Month: June 2017

We visited Sydney just two weeks before flying back home. Since we were at the tail end of our trip and had pretty much seen everything we could possibly see, we enjoyed just relaxing and taking things slow. Dave suggested we get a hotel for a couple of nights so we would have time to really enjoy the city. No complaints there!

I looked over some brochures and found a ‘free’ guided tour of the city. Technically the tour guide works for tips only so if you’re nice at all you tip something. It was a great intro to the city and helped us get our bearings quickly. She was full of great tips to save us time and money too. Also, we met two other people from NC in our group!!! And they were Carolina fans. This was right after Carolina beat Kentucky so Dave was thrilled to meet someone to hash out the game with.

The second day we walked around the city and went sightseeing on our own. We visited museums, walked through the botanical gardens, visited a fish market where we ate sushi, and bought tickets for a symphony at the Opera House for the following evening. We were exhausted by the end of the day. While in Sydney the traffic patterns are crazy so we relied on public transportation and walking. It was a nice change.

The third day we got up early and caught the ferry to Manly and Shelly beaches. We loved it. The water was a little chilly, but we still snorkeled. Then we enjoyed some of the most amazing gelato I’ve ever had! Not even kidding. After that we headed to Bondi beach which was also great, but very different than the other beaches. We swam for a while there. Then showered at the beach bath house and got ready for our dinner date and symphony back in the heart of the city.

So you’re probably wondering (or maybe you’ve figured it out) what the best souvenir was. The amazing thing is little did we know when we were taking all these photos that new life had just begun inside of me! Yes, you read that right.

As I post this we celebrate our 8 year anniversary AND are 15 weeks pregnant!!

Baby Hammer is expected to arrive on December 19th.

Tasmania, Australia – part 1

I can’t believe we almost did not go to this island! Within a couple of days of arriving we were convinced it is the best kept secret of the world. Had the mountain rivers been full of giant trout like New Zealand then Dave would have continued to deem it so. It is without a doubt though an amazing place. From wines to deserted beaches to the freshest of produce and seafood to super friendly people—- I could go on and on. They had lots of free camp grounds too!

We arrived later than planned (long airport story), but we were upgraded to a big SUV so that was cool to have extra space. We had a bit of a rough start and got a parking ticket within the first hour of landing! Dave was not a happy camper. Then we couldn’t find any fuel so that delayed us some more, but as always it all worked out fine. We then headed south and went straight to a free campground since it was pretty late in the day. The next morning we began our exploring. We ended up being able to cook our entire breakfast, coffee included, on the BarB which was awesome. I love those things!

We quickly found out that not many people inhabit the island and aside from a couple of major cities, it is mostly made up of small towns. The weird thing is that most mainland Australians rarely decide to vacation there even though it is a very short flight away and so amazing. Turns out that many have assumptions about it being small without much to do, or that it is always cold- neither of which is true.

It seemed that we were the only ones on any beach we went to, and they were all breathtaking. One time we just stopped and Dave fished and caught a variety of fish! While he did that I collected fresh oysters and mussels. It was like a dream (except the oysters were spawning so that didn’t work out). When we headed back to the car we saw lots of blackberry bushes so we collected a small bag full. We had fresh berries for breakfast nearly every morning we were there! Berries grew everywhere! You have to be careful though not to pick ones near the road that they’ve sprayed.

Tasmania is apparently known for its incredible food and wine so we stopped at little places each day to check things out like cheese factories, wineries, chocolate factories, berry farms, etc. They have little roadside stands at the end of driveways with fruits and vegetables for sale. We bought a big bag of delicious apples for just $3! Tasmania used to be a huge apple producer, but then something happened with the export business and England so they nearly lost that trade. Thankfully they still grow the delicious apples and it’s starting to build back up.

We rode a ferry to Bruny Island the second night and camped on the beach. You could drive on the beach too so we drove along it the next morning. It had to be a couple miles or more long. There must have been a red algae bloom too because one section of the water looked blood red and the next morning the shore was covered in red.

We headed to Tasman peninsula next to check out the convict trail since Tasmania developed from penal colonies. The landscape was vastly different! Huge jagged mountains, blow holes, and rough seas on one side. We explored as much as we could before camping on an awesome mountain side with a gorgeous sunset. Unfortunately, I got a terrible migraine through the night and into the next morning and we had to find a chiropractor a couple hours away back in Hobart to get me straightened out. Very different experience than going to one at home, but that’s another story. Anyway, he got me fixed up, but instead of heading back out to the Tasman Peninsula we decided to head north on the Great East Coast Drive. It sure lived up to its name and we stopped to take lots of pictures and walk on the beaches.

We stayed just outside of Coles Bay in Freycinet National Park and hiked the next morning early to Wineglass Bay. Good thing we went early because when we got back to the car the crowds were piling in. We didn’t know it at first, but we happened to be there over their labor day weekend so all the locals were vacationing too! After our difficult hike we felt we earned some ice cream so we stopped at a place that sold fresh fruit ice cream dipped in chocolate! It was so very good!

Next we continued north and were about to turn inland so Dave could check out a river that was supposed to be popular for catching trout, but we didn’t make it very far. The road was very narrow, curvy and ran along the edge of a rock wall and the other side of the road was a steep drop off. I finally pulled over at the next gap in the rock wall to let Dave take over because my nerves couldn’t take it anymore.

That’s the exact moment we met our new friend who had just somehow survived busting both tires on his passenger side! He literally had pulled over moments before us and said he had no idea what he would have done had we not come along. We don’t know either since there is no cell service out there and it would have been too dangerous to walk on that road. We spent the next few hours helping to get him situated. We told him that we’d just been reading in our Bible study about helping those in need and he was blown away by this. So our route changed again, but it was fine and we enjoyed the opportunity to help. I could write an entire blog post on that day alone, but I won’t! Don’t worry. Haha.

We drove on up to the Bay of Fires where there are boulders on the beach covered in a bright orange lichen. The beach was beautiful with crystal clear water. If it wasn’t so chilly and windy that day we would have swam in a pool made by the rocks. Then we started to head west towards Launceston.