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.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Winter is started to wind down in Australia but there is still snow in the mountains and chilly mornings in Melbourne. Neither Ross nor I had seen snow in Australia yet and really wanted to make sure to get up into the snow before the year was over. We finally accomplished that goal last weekend when we went cross country skiing at Lake Mountain Alpine Resort. Last weekend was a kind of crazy weekend though so I'll jump back to Thursday before I get into the skiing adventure.

Cross country skiing at Lake Mountain

Last Thursday was the first night of White Night in Melbourne. White Night initially started in Paris in 2002 and Melbourne was the first Australian city to host the event in 2013. It is an interactive art and light festival that lasts all night with projections on buildings, stationary art exhibits and moving art work, plus food, music and acrobatics. Prior to this year, it had been held in the summer and 500,000+ people attended the one night event. This year, the event was moved to the winter and staged over three nights instead of just the one. Ross and I had tried to attend previous years and were turned away by the insane crowds. This year we went on Thursday (the first night) and really enjoyed it. The weather was cool but it didn't rain and the event wasn't nearly as crowded as it was in past years so we were actually able to see everything.

On Saturday we went up to Lake Mountain, which is about two hours out of Melbourne. We had been planning on going snowshoeing but there is only one snowshoe path and it isn't terribly long, so we opted to go cross country skiing instead. The last time that I was on XC skis was when I was maybe 14 (though probably younger) and Ross had never been before. We both fell a bunch (though I won that competition with the most falls) but we had a great time anyway. There were a handful of people who looked like they knew what they were doing but most people looked about like I'm sure we did. The snow wasn't the most amazing but I'm used to Colorado powder, so there's really no competition. I will fully admit that until I moved to Australia, I didn't realise that it snowed here so any snow is pretty amazing. That being said it was really surreal to be skiing and playing in the snow surrounded by eucalyptus trees (snow gums).

On Sunday we had been tossing around the idea of going skiing again but we were far too sore for that. Instead we decided to take full advantage of our hire car and drive out to the You Yangs Regional Park and go hiking. The park is located about an hour south west of Melbourne. We were pretty tired from skiing so we only hiked up Flinders Peak and then laid in the sun at the top for a while. Eventually the clouds started moving in so we meandered back to the car, found a cute cafe for lunch and then made our way back to Melbourne.

As I said, it was a pretty full on weekend but we had a great time and really enjoyed being able to get out of Melbourne. Ross is winding down his dissertation and planning on submitting it for external review by the end of October, if not before. Once that happens we are planning on getting a car and then doing a lot more camping and hiking on the weekends (sooooo excited for hiking adventures!). Until then we have a couple more weekend adventures planned so that Ross (and I) can escape dissertation-land.

Sheep and pop tarts

July has been a less adventurous month than normal for Ross and I in Australia. It is the middle of winter here and has been more rainy and colder than last winter. We also did a bunch of travelling in May and June, so we stayed a lot closer to home this month.

Lambs at the Australian Sheep and Wool Show

Ross is fully in the throws of dissertation writing, so he works most days of the week. I've been enjoying the cooler weather by doing some long runs and knitting on the couch with a book on Audible - I'm currently listening to "Becoming" by Michelle Obama and am really enjoying it. Though it does make me even more depressed by the current state of politics in the U.S....

At the end of June we found out about and went to USAFoods, which is an entire store of American food. It was incredible! We ended up spending way too much money on really random things that we hadn't had it more than three years. Our baskets included: American-style bacon (significantly different from bacon in Oz or NZ), Goldfish crackers, graham crackers (I've had to explain Smores to everyone in my office), pie tins, so much salsa (adequately spicy food is almost impossible to find here), cornmeal, peanut butter filled pretzels, Bisquick mix and LaCroix water. I'm sure that there were other items but I can't remember them at the moment. We spent over an hour wandering through the store looking at all of the items and getting homesick. I didn't think that shelves of pop tarts or salsa would ever make me homesick but it did.   

Fluff is so gross. It makes me a little sad that people see this and think "Merica!" 

Pop tarts and peanut butter and jelly in the same jar -
it doesn't get more American than that...

So much hot sauce!

This company started off small in the town where I grew up.
Now it's all grown up and selling overseas... *sniff*

My birthday was at the beginning of the July. We had been planning on going snowshoeing in the mountains around Melbourne but Ross hurt his foot and then it warmed up some and started raining, so that trip was postponed. We instead had a glorious, cheese-fuelled adventure at my new favourite restaurant in St Kilda - Milk the Cow. It is a bar and cheese store/restaurant. How great is that?!? We started off with mulled wine and then I got a flight of cheeses paired with ciders from around Australia. Sooo good! Ross got the fancy Mac 'n cheese and thoroughly enjoyed it. We also split a small pot of fondue. Like I said, cheese galore!

In mid-July we went to an arts and crafts festival in the Royal Exhibition Building, which is a gorgeous building fyi. It is called the Finders Keepers Market and has artisans from all over Australia. The market happens a few times a year. I had gone to it last year and really enjoyed the market and the food but this year Ross and I weren't as impressed with the market itself. The food was still amazing but there were so many people around and the stalls didn't have as interesting of items as I remember them having last year.

Honey and cinnamon + Nutella and hazelnut Greek donuts

Bouquets of local flowers

The most exciting thin that I did this month, besides the cheese-filled birthday extravaganza, was attending the Australian Sheep and Wool Show. It sounds nerdy but it's the biggest sheep and wool show in Australia (and possibly the Southern Hemisphere) and was pretty amazing. In this, I am very much my mother's daughter. I am part of a knitting group that meets once a week at pubs around Melbourne to knit (Melbourne Drunken Knitwits) and I went with a bunch of those folks. The show is held in Bendigo, which is a two-hour train ride north north-west of Melbourne. We made a day trip of it and knit on the train both directions.

Sheep waiting to be herded during the working dog trials.

Look at those horns!

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Curls for days.

Ewe champ.

Sheep paparazzi

The show itself was great! There were so many sheep (obviously). There was also a ton of yarn and wool for sale, as well as a bunch of arts and crafts and all the farm supplies that you could ever want. My favourite event was either the working dog trials or the sheep shearing contests. The working dog trials were amazing because the dogs had to herd a flock of sheep through a series of obstacles with nothing but verbal commands from their handler. Plus, when the dog got the sheep into a tight space, the dog would run along the top of the sheep. It was great. At one point I ended up sitting next to an old couple and had the pleasure of overhearing the older gentleman telling his wife everything that the dog was doing correctly and incorrectly. So good!

The sheep shearing was just as impressive. Have you ever watched someone shear a sheep in 90 seconds flat? I have. Multiple times. It is quite impressive. I managed to stay within the budget that I had set for myself for the day but only just. There was just so much pretty (though expensive) yarn, tasty food, great pattern books, etc. It took more self control than I had anticipated.

The collected purchases of about ten of us.
Mine is the small pile on the back of the bench to the left of the basket.

I had also been planning on running the half marathon distance at Run Melbourne again this year (I ran it last year) but I ended up getting really sick and missed three days of work. There was a little part of my brain that thought that I might still be able to run 13.1 miles but luckily the logical part of my brain, with some help from Ross, won out and I slept in instead. It was pretty frustrating though because I've been training for the last couple months. I'm signed up for another half marathon in mid-September on the Mornington Peninsula, so all of the training will still be utilised, though I might try to find another half for later this year - there is a women's running event December 1st that starts/finishes just a couple blocks from our apartment that I'm considering but it has the potential to be super hot at that point in the year so we'll see.

Winter day along St Kilda beach.

Ross is heading over to Wellington for the first full week in August to meet with his committee and then we're going to try to go snowshoeing the following weekend so send cold, snowy thoughts our way!