Beef 2015!!

We had nooooo idea that every three years the town of Rockhampton hosts a massive event called Beef Australia. It was very hard to find a room. Rockhampton was sold out, as were all the surrounding towns. We lucked out getting the last spot in this caravan park about 11km south of Rockhampton. Since we were there, we decided we should go!

Man, it WAS a big deal. HUGE! Massive barns of show and breeding cows. Buying and selling. Three stage with singers and bands etc. we only went in for the evening, so it was $10 instead of the daily $30 price. It was...interesting. :)

Whitsundays

Like Fraser Island, I highly recommend the Whitsundays Islands! What we really wanted to do was go on a tall ship sailing trip through the islands, but by the time we were ready to book they were all full. But what we did was great! We went on a...well basically like a ferry out to Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island. It's the biggest of the islands, but it's uninhabited. The most famous attraction is Whitehaven Beach. Beautiful white sands, gorgeous beach. We were there just at the end of stinger jellyfish season, but the staff still recommended stinger suits. So, we wore lovely stinger suits! :) Basically Lycra bodysuits. :)

After 2 hours there we headed to Daydream Island for lunch and the rest of the afternoon. Daydream Island is one big resort, but it's pretty awesome. Had a great lunch while watching stone-curlews and seagulls fight over food they could steal. The stone-curlews do this odd hissing thing. They look scary, but they're not. 

Then we fed some fish in the ocean, took a lovely rainforest walk, mom went into a hot tub for a bit and we just hung out appreciating the beauty. There are two families of kangaroos on the island, one on the south end, on one the north end. Took pictures of them both. :) All in all, a great day.

Fraser Island

If you're ever of the east coast of Australia, don't miss Fraser Island! So beautiful! It's off the coast of Airlir Beach. The largest sand island I the world, yet it also has an amazing rainforest jungle on it! It also has possibly the purest dingos left, they haven't interbred with domestic dogs like many on the mainland.

We travelled along 75-Mile beach to these sand formations called the Pinacles, then stopped at the wreck of the SS Mareno, a early 1900s cruise ship. After lunch we headed inland to see Lake Mckenzie. The sand at this lake is almost pure silica so it's great for your skin and hair. The water too.

Well we're swimming along, we've exfoliated, and suddenly dad holds his hand up and says uh oh, Chandra I have a problem. His wedding ring slipped off! Luckily I did have goggles in the bus...which was almost half a mile away. So I chug up the hill, get the goggles, bring the, back and start looking. Without a snorkel, it's very hard! Then one of our fellow visitors appears with snorkel gear! :) He found it almost immediately!! I was amazed, I truly did not think we'd find it and that dad would be getting a new ring for their 50th anniversary. :)

I SOOOO wanted to see dingos there, but we saw nothing! Then about 100 feet from the jetty, there's a little guy curled up just off the road sleeping! :) we get off the bus and minutes later another one shows up skulking around. So awesome!!!

I'm not kidding about the size of the storm!!!

It truly was a CRAZY storm yesterday. I grew up in Vancouver, I know rain. This was unbelieveably bad. I was driving, and as we came through Brisbane yesterday it was raining so hard I truly could not see the line dividers. It was a BAD storm. Not a normal storm for the area.

Check out the damage.

Sun came out

After the hellacious rain yesterday, today was beautiful. We went to see the Glass House Mountains then the Australia Zoo. Which was AWESOME! :) Unfortunately I was an idiot and scraped along a railing on the way out. Sigh. Oh well.

On our way up to the Glass House Mountains we saw our first wild marsupials! :) Two wallabies at the side of the road. So cute.

For some reason I can't get any pictures to load onto my blog right now. Check out my Flickr gallery.

Of course it's flooding, the vanEijnsbergens are here!

It rained pretty hard just just before we got here, and looks like more is on its way. Sigh. It did rain hard today. We just watched the news and they're calling for lots of rain and possible flooding over the highway. He ended with "If you're planning on a trip up the Gold Coast, don't do it this weekend, wait." Err, we can't! :) Oh well, I'm sure we'll survive....

Underwhelmed. And oh so cute!

Is it awful to say that I was quite underwhelmed by the Sydney Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and Circular Quay? Well, I was. Eh, it was fine, but...I don't know. It's a building. And a bridge. I thought Cape Town was far more beautiful and vibrant. Same with Vancouver. And Ushuiai. And Bremen. I'm probably insulting a whole country, but...eh. It was fine.

Now, the koala hospital we visited in Port Macquarrie was AWESOME! :) Also spotted a couple golden orb spiders. Ugh. Man, those things are HUGE.

Sydney traffic was hellacious. Fast drivers, tailgating and cutting people off. Much nicer now we're out of there. Tonight we're in Kempsey, which is where Akubra hats have been made for about 130 years. I need to get a picture of myself by the Akubra sign. :)

Tomorrow we're off to Ballina via the Dorrigo Natoonal Forest which has a section of the forest on the world heritage site list. Ancient forest.

Arrived in Sydney

At the Sydney airport waiting for my parents to arrive. I slept for about 10 of the 15 hours!!! They took pity on me because of my walking boot and I got a row to myself! I could completely lay down. And I SLEPT! Screw you first class! :) I hot the same "lay-flat bed" for $8,000 less!  :)

I HIGHLY recommend Virgin Australia if you're headed here. SOOOOOO much better than Delta. In regular economy much more legroom, wider seats and a LOT more recline. Awesome.

I meant to take a picture of me fiefdom, but I feel asleep before I could! 

Walking disaster?

Sometimes I think I'm just a walking disaster. :) Last week I had a bout with calcific tendinitis in my right shoulder. If you've never had it, the pain is EXCRUCIATING! But it's on the mend now. On Wednesday I was holding my big kitty Jabulani like a baby when a sound scared him and he bolted, but unfortunately scratched the hell out of my face/neck and the same shoulder that had the calcific tendinitis! I look like I was mauled by a mountain lion! Which is pretty close.

This is the monster cat. :)

Then, to make things even better, Thursday my left foot became very sore to stand or walk on. Turns out I have a stress fracture. That's soooooo awesome! Sarcasm. It's not absolutely essential for me to be in a walking boot but the doc recommended it if I can handle having it on for the flight.

I checked online and the plane has several rows with no one else seated in it. I moved my seat to one of those rows....hopefully it won't fill up and I'll be able to put my leg up! :) Hooray!

Itinerary for Australia

View Full Size Travel Map at Travellerspoint

Headed to Australia!

Aww, I didn't finish telling you about last year's adventure. Oops. Well, you can see the pictures at my Flickr account.

This year we're off to Australia. I'm leaving this Sunday and we arrive on the 28th. So odd that you lose a day. We're landing in Sydney, renting a car and wandering our way up the coast to Cairns then back down to Sydney slightly inland. Not as far inland as Alice Springs, but to see something at least a little different. I will update you all as much as I can. This isn't like going to India or Nepal or Namibia...there will be lots of internet access. Hopefully...

Two days scenic cruising

I was wrong, after Puerto Chacabuco we had two days of scenic cruising. Tomorrow we're off to Torres del Paine. Today and yesterday it's been very misty and foggy, and we weren't able to see the Amalia Glacier this morning. But tomorrow for our big excursion we're supposed to have great weather.

So far this cruise has been wonderful. Having a great time.

Puerto Chacabucco

Hmm. Not sure I've spelled that correctly. Today we're in a TINY port. Really, no town here. We didn't book an excursion, so mom & dad went ashore to wander up a hill. I'm staying here just bumbling around. It's gorgeous land outside. I'm slowly adding photos to my Flickr gallery...and while I'm super happy to have Internet access....it's not super great. :)

Tomorrow we're off on our fabulous excursion!! I think. Maybe tomorrow is scenic cruising and the day after that is our trip to Torres del Paine. You really loose track of time. Luckily, we know what day of the week it is because they put floor mats in the elevators saying what day of the week it is!! :) hee hee. We do also get daily schedules, which is nice. Having an awesome time, I'll update as I can.

Puerto Montt

Went on a fabulous shore excursion today! From Puerto Montt we travelled inland to these volcanoes and a waterfall that was absolutely beautiful! On the way back stopped in a town called Puerto Vargas, very influenced by Germans. We could have been in Bavaria! I'm down in my stateroom, Internet is ok...I'm too lazy to go upstairs to where it's better, so for now you're just getting this. :)

Ummmm...and I don't know how to flip it..... :) it's also in my Flickr gallery (http://www.flickr.com/photos/chandravan/sets/72157642395721145/)

Not bad, not bad...

:) After 17 hours of travel we arrived in Santiago. The cruise line picked us up at the airport and took us to the ship. It's pretty darn cool. I haven't had a chance to download any photos yet though. We have an inside cabin, but there are so many places to comfortably sit and look outdoors, we don't need a window in our room. The room is very comfortable, the ship is fabulous and the food is awesome. The seas are a tiny itty bit rougher than I thought they would be, but not bad at all.

The funniest thing happened today. My mom and I were sitting with Ann and Ed, family friends who are also of the cruise, in the preview of all the port excursions. I got up to get some coffee and I see friends of yay parents sitting there! We had ABSOLUTELY no idea they were here! Truly bizarre. Well, off to watch....I have no idea, something with dancers and singers. First port tomorrow, Puerto Montt. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to upload tomorrow. :)

Really on my way!

In the Vancouver BC airport, 45 min to takeoff! We fly Vancouver to Toronto then Toronto to Santiago. That leg is a looooooong flight! :) WEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!  

I'm so excited!!!!

Headed out to......South America! :) I've never been on a cruise, and not sure what I think about them, but I'll find out! Holland America cruise from Santiago, Chile down around the Horn, ending in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It's called the South America Passage. I will do my best to update here as I can.

Public slideshow

For those of you here in Bend, I will be doing a slideshow for the public on Sat Oct 19th at 2:30 pm at the East Bend library. I will of course be doing another one for my friends at my house...but just FYI. :)

Link to Flickr gallery

I'm not sure why, but the link seems to keep disappearing! Here it is: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chandravan/sets/72157635045247408/

Or click here

My favorite picture....

I think this may be my favorite picture! This is the kids singing dad happy birthday in English and Zulu. He's SOOOO happy!