Australia Recap

It's that time to finally recap my trip to Australia! We had such a good time! We saw so many things and did so much! I was going to write a detailed blog but realized that was going to be too long so I'm going to recap and then add pictures.

We left Salt Lake on Sunday November 20 at 9:15 about 45 minutes delayed from our original departure time. We got lost at LAX because we had to go to Tom Bradley International Airport (which is connected to LAX) but you just have to walk. 3 Security guards later we found it. We left LAX at 11:55 pm. The Quantas Plane was 1 1/2 levels it was huge! Our seats had t.v's in the headrests and we were able to watch movies, TV, sports, play games, or listen to the radio. I watched Wedding Crashers and Must Love Dogs. I slept about 4 hours on the plane, which is good for me since I can't normally sleep sitting up.

We arrived in Brisbane Australia at 7:30 in the morning on Tuesday November 22. Carlie picked us up and we were able to fit all our luggage into her small hatchback car. We spent the day in Brisbane. We met her fiance by the Brisbane River along with his friends Mike, Emily and Brad. They all flew from Perth. We had breakfast by the Brisbane River. Spent some time looking at a Tibetan Temple that had been left there from the World Expo. We rode the CityCat (which is a water taxi). Then we walked around their downtown area. We left Brisbane about 3:00 so we could head to Mooloolaba where we would be staying and get checked into our townhouse. That night we went to the beach to have a barbecue with Mark and Carlies friends. We mostly had sausage and chicken but Emily (Mark's friend) brought Kangaroo and I tried it!!! And no it did not take like chicken. It actually had a veal texture to it, but it was heavily seasoned so I mostly tasted the seasoning.

Wednesday, November 23. The sun rises at 4:00 am. So we were up shortly after that. We went to the beach and it was beautiful! We found a bakery on the way so we ate our pastry on the beach. It was a fabulous way to start our morning. At 10:00 we met at Carlies to go to the Eumunda Markets. They are markets held every Wednesday and Saturday in a small town called Eumunda. They sell everything imaginable. My mom bought a digiterydoo (sp?). After we had spent the afternoon there we went to Noosa National Park for a hike along the coastline. Noosa is another small little town but much more ritzy. There are Wild Koala's in that area but we didn't see any. We walked to the top of the trail that overlooked the Ocean it was amazing! Then we headed back down the trail to a small semi-private cove and swam. The water was surprisely cold. For dinner that night we went to the seafood markets and got Prawns (large shrimp) fresh off the boat! They were so yummy! We had to rip off their heads and deshell them.

Thursday November 24 Carlie took us to The Big Pineapple. It's a cheesy toursit place but it was so fun and educational. I honestly never knew that Pineapples grew from the ground. For some reasons I thought they were picked from trees. We rode the Plantation Train. We drove through pineapple fields and saw an avacado tree. The train stopped at the Animal Nursery. They were having a Koala Show. It actually was just an opportunity to pet the Koala which we did. I love the Koalas! They were so cute. We saw a Kangaroo with a joey in her pouch. The Joey was so cute, it kept hopping in and out of the mothers pouch. I tried to feed the kangaroo but it didn't want the food. Then we walked through the rainforest, swung on some vines and saw a large spider! Click here if you want to see the spider. Next we rode the Macadamia Nutmobile. It was four cars in the shape of nuts! We learned how they collect the nuts and how to crack them open. They are so yummy! After the nutmobile ride we went on a Harvest Boat Ride. We learned the history of agriculture and how they are trying new ways to improve growing plants. The final place we went to was the Nocturnal House. They had all the lights off except for a soft blue light to represent the moon. It was neat to actually see the animals awake and active. Before we left we had a giant parfeit! It was so yummy!

That night we cooked Thanksgiving Dinner (sorry Mandi -- they were all expecting it) for Carlie and all their friends. They had never had an American Thanksgiving because it's something they don't celebrate there. Carlie's sister had never even had Turkey! I also cooked a Pumpkin Pie because they had never had Pumpkin pie. They thought it sounded weird but they really enjoyed it. We ended up feeding 2 English, 7 Australians and 3 Americans. It was very a mixed nationality Thanksgiving.

Friday November 25 a bunch of us took a surf lesson!

It was so much fun! The instructor wasn't bad looking. He showed us on the shore the fundamentals of getting up on the surfboard then pretty much let us loose in the water. He stuck with Carlie and I and basically just pushed us out on the waves and told us when to stand up. It's a lot harder then it looks. But we had a great time. And hour lesson was $30 so all together the instructor made $270 in one hour! Now that's work!!!

That night was the Hen's night and the Bachelor Party. For Hens Night Carlie's Bridesmaids got a hotel room overlooking the Ocean and 16 floors up! We were right below the penthouse!! It was an awesome view! The moms were there for about an hour then they all left. And then the stripper showed up! And yes I saw a stripper! First time too. He was so sweaty by the end of his show it was kind of gross, but entertaining. I'm just glad that he didn't touch me. And he wasn't full monty just a g-string. It was a crazy night! They corrdinated with the guys about which bars they were going to and when so we wouldn't run into them. We danced at the bars and had a great time. The party ended about 2am! The girls wore Lays and the guys had on cheesy hawaiian t-shirts it was awesome!

Saturday November 26 we went to the Steve Irwan Australian Zoo. That was so much fun!!! They have a lot of the native animals. We watched a croc show. Held a Koala. Fed the Kangaroos. Saturday was also the first day that the sun actually came out. It had been nice the entire week, we got rained on a few times but nothing to stop us. But Saturday the humidity was mostly gone and the sun was out!! It was a nice day. Carlie spent the evening at her parents because she was getting married on Sunday. So we pretty much had a free night that night.

Sunday November 27 was Carlies Wedding. The wedding didn't start until 3:30 so we spent the morning at the beach until the wind picked up then we just hung out at the townhouse. Carlie's wedding was on the beach. We met at the designated time and the wind was really starting to pick up!

By the time Carlie and the Bridesmaids showed up I think the wind was about 50 or 60 mph! I was unbelieveable! They still got married on the beach and it was beautiful!

You can really tell they love each other. We then walked back up the beach to the Surf Club where they were having the reception. The hall was decorated beautifully. Carlie and Mark's friend Chris made the cake for them. The food was good and we danced the night away! The storm eventually passed and it ended up being a beautiful night! Carlie and Mark have some amazing friends! We had a wonderful time with all of them.

Monday November 28 was another one of our free days. Carlie just wanted to rest. My mom and I walked along the beach in the morning looking for seashells. We walked all the way to the point where the canal starts. There were a Canadian couple sitting by the little light house and they told us they were watching the dolphins and sure enough there were dolphins out there! It was so awesome! I've never seen dolphins other then at seaworld. They were hunting it looked like (at least that's what the canadians told us they were doing). Of course that was the one day that we had forgotten our cameras and Bob! Bob had gone running that morning so he was home sleeping. He really missed out! That afternoon we went to Underwater World. My mom and I had an appointment to swim with the sharks!! Bob doesn't do stuff like that so he was just going to watch from the Tunnel. My mom and I met the group at 1:30 and began our scuba lesson. They gave us the body suits to wear. Which sucked trying to get into them. It's like trying to fit a sausage into whatever sausages are put into! It was terrible. And the guy just stood there and watched! Umm give our fat some privacy please! We finally got into our wetsuits when the put the tank on our back... HEAVY!!! And if that wasn't enough then they put the weights on us! I'm sorry I didn't sign up to carry 400 pounds of stuff on my back. Then they made us walk up the stairs to the practice dive tank. Yeah that was hard. After I brief lesson the instructor took us to the Aquarium. We had to walk across the street, into the back room. OMG it was so much fun!!

Basically we just stood against he wall and looked at all the fish and sharks swimming around but the sharks would come really close to us! One even touched my mom! It was no touching rule so we wern't allowed to touch them. One Shark was 10 meters long I think that equals about 30 feet. It was huge and would swim really slow past us. I almost peed my pants he was so close. We did get to take a little walk around the aquarium and that was fun. It was funny though in the aquarium, we could see all the people looking at us and I was just laughing becuase know I know what all the animals feel like! Anyone wanting to swim with sharks I say DO IT!!! IT IS AWESOME.

Tuesday November 29, we went to the largest sand island called Fraiser Island. We took a tour so the bus picked us up at 5:50 am!

It was a blast, the bus drives on the sand going like 60 mph! It was awesome! It was a four wheel drive bus because like I said it was a sand island so all the roads are sand! We went to the most beautiful lake; Lake McKenzie.
The colors of the water were beautiful! And the water was so warm. We walked through a rainforest and saw Giant Ferns that are over 400 years old! We also saw a dingo. (go ahead and say it "did a dingo eat your baby?") If you are ever in the Brisbane area I definilty recommend taking a tour of Fraiser Island. There was also a ship wreck but we weren't allowed to get off. On the Two day tour of Frasier Island there is a really cool ship wreck, but we didnt' have time to take the two day tour. The Fraiser Island tour was an all day affair but we had a blast. After that we started packing and hung out with Carlie one last time... boo hoo!

Wednesday November 30 we flew back to freezing cold Utah. Damn that Artic Current!!! I want to go back to Australia!!!


For more pictures you can also go here. There are a ton of Surfing pictures!

For those who actually read this entire post; WOW!!! Sorry it's so long I had a lot to say. (and this was the short version)