Australia By Land

Since I am no longer on my death bed, I am thrilled to finally share the stories and pictures from the rest of our trip to Australia. After three days there, we had only seen what the place had to offer under water (pretty amazing stuff). But we were also excited to get to see things on land. I kept thinking of Australia as another island trip, but Nick reminded me we crossed off a whole new continent with our visit here. After getting off the boat, we checked into our hotel, which was right on this lovely ocean walk, and strolled around until we caught the sunset.

Right away, Cairns reminded me of being back in California. The people seemed very active, with large groups of people jogging down the Esplinade around us. The temperature was quite mild with a lovely breeze (definitely not in Guam anymore), and there were outdoor workout stations and public square swimming pools for anyone to use. One of the things that immediately caught our attention were the large numbers of brightly colored birds chirping everywhere. There were thousands of these things. Actually, throughout my time in Australia I found the birds so interesting, partly because there were so many I had never seen before, and partly because we just are not used to hearing them chirp on Guam. 

One of the primary rules of diving is that you can't fly for 24 hours after a dive. So before flying out, we had time to fit in one land endeavor in Cairns. Nick definitely called the shots on this one because we ended up going off-roading. After an hour's drive up the mountain, we arrived at Blazing Saddles ranch where they had horseback riding and ATV's. After watching a few Japanese tourists tip over their four-wheelers at shockingly low speeds, we were thrilled when a guide pulled Nick and I to the side for our own ride. I may give the Japanese tourists a hard time, but some of these girls showed up wearing platform sandals and shorts. Seriously?

 The trails were a lot of fun. I didn't exactly knew what I was doing, but I faked it and eventually figured it out. We rode over some pretty bumpy trails, through muddy streams and around some tight turns (trees!). And at the end of it all we were absolutely caked with dust. I had a great time and was extra thankful for that little magic called late check-out, so we could get a shower before our flight. We grabbed a last meal in Cairns and headed to our next destination, Sydney!

We got in late and my friend Joann picked us up, so we didn't get to really see anything until the next morning. My friend Joann, who I met working at my cousin's catering company in Washington, D.C., nine summers ago, lives in an amazing part of town called Manly. It's north of Sydney Harbor and is its own little peninsula, with a bay on one side and an impressive beach on the other. There was a huge surfing atmosphere and we couldn't help but feel like we were back in La Jolla or Coronado again. We took the Manly Ferry across Sydney Harbor and enjoyed the breathtaking scenery along the way

Reminds me so much of Pt. Loma!

 

We turned the corner into the Harbor and it was apparent we were definitely in Sydney!

 

In front of Sydney Bridge

 

And the oh so famous opera house

We then took a stroll through the Botanical Gardens, again marveling at the interesting birds that kept crossing our path. Nick identified every bird we saw as a kookaburra. I'm still not sure we ever actually saw one, but they were all very pretty.

 

Sculpture at the Botanic Gardens

 

Chai Tea lattes after lunch when it started to rain

(seasoned travelers that we are, we brought no umbrella... or rain coats. whoops.)

 

We'll have to stay here next time we come!

And no visit to a major international metropolitan area would be complete without a stop into, you guessed it, Zara! The one in Sydney actually opened a week before we were there and we'd heard rumors that the first few days there was a LINE to get into it. I was hoping the mob had died down a bit so I could do some shopping. Nick smartly waited outside as I walked in the store, did a two-minute loop, and was awestruck at the line to check out. You'd of thought it was the Saturday before Christmas at the Apple store! That combined with the fact that the clothing seasons are off (Australia is approaching winter), plus the unfavorable exchange rate, and I decided three strikes, I'm out. That is hands down my fastest Zara visit, but I'm still glad to have added a new city---continent!---on my lifetime World Tour of Zaras. Moving on...

We took a stroll through the Chinese Gardens

We found the gardens to be, um, very boring peaceful. We were both dragging at this point, both a little under the weather (glad I didn't know what was to come). There was nowhere to lay down, but we figured out if Nick leaned forward and I leaned back, we could comfortably rest and hold each other up. It was a perfect ying and yang nap for our very zen surroundings. Nick had no idea I was taking this picture. He looks so peaceful :) After this low point, we called it a day and took the ferry back to Manly to meet up with our friends for the start of their weekend!

 When I last saw Joann about four years ago, she was living in Washington DC still working at the catering company. Since then she packed up and moved back to Sydney, her hometown, and she also has a few good men in her life I was excited to meet. One is her husband Tim and the other is their adorable baby Noah. He has the cutest smile and is super cuddly and fun. And he looks just like his momma. We had a blast getting to know this little guy. Joann and Tim spent their weekend hanging out with us. It was SO awesome to have locals showing us around. Our first meal out together was a first for me... Vietnamese food. Quite delish!

 

Noodle soup is just good everywhere

 Next they drove us over to Bondi Beach, one of the most famous surfing and touristing beaches in the area. It was a beautiful afternoon and the five of us went for a stroll. Very picturesque! And lots of surfers.

The walking path went up and around this cliff to more breathtaking views

 Introducing Joann! I can't believe I finally got to visit you in Australia!

 Joann, Tim & Noah. Tim grew up in the UK and longed to live near the sea :)

 

Ocean water lap pool filled by surf

Love these guys!

Love this guy :)

 On our way back through town we made what must have seemed like the most random stop to our friends and even to Nick. One of the reasons I have wanted to go to Australia my entire life is that way back when I lived in Houston in Kindergarten, our family became very close with an Aussie family in the neighborhood, the Hawkshaws. My sister Courtney and their daughter Kate went to school together, but we spent lots of time together as a family and I even remember staying with them when my parents left for the week to go house hunting in Ohio. They were also so good at staying in touch. Every year we would get Christmas presents from them, always something Australia-related, books about emus or kangaroo stickers. So when I found out I was coming to Sydney, I got in touch with Kate to see about meeting up. Turns out the weekend we were there was the weekend of her engagement party, which her whole family was flying in for. So I stopped in for hugs, a little bit of catch up, and some pictures. I felt like seeing the Hawkshaws in Australia made my trip complete :)

 Nick's trip to Australia would not be complete without a little surfing, and luckily Tim was a surfer too. So our last morning there, Nick borrowed a board and a wetsuit and the guys headed out to Freshwater Beach. I did the proper surfer wife thing and laid on a towel in the sun while the boys paddled out through the big waves to catch a few. Nick was thrilled to not have to worry about getting crushed on a reef break.

 

Australia is really good at beaches

 

After a bit I spotted Nick and Tim heading my way

 

Big smiles from Nick

Glad we were able to fit in one last adventure before the trip home! Thanks so much to our awesome hosts for making our visit to Sydney so enjoyable. Hope to see you in Guam some time soon!

Interruptions

I interrupt this recap of our amazing Australia vacation to fill you in on the week since returning home. The day we ended our dive trip, I started having cold symptoms. Not ideal on vacation, but not completely unexpected... Nick had a slight cold so I figured I caught it from him. We plowed through our adventures in Cairns and Sydney fueled by Tylenol, Sudafed, Mucinex, and caffeine. Sunday morning just before it was time to head to the airport, I could tell something was different. The Tylenol or something wasn't working. I was really out of it, completely uncomfortable in my own skin. So about an hour before the start of our 15-hour travel back home (long layover), any semblance of my previous state of health broke down around me. I will spare you the details, but the lingering effect was an extremely high fever. Basically since Sunday morning I have had a temperature between 99.3 and 102.4 and a rolling cough that makes my lungs ache with every breath.

It has been an absolutely miserable week. I was thrilled when they fit me in at the clinic the day after we got back, but frustrated hearing it was viral bronchitis. Of course being viral, there's nothing they could do but try to treat the symptoms. The doctor actually had me choose which medicines I wanted to try and told me there was no guarantee that any of them would help (thanks for the ray of hope, doc.). They then did a chest x-ray and found pneumonia, also viral and also untreatable. So I left there Tuesday morning and they said call back on Friday if the fevers were still high.

Tuesday to Friday does not sound like a long time by normal standards. Three days in my life usually fly by in a blink of fun and business. But three days where you are unable to do anything outside of arm's reach of the couch are a miserable three days. Especially considering all the awesome things I was missing out on - golf with Nick, Cinco de Mayo party at youth group, Bible study, wine night with the girls, kayak trip, starting with a personal trainer this week. Okay, so I had a pretty great week planned. By day five of this hell (yesterday), when my biggest trip of the day was out to the yard to lay face down in the grass in the noon Guam sun (my neighbor actually texted to make sure I was okay), I was at my low point. Five days of high fever, no end in sight. And even so much as reading email or Facebook took too much energy. MISERY!

At this point, as I was laying in the sun, I had to reflect, and eat my own words a bit. Have I not been writing about this whole joy/suffering connection on occasion here? Am I not studying Ecclesiastes, the 5,000 year-old text which tells us that life hurts sometimes and there's nothing we can do about it? And isn't it because I want to be doing joyful things like golf, and working out, and sitting up straight that make being debilitated so hard?

So I swallowed my words. And a triple dose of Tylenol. And at about 1 a.m. last night, the fever FINALLY broke!! Again, will spare you the details, but I was SHOCKED to read 96.0 on the thermometer. Today has been quite a roller coaster. I started out so joyful that there was hope of recovery, but the reality of the illness was quick to rear its head again during the middle of the day. But I seem to have found the right cocktail of meds to lead me to feel like myself again for a bit (though a little foggy, I must admit... and I hope this all makes sense).

I am realizing now I spent this entire week as a ghost of myself. When Nick came home from work today, we talked for about 10 minutes, and I realized it was the first conversation I've had with him all week. Amazing how you can live in the same house as someone for a week and still feel like you miss them. He has been an amazing caregiver. He has filled my Gatorade, made me food, cleaned up after my many messes, brought me blankets, and generally kept me as comfortable as possible. I am so grateful he was here with me this week.

So that's the update from me. I can only hope I will eventually look back on this week as my low point on Guam. Because the thought of having a week worse than this one is pretty unbearable. I look forward to sharing more about Australia with you once I have the mental energy and enthusiasm to do it justice.

Diving the Great Barrier Reef

With all the traveling Nick and I have done since moving to Guam, I can't believe we are just now taking our second trip together. This time our destination was somewhere I have wanted to go my entire life... Australia! I grew up hearing from Aussie friends about kookaburra sitting in the old gum tree and thought this Australia sounded like a fun place. And more recently, the Great Barrier Reef was added as a must for our SCUBA resume. So on Easter Sunday we flew to Cairns and began our down under dive vacation!

     Amazingly Cairns, Australia is only a four-hour nonstop flight from Guam. For once, we didn't even have to change time zones! To get the most out of our time there, we booked a three-day, two-night all-inclusive liveaboard cruise to the outer reef with a dive operator called Pro Dive Cairns. The main appeal of staying on the boat is that you don't have to spend three hours a day traveling to and from the reef. We did that trek once on the first day, once on the last day, and all the dive sites in between were small hops away. Once at the reef, all we had to do was eat, sleep, and dive.

Being late April, Australia is in the middle of its fall season, so we didn't have the most perfect weather. It was really windy, 20-30 knot winds all three days, which made for quite a bit of chop (10-12 foot surf!) on the ride out. The wind and chop also meant we didn't have the most amazing visibility on our dives. We soon came to realize how absolutely spoiled we are from diving in Guam.  We even chose to wear wetsuits in the 81 degree water because it felt cold to us. Yes, even Nick, who went through Hell Week in 60-degree San Diego ocean, wore a wetsuit!

When we weren't diving, we had delicious meals prepared by the on-board chef, and we took an abundance of naps in our cozy cabin (bunk beds!). This may be the first time I have ever taken three naps in one day. Diving, in addition to the sea, wind & sun, takes it out of you. There were 32 passengers on board from all over the world... Turkey, South Africa, New Zealand, Canada, Great Britain, and even Minnesota. Although, I think we were the most exotic, as nobody had ever heard of Guam or had any idea where it was. But ALL of them were jealous once we enlightened them about our equator home :)

The diving portion of the trip was truly fantastic. High quality dive gear was provided and set up for us. It was a bit of a pain having to wear full-body stinger suits to protect from the poisonous box jellyfish (we didn't see any of them). But we knocked out 10 dives in 48 hours, including two night dives. While we saw a number of things that are regulars on our Guam dives, the colors, varieties, sizes and quantities of these things were remarkable. In addition, there were so many new fish and sea creatures we'd never seen before, along with impressively huge versions of things we used to think were big in Guam. Nick took dozens of beautiful pictures, more than I can post here, but without further adieu, here are the highlights:

Unicorn Fish - So ridiculous looking!

Juvenile Sweetlips - These grow up to be black and white and look completely different (?)

 

Green turtle - We saw so many turtles! 

Macro shot of the inside of a huge clam

Spotted this yummy looking lobster on our night dive!

 

This Napoleon Wrasse is about five feet long!!! The ramora cleaning it is about 12".

One of many white tip reef sharks (they're harmless, Mom), this one about 6' long.

 Doesn't get much more goofy than a box fish!

 

 This flatworm is about the size of a quarter and it flutters through the water like a graceful slice of ribbon. One of the most unique sightings of the trip.

Clown Fish - We found Nemo on his way to P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney...

 

Beautiful corals

Jellyfish - Luckily not the one that causes anaphylactic shock 

In Guam we have clams that are the size of my hand. This giant clam is about four feet long!! Unbelievably massive!

Needless to say, we were so impressed with everything we saw. The amount of things to ogle on this massive reef system was just spectacular. So much creativity and humor under water, making each dive so entertaining. And yet, I couldn't help but feel so small and insignificant when surrounded by such an abundance of life. So grateful to share the sights and sounds of this experience with my favorite dive buddy. And best is all of this activity put us at only three days into our nine-day vacation! More to come :)

Easter on Guam

Happy Easter everyone! I had a really interesting Holy Week so thought I would quickly share some stories and pictures. I say quickly because I only have about 30 more minutes of internet access before we leave the island :)

Our church's Holy Week festivities started on Thursday night for the Maundy Thursday service. Our church did an off-site service at the Governor's complex on Guam, which had a fabulous view. The location choice was supposed to simulate going to the Upper Room.

Once inside, we were seated on the floor at low tables decorated with candelabras and beautiful Middle Eastern tapestries. Scriptures were read from Exodus reminding us how the Passover feast came to be. The rest of the meal simulated what the Passover feast might have been like on that Maundy Thursday. We ate lamb, oranges, dates, parsley (from our herb garden!), and drank red wine. More scriptures were read from that night, the prediction of the denial and the betrayal. We then took communion, as the disciples would have done for the first time that night. This was followed by a foot washing.

Many of the young people of our church took their first communion that night :) The neatest thing about the evening was getting to place yourself in the shoes of the disciples as they tasted the lamb, took communion, and had their feet washed... and the symbolism of why this particular night was chosen to be the eve of the crucifixion, when the lamb would be slaughtered once again to save the Jews from death.

Good Friday I woke up early and met my hiking group to hike up Mt. LamLam, the highest point on Guam. This was actually my first boonie stomp here way back in September. At that point, I was told it was a Guam tradition for the locals to hike up it on Good Friday as a Holy Week pilgrimmage. As we pulled up, I could not believe the miles and miles of cars parked on the side of the usually empty lonely road on the south side of the island. There were literally thousands of people making this journey.

Different today than last time were the small numbered crosses along the way to the top. We joined up with my hiking buddy Renea and her kids, who were reading a scripture from the Good Friday story and a prayer at each stop along the way. I love that my friends pulled their kids out of school to participate in this cultural and religious experience.

At the last minute, my friend Kristen decided to make the long drive down from the north end of the island to come on the hike. She just moved here about six weeks ago, right after getting married, and she happens to be a graduate of the University of Florida! Go Gators! Her husband is a helicopter pilot. They are the only Navy squadron that is based up on the Air Force Base.

Rosary stop in the jungle along the way

 

And finally we made it to the top! I say finally, but it's really only a mile :)

Later that day, we played golf :) And then we went to our church's Good Friday service, which was held at the top of Nimitz Hill, a massive hill on Guam. This particular site overlooks where the Marines landed on Guam to liberate the Chamorros from the evil Japanese back in WWII (really accurate history lesson going on here). The speaker, one of our church members and a Guam history teacher at a local high school, tied in the death of Jesus with the historical gore that happened right on these very hills. Such a memorable evening, especially once the sun started to set :)


 

Such beauty... followed by such darkness.

Easter Sunday was a wonderful celebration to tie everything together. I was in charge of coordinating our Easter brunch, which was a fundraiser for the orphanage we are working at in Manila. Many church members pitched in food, plus we had a donation from the local Indian restaurant (yum!), so we had a fantastic spread.

Everyone had a great time hanging out after the services. And the best part was, we raised over $1,200 for the orphanage! My stretch goal was to get to four figures, so needless to say, I was thrilled to leave there on Easter knowing the impact of our mission trip will be even bigger because of the generous hearts of our congregation. Pretty awesome outcome of the day :) The service was great too. The church looked beautiful. I sang in the Hallellujah choir. And our pastor's message was so poignant. The gist of it was that Easter is the most practical of all of the holidays, because it helps us deal with the everyday difficulties---and even the once-in-a-lifetime Good Fridays in our lives. Because Jesus died, we too can be "Easterized," and death and hardship and heartache no longer have the last word. Hallellujah!

And now we're off on our next adventure, which means I have to jet :) Happy Easter everyone!