In the Land of the Quokkas

At the very end of May/start of June, Ross and I went to Perth for a long weekend. I've wanted to go to Perth for a long time. I think part of it is just how far away from everything Perth is and part of it is that I'd never seen the Indian Ocean before and then I found out about quokkas and realized that I couldn't miss a chance to go to Perth should  one present itself. Rewind back to Valentine's Day. Ross was back in Wellington finishing up some lab work and I was feeling lonely so I was scrolling through Facebook and saw that TigerAir (one of the Aussie budget airlines) was having a two-for-one sale on domestic flights. I decided to have a look at some of the options and ended up calling Ross after midnight (NZ time) to see if he wanted to go to Perth and to make sure that the dates I had selected didn't conflict with a conference he had in NZ in June. The dates didn't conflict and so, while we had terrible flight times, we were going to Perth!

Quokka!

We left Melbourne around 10 pm on a Thursday and, after the two hour time change, landed in Perth about midnight. Needless to say, we went straight to our AirBnb and crashed. Friday morning we got up and wandered across the Swan River and over to explore the Botanical Garden, which is located on a bluff overlooking the city and the river. We also spent some time at the WWI memorial.

From there we caught an Uber (Ross and I finally broke down and joined Uber) out to Fremantle, which is located about a half hour west on the coast. Fremantle is a really cute little town with a bunch of gold-rush era buildings. It is also home to the Fremantle Prison which is Western Australia's only World Heritage listed building. The prison was built by convicts between 1852 and 1859 and began holding prisoners in 1855. It was in continuous use until it was decommissioned in 1991. At this point it is a major tourist attraction and there are a number of different tours that you can take. Ross and I opted for a simple history tour, which was quite fascinating.

Prison Chapel

Following the prison tour, we wandered through the Fremantle Markets and then headed over to the Western Australia Museum - Shipwreck Galleries, which hosts what is considered to be the finest collection of maritime archeology in the southern hemisphere. It was incredible. They had cases of bottles, plates, cigars, coins, etc. that had been pulled from the numerous shipwrecks along Western Australia's coast. There was even part of the hull of a Dutch merchant ship that was wrecked in 1629. It was amazing.

Fremantle Market

To top off an already pretty stellar day, we watched the sun set over the Indian Ocean and I took off my shoes and waded around in an ocean that I'd never seen before. Then we had delicious fish and chips (kind of a requirement when you're on the coast) and made our way back to Perth.

Saturday was the day that I'd been waiting for with bated breath. We caught a ride over to Fremantle again and then loaded onto the ferry for the 35 minute ride over to Rottnest Island (aka the Land of the Quokkas). A coworker had told me that he and his wife were super excited when they first saw a quokka but that they quickly became bored with them because they are all over the island. I can confirm that there are quokkas all over the island and that they are totally fearless, but I pointed out each one that I saw to Ross with the same excitement as I had the first. Honestly I sometimes wonder how Ross puts up with my seemingly endless excitement and childlike wonder for certain things. I only say this because I probably pointed out at least 50 quokkas over the course of the day and took pictures of basically every single one of them.

This is how they sleep!

They kind of look like big, hopping rats (complete with scaly tail),
but way cuter!

There are a couple options for getting around Rottnest Island. You can go on guided tours, take the hop-on, hop-off bus, rent a bike (or bring your own) or good, old fashioned walking. The island is pretty big and Ross was still recovering from dislocating his shoulder so we went for a combo walk and hop-on, hop-off bus option. The entire island is gorgeous and there were so many different birds, plus there are these huge skinks (Kings Skinks) all over the place. There are also a couple pretty venomous snakes (because Australia...) but, it being winter, or just shear dumb luck, we didn't see any, though we were watching for them.

A geologist in his natural habitat.

During the summer these lakes are really pink but they only have
a pink tint around the edges during the winter.

Kings Skink

Red-capped Robin

One of my goals for the trip was to get a selfie with a quokka. This was achieved in the best possible manner that I could have ever hoped for. You are told in no uncertain terms on the ferry that you are not allowed to touch the quokkas and doing so can land you with a hefty fine. The staff did point out that the quokkas are very friendly though so if they touch you, it's okay. I had kind of been following a quokka around by the general store trying to get a picture with it. I finally sat down on the ground in the hope that I was close enough to get a passable selfie. The quokka hopped over to me and put it's little paws on my leg and then hopped into my lap. I was torn between joy that it was in my lap and anxiety that a ranger would come by and fine me for touching it. I though of pushing it off my lap but reasoned that qualified as touching it, plus I didn't want to hurt it. So instead I thoroughly enjoyed the 5 minutes or so that it hung out on my lap, sniffed me and licked my fingers. Quokka life goals achieved.

Eventually it was time to head back to Fremantle and so Ross and I tore ourselves away from the quokkas and took the ferry back to the mainland. We ended up having dinner in Fremantle again and then headed back to Perth.

Sunday was our last day in Western Australia (WA) but our flight didn't leave for Melbourne until around midnight so we spent the day wandering around Perth. After a leisurely morning in South Perth, where our AirBnB was, we headed across the Swan River and made our way toward the Art Gallery of Western Australia and the Western Australia Museum - Perth, which are located right next to each other. We had figured that those two would easily keep us busy for the rest of the day. Imagine our surprise then when we arrived at the Museum only to see that it was undergoing massive renovation and was closed until sometime in 2020. I mention that we were surprised because there wasn't anything in our guidebook and it was clear that the renovations had been going on for quite some time. The Art Gallery made up for the museum though and we ending up spending the whole afternoon wandering through the various floors. 

Perth and the Swan River

Following the Art Gallery we went to an amazing dumpling restaurant (there were people lining up outside before it even opened) and then saw Godzilla 2, because why not. Our flight left a little late so we ended up getting into Melbourne around 7 am. Luckily I had taken Monday off too, so Ross and I both crashed when we got home and slept until about noon. We both really want to go back to Perth and explore more of Western Australia. Until next time, enjoy the warm, summer weather in the northern hemisphere and send warm thoughts our way as we get into the middle of winter.

The Great Ocean Road

This past weekend, Ross and I drove out the Great Ocean Road (GOR). It is just west of Melbourne and is probably best known for the Twelve Apostles. It is a gorgeous, winding road that follows the rugged coastline for quite a ways. We drove the whole thing with my parents when they visited in 2018. You might remember that blog because there was a massive bush fire that meant that we didn't see most of what we'd wanted to see and we were hard pressed to get back to Melbourne in time for Ross to catch his flight back to New Zealand. Good times were had by all. Luckily this year, there was no fire.

Twelve Apostles at sunset

The main impetus for this trip was that I was running in the Great Ocean Road Running Festival. It is a series of road races held over a weekend in the middle of May every year. The races vary in length and include 6 km, 14 km, half marathon, marathon and ultra-marathon. There are also some kids races and a couple walking events. I had originally wanted to do the half marathon, but I was super busy with work this fall (March-May) and with my parents visiting in March I didn't really feel like I had enough time to train. I ended up doing the 14 km race and really enjoying it. Most of the other races are along the GOR, but the 14 km is actually inland a bit and mostly goes through pastures and then forest. The 14 km is also midday on Saturday, so Ross and I drove down to Apollo Bay from Melbourne Saturday morning. As I mentioned before, the GOR is very winding and not the fastest route, so we went took the inland route to Apollo Bay rather than the scenic route.

We had initially been discussing doing some hiking in Great Otway National Park after the race, on our way to our airbnb in Warrnambool, but I was a bit more tired than expected so we just got on the GOR heading west. We somehow managed to make it to the Twelve Apostles at sunset (completely blind luck), so we enjoyed sunset with about 1,000 of our closest friends. Unfortunately sunset at the Twelve Apostles is peak tourist hour, but it was quite pretty, so I kind of get it.

From there, we drove the rest of the way to Warrnambool and stayed at a really cute AirBnb. This is the second time that we've stayed in Warrnambool and once again we did nothing there other than eat at a really good Indian place (India Gate - slow service but seriously amazing food), sleep and then hit the road east first thing in the morning. At some point we'll actually explore Warrnambool, but that didn't happen on this trip.

Koala in Apollo Bay

Because there was no fire this year, Ross and I were able to stop at all of the amazing landmarks that are west of the Twelve Apostles that we missed out on last year.  We had a fabulous time exploring and took way too many pictures. I've included some of the better ones below.

Bay of Islands

Stupid beach doesn't let you bring your cat...

Bay of Martyrs

Worm Bay

The Grotto

London Bridge

The Arch

Razorback

Loch Ard Gorge

Following the ocean eye-candy fest, we headed inland and found ourselves on the Gourmet Trail. We got some amazing ice cream at Timboon Fine Ice Cream (Ross got maple cinnamon and I had cardamon orange) and then stopped by Dairylicious Farm Fudge. We had also stopped by a cheese factory on the way out of Warrnambool, so it was a rather indulgent weekend. While we didn't see all of the GOR this trip, it was nice to spend some time exploring the locations west of the Twelve Apostles and to get out of Melbourne for the weekend. 

Autumn along the Great Ocean Road

For everyone back in the States, enjoy the long, Memorial Day weekend. Until next time!

Autumn Down Under

As everyone in the Northern Hemisphere is enjoying the arrival of leaves, flowers and warmer weather, we are most definitely moving into autumn. It's gotten cooler and most of the trees around our apartment are starting to turn yellow and lose their leaves. After a couple April autumns, I still find them weird. It feels like we should be getting close to Thanksgiving and Christmas, not moving toward July.

Point Nepean National Park

Ross and I didn't do any big trips this month but we did get out on a couple weekend adventures and we went to a bunch of movies. There is a theater near us that we love (The Astor) which shows older movies and cult classics. This month was the 20th anniversary of "The Matrix" and the 40th anniversary of "Alien" - talk about making me feel old! We also went to "They Shall Not Grow Old" on ANZAC day. It's a fabulous film that looks at the life of a British soldier during WWI and is incredibly well done. If you get the chance to see it, I highly recommend it.

Towards the beginning of the month, we went to the Macedon Ranges, which are about an hour north of Melbourne, to look at the leaves changing colors. There are a number of gardens in the Macedon Ranges but we went to Tieve Tara because their website said that they had aspen, which are my favorite trees. We were a little too early so not a lot had really starting to change yet but it was still really nice getting out of Melbourne and having a picnic lunch in a pretty garden.

We also swung by Hanging Rock Reserve for some hiking. You might remember me talking about Hanging Rock in a previous blog as it was my parent's one request when they visited last year. When I went with my parents we went on a Monday so the place was pretty deserted. Since Ross and I work, we went on a Sunday and it was swarming with people. It detracts from the slightly eerie quality of Hanging Rock to have so many people around but it was still nice to get out walking and we even saw a decent sized mob of kangaroos.

For Easter I had a four-day weekend because Good Friday and Easter Monday are both public holidays in Australia. Ross and I had been thinking of getting out camping but we're going to Perth at the end of May for a long weekend and I stumbled across an air fare sale in mid-April, so we're also going to Cairns at the beginning of September for a long weekend. As such, we decided to hang out in Melbourne for the long weekend and save a bit of money. We did end up borrowing the work car for a day over Easter and driving down to Point Nepean National Park on the Mornington Peninsula.

I had been to Point Nepean previously with my parents during their 2018 visit but Ross had never been to the Mornington Peninsula before. We lucked out with great weather and walked out to the fort at the end of the peninsula. We didn't see much wildlife but there were a ton of people around, so it wasn't too surprising. I think that Point Nepean is probably one of my favorite parks close to Melbourne. The hiking isn't the best (you're mostly walking on a road or within earshot of it) but the views are amazing.

Galahs

We wrapped up April with a Ray LaMontagne concert at the Palais Theater, which is just down the street from our apartment (we can see it out our kitchen window). Neither Ross nor I had ever been to an event at the Palais Theater and the building is gorgeous. Ray LaMontagne put on a fabulous show and we both had a really good time.

As I mentioned earlier, we're going to Perth at the end of May but I'm also running in the Great Ocean Road Running Festival (just the 14 km) in mid-May so the next blog will have adventures from a bit further afield. If you're in the Northern Hemisphere, enjoy the spring weather for me!