Land Down Under

One of many street signs

G'Day, port call!

So the cat is out of the bag by now... I met Rob in Brisbane, Australia where the carrier he is deployed on pulled into port. Port calls are very secretive before hand and the location and dates of these port calls are never made public due to security reasons, so as I anxiously anticipated this trip, I had to keep my lips sealed.

Originally, Robby was supposed to come with, but his baby sitter that we love and adore offered to stay at our place for the week so I could spend alone time with Rob for the first time since Robby was born. I was ridiculously excited to both see Rob and also have our much needed time as a married couple. It was a vacation in its self to just travel alone! I read a magazine and slept on the plane... seriously! OK, so I am sure you aren't wanting to hear about my travels there and are more interested in my trip to Australia so here we go!

 

"Oh, you're goin' to Brissy, aye?"

From the moment I saw Australia from my window on the plane I just knew I was about to fall in love with just about the most amazing place I have ever been. To give that statement some perspective, I have pretty much been everywhere. Australia is incredible!

 I landed in Gold Coast which is 90 minutes away from Brisbane. Upon going through customs, we were greeted by English speaking folks (a welcoming atmosphere after being in Japan) and they asked us some questions of where we were headed, though by this point all of Australia knew of the big US Navy carrier that just pulled in and knew we were there to see our husbands. In the most adorable accent ever they asked me, "Oh, you're goin' to Brissy, aye?".

As I mentioned we landed a ways a way in Gold Coast by Surfer's Paradise (made famous by, you guessed it, surfing and also Endless Summer). This was awesome as I rented a car and was able to drive through some of the country side and see more of Queensland (though hardly even a fraction of this gigantic state).

"I may never leave this ship, again!"

I had a red eye flight from Japan, so I got into Brisbane pretty early (around 10am). The last email I received from Rob stated that he should "easily" be off the boat by lunch and he was being dropped of in the city center where I would try to find him. Each hour I would get an update and each update had him delayed another hour until finally he mentioned that he had been watching guys trying to lower the gangways from the boat onto the dock and it appeared that it either wasn't working or that it wouldn't reach far enough. Neither of us had cell phones that worked in Australia, so I had to constantly find wifi in the city to stay posted. Rob had seemed hopeful that the problem would be fixed soon and that we would be reunited shortly. Hours passed and each email became more and more pessimistic. From the first email that stated his excitement that he would be off the boat soon, to that afternoon about him laughing at the problem that gangways posed and the attempts of each engineering contraption they used in attempt to fix the issue to the last email I received that simply stated, "I may never leave this ship, again!".

The good news is that he did eventually leave the ship, though after 8 hours of being "stuck" at the dock there were a few comical news coverages on the issue. I slowly saw a wave of obvious American sailors pour into the streets of Brisbane and I ran to my hotel to wait for Rob. After an hour of waiting I received an email from him that he was downtown with his bags, so I hopped in the rental and quickly found him. Reunited at last!

Port Call Newbie... Moms gone wild!

This was my very first port call and I was amazed. This was like being a freshman in college but worse and to my surprise, Rob said that this was a "tame" port call. All you have to do is imagine 5,000 sailors, mostly young guys, who haven't seen land, drank a beer or enjoyed the company of a young lady in quite some time... with money to blow. It is like putting a child in a candy store, folks!

The first night was a blast, but I assure you that even though weeks have passed, I am STILL recovering from it. In combination of the atmosphere and being childless for the first time in over a year, it was pretty clear that I was well on my way to having a show called Moms Gone Wild.

My life is complete. I cuddled a Koala!

After our night on the town (or the night Brisbane almost killed Tara), we were ready for a nice, easy going day. A short 20 minute drive away there was a perfect place for just that. We decided to go to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. It was a beautiful drive and a gorgeous day. Though it was August, it was winter in Australia which meant cool 70s all week.

Lone Pine is home to several koalas and yes, you have an opportunity to hold one! Holding that koala was just what I needed after spending my first night away from Robby. It was like I was holding and rocking Robby, except Robby typically doesn't poop on the ground as I pick him up and isn't quite as fluffy, but this was a close alternative.

Koalas really are gentle, quiet and sluggish little bears. They seemed drugged, but the conservationist assured us that the eucalyptus they eat didn't have anything to do with their drowsy state. Rob and I really liked these animals, and after the night we had before, we could totally relate to their sluggish temperaments.

The sanctuary wasn't home to just koalas. They had a large open field full of kangaroos. It was awesome to be up close and personal with these amazing animals. Just to see these marsupials hop around with such power and ease, was incredible. We bravely pet a few of the roo's, but in all honesty I was terrified to touch any kangaroo that wasn't a little joey. I had seen one too many videos of boxing kangaroos surprise unknowing tourists.

 

Nudgey Beach

The following day we didn't have much planned so we decided to hit the road and get out of the city.  Driving around Brisbane reminded me so much of a combination of all the places I have lived and loved. The city was clean and hilly like San Fransisco. The surrounding area was green, open and vast with palm trees and coastal shrubbery like back home in Florida. The mountains in the distance were like a tropical rainforest that was nestled in between Tuscan hills that were reminiscent of Santa Barbara. It was breathtaking.

Our scent for salt (and our navigation system) led us to the coast. It was like Cocoa Beach! Beach stores, camp sites, coastal highway... it was all there! We finally found ourselves in a park off the beaten path called Nudgey Beach. It was full of mile long winding decks that went though a forested area along the coast, over some mangroves, by an outlet (that looked like a scene out of Crocodile Dundee) and then passed the coast. It was relaxing, peaceful and just about as romantic as it gets for two kids who can't get enough of the ocean.

Walking over the mangroves

We ended our afternoon at a cute beach side seafood cafe and enjoyed scallops and shrimp before heading back to the city. It is easy to forget the easy going life style that Rob and I left behind in our coastal homes and being in the middle of the largest metropolis in Asia (Japan), but this day reminded us of how homesick we really were of that coastal living.

Kangaroos, Wallabies, and Lorekeets, OH MY!

Rob and I can't sit still for too long and we knew we wanted to see as much of Queensland as we could so we hit the road early and headed to Lamington National Park. This time we brought a friend, Amanda, who is a helo pilot deployed on the same carrier and also went to college with Rob.

Looking over the park

Lamington National Park is full of tall mountains and rainforests that are home to a lot of wildlife. There are hundreds of trails to hike, many of them day long trails, but since we had just a day, we stuck to the shorter 1-3 hour hikes. Though we were told to keep a look out, we didn't see any koalas in the trees. Believe me, we looked! We did see wild turkeys and lots of birds. The hike was gorgeous, but we weren't able to see the waterfalls we were told so much about. We still enjoyed the drive through the park and the hike though.

A cavern along the trail

As we drove through the park we began seeing both wallabies and kangaroos. It was remarkable to see these guys hopping along the hillsides and in their natural habitat. Rob and I couldn't take enough pictures and on more than a few occasions, we found ourselves braving on foot to get a closer shot. At one point it did cross my mind that we could very easily be featured in the show When Animals Attack.

Our last stop in the park, we went though a short trail that brought us to a tree top walk. It was suspended bridges between the tops of the highest rainforest trees. There were even spots to climb higher via caged ladders. It was amazing, though rather short. At the entrance of the tree top walks, there was a small shop that fed that many of the birds in the park and while I have always loved parrots, it was too much for even me to have hundreds of very friendly (too friendly) lorekeets swooping, diving and landing on us. Dodging bird poop has never been "my thing".

On our drive home, we passed several vineyards and felt that there was just so much we didn't see, though we all were very satisfied with our Aussie experience. After witnessing the beauty of the country, the amazing and unique wildlife and enjoying the company of each other, we felt it was already the perfect trip.

Wallaby

Our Trip of a Lifetime

This trip had already been perfect in so many ways, and we hadn't even hit our top three things to do on this trip:

1. Snorkel the Great Barrier Reef
2. Deep Sea Fishing
3. Go to an Aussie Vineyard

Rob and I both decided that we would make a trip back to Australia during the warmer season and dive/snorkel then. Deep sea fishing sounded fun, but again it was not the best weather (for me at least). We were going to spend our last night driving a few hours away to see a vineyard before heading back to the city for our last night, then we got an email from another couple in Rob's squadron. They were going to accompany us to the vineyard but came across a great deal that Rob and I couldn't pass up.

We did a little form flying with our friends

Though both Rob and his pal Gary were pilots, they were unable to rent and fly an airplane but that didn't stop a personal guide from taking us up to the skies! Rob, our guide and I were in one Cessna 172 and our friends, Gary and Stephanie were with their guide in another Cessna. We took off shortly after noon from a very small private airport, minutes outside of Brisbane and headed back towards the tall peaks and rainforests that Rob and I saw the day before. We did some amazing low level flying and saw the amazing waterfalls that would have taken us a day to hike to. The flight through the area was perfect in itself, but then we landed in the middle of a grassy airfield next to our Aussie vineyard.

Rob and I had to pinch ourselves. It was too good to be true, but it was in fact real. We visited a small 5 acre vineyard where a young retired coupled lived and spent their days perfecting the art of making wine! The owner's house was on top of a hill, over looking a creek, his hillside vineyard and the distant rainforests. It was absolutely breathtaking! On a picnic table, the owner had a cheese platter and a few bottles of wine waiting for us. As he explained the first type of wine, he asked us how we liked our steaks cooked, then he grilled us all porterhouse steaks "on the barbie"! We enjoyed several more types of wine with our lunch and had some great conversation with the owner, our pilots, guides and each other.

After desert and some more wine, we walked through his vineyard as the sun was getting low. It was the most amazing time, and I couldn't have been more satisfied. As we were headed back to the house, we saw kangaroos near the creek... the day couldn't be more perfect.

 

We took off just before sunset and as we were on takeoff, our kangaroo friends hopped along side the airfield. I was able to fly a bit before we landed and it occurred to me that I had the perfect life with Rob and Robby. How blessed were we to share this great experience with each other?

With our friends before take off

Spending a little time behind the yolk

Trip of a Lifetime

I couldn't have dreamed of a better visit with Rob. It was romantic, adventurous, beautiful and relaxing. Robby was safe and sound back in Japan, having a blast with our nanny, and Mama and Dada were able to enjoy each other's company in one of the most amazing countries we've been to.

Our last night wasn't an all night outing, but rather we did something reminiscent of being at home and living life as a normal married couple, something that us military couples rarely take for granted. We went grocery shopping, headed back to our apartment to do some laundry and cook dinner in our PJs. What was on the menu? Kangaroo filets, of course :-)