride.

We left Brisbane early yesterday and made it to Airlie Beach. Could have a real winner on our hands here! Place is super night, thats the view from our deck in the pictures.

Today we are going on a jet ski trip, and looking forward to both the town at night and all the other places we can visit in the Whitsundays in the coming days!

Koalas and Kangaroos!

Owen and I had an amazing day at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary this morning. We took a 90 min scenic catamaran ride down the river to get to the best place on earth! We each got to cuddle a koala for a few pictures and also purchased some food to hand feed the kangaroos. The new camera I got for Christmas came in handy as we took an unnecessary amount of photos. The one below however turned out better than the one we paid $16 for from the place.

It's our second night in Brisbane tonight. We arrived at 9:00pm last night and found a cute outdoor pub in the shopping district with live music open 24/7 365 days a year - it was called "The Pig and Whistle" so we had a beer before heading to our heritage apartment. The place is great and we are thinking of heading to the West End for dinner.

We went surfing finally! Well... sort of. We had 10 ft foam boards that were closer to sail boats than surf boards. But beginners get beginner boards and beginner waves I guess. We both stood up first time and had some good runs!

Today we leave Byron Bay on a bus for Brisbane. Just there for a few days then fly to Airlie Beach. Whitsundays sure look impressive, so hopefully we will get some good beaching, snorkeling and sailing in!

We went to the Byron Sunday market today, and were greeted by a surprisingly affordable and diverse tent city of actually cool and usable arts, food, and goods. Jess and I both got some hats that I think are pretty cool. Other than that our surf lessons keep getting cancelled because of strong currents, which is very frustrating!!



Also here is a picture of the ducks or geese (or whatever they are?) that live next door. Jess is totally in love with them. They quack constantly and are in complete duck love waddling around together and taking baths. Super cute!

So we are happily settled in Byron Bay, and its still a great place! Its a very hippie place, as the most common vehicle is a graffiti'd camper van. I bought a tank top and exclusively wear board shorts, so I'm starting to fit in, but the lack of dreadlocks is a dead give away I'm not from here... not sure how to fix that. Also Jess packing around a DSLR camera might be another clue. Ive created a bit of a monster with that camera, as now just 'getting pictures' is an acceptable activity to do at any time of the day. I guess its worth it though, as the picture quality sure blows away our little point and shoot.



We still havent started a surf lesson. Hopefully we will do that tomorrow. Mostly just hanging out at the beach, eating and drinking. This morning we walked over to the lighthouse, but after losing 3 pounds of body weight in 2 hours we came home. Time to go back to the beach and bodyboard!