Fosters Down Under

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Tasmania

A week after returning from Ayers Rock, we squeezed in another vacation before Christmas. The trip was broken into three parts: Tasmania, Melbourne, and the Great Ocean Road. This blog update will focus on Tasmania! :)

We spent three days in Tasmania, where we based ourselves mostly in the Hobart area. While there, we visited the Tasman Arch, Port Arthur, Wine Glass Bay, Cascades Brewery, Salamanca Market, and the Bonorong Wildlife Park.

First up was Port Arthur, with a stop along the way to view the Tasman Arch in the Tasman National Park. Port Arthur, a World Heritage site, is a former convict settlement consisting of eleven remnant penal sites originally built within the British Empire during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Tasman Arch

Port Arthur

The following day, we hit the road and drove approximately 200km east to visit Wine Glass Bay. Located in the Freycinet National Park, WGB is located halfway down the east coast of Tasmania. A very pretty beach, which we definitely considered worth the drive.

Here are a few sights we saw along our drive to the Freycinet.


East Coast of Tasmania


East Coast of Tasmania

East Coast of Tasmania

The following day, we toured around Hobart. We spent an hour or two visiting the Salamanca Market, we ate at a James Squire pub, visited the Bonorong Wildlife Park, and toured the Cascade Brewery (Australia's oldest operating brewery). All in all, a great tour of Tasmania!

Salamanca Market

All James Squire on tap!


Look at that menu!!

Cascade Brewery

Tasmanian Devil

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Ayers Rock

Next up on our list of destinations visited was Ayers Rock (also known as Uluru). Known as one of the hottest locations in the country, we knew we had to visit this remote place at the beginning of Stacy's parents visit (and before summer temperatures really began to soar). Even still, temperatures did not drop below 40 degrees while we were there!

Some of the major highlights of our visit included observing a sunset at Uluru, completing a sunrise walking tour, and visiting Kata Tjuta (also known as the Olgas).

Here are some pictures from the sunset viewing:

The following morning, the guys woke up early to do a sunrise hike around the base of Uluru (the girls stayed back to hangout with Mr. Matty). The temperature was 26 degrees at 5 am when they started and went up to 39 degrees by the time they completed the 10.6 km loop. In addition to dealing with the heat, they also had to deal with all of the mozzies that are well-known in the area (hence the mozzie nets you'll see them sporting in some of the below pictures)

Blair walking the base


Caves along the base


Stacy's Dad in a cave along the base


Mozzies, mozzies everywhere!

Some people are crazy enough to want to climb Uluru. You can see the hiking trail heading up the side of the rock in the pictures below. More than 36 people have died doing this climb. The pictures simply do not show how steep this climb is.

The hiking trail up the rock


The hiking trail from a side angle - to show just how steep the climb is!

One of the final sites we viewed were the Olgas. These "other red rocks" are located about 60km away from Uluru. Not quite as spectacular, but they are known for their fantastic hiking tours. Unfortunately, we arrived in the afternoon and the temperature was simply too hot to even consider doing a proper walking tour. Here are a few pictures that were grabbed on a very brief tour of the area.

Stacy's Dad with the Olgas in the distance

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Parent's Arrival, Jervis Bay, and Kangaroo Valley

Well, it's been a while since our last blog update. Apologies! We've been ridiculously busy doing life, and just simply enjoying our little boy. :-) Be ready for many updates over the next few days/weeks!

Back in November, Stacy's parents came to visit for 8 weeks. I'd like to say they came to visit the two of us, but we all know the main purpose of the visit was to hang out with Matty! ;)

Since the flight to Oz from Canada is quite long, we figured we needed to make the most of their visit, so the majority of it consisted of traveling around and seeing the highlights of Australia.

The first weekend they were here, we headed to the coast (Hyams Beach) to enjoy some sand and surf. We stayed at the same little cottage we've rented in the past, which was nice and familiar. On our way to the beach on Kings Highway (after having passed by the sight a handful of times already), we finally decided to pull over and check out Pooh's Corner, a small cave cut into the rocks off the highway. It was designed as the location of a munitions store during World War II that was to be detonated if the Japanese attempted a land invasion. This was done to protect the enemy from crossing the coast to the national capital. Kinda neat really.

Anyways, as it was only mid-November at this time, the summer season was just beginning. We had a few cools days and a few nice and sunny days. We were also able to celebrate Stacy's Dad's birthday while we were there!

Cottage we rented

The beach!

Beach

Turtle sculpture Blair made for Matty

Stacy's Dad cutting his bday cake

On the way back from the coast, we drove through Kangaroo Valley, a cute little region of NSW known as "Australia's Most Beautiful Valley".

A few days later, we visited Tidbinbilla Nature Reservation and Stacy's parents visited the War Memorial.

Blair at Tidbinbilla

Stacy's Dad seeing his first kangaroo

Stacy's Mom and Dad in front of the War Museum

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Gold Coast & Sunshine Coast

With our time in Australia hitting the halfway mark (we only have a year and a half left), we figured we needed to add another destination to our list of places visited. We wanted something easy since it would be Matty's first flight, so we chose to head to Brisbane as there was a direct 1.5 hour flight option from Canberra. From there, we had easy access to the Gold and Sunshine Coasts.

This was a very last minute trip, but we've found that these types of trips often end up being the most fun. And this trip didn't disappoint!

We were a bit worried about Matty's first flight, but it turns out we didn't need to. He was awesome. On the way there, he stayed awake the entire flight, but was completely quiet. He just seemed to want to take everything in. On the way home, he fell asleep before the plane even took off and only woke upon landing. We can only hope he will be this good on future flights!

Upon arriving in Brisbane, the heat and humidity hit all of us like a brick...and it sent Matty into hysterics. We're talking purple-faced screaming with tears and everything. To help him regulate his body temperature, we quickly stripped him down to just a shirt and nappy, and soon afterwards we had our mild-tempered Matty back. Lesson learned. :-)

After getting loaded into our rental car (and cranking the A/C way up), we were on our way to our hotel on the Gold Coast. We didn't have big plans for this trip - we did want to see both the Gold and Sunny Coast - but mostly, we just wanted to relax. We spent the majority of our time sitting by the hotel pool, but did manage to get in some spa time and some sightseeing.

And as for Matty .. well, he had many firsts: his first flight, first time in a swimming pool, first time on a beach, and first time in the ocean. Also worth mentioning was his first visit to a Hibachi restaurant (Benihana's). We're not sure how he pulled this off, but he managed to sleep through the entire meal despite the craziness of it. All in all, he was a great little traveler and we can't wait to add more destinations to his list of places visited! :-)