Hanging Out & Hanging Ten at Bondi Beach

This morning we started the day by having breakfast at a cute cafe around the corner from our hotel.  Will is the ultimate travel researcher and found a place that sold Kaya Toast.  Kaya Toast is a common breakfast dish in Singapore but we first tried it in L.A. at a restaurant by Susan Feniger six years ago.  Since then we've only been able to find it at one other place and that's in Denver so we were excited to try it here in Sydney.  While this cafe definitely didn't have the presentation of a celebrity chef, it was still delicious!  yum!

Bondi Beach is an iconic beach and Australian landmark so not only did we have to go there, we had to surf (or attempt to learn to surf)!  While I have taken a lesson once in Peru with my brother, Will had never tried it so we were both very new to the sport.  We headed over to the beach in an Uber for a 9:00am lesson with Let's Go Surfing (https://letsgosurfing.com.au/).  Walking to the surfing school, it was pretty chilly so I have to admit I was concerned about the temperature but we quickly got suited up in wetsuits so I figured we'd be fine.  When we walked over to the beach, walking on the sand was freezing since the sun wasn't out yet.  We began the first part of lesson on the sand practicing postures on the board.  Then we were out on the water!  Luckily, the water was actually pretty warm and there was hardly a "Wow that's cold!" moment as we walked right in.  There was one instructor to 5 students and we immediately practiced getting on waves that he pushed us out on.  We basically were practicing how to get up and Will got up on his first try!  Woohoo for him!  I got up the second time but was 50/50 for all the future ones.  I had a much easier time getting on the board in Peru but the waves here were definitely a little bigger and less steady.  After practicing a bit, we took a break on the sand before going back into the water to try to catch our own waves.  Neither Will or I quite got the hang of being able to pick out which waves to paddle out and get on before they died out but it was fun trying!

After our surfing class, we did a quick clothing change and hung around Bondi.  It was the most beautiful, sunny, warm day!  Lots of surfers were in the water and there were tons of people on the sand and on the lawn sitting around and having a picnic.  There were also a bunch of people hiking from Cogee but we skipped that because my foot was hurting!  Instead, we went to an adorable farmers market and got a dim sum snack and then just walked around the cute little shops!  Afterwards, we went to Bill's restaurant for an Aussie brunch!  It was delicious!

Conquering the Bridge Climb

Today was Bridge Climb Day!  While I was not that interested in doing the bridge climb, Will surprisingly wanted to so we did.  It was more fun that I expected though and I was glad we did it.  It wasn't scary at all and it was a cool vantage point of the city and you got to hear to hear some interesting information.  Everything was super well organized and well done but it was kind of pricey for what it was.  It was very fun except it got super windy when we were up at the top!  We're talking 50 km/hr winds!  We definitely had to hold on so we wouldn't get blown away!  The views were incredible though because you got to see how many bays were on the water and all of the boats that were out!  Sydney really is a beautiful city!  We weren't allowed to bring our own cameras though (or our own anything) so we didn't get any pictures of anything else. 
*Random note: For safety reasons, everything was clipped to us.  We couldn't bring anything with us and they even checked with medal detectors.  They gave us the clothes, the hat, the fleece, the headphones, and EVERYTHING was clipped in so nothing could go flying off or away!

 Afterwards, we walked around to get fun views of the Opera House before heading to The Rocks for lunch.

Meeting the Marsupials!

Today we started the day by walking by Paddy's Markets.  Now Will & I both love a good market but we weren't at this one for too long.  It just had a bunch of little knick-knacks and junk.  We moved on.

Next we walked over to the Queen Victoria Building which is just a beautiful old building with a bunch of high end stores and cafes.  We were there to go to the Palace Tea Room (http://www.thepalacetearoom.com.au/) which was a place Will found because he knows that I love a good tea!  Since we still had plans to eat lunch later in the day, I had the breakfast tea and Will had the devonshire tea and shared so it was basically a full afternoon tea between the two of us!   I loved it!  The place was adorable and just oh so cute and everything was delicious!  We just had to do a tea with the British influence in Australia!

 

After afternoon tea, we walked over to Darling Harbour to check out the Wild Life Sydney Zoo!  While there were many various options of zoos around the area (ex: Taronga), this one focused on Australian animals specifically and was super convenient.

At the zoo, we got to see a bunch of animals native to New Zealand.  Most of the animals were in enclosed cages so I was surprised when we walked through the Kangaroo enclosure and there was a kangaroo on the pathway, not behind the ropes (not that the ropes were a big deterrant).  Luckily, there was a zookeeper in there at the time doing feedings and checking on the animals so she let us know that we could pet the kangaroos.  One wasn't really feeling it and jumped away.  Another though rolled on its side just like a dog would when they wanted to be petted on the belly.  It was adorable.  We also ran into a animal handler in there with a snake and of course, Will wanted pics!  Beyond the typical exhibits at the zoo, we paid extra to do the "Koala Encounter" and get up close and take a picture with a koala.  Unfortunately, the koalas were all sleeping during our photo op which isn't surprising since koalas sleep 20 out of 24 hours a day!  Because of this, it is actually illegal to touch koalas so that way they won't be disrupted and can get their rest.  While the koala wasn't super cooperative for our photo op, we were shocked when the zookeeper pointed out that the mama koala had her baby starting to peek out.  They usually stay in the pouch for the first 6 months of life but today was the first day that the little joey was starting to make an appearance.  It was so darn cute!

 

Holey Moley! Hello Sydney!

This morning we left Cairns and headed back to Sydney!  When we got there, we took an Uber to our hotel to drop off our things and got ready for the day!

First, we headed to the "White Rabbit" which is a gallery that focuses on modern art created by Asian artists.  It was a pretty cool exhibit!

Afterwards, we walked around Sydney and just took it in.  The weather was cool but not cold (considering it is winter) and we just loved that there were so many fun restaurants and stores!  It's definitely a city that both Will and I thought we could love living in.

Great Barrier Reef!

We're in Cairns basically just for today for one reason, to dive in the Great Barrier Reef!  While the Reef is HUGE, Cairns is the most popular city to leave from.  The reef is huge and there's the inner and outer reef with much of the outer reef only accessible via stay aboards (where you have to sleep/stay on a boat for a few days to get out to the reef location).  While a stay aboard sounds great for one day in the future, Will & I weren't wanting to be on a boat for numerous days.  Instead, we did what most people do and did a full day tour out on the water.  We got up early this morning and headed to the Marina and got aboard our Passions of Paradise boat.  The entire experience was great!  The boat was clean and nice and had plenty of seating inside the boat which is where we had lunch and did the safety debriefings.  There were also tons of great seating/laying out areas on the decks of the boat which was great for when we were heading out and heading back from the reef.  We should have taken more pictures but we didn't remember to!  Oh well!

 

The trip included lunch and snorkeling with the option of scuba diving.  We went to two different parts of Hastings Reef which is in the Outer Reef of the Great Barrier Reef.  Will & I both love to scuba so we did decide to scuba dive at both locations but we also got a chance to snorkel at both too.  It was great!  While the Great Barrier Reef is going through bleaching and is in danger of dying, it was still pretty incredible.  There was so much coral to look at and all kinds of cool fish.  We took video clips and pics using our GoPro but it didn't quite do it justice.  It was awesome!

Flying High

Today was a busy day but a perfect one!  Since some of our other activities got cancelled due to weather, we ended up with a full schedule today but we lucked out that it was GORGEOUS!

First we woke up early and did a weather check and we were good to go for our flight to Milford Sound!  We headed to the airport and boarded a 7 passenger plane to go to Milford.  We were lucky with the weather because both the weather in Queenstown and at Milford have to be perfect for the flights to go on and it rains 70% of the time in Milford.  The flight to Milford was just beautiful.  It is crazy how the terrain changes.  It really only takes about 25 minutes but since it was a scenic flight, it took about 45 minutes.  We passed snow covered mountains and then suddenly crossed over to the rainforest and everything was lush and green.  It was beautiful!

 

After getting there, we took a short bus ride to board our cruise on Milford Sound (which is actually a fjord).  It was 1 1/2 hours cruise that included lunch and commentary.  It was pretty cold out on the deck of the boat but the view was beautiful and we were so lucky that it didn't rain!  We even saw some adorable seals while we were on the cruise.

Weather Woes and Luging

This morning we were all set to go paragliding and it seemed like a great day to my amateur eye but it was cancelled!  Apparently it was too windy which was annoying but I suppose safety is more important. :)

Queenstown is known as the adventure capitol of the world and there is literally nothing in town except a bunch of restaurants and then all these crazy excursions. The problem is so many of them are weather dependent and the weather is always on and off. New Zealand does seem to be really into safety though and have high standards so that was comforting.  So once our paragliding was cancelled, we spend the rest of the day walking around town. We saw a cute little outdoor art market where we saw the cutest pug!! We also popped into a tourism shop where we lucked out with a person who gave us a great deal on a Milford tour for tomorrow and helped us save money on a scuba tour we had already booked for next week in Cairns.