The BIG Adventure, Jervis Bay, and Melbourne

Though it has been quite a while since my last post, it hasn’t been for lack of excitement. In fact, the main reason for the hiatus from the blog has been all that has happened!  As many of you already know, the main cause of the excitement in our lives over the last few months has been the discovery that we are expecting!  Though I have been quite sick over the last few months, we are very excited for our little baby set to arrive in early October.  We are grateful that God is giving us this little peanut and hope for a healthy birth back in the U.S.  In the mean time, we have been navigating the Australian health care system, and I have been laying low for the most part due to the sickness.

However, we have not put our Australian adventures on hold and have had the chance to do two more trips since Tasmania.  The first was a really nice short weekend getaway.  My golden birthday was at the end of February, and my lovely husband and parents teamed up to give me a weekend trip down the coast of Australia to Jervis Bay.  Though I was about 8-9 weeks pregnant and a little concerned about not feeling great, we were able to rent a car and take our time driving down the coast, exploring beach towns, and having a leisurely few days.  It was a nice relaxing time and we were able to enjoy the nearing end of Australia’s sun and beach season at beautiful Jervis Bay, which apparently has the third whitest sand in the world (don’t ask me how that is determined.)  

The sand was so white it was blinding!

Overlook near Jervis Bay

More recently, we were able to enjoy Australia’s four day Easter holiday weekend by taking a trip to Melbourne.  Australia’s public holidays include Good Friday and the Monday after Easter weekend, so we had a nice amount of time to fly to Melbourne and see all that we wanted. 

We first spent a day wandering the streets of Melbourne, as one typically does in that city.  It was easy to see why Melbourne is routinely ranked among the top few cities in the world to live.  It definitely lived up to all we had heard about it.  Melbourne is a city with a vibe about it that is difficult to explain, but very cool, charming, and culturally rich.  The neighborhoods reminded me of an old ivy league college town on the U.S. East Coast.  They are filled with beautiful old brick homes, rich architecture, clean, wide, tree-lined streets, and cable trains running down the middle of the streets.  The architecture of Melbourne city itself is similarly rich and beautiful on every street.   The city is also full of art, museums, theaters, and events which add to its richness.  Probably the most charming feature, however, were the little alleys (called “laneways”) peppered throughout the city which are bustling with cafes and street art, and emanate a funky feel.

St. Paul's Cathedral - one of a few beautiful cathedrals

Flinders Station

 

In the evening, we then took the opportunity to drive to Phillip Island, an island about 2 hours from Melbourne which is accessible by bridge.  The main attraction which lured us was the miniature penguins on the island which make their appearance on a beach at the far end of the island every night around 8pm.  Hundreds of penguins emerge from the surf under the cover of night to waddle up the beach, up the bluff, and into their burrows in the bluffs of the beach.   As we arrived, there were already a few dozen penguins in the midst of their trek and we wandered for almost two more hours as dozens more filtered in.  Though it was dark and the park rangers were very strict about not taking pictures of the penguins, we were still able to see the cute little penguins emerge in groups, plan different parts of their trek, call to each other with a variety of sounds, fight, play, and find their families.  They were adorable!

The next days were spent driving the famed Great Ocean Road and viewing the beauty that is the south coast of Australia.  The road starts not that far to the west of Melbourne and we spent two days driving west and then looping back to Melbourne.  Along the way, we stopped in many unique coastal towns, did a forest walk to a waterfall, and enjoyed the views.  I was also on koala watch throughout the trip and was fairly proud of my success by the end.  Koalas are deceptively difficult to spot as they are often perched very high in the trees and curled up in a crook where they tend to blend in with the tree.  Despite this, I managed to spot many koalas and a few kangaroos as well!  Brad did a great job of quickly pulling over to the side of the road and not complaining about me yelling “koala!” at him time and again.

One of many beautiful overlooks on the Great Ocean Road

Waterfall walk

One of several koalas that we spotted

Our day spent looking for dinosaurs didn't go quite as well ...

We spotted a few of these guys right next to our car

Even though the koalas were irresistible, the highlight of the Great Ocean Road was definitely seeing the famed “Twelve Apostles” rock formation at the end of our journey.  The “apostles” are large limestone stacks carved out of the ocean cliffs, but one should be sure to note that there are only eight apostles (there were only nine to begin with, but one collapsed.)  The apostles were more grand and impressive in person and a beautiful cap to our Melbourne trip.

A few of the apostles

Our remaining plans for Australia from this point are still a bit up in the air, but we are now looking forward to whatever our time holds.  We send much love to all our friends and family and hope all are well.