Mom & Dad visit: Australia

My favorite day in Hamilton was spent sailing to Whitehaven beach. During the summer months in Queensland (the state Hamilton Island is located in) it’s necessary to wear stinger suits in the water due to the high number of jellyfish. Although this made my Mom nervous, she and Dad were both troopers and came snorkeling with me. It was definitely my favorite snorkel spot so far; I couldn’t believe all the different types of fish, rays, and turtles we saw! On Sunday we took a ferry to Airlie Beach and spent the afternoon eating an eight- course brunch at Deja Vue. We were so stuffed we didn’t even bother going out for dinner that night! The last day we were there it did rain a lot, but that didn’t interfere with Dad’s early round of golf or mine and Mom’s full body massages (ahh the perks of vacationing with your parents) so we had no complaints!

Sailing the Whitsundays.

Whitehaven Beach.

Unfortunately, not very many pictures turned out well from my underwater disposable camera, but at least I was able to capture this friendly sea turtle.

Dad helping out on the boat, what a natural!

The Yacht Club, where we had dinner our last night in town.

Cockatoos were everywhere on the island, here's one just chilling on our balcony.

Upon arriving at our hotel in Sydney, the receptionist told us we had been upgraded (Mom’s favorite word) to the penthouse. Not a bad way to end our vacation, eh? Our first day we spent walking around Sydney Harbour, eating lunch at a café in Circular Quay, taking a ferry ride over to Manly beach, and then having dinner with Brooke and Jay in The Rocks. I was so happy my parents could meet some of my friends! We woke up bright and early next morning and headed to Hunter Valley for a wine tour. If I remember correctly our favorite vineyard was called Iron Gates. Dad had them ship a dozen bottles or so back home; I made him promise he would save at least one bottle to drink with me. As a Christmas present I bought my parents tickets to a show and tour of the Opera House, which is how we spent our Saturday afternoon. We all loved the tour and enjoyed listening to the music during The Man In Black: The Johnny Cash Story. Our final day, Mom and I did some serious shopping at the markets before having a lovely Valentines day dinner in Darling Harbour. I couldn’t believe how quickly three weeks passed with my parents. I loved every minute of them being here. I would highly recommend my siblings going abroad, if only to have our parents to come and spoil them crazy during their visit!

The view from the penthouse... not too shabby.

Just a couple of beach bums hanging out in Manly.

Interior of the Opera House... We actually learned on the tour that due to some political issues, the Danish architect Jorn Utzon never saw his finished product.

They've had everything from operas, concerts, and wrestling matches take place in the main hall.

Thanks Mom and Dad for the best trip ever!

Mom & Dad visit: New Zealand

Although I had an amazing time in Melbourne, I couldn’t wait to leave… only because I was meeting my parents at the Sydney airport. It was the first time we were seeing each other in four months. Needless to say, we were all excited to be reunited! The three of us flew straight to Christchurch, which has been described as the most “English” city outside of England. After two days we were ready to move on to Franz Josef, home to some of New Zealand’s largest glaciers. One day later we were heading to Queenstown, our undisputed favorite city of the trip. While there we took a day trip to Milford Sound and went fishing. My parents absolutely loved New Zealand and I wouldn’t be surprised if they came back to do a tour of the north island or to visit Queenstown again. A week passed very quickly and before we knew it we were flying back to Australia to go relax on Hamilton Island for a few days!

Although it’s the largest city on the south island, there still isn’t very much to do in Christchurch. We walked around the town, browsed through the markets in the church square, watched a few street performers, and visited the botanical gardens.

Christchurch is known as the Garden City of the world, and they definitely didn't disappoint. My mom and I couldn't get enough of all the beautiful hydrangeas.

We passed Ross on the way to Franz Josef, a small town known for gold mining.

Dad and Mom in front of Fox Glacier, the longest glacier on the west coast of New Zealand.

The weather in Queenstown was absolutely perfect and only added to the beauty of the lake, trees, and mountains.

The drive four hour scenic drive from Queenstown to Milford Sound is one of the most beautiful in the world. We stopped at this "mirror" lake to take pictures.

I lost track of all the dolphins we saw on the two hour cruise that day. It was magnificent.

It rains about 182 days out of the year in Milford Sound. We were lucky to fall into the 183 days that it did not.

Milford Sound isn't actually a sound, it's a fiord. The difference between the two is that a fiord is carved out by ice and a sound is carved out by water... but who really wants to go through the trouble to changing all the names on the maps?

Instead of doing another four hour drive back to Queenstown, we decided to fly back in a ten person plane. It might have been my favorite part of the whole day.

Our fishing guide and me. I caught the fish, but he was nice enough to hold it for me in the picture so I didn't have to get my hands dirty.

Melbourne

My first day in Melbourne, I spent with Tamsin, Kat, and Adam. We went for a free tour of the Parliament House, went to the Botanical Gardens, and did a nice walking tour of the city (which I found in my Lonely Planet). That first day it was very hot and muggy, but the next three days the weather were absolutely beautiful, which is quite rare for the city that’s been known to experience all four seasons in one day. The three of them moved left Melbourne on Sunday, but I decided to stay two extra days to hang out with my friend Alli, whom I’ve known since freshman year at Miami. She came to Australia in September and decided to move to Melbourne when she got a job working for the Australia Open as a production assistant. On any given day she might be driving Andy Roddick around the city or picking up the Williams sisters dinner. Pretty cool, eh? She lives in a house with two other Australians just outside of the city. Her roommates are super nice, they took me out for a drink my first night since Alli had to work late. I spent the next day exploring the city some more; I went to the Victorian Arts Center (my first museum visit since being in Australia), visited the observation deck at Eureka Tower, and then met up with Alli at the Open the night that Federer beat Hewitt. The next day was Australia Day, which I spent with Alli and her friends at the concert Big Day Out. We saw bands like Lily Allen and Muse perform (I don’t have any pictures because sadly my camera died). Overall, I really loved Melbourne and could see myself going back there to visit again.

Federation Square was recently named one of the world's ugliest buildings. Score.

Kat and Tamsin in front of the Parliament House.

I'm kind of a big deal...

We stopped for a tasty lunch in Chinatown.

An Eiffel Tower inspired sculpture outside of the art museum.

Flinders Street Station.

I enjoyed my lunch in Fed Square while also watching the Open.

I can't for the life of me figure out the point of this sculpture.

Eureka Tower, it has the highest observation deck in Australia.

A nice view of Fed Square from above.

Where the Australian Open was taking place.

Alli and I cheering on Federer from the Beer Garden. Such a fun night!

Phillip Island

While staying in Melbourne, we decided to take a day trip to Phillip Island, which is about an hour and half outside of the city. It's here at sunset that the world's smallest penguins waddle to shore after a long day spent in the sea. Kat and I were especially excited about the penguin parade, and then extremely disappointed when we realized that you had to pay to watch... along with hundreds of other people... and you're not even allowed to take pictures of video tape the event. Change of plans. We instead went to see two different blowholes and ended up eating dinner on the beach and watching the sunset. All free of charge. The whole day was so much fun, I couldn’t be happier that we went!

A very rocky beach we had to walk across in order to get to the blowhole.

Technically, it's just water smashing up against the rocks, not a blowhole. Still very cool.

Our next stop was The Nobbies, where the real blowhole was. This blowhole was a let down, so I didn't bother putting up a picture. The scenery was worth the trip alone though!

Flynn's beach.

A very scary, spiky, and (thankfully) dead blow fish I would have stepped on if it were not for Adam.