Australia + New Zealand
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Aus + NZ: And… that’s a wrap!
So it’s been almost a month since we got back, and I’ve been busy with other stuff, but I figured, I should stop procrastinating and do my summary / best of / worst of, before I forget it all! So, first and foremost, to put perspective on where we actually went, I did some mapping. We started our journey New Zealand. We juggled between road tripping, and hanging out for a few days, here and there in random spots. We visited the following places in this rough order: Next we visited Mainland Australia, although technically, the Sydney portion was our last stop. Our journey was a little less comprehensive compared…
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Aus + NZ: The longest blog post in the Southern Hemisphere!
Throughout our trip we’ve heard about endless things that are the largest of their kind in the Southern Hemisphere. The largest suspension bridge (in the Southern Hemisphere)? Traversed it. The longest pedestrian bridge (in the Southern Hemisphere)? Crossed it. The longest single span chairlift (in the Southern Hemisphere)? Sat along it. The largest fish market (in the Southern Hemisphere)? Smelt it. But all of these things pale in comparison to what we experienced our first night in Tasmania. We booked our flight to Hobart and we’d figure the rest out. We’d done it so far, we’d do it now. Right? Well, there was one problem, the largest wooden boat festival…
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Aus + NZ: #stogansabbatical bottom 5 (Miranda’s list)
You can’t spend 9 weeks traveling (or living) without a few missteps. Here are 5 incidents we could have lived without (though they’ve made for some good stories!). 1.Sleeping in a car in Hobart. When we booked our flights into Hobart we had no idea we would find ourselves in the midst of the Southern Hemispheres largest wooden boat festival (what luck!). Surprisingly, this event has a huge impact on the city, and there wasn’t a hotel room to be found. Jay booked us the last room 40 minutes outside of Hobart, but when our flight was delayed 3 hours, the front desk refused to stay open to let us…
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Aus + NZ: #stogansabbatical top 10 (Miranda’s list)
It’s hard to believe this epic trip has come to an end. It’s gone by fast – though at times slow – and while our plans haven’t all worked out, it’s been perfectly imperfect – as every great adventure should be. And among all our adventures there have been a few standouts. A top 10 if you will, here goes… 1.Wharariki, New Zealand’s (and likely the world’s) most stunning beach. If I had to live one day from this trip over and over again, it would be this last minute day trip we took from Abel Tasman. From the insane drive over Takaka Hill, to the hippie dippie town on…
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Australian wildlife bingo – now complete!
Friends, we’ve had some serious luck on this trip when it comes to wildlife spotting. We have seen some amazing stuff and taken a few thousand amazing photos (we know, you’re grateful for this blog vs the invitation to sit through an endless slide show on our return!). And since my previous post (wild about wildlife) our luck has continued, so wanted to share a quick update. Lucky break #1: A farm with a resident platypus. We stayed on a farm. A full-on, working farm. And through their fields of cattle lived a platypus, that could sometimes be seen. ‘Sometimes’ seemed like an odd review, since every time we went…
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The Goat Ocean Road
The Great Ocean Road is filled with wonders of nature and beyond. Case in point… But I knew I was somewhere special when going for a morning walk meant running into Pademelons, everywhere. These guys are the cutest creatures ever (Leia, earmuffs!) I want one. And sure, we’ve seen some other cool stuff. But come on. So that’s the Great Ocean Road. Rocky cliffs, Pademelons, and everything else! Miranda already posted about our hiking day in the Grampians… next stop, Tasmania!
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Wild about wildlife!
Sure, we’re big dog lovers back home, but the other animals in our daily lives don’t have a ton of appeal. We might comment on a pretty blue jay, a particularly daring squirrel or a large family of racoons, but these passing comments are nothing compared to the hours we’ve devoted to talking about, photographing and tracking down wildlife on this trip. In New Zealand we saw lots of birds. Fields of sheep. Amazing sea lions. Dolphins. And these awesome little blue penguins. It was all pretty magical. But, then we got to Australia. And wow. We discovered the one category in which Australia has New Zealand beat: wildlife. These…
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These are the Grampians, my friends. And they are worth climbing, to the end…
I’m not the first one to put my hand up for a hike. Particularly not one marked medium… or hard. But the Grampians, well, they are kind of ‘spesh’, as the Australians say. And so, we traveled to Halls Gap and spent 2 glorious days and nights kicking back, hanging with Kangaroos and taking some seriously amazing walks. The most noteworthy of these walks was the hike we did to the Pinnacle. It’s the most popular of the trails in the area, and with good reason. It’s f-ing stunning. You basically scramble up rock face by following a series of tiny pointed triangles that keep you heading in the right…
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A less hipster laneway
So we left Melbourne behind, in favour of a great, albeit short, road trip. We rented a car for 3 days and set off for the Great Ocean road. Our first stop was Geelong, or as we assume the locals call it, Geels, pronounced “Jeels”. Everything is given a cute name here. Toasted Sandwiches are called “Toasties”, Kangaroos are called “Roos”, McDonalds is called “Maccas”, the list goes on. Geels was filled with why can only be described as Peg People. It also has a large brewery that used to be a clothing factory (we guessed). Oh, and a barber that operates out of a truck (you may have seen…
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This isn’t a blog post
This is poetry, this is life rules, this is Melbourne. Everything in Melbourne isn’t what it seems. Clothes stores sell coffee Barbers are cobblers and more Old is new again Our first activity in Melbourne was to check out Fitzroy, one of the hippest neighbourhoods in the world. The best way to experience this area is to walk down random laneways, appreciating the graffiti art, and walk into open doors marked with a subtle sign. Inside you’ll find the coolest cocktail bars, basement barber shops, converted factory restaurants and more. Our first stop was coffee, down a lane way, from an airstream camper van, camouflaged in military netting. I ordered…
