Melbourne - Take 2

Following Tasmania, we hopped on a plane and flew back to Melbourne. We spent another three days in this awesome city. This time we toured around the Crown Resort and Entertainment Complex to see some of their Christmas displays, we did a boat cruise down the Yarra river, we had High Coffee at the Intercontinental, and we drove to Phillip Island to see the penguins and the sights along the way.

Christmas at the Crown

Christmas show at the Crown

Christmas in Melbourne

Christmas in Melbourne

Yarra River Boat Cruise

 Finally, here are some photos from Phillip Island:

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

Port Arthur

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

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

Cascade Brewery

Tasmanian Devil

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

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