Spring Down Under

I realised the other day that it has been ages since I've done a blog post...sorry! Here are some cute ducklings to make up for it.

Pacific Black Ducks

It's been a pretty quite spring for us. There was a run of ~6 weekends in September through early October where we were doing stuff every weekend, so it's been nice to have a calm November. After our trip to Cairns we: 

1) completed a 50 km bike ride as part of the Around the Bay event,

2) took part in the Mornington Running Festival - I ran a half marathon and Ross ran a 10 km,

3) I ran the 10 km at the Melbourne Marathon Festival (this was the weekend after the bike ride, I think...), 

4) we went to the Royal Melbourne Show two days in a row, and

5) I think that there was something else, but I can't remember it right now...

In Williamstown, during Around the Bay

After the Mornington Running Festival

Enjoying the view and a well earned rest after the half marathon.

Winning Cupcakes at the Royal Melbourne Show

Possibly the greatest chicken ever

World Cup show jumping at the Royal Melb Show

I also applied for and was granted a four-year work visa, so we can stay in Australia for a while longer. Woo hoo! I say "I" because I am the main visa holder and Ross is tacked on as my partner, so he didn't actually have to do anything except send me copies of various documents. If I'm remembering correctly, I ended up submitting about 30 supplementary documents in addition to filling out a 22 page visa application.  Good times.

We had to submit: passports, drivers licences, birth certificates, wedding certificate, proof of our relationship (i.e. - joint bank accounts, bills in both of our names, joint leases, etc.). We also had to have police background checks for any country that we had lived in for a year or more in the last ten years, so Ross had to get one from the US and NZ, while I had to get them from the US, NZ and Australia. Fun story - I managed to submit the wrong type of Australian background check (because there are multiple types...) so I had to get and submit a second one. I also had to submit my university transcripts, CV, contract from the company that I work for and letters of reference from previous employers.

Honestly though, one of the more challenging aspects of the visa application was listing the dates of entry and exit for every country that we have visited in the last ten years outside of our country of citizenship. It wasn't too hard for me but Ross had been flying to Australia about once a month since I moved over in May 2017, plus he has been to an impressive number of foreign conferences at this point. Needless to say, we made sure to keep that record, should we need to submit it again for any reason.

All-in-all, I am glad that it's done and that we were approved and we don't have to worry about that one again for a while, though technically I could apply for permanent residency (PR) in May 2020.... I'm not sure I'm ready for yet another crazy application so soon though. Plus I'm not sure how that would effect Ross since I'm the primary visa holder and he hasn't been in Australia long enough to apply for PR yet. At some point I'll call immigration and sort that all out but that's a task for another day.

As I said at the beginning of this post, November has been more laidback. Well, for me at least. Ross is so close to submitting his dissertation for external review that we can taste it. He's aiming to send it off on Wednesday or Thursday this week. So exciting!! This means though that he's been working until ~11 p.m. most nights and putting in pretty solid hours on the weekends too. He's planning on going back to NZ to help a friend with a couple weeks of field work at the beginning of December, so that has been his carrot to finish up the dissertation.

Just one of the friendly, neighbourhood penguins

We're planning on doing a small Thanksgiving this week and I've told my co-workers that I'll bring in some pie on Thursday. I might try to get out of Melbourne the weekend that Ross is in NZ, but otherwise there's not a whole lot on the schedule for us until we head back to the States for Christmas on 21 December. My office shuts down for two weeks over the holidays and I took an extra week off, so we'll have three weeks to see family and friends and enjoy a cold, snowy (hopefully) Christmas. I'm most excited to meet my new nephew (sorry Mom and Dad...), who was born a little less than two weeks ago.

To everyone in the US, I hope that you have a fabulous Thanksgiving this week!

Cheers,

Annika

Sharks and eels and turtles, oh my!

This past weekend Ross and I went up to Cairns (pronounced "Cans"), in northern Queensland. I had initially planned the trip as a celebration of Ross turning in his dissertation but I jumped the gun a little bit with an early September trip as he is now shooting for late October. Regardless, we had a fabulous time and a weekend away from email and Melbourne was just what we both needed.

Grey Reef Shark from the boat. It was probably 2+ metres (6+ feet) long.
We saw some while we were snorkelling too but weren't able to get  a picture.

Cairns is a 3.5 hour flight from Melbourne. Oddly enough, it is closer from Melbourne to Brisbane than it is from Brisbane to Cairns, even though Brisbane and Cairns are both in Queensland. Just goes to show what a gigantic state Queensland is.

Melbourne, Brisbane and Cairns are all along the east coast.

We flew up to Cairns on Friday afternoon, had a fabulous burger at Cairns Burger Cafe and then hit the hay at our AirBnb. Saturday morning we were up and at the marina by 7:30 a.m. to board our boat out to the Great Barrier Reef. We had decided to splurge a bit and stay on a live-aboard boat overnight on the Reef. We booked our trip through the Cairns Visitor Centre (the people who work there are awesome and can help with anything and everything). We took a transfer boat out to the Reef Encounter on Norman Reef and then transferred our stuff over and were shown to our room.  After a safety briefing, we were fitted for snorkelling gear and let loose.

The boat moved locations along Norman Reef a couple times that first day and each location was so different. Ross and I were always the first people in the water and the last people out of the water. In all, we were in and out of the water three times that first day at two different locations along Norman Reef. We had a fabulous sunset and the food on the Reef Encounter was phenomenal. Not even kidding, I think that Ross and I both gained weight even though we went snorkelling up to five times a day.

On Sunday morning we had a 5:50 a.m. wake-up call and were in the water at the north end of Norman Reef by 6:30 a.m. It was absolutely incredible to watch the reef wake up.

We were originally supposed to get off of the boat on Sunday afternoon but after the early morning snorkel, Ross and I both really wanted to stay another night. Luckily September is low season on the reef so the live-aboard boat wasn't too full and there was room for us to stay a second night. We didn't even have to change rooms. :)

We spent the rest of the morning at Norman Reef and then moved south to Saxon Reef for the afternoon. There was some weather that moved in and the water was getting rough so Ross and I didn't last long in the water at Saxon Reef. In our defence, it was our fifth time snorkelling that day and we were both a little pooped. We were treated to another gorgeous sunset and then both crashed surprisingly early.

This moray eel was about 2.5 metres long and as big around as a soccer ball.

Monday morning we were up at 5:50 a.m. again and back in the water at 6:30 a.m. Luckily the water had calmed down some overnight so we were able to really enjoy Saxon Reef and all that it had to offer.

Following a delicious breakfast, the boat moved further south to Hastings Reef. We spent the rest of the day, until we had to head back to Cairns, exploring Hastings Reef. There was one ill-advised nap on the top deck where we both got sunburnt but we won't talk about that.

Ross with a giant clam. It was really big.

Eventually it was time to board the transfer boat and head back to Cairns. Luckily I had taken my dramamine (sea-sickness meds) because the water was incredibly rough for the 1.5 hour trip back to Cairns. There were a couple waves that we crested that bounced people out of their seats. A ton of the people who were out on the boat for a day-trip got sick. I managed to avoid it but only just. Ross, of course, was fine and enjoyed the bumpy ride back to land.

Looking out on the reef.

Once we were back in Cairns, we walked along the shore a bit and then headed over to the Cairns City Library to see the permanent flying fox roost. When I was in Cairns with Dylan and Lauren two years ago in November, all of the flying foxes had babies. I had been hoping that we might get to see some but we were a bit too early. On a friend's recommendation to went to Yaya's Hellenic Kitchen for dinner (fabulous!) and then caught an Uber to the airport for our flight back to Melbourne.

Cairns waterfront - you're not supposed to swim here because there are saltwater crocodiles. Not kidding.

It was a quick trip but it was absolutely fabulous. If you ever get a chance to go to the Great Barrier Reef, I recommend spending a bit more money and doing an overnight trip. It is so incredible. Ross and I absolutely loved our time on Reef Encounter and highly recommend them. If we get the opportunity to go up to the Reef again, we will definitely try to book with them again.