The Last Hurrah

The past week has come and gone with incredible speed - as it always seems to do when you find yourself in the midst of good company. Andrea is boarding her plane back to LA and eventually Denver tomorrow morning, so this is sadly the last blog that includes my dear friend, Andrea - for now at least.

The last two days, again, have been full. After our plans to visit Fraser Island didn't end up working out for the weekend, we moved on to "Plan B", and it didn't turn out too shabby despite the last-minute shifting of gears. Andrea had been dying to pet a koala, so on Saturday morning we found ourselves heading down to Brisbane to the Lone Tree Koala Sanctuary, the largest koala sanctuary in the world (I guess it would only make sense that this place is located on the continent of Australia). We spent the earlier hours of the day petting koalas & kangaroos and learning about various Australian animals. For the amazing pics of Dre & I with our koalas, click here (Amy + Koala): http://www.koala.net/photo/2903019009.htm or (Dre + Koala) http://www.koala.net/photo/2903018910.htm

I know I've said this before, but who wouldn't want a pet koala? They are low maintenance: all you'd need would be a little perch to place him/her and an endless supply of eucalyptus leaves (not that difficult). Your little furry friend would continuously sit there and look cute and/or sleep at the same time, without demanding your attention in the least bit. Okay, so there are probably pets out there that are more interactive - still...a koala would make a great "introduction pet", maybe a pre-dog for those who are two steps away from children. They are just so stinkin' cute!

Here are a few additional pics from the sanctuary...

A kookaburra up-close!Andrea moving in cautiously...

Victory!

After spending the morning with Aussie animals, we made our way (bravely, I should add - driving in the heart of the city on the wrong side of the road, round-abouts and all!) to the south bank of Brisbane. There we enjoyed lunch at a little cafe before walking along the river and eventually spending the afternoon at the art & history museums. This is one of the only ones we took in downtown Brisbane, following the winding path near the cultural centre.

Today, Andrea's last day here, was an all-out beach day. She & Jonathan awoke in the early dark hours to make it to the beach for a final sunrise. "Beach" was our theme today as she had to soak in as much sun as before heading back to the winter/spring/summer/winter weather of Colorado.

The Hooks (Jonathan's parents John & Kathy) arrived this morning early and spent their first day with us on the beach as well!!! We all went to the wharf for fish & chips this evening and experienced the most AMAZING sunset on our way home. In fact, stopping to take pictures on the way home led to the world-record-breaking 8 minute shower & turn-around before heading to church tonight. It was most definitely a day well-spent - and both a sad & happy one, as it marked the last Aussie day with Dre, yet the beginning of our time with the Hooks (who will be here until next weekend).

Some Highlights

The last few days have been full. Even with less than perfect weather over the past few days, we've made the most of the rain-less moments. The forecast calls for sunshine for the next few days, so we're hoping to get in a few more beach days before Andrea departs! Here is a little medley of what we've been up to lately...

Eumundi & Ginger Factory

Although we don't have any great pictures to give you an idea of the magnitude of this place, let me tell you that this outdoor market is amazing! We spent a few hours enjoying the local crafts (including these Aboriginal instruments). We stopped by the ginger factory on the way home for a bit more shopping and some delicious ginger cinnamon ice cream.

Surfing

Yes, we did surf. Yes, we did "get up" even if for only a few seconds. That's surfing, right? We definitely got throttled, but we had a blast doing it:). Our amazing pastor, Tim, took both of us plus his daughter, Holly. We think he is probably the most patient man in the world! We celebrated afterwards with coffee & chocolate muffins.

Australian Meat Pies & Fig Tree Park

Andrea experienced her first ever Australian meat pies yesterday. We went to Beefy's, a recent winner of the Brisbane pie contest. After eating the frozen Wooly's 80 cent pies and practically gagging in repulsion, I was happy to find these pies quite tasty. We both agreed that meat pies might not make it onto our list of "must have foods" but they were still quite good & certainly no Aussie experience could be complete without them. Oh, and I'm convinced that all food becomes infinitely better when consumed in this fig tree park (I forget the name) in Buderim. Amazingly beautiful.

Groceries on the Scoot

We took a little trip to the grocery story (Woolworths) on the scooter. It was wonderful to share this experience with another American who can appreciate all of the differences & nod in agreement at some of the ridiculously expensive prices! Andrea insisted on posing with the vegemite (basically the equivalent of spreading soy sauce on bread) - and when it was all said and done, we used our excellent spacial skills to fit all the items in the two storage compartments:).

Mt. Ngungun = Fabulous

Today we hiked one of the Glass House Mountains, Mt. Ngungun. The humidity in the air here makes for some incredible sweating opportunities and the overcast weather didn't inhibit this in the least bit. It was yet another quick, steep climb and the view from the top were gorgeous. Australia is so green and lush!

The Golden Day

The 25th will go down in history as one of those days. You know what I mean. The kind of days that you look back on years into the future as pretty near-perfect.

I want to stop right there and tell you that not everything has been perfect over year. The adventures of the Hooks....blah blah blah "everything is always perfect for them" we've heard repeatedly. So, for fun, here is just a small list of not so wonderful things we've experienced in the last few weeks: frustration, lonliness, anger, sadness, sickness, cold sores (a big fat juicy one), dissapointment, fatigue, homesickness, grocery store rage:), stomach aches (I keep trying to eat bananas despite the fact that they make me sick).... Yeah, I could spend more time on this, but you get the point. We don't tend to blog about these things. Maybe I will, just for kicks, blog about one of these things sometime, although there probably wouldn't be as many exciting pictures to go along with them (except for maybe the cold sore).

Anyways, with that said, I will proceed to tell you about the golden day. Yes, it was "golden" because the sun was shining. It was also "golden" because I was with my friend, whose presence is worth more than gold:). But what really made it "golden" was quite literally that it was my golden birthday...turning the big two five on the 25th of March. Pretty exciting stuff.

We set off on our day of gold at 4:30am, trekking north towards the Mount of Coolum. Using but one headlamp between the two of us, we scaled the cliffs with anticipation (There is nothing like the "beat the sunrise" mentality when it comes to making a climb quickly). Thankfully, we made it in just enough time to find the perfect rock to absorb the brilliance of God's creation. After spending a bit of time enjoying this scene, we asked some friendly Aussie lads to take our picture. Then we headed north to Noosa for a breakfast on the beach. Beach front view + coffee = paradise!After enjoying our fabulous breakfast (above), we took a hike in Noosa National Park. The path took us along the ocean and through the rain forest. We even spotted a koala in the wild (actually some other people pointed him out - I doubt we could have made the discovery on our own).

We then enjoyed an afternoon on the beach. After at least a week of cloudy weather and rainy conditions, it was amazingly clear!

I wish we could have captured some of our body surfing feats on the camera. We spent hours in the water, trying our best to catch the waves and ride them to shore. We were actually quite successful a few times. We were even more successful, however, at being tossed and flipped by the waves, flailing about as we tried to distinguish up from down. Andrea, especially, was pin-pointed as a "tourist" and was kindly guided by an older Australian gentleman to "duck the waves since she didn't know what she was doing". When she staggered onto shore a few waves later complaining of a bleeding shoulder and a headache from hitting the sand with her head, we decided to call it a day (Don't worry McDivitts, I will not jeopardize the health of your daughter). We returned to Buderim soon after, went for a lovely birthday meal, and collapsed into bed before nine. What a day!

The Royal Dreness Arrives

My dear friend Andrea arrived here on Easter Sunday! She boarded her plane in Denver Friday evening and arrived at 7:30 on Sunday morning, completely losing the 22nd of March from her life. Thankfully, she'll leave Brisbane next Monday at 11:00 and arrive "one hour later" in Colorado. Traveling sixteen hours ahead is quite crazy and she has surprisingly adjusted quite well. But could I really expect any less from my dear friend whose response to every question I present her with is "I'm up for anything!" Mix that with a few "what could be better?'s" and we're talking A & A adventure time.

After experiencing a few blogging "lows", I am newly inspired to capture our adventures this week. Keep a look out because I'm hoping to update each evening:).

We picked Andrea up at the airport on Sunday morning and Jonathan took us on a detour to a real Aussie sheep shop on the way home. He told me to pick out my early birthday present: real Australian UGG boots! There is a long story here in regards to "ugg" and the controversy over the American company stealing a common name in Oz that has been around forever. Anyway, I couldn't decide on what pair I wanted most, so we'll return to actually purchase them. Needless to say, I'm excited :). After that minor detour, we made it back to our home for a big brunch (we missed church sadly because Dre's flight was late) and then headed to the beach. The day was finished off nicely with an Aussie-style BBQ.
The only pic outside the sheep shop courtesy of Andrea

A beach pic at Mooloolaba

Today was quite the day. Due to the extremely busy holiday weekend, it was a big cleaning day at the Chateau Royale. I agreed to clean today and then asked for the rest of the week off to spend time with Andrea. Since Jonathan had the day off, I offered for Andrea to sleep in or hang out with Jonathan. Instead, she said she wanted to clean with me! And oh, what fun we had as cleaning partners. Although tempting, I'd never brought a camera along to work in order to document my ventures :). Since Andrea is the picture taking queen, she made sure we captured each exhilirating moment. Almost as great as the rain forest pics, here are some of us in action...

After spending a big portion of the day cleaning, we headed on the Buderim rain forest hike to the waterfall. It rained this morning so it was a bit of a muddy trek. Kind of like how the Rockies never lose their majesty (even when passing the continental divide views each day for work they never lost their "wow" power), the forests here continue to amaze me. Of course Andrea was equally "wow"ed. We only had one minor catastrophe when she saw a jumping lizard and screamed, scaring me to death. I guess we had just been talking about the most poisoneous snake in the world living in Oz, so she was a bit jumpy. We'll work on that:). Following the hike we went for a run and made some amazing chicken curry as well as lamingtons, an Australian original coconut and chocolate-covered cake. Here is Andrea having fun with the powdered sugar as she mixed the chocolate sauce! They turned out to be quite good. Maybe I'll post the recipe sometime (as I have been known to do that) but for now we are heading to bed because we're serious about the sunrise adventure that awaits.

The Hinterland

We took a break from the ocean today (it was tough to do, but it had to be done) and headed west. The hinterland along the sunshine coast is the mountainous area that lies between the sandy beaches of the coast and the scorching desert of the outback. It had been calling our names for a while now and we decided to finally make the trip. Along the sunshine coast, the hinterland is absolutely picturesque: rolling hills, sparkling lakes, creeks, waterfalls, and plenty of wildlife. Since it is much higher in elevation than the beach, it offers amazing views as well. Our trip west certainly had to wait until we had another transportation option besides the scooter. I can't imagine had we tried the trip on the adventuremobile. We probably would have had to get off and walk up some of the steep grades:).

We took off pretty early and were the first cars in the parking lot at the Mary Cairncross Park. At the park we took a 3K trek through the most amazing rain forest. I don't think words will do the place justice, so you can just check out the pictures. I will say, though, that it sounded like we were listening to one of those rainforest CDs where you hear all these crazy calls of birds and water rushing. So, just for fun, close your eyes and pretend you have one of those little headphones on. You've pushed the button marked Rainforest and now you have some pictures to go along with it...

This view is from the parking lot - You can see the Glass House Mountains in the distance

Ready to depart...
You can't read the signs well, but the one on the left says Rainforest Walk and the one on the right says Toilets. We found that kind of humorous...I'm not sure why
The Rain forest
We saw dozens of wallabies. This one is a bit blurry (sorry) but it came bounding across our path.

I have to put a quick word in, at this point, about finishing up our hike. We were walking towards our car when Jonathan realized he had a leech stuck on his toe. He had a hard time pulling it off, and it grossed me out immensely. I think leeches might be on my top ten list of grossest things in the world. When he was still bleeding as we started the car, I decided we might want to look ourselves over and make sure we didn't have any more leeches. Sure enough, I looked my toes over and realized there was one stuck in between my littlest toes on my left foot. I (of course) started screaming really loudly, wripped off my chacos, and yanked the leech from my skin. In all reality, it wasn't that big of a leech. It was just the thought of the leech, sucking the blood between my toes as I walked through the rainforest obliviously. Ugh! I documented the occurence with this slightly blurry photo:

After finishing the hike and surviving the leech incident, we visited the nearby town of Maleny, best known for its art galleries and its dairy products. We had coffee at a cafe and enjoyed walking into a variety of shops. Then we made our way to the cheese factory and split the best cup of mango yoghurt that I've ever tasted (we decided to pass on the cheese since we didn't have refrigeration, but vowed to return after tasting the samples). Then we headed to two more towns: Montville and Mapleton. The drive between these small towns was unbelievable. We were riding the Blackall Ridge. To the left were green rolling hills and the ocean. The the right were more hills/rain forests. Here is just one picture of the view and it definitely doesn't do it justice.

In Montville we split the most ridiculous Australian meat pie. It was covered half in gravy and half with a creamy pea concoction with a mini Australian flag piercing through the center. I kicked myself for forgetting my camera in the car at that point:). It was quite delicious, actually. After far too much shopping (or boutique wandering to be more precise), we decided to stop and take another rain forest hike. This one was beautiful as well, but far more traveled. I've always had this thing about wanting to feel like I'm the only one in beautiful places. I know it's silly, but I hate feeling like there's a thoroughfare to the top of the mountain, or the waterfall in this case. Here are a few pics from our second hike of the day.

After a LONG day of hiking, shopping, eating, and driving, we made it back home. I took the dog on a run, made a little Indian curry for dinner, and now am trying to keep my eyes open as I finish documenting our day. More to come later...