Toes in the Water: Australia, Part 3!

Ahhh...if you know us, you know we're happier on the beach.  So when we pulled up to our rented apartment on the Gold Coast and saw this from our balcony, we were happy:

 

The Gold Coast is gorgeous - absolutely breathtaking.  Not to slight Okinawa, though - I think we have some of the most beautiful beaches in the world here.  But there was something surreal about standing on the beach in Australia.  Something I had dreamed of doing for a very long time was coming true!  The weather was great and the water was clear - it was going to be a fantastic last few days there.

 

As we were settling in, Mom decided to call home and check on the house (since we had been "unplugged" for the past few days).  While she finished her call, we headed down to the beach and she said she'd join us after she hung up.  Well, over an hour passed by and she still hadn't come down, so we started back, when we finally saw her coming.  As she got her feet wet, she told us she had felt a fever come on suddenly and she had to lie down for a nap, which is why she didn't come out right away.  Then we all headed back to the room and Alan and I headed out to find a grocery store while she stayed with the kiddos.  When we got back, Mom headed straight to bed...where she ended up staying the rest of the stay.  Sadly, Mom missed the entire Beach leg of the trip because she caught a stomach virus.  We even had to take her to the Emergency Room the last day there, in an effort to get her well enough to fly!  They pumped her with fluids, steroids and an antibiotic and she felt well-enough to fly the next day.  It made me so sad for her!  But, obviously, we couldn't just hang around the room all day and risk getting everybody else sick, so we ventured out a little bit.  Here's what she missed:

 We took the kids putt putt golfing on the second day to get out of the sun for a bit.  It was a fun place with dinosaurs and tons of photo props.

 

It started out well, but...

 

Anaya cheats, so it turned in to this...

 

...then this:

 

It was miserable.

 

 The second day, these giant jelly fish (along with tons of smaller ones that had tails at least two feet long) were all over the beach!  I wasn't getting in the water anymore...

 

You know you live in Japan when your kids think flashing the "peace" sign is a photo necessity...and Audie sort of reminds us of Forrest Gump here "I may not be a smart man..."

 

 

Adam was clever here - he purposely made this sea turtle out of sand right next to a little jellyfish (you can see it just in front of the mouth) because sea turtles eat jellyfish.

 

I wish I could tell you that was us para-sailing, but with Grandma down for the count it wasn't possible.  Next trip, though, we're totally doing it.

 

We went for another hike the last day and saw this warning about koalas chasing kangaroos.

 

 

 

 

That's it!  The final morning consisted of us dropping Mom off, then turning in the rental car and heading home ourselves.  The trip went by way too fast and I would love to go back again one day.  But there's no way in hell I'm taking these kids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrating 6

Six years ago I received news from my doctor that I was sure would change my life.  Maybe it did change my life - who knows?  If it did, this ain't a bad one...

Sunset at Okuma

Just finished a 13K

Cocktails on the beach

 

Sea Kayaking at Okuma

82RS Open House

 

 

 

 

Take that, Cancer.  You never stood a chance.

Crikey! Australia, Phase 2

So after a few days in Brisbane, we rented a "People Mover" to drive up north a little bit to the Glasshouse Mountains.  I think Mom was most excited about the people mover because she was tired of all the city walking.  Although she was quite a trooper, we did hear her cuss when I wouldn't run out in traffic to flag down a departing bus...By the way, People Mover is just what they call a van.  It was just a minivan, but when Alan reserved it and they referred to it as a "People Mover," we were worried we were getting a bus or something.  For anyone who has never traveled outside the United States, let me warn you: If you have more than two kids, you might as well have 10.  Even just the five of us traveling to Tokyo requires us to lie about how many of us there are or they'll make us book two rooms, so traveling with us plus Mom...we probably could have qualified for some sort of group rate.  Anywho...We "roughed it" a little in the Glasshouse Mountains.  We stayed in a lodge that had no television, no internet, no room service...no frills.  And you shared a kitchen and all common areas with all the other guests, so it could get tricky.  Think of a bed and breakfast, except you make your own breakfast.  Mom wasn't really keen on shared spaces either...I'm not entirely sure she'll ever let me make vacation arrangements again.  I'm also not entirely sure we should choose her to be any sort of ambassador for the United States.  Let's just say we didn't make any new, international friends.  Here are a few pics of the lodge (that's our People Mover in pic #3):

 

The first day there, we went for a hike in the mountains.  Adam's keen eyes spotted our first kangaroo in the wild!   

 

 

 

The second day we were there, we went to the main attraction - The Australia Zoo!  It was an all-day adventure and was worth every penny.  I've been to some pretty great zoos, but nothing compares to this place.  It was outstanding.  We pet kangaroos and koalas, fed elephants, saw Tasmanian Devils, dingos, wombats (SO CUTE!)...all of it was just so surreal.  We even got to see the crocodile show in the main arena led by the real McCoys - Terri, Bindi and Robert Irwin were there!  Apparently our timing was just perfect, as they were only there for the month of January.  Here are some highlights:

At the entrance:

 

Wombat!

 

They took one wombat on a walk, so the kids got to pet it!

 

All the kiddos got to feed an elephant!

 

 

Alan's self-proclaimed Nat Geo-worthy koala shots:

 

 

Dingos!

 

Tasmanian Devils!

 

A random camel :-)

 

Roos!

 

Audie and Adam actually had a very "Australian" thing happen to them while we were feeding the kangaroos - they both got punched by them!  Adam got swiped on the hand and was fine.  Audie, however, must have been pestering one or forcing food in front of it because we were all having fun, then he was suddenly running towards me crying and yelling "I don't like the kangaroos!"  We weren't sure what had happened at first, then I saw the red mark and dirt smeared across his face.  What a great conversation-starter for the rest of his life, though, right?  

 

The crocodile show was absolutely breathtaking.  I cannot imagine being in that arena with one of those beasts.  Those people are definitely brave, and probably have a lot of crazy in 'em.  Here are some shots of the show:

It's hard to tell in this one, but that's Bindi in the middle with the grey shirt.  She does a little singing and dancing before the show.  The day we were there, there also happened to be about 1,000 girl & boy scouts.  That's who's in the pit below her stage.

 

This was really funny, actually.  They announced that for the first time, they were going to allow Robert to feed a croc, even though he was only 9 and Bindi had to wait until she was 10.  They hyped it up and played Jaws music...then this little guy came out :-) 

This is Terri feeding what they explained to be the biggest, fastest, most unpredictable croc they have at the zoo.  She didn't seem very excited about the task, but did a great job as far as I could tell.  I mean, it didn't even almost eat her.

Finally, here is Bindi feeding the same croc. 

 

 

After the show, we were walking around the swamps looking at different crocodiles and alligators.  Anaya was being particularly loud, pitching an outrageous fit about something insignificant, like a speck of sand in her shoe.  Suddenly, we look over and notice that several crocodiles had emerged from the water and were migrating towards the noise.  Here's what it looked like:

 

 

Let's just say they were an effective bargaining tool...

 

It was certainly a full day of excitement at the Australia Zoo.  I highly recommend it to anyone visiting Australia.  It's about an hour from Brisbane.

 

Our final day in the Glasshouse Mountains, we spent on a hike through a rain forest.  We saw paddymelons, which are basically a small wallaby.  Here are some pics from that hike - the slimy lizard was Adam's favorite:

 

 

 

Alas, it was time to move on...so we hopped in the People Mover and headed down to the Gold Coast.  We passed through a couple of the crazy wildfires that were wreaking havoc on the country while we were there.  But we made it safe and sound...and connected to wi-fi ASAP.  Check back later for part 3!