Melbourne - Part 2: Phillip Island

On New Year's Day, we had plans to rent a car and drive to Phillip Island.  Phillip Island is an island (ha!) about two hours southeast of Melbourne.  It has lots of beautiful scenery and beach vacation spots, but it is most well-known for its animal attractions.  There is a Koala Conservation Centre (gasp- we didn't go! The horror!), a Heritage Farm (whatever that means), a Nobbies Centre (yet another Australian nickname- this time for seals), and do do da dooooo a PENGUIN PARADE!  There is also a Grand Prix circuit (which my Nascar/F1 loving husband was excited about, but I hurriedly moved him along to the penguins) as well as some wineries (which my wine-loving self sacrificed for the penguins). 

The drive there was relatively easy.  Most of the scenery along the way looked like this:

We saw this little wallaby along the side of the road and of course had to stop.  He was so close and didn't budge- just stared at us.  That is, until I got out of the car to give him a hug and he hopped off ;-) 

Like any good tourist, our main purpose of going to Phillip Island was to see the famous Penguin Parade, but we also planned to visit the nobbies, since that was free and close by where we needed to be for the penguins.  In case you need a reminder (since it makes no logical sense whatsoever): nobbies = seals.  The nobbies centre has a really neat indoor educational area with lots of information about the seals and other animals that live there. 

Supposedly fur seals are usually all over the place on these cliffs, rocks, etc.; however, they were nowhere to be found.  Not one!  It was strange.  My theory is that the seals got so annoyed at being called nobbies that they moved out.  We were slightly disappointed, but who cares really because we were about to see PENGUINS! Can you tell I was excited?  Also as consolation for lack of seals were the incredible views!  It was such a clear day, and all of the cliffs and coastline were just gorgeous! 

 

 

 

After not seeing a single nobbie, it was time to grab some dinner before heading to the PENGUIN PARADE.  FYI, if you ever happen to visit Phillip Island, eat at Rusty Water Brewery.  The food was great, and they had a yummy beer flight to try! 

So here's the deal with the penguin parade- first, you must know that these penguins are the smallest penguins in the world.  Which also conveniently makes them the cutest penguins in the world!  Anyway, each morning at sunrise these penguins go out to sea to spend their days fishing, and then each evening at sunset they return to their nests.  This is what you are seeing when you view the Penguin Parade.  I do have to admit that this event was super touristy- we're talking buses everywhere, but it was still so worth it to see.  They have built a large seating area (almost stadium-like) for people to sit in above the beach while they wait for the penguins. (Also important to note- it gets realllly cold while you're sitting there waiting.)  Like clockwork, right as the sun began to set, we started to see little black blobs coming up to shore.  The penguins were coming!!!  The penguins get together in large groups, and before you know it, they're standing on the sand.  It's pretty funny to watch, because it takes them 3 or 4 times to build up their courage to really come ashore- the little groups would keep on running back into the water before finally beginning their parade.  Once they start coming up, it's the cutest thing as they march/waddle in perfect little lines across the beach, and up the hills to their nests.  Their were TONS of them- probably about 20 different groups/lines of them.  After most were out of the water, you could walk around a bit in the area where they have their nests (within the fenced off areas, of course), and you could see them at their nests and hear the little babies squealing for food.  The bad part of whole event was that pictures were not allowed- and they had tons of park rangers around enforcing it.  I managed to sneak a few non-flash photos, but they ended up pretty blurry.  :-(  You'll just have to take my word for it- they were adorable!  It was such a cool sight to see and so amazing to think that these tiny penguins repeat this ritual every single day. 

On the left, you can see the size of the Phillip Island penguins compared to other penguins of the world. 

Waiting for the penguins

Oh look, a photo of my new TOMS (thanks, Lauren!) snuck in here...

Some blurry pictures I snuck as they waddled up to their nests.

 
Even though the few penguin photos I got were pretty blurry, we lucked out because earlier in the day while we were looking for the nobbies that did not seem to exist, we happened to see a lone penguin.  The rangers were surprised that there was a little penguin all by himself on that part of the island.  We are so glad we saw him though, because I did manage to get some better pictures of this little guy.  Isn't he so cute and tiny?!

Melbourne - Part I

I had been really looking forward to our trip to Melbourne- I had heard great things about the city, and we had lots of fun things planned.  Also, it seemed like just about just about everyone had already fled (yes, fled) Gladstone for the holidays, so I felt like it was finally our turn! 

Side note- I just realized something shocking.  I have not heard a nickname, abbreviation, or other modification of the name Melbourne.  As Aussies seem to abbreviate just about everything, including city names, this almost seems strange to me. You have Brissy (Brisbane), Tassy (Tasmania), Rocky (Rockhampton), etc., but then just plain old Melbourne.  I almost find it a relief!  Well, I guess maybe the fact that they pronounce it "Mel-BIN," maybe counts as an almost abbreviation.  And that of course makes me want to be defiant and pronounce it as "Mel BORN" even more forcefully, but that's a story for another day. 

At any rate... where was I?  Oh yes, fleeing GladSTONE (not Glad-stin). :-) 

We arrived in Melbourne on the Sunday evening before NYE.  All we really had time for was to check into our hotel and wander around to find some dinner.  Luckily, we wandered right into the Greek Precinct, where we indulged in copious amounts of wine, gyros, and hummus.  Look at the goofy smile on my face- can you tell we are "good restaurant deprived" in our town?

The next day (NYE), we had planned to spend exploring the city. We started out at Federation Square, which is kind of the hub of most of the goings on in the city.  Several of Melbourne's museums surround this area, there are tons of restaurants, and lots of outdoor spaces for people to just hang out.  The buildings in this area all had really neat architecture.  It was fun to see Fed Square this day because they were setting up the area for the big NYE celebration where we would be later that night. 

 

Melbourne is situated on the Yarra River which makes for really pretty views of the city.  After lunch, we wandered across the river to the Southgate area.  This area had lots of restaurants, shopping, and pretty parks. 

 

 

 

This was a cool restaurant/bar underneath the bridge.

One thing that I really liked about Melbourne is that it was really "artsy" and unique. There were a lot of funky, non-chain stores and restaurants just about everywhere. 

This is a well-known bar - and one of the oldest in Melbourne.

Cute little book store- my sister would love it!

Melbourne is known for their coffee.  This place was recommended to us, and it was great- it was very authentic Italian. 

 

I also loved that the city was divided into the neighborhoods like Chinatown, Little Italy, the Greek Precinct, etc. 

Melbourne is also known for their street art.  There are tons of narrow allies that are fun to wander through where you can see really amazing street art.  We even got to see some street artists in action, which was really neat. 

Excuse the bad language...

One of our last stops for the day was the famous Queen Victoria Market.  This market is one of the oldest markets in Australia, and it is quite extensive.  It was fun to wander around and see all of the meat, cheese, wine, produce, etc.  I would love to live in a place someday that had a market like this- it would be so fun to do your grocery shopping in a place like that!    

Notice the kangaroo prosciutto (top right)

After a busy day of playing tourist in the city, we went back to our hotel to rest up a little before we went out to celebrate New Year's Eve.  We had dinner reservations at an Italian restaurant that sat right on Fed Square.  We were able to sit outside, which was nice because then we were able to enjoy the music, show, and people watching as the Melbourne NYE party went on. 

Shortly before midnight, we left the restaurant and headed just down the road to the river so we could see the fireworks go off at midnight.  It was a great fireworks show- you could see the fireworks being set off from multiple locations in the city and along the river.  It was definitely a memorable NYE to be celebrating in another continent AND to be in the very first time zone in the world to enter 2013! 

 

 

Mah man.

 

Oh, and of course you didn't think I would leave Melbourne without getting my Mexican food fix, did you?  Now THAT was a good way to start 2013 :-)

Capricorn Caves

On Friday of last week, David and I took a little day trip to Rockhampton- a town about an hour and a half north of Gladstone.  Yes, I live in a town small enough that it sometimes requires driving 1.5 hours to get some closer to semi-decent shopping.  And even then, it's still questionable.  At any rate, we also took a couple hours to visit Capricorn Caves (about 15 minutes from Rockhampton). 

This was a really neat little place to visit.  As part of your entrance fee, you get a one hour guided tour of the caves.  It was really interesting to hear their history.  It's almost unbeliveable to think that they were formed waaaaayyyy back when Australia was still beneath the ocean. Because of this, the caves themselves have lots of marine and coral reef fossils in them.  One of the reasons we had been wanting to visit the caves is because if you visit during December or January (summer here) and go on the 11:00 AM tour on a sunny, clear day, there is a part of the cave that allows the Summer Solstice sunlight through tiny openings to supposedly create what looks like an amazing light show.  It was sunny when we left for our trip, but as we drove, it became overcase.  So unfortunately, we didn't get to see the Summer Solstice light show.  You can see pictures of what we missed here.  Maybe next December/January...

Entrance to the caves.  In the photo on the right, you can see what look like long ropes.  These are actually tree roots!  It was crazy, because the roots can be hundreds of feet long and go through the rock (you can see them coming through the ceilings in many parts of the caves). 

 

 

 

 

After walking through this narrow part of the cave, we arrived at a really neat "room" in the caves that they have made into a church-like setting that they call the Cathedral Cave. 

 

This photo I got of the Cathedral Cave is not very good, but you can see more pictures of it here.  It really is beautiful. 

 

Supposedly the acoustics here are better than the Sydney Opera House.  They even have Opera performances down here throughout the year.  Oh, and you can get married in the Cathedral Cave!  At this point in the tour, the guide talks about how this part of the cave has absolutely zero access to light from above.  The guide makes sure know one will have a freak out attack if she shuts off all the lights and candles.  It is seriously creepy how dark it is. You can wave your hand in front of your face and see nothing.  No matter how long you tried to let your eyes adjust, you still would not be able to detect any light.  Luckily that didn't last for long. :-)

 

This fun bridge was the way out of the caves. 



A Christmas Story: Megan on a Stick

Let me just begin this by saying that I have the best family in the world.  No, really.  Because I was literally across the world this Christmas, my cousin Lee Anne, had the hilarious/amazing/genius idea to create a "Megan-on-a-Stick," so that I could be a part of the family Christmas celebrations from afar.  I can't tell you how much this made me laugh, smile, even tear up sometimes.  I loved getting all of the picture texts and Instagrams of what I was doing at that moment in Phoenix.  Thanks, Lee Lee for making me feel like I could be in two places at once this Christmas!  I miss you!

In the days leading up to Christmas, I got to hang out with some of my favorite people: little cousin Connor, sweet G-ma (we had a great visit), and the lovely lady behind this little project herself!

I also got to go on some errands around town- which of course included a Dr. Pepper run (and a new hat?).

On Christmas Eve, I enjoyed a lovely dinner, but apparently I drank too much wine and wasn't able to make it to church :-) Or so I'm told...

While they were gone, I watched over the presents and ate Santa's cookies.  Oops.  (And, knowing me, I probably had some more wine)

 

On Christmas morning, I got to wake up bright and early with the members of the family crazy brave enough to take part in the annual Christmas morning sunrise family hike up Camelback Mountain.  It sure was early (and cold!), but we had a great time- and the sunrise from the top was beautiful!  I love that each year somebody (not in our family!) hauls a Christmas tree all the way up there!  I wish I always looked this good after a workout..

 



Thanks again family for helping me feel a little closer to home this Christmas!  I had a great time being in two places at once! 

Christmas Day Recap

Our first Australian Christmas shaped up pretty well!  We slept late on Christmas morning and when we woke up, we were excited to see that Santa had found us in Oz! 

 

 

We spent the first couple hours of our morning talking on the phone and video-chatting with each of our families.  I've said it a million times, but thank goodness for technology- I love that we can feel so much closer to our friends and family, especially on holidays like Christmas.  By the time we had talked with everyone, it was time for brunch.  We had a yummy egg casserole and pumpkin spice pancakes that I of course forgot to photograph. 

Then, we were finally ready to open our stockings and presents.  We were so grateful for our families who were generous enough to send gifts all the way across the world!  We are very lucky!  Being just the two of us, it was a little less eventful than the usual Christmas day present opening chaos/excitement that I'm used to from celebrating Christmas with a large family, but it was still fun. 

We had planned on trying to make it to the beach on Christmas day, but by the time we had talked to all of our family members, eaten, and opened presents, it was a little too late to do that.  We changed plans quickly and decided to take a walk around the marina and Spinnaker Park.  It was a beautiful day, and we had a great time just wandering around. I really need to go down there more often- it is such a nice park, and so nice to just be near the water and cooler ocean air.  

For Christmas dinner, I made my very first roasted chicken (Pimenton Roasted Chicken).  It turned out AMAZING.  You MUST try this recipe that I found on Pinterest, via my friend Anne.  It is so simple, and it turns out great!  The potatoes (and I added carrots too) that cook underneath the chicken are to. die. for.  I would almost make the chicken just to eat the potatoes.  Seriously- try it.  You won't regret it!  Not so sure how excited David was about it, but I was super excited that after dinner, I found one of my all time favorite movies on TV- "You've Got Mail."  I know it's not specifically a Christmas movie, but it still felt somewhat Christmas-y, and it was a fun way to end our evening. 

Of course we missed our families like crazy, but we ended up having a nice, quiet Christmas. No doubt I prefer the craziness and chaos of our big-family Christmas celebrations, but we made the most of our situation this year.  Hope everyone had a great Christmas! 

Christmas Countdown

We're closing out Christmas Eve here in Australia- a day ahead of most of you.  Here's a quick look back at how I spent the last few days leading up to Christmas day!

I spent most of Saturday and Sunday baking up a storm.  I love baking in general, but this time of year, I feel particularly compelled to bake.  Many of the people we know here in Gladstone are out of town for the holidays, but I wanted to put together some Christmas treats for those who were still in Gladstone for the holidays. Solidarity, right? :-) 

I made:
-My mom/grandma's famous Hungarian Crumb Coffee Cakes
-New pinterest find: Buckeye Bark
-New Pinerest find: Snowball Cookies/Russian Teacakes

It was fun delivering these treats!  I'd really been having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year, but this really helped!

Probably one of the best Christmas presents I'm getting this year is that my husband who has to work 6 day work weeks every week has two. full. weeks. off!  It's so nice to have him around more than just a couple hours a day!  On Sunday night, we shared a bottle of wine and watched Elf.  LOVE that movie! 

On Christmas Eve, I went to mass at this cute little church in Gladstone.  It was quite small, and by the time I got there it was standing room only.  This church has ZERO A/C, but luckily, it had been a cooler day because of rain that morning, so it wasn't too hot (remember, it is the middle of summer here).  I remember feeling this way when I went to church while studying abroad in Spain too, but it truly is so comforting to be able to go into a church (regardless of the language and regardless of where you are in the world) and have such a feeling of familiarity and predictability as far as traditions go.  I loved that I was literally on the other side of the world, but still was singing the same songs and listening to the same readings as I have every Christmas since I can remember.  

After mass, I drove by this pretty tree covered in Christmas lights in "downtown" (if you could call it that) Gladstone. 

For Christmas Eve dinner, we had quite a feast.  And believe it or not, all of these recipes were from Skinnytaste-one of my favorite websites for healthy recipes.  We had:
-Garlic Mashed Potatoes
-Roasted Parmesan Green Beans
-Spinach, Prosciutto, Mozarella, and Sundried Tomatoes Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

Honestly, I really do not consider myself all that talented in the kitchen.  I follow a recipe pretty well, and that's about it.  But I do have to say that this dinner turned out AWESOME!  I especially loved the pork tenderloin- and it really wasn't all that difficult. 

Off to bed now!  I hope Santa finds us in Australia tonight :-)  Happy Christmas Eve to all you US folks!