After spending about a month traveling around Australia, we came up with a quick list of helpful hints for anyone considering a trip here.  Here they are in no particular order:

1.  Credit Card Fees 
Most hotels and many restaurants and shops will add anywhere from 1-2.5% to your bill if you decide to pay with a credit card or non-Australia debit card.  If you can book and pay for your hotels through a third-party website such as booking.com or hotels.com you can avoid paying this fee. Also, considering getting a credit card with a rewards program that gives you 2% cash back to offset the fee. 

2. Food Prices & Tipping
Restaurants in Australia are expensive, and most of the time, the food is nothing special. Keep in mind that you do not tip, so you should deduct 15-20% off the menu prices for an apples-to-apples comparison with prices in the US.  Even after this adjustment, it's still a bit pricey.  Fortunately, lots of hotel rooms come with small kitchens, so you can do your own cooking. Alcohol is even pricier due to taxes.  For example, a bottle of Australian wine generally costs much more in Australia than the same bottle would cost in the US.  There is really no way around this other than perhaps picking up a few things at duty free on the way in.

3.  Airplane Travel 
Lately there's been an increasing trend of airlines charging you for checked bags.  Australian airlines have taken this to the extreme.  If you buy a cheap domestic ticket on an Australian airline, it probably won't include a checked bag.  You are allowed to carry on a maximum of 7kg of bags, which some airlines adhere to strictly.  And 7kg does not get you far.  If you need to check a bag at the airport and your fare does not include a checked bag, you will have to pay $40-80 per bag.  To avoid this, be sure to book your ticket directly through the airline's website and be sure your ticket includes a checked bag, or that you can add one when you're buying your ticket.  Tickets purchased through a third party such as Priceline often do not include checked bags, forcing you to pay a high fee for one at the airport.

4.  Hotels
As mentioned earlier, looking for a hotel room with a kitchen can be a good solution if you would like to save money on pricey restaurants.  We've heard that you can also get self-contained cabins at campervan parks, which are present all over the country, at a very reasonable rate, though we didn't get to try one of these.  In cities, apartment hotels offer a great compromise between price, comfort and all the conveniences of an apartment in a good location.  Check out Meriton, which has properties in most major Australian cities.

5.  Campervan Rentals
Lots of people rent campervans to travel around the country, either camping or staying at campervan parks along the way.  We looked into this and actually found the campervan rental a bit more expensive than renting a car and staying at hotels.  On the plus side, it could be a lot of fun to stay at campsites and meet other travelers, and this also affords you a bit more flexibility on your itinerary, but it will come at a price.  One additional consideration is that gasoline currently costs the equivalent of $6-8 per gallon depending on where you are in the country, so be sure to factor this into your budget if you hire a gas-guzzling RV.

6.  Gas Discounts
If you're going to be doing a lot of driving, as your first order of business, sign up for a loyalty card at one of the two major grocery chains, Woolworths or Coles.  One benefit of the card is discounts on gas at either Caltex (with your Woolworths card) or Shell (with your Coles card).  This can really add up over the course of a long road trip.

7. Travel Agents
Travel agents are still widely used in Australia, even though they have gone the way of the dinosaur in other countries. It's worth checking in with a couple agencies before you book local travel as they often have really great package deals. Flight Center is a chain located across Australia and then each town has it's own local agents. We booked our trip to Heron Island directly online and then later found out we could have saved the cost of our very expensive ferry tickets if we had gone through a local travel agent. 

8. Last Minute Discounts
If you have flexible travel plans, you can save a lot of money on excursions by booking standby tickets with a local agent 1-2 days beforehand. We found great deals on sucba/snorkeling day trips, island resort trips, and liveabaord sailing trips throughout Queensland by just showing up at a travel agency the day before.  Research peak seasons ahead of time as these tickets may not be available if you are traveling during local school vacations or holiday weekends. 

We planned to go to Bali after Australia, and most of the reasonably priced flights to Bali from Sydney stopped in Perth. So we decided to extend our layover and spend a couple days in this part of Western Australia. 

Perth - one of the most remote cities in in the world - is 12 hours ahead of Boston and probably as far as you can get from our home town.  It may not seem far from Sydney, but it takes just as long to fly there as it does to fly from Boston to California. It's also an expensive city.  Companies have to pay people a lot of money to move to such a remote city so wages are high as are hotels, food and everything else.  In fact, Perth currently has the highest cost of living of any city in the southern hemisphere.

Margaret River Valley
We spent our first two days in the Margaret River Valley, which is about 3 hours south of Perth.  Margaret River is one of Australia's most famous wine regions. 
  
We stayed at a little B&B called Bridgewater. It's owned by an older couple, who gave us lots of tips about the area and about Bali because they had visited the island over 30 times. Both nights we spent in Margaret River brought major wind and rain storms.  On the first night, there was also an earthquake (which neither of us felt).  On the second night it got a lot more interesting, with category 2 cyclone-force winds ripping through the valley!  The house had a tin roof so the rain & wind was incredibly loud and I didn't sleep, fearing that the roof would blow off.  The next day trees were down all over the place so I guess we were pretty lucky. Luckily, the rain held off during the day. 

Coastal Drive
On our first day we drove to various beaches along the coast, getting our first glimpse of the Indian Ocean. These beaches are most famous for surfing and serious surfers travel here from all over the world.  Unfortunately for us, the wind was so strong and the waves were so crazy that not even the bravest surfers were out.  Despite the wind, it was still very picturesque. 

There isn't much to downtown Margaret River, so that night we had dinner at the pub in the main hotel. Everyone was there to watch the footy finals since the local team, Freo (Fremantle), was playing. 

Big Day Out
On our second day in Margaret River we booked a vineyard/brewery tour called Margie's Big Day Out.  Our group was small - me, Chris and two girls from a town nearby. Apparently everyone was in Freo for the big footy game. Nevertheless we had a lot of fun! Here are the places we visited:

-The Berry Farm (winery) - Great strawberry sparkling wine. Refreshing and not too sweet. 
-Stella Bella (winery) - Best staff.  We could have talked to them all day.
-Margaret Valley Cheese Factory (cheese tasting) - Yummy sweet chili cheese. 
-Bootleg Brewery (lunch) 
-Margaret River Chocolate Company (dessert)- Meh.
-Evan's Tate (winery) - Our server was a fab cork dork with a hefty arsenal of adjectives.
-Cheeky Monkey Brewery (brewery) - Great IPA.

Perth... pronounced Puhhth
We spent the last day in Perth, driving around town since the weather wasn't great. It's a modern city and much bigger than we expected. While we didn't walk around downtown, it looked like there were lots of cute restaurants and shops. We went up to King's Park to see the war memorial and a great (but cloudy) view of the city:

Afterwards, we drove to Fremantle, or Freo as they call it, which is about 20 minutes south of the city. Freo had just won the footy semifinals and everyone in Western Australia was incredibly excited. I guess they have never made it to the finals before and they were a big underdog going into the last game. Freo was a pretty cool town. It's much older than Perth, much smaller and has a ton of character. There is a section of town that is full of bars and restaurants that must get pretty crazy at night. It reminded me a bit of the French Quarter in New Orleans, but much smaller.  I'd consider staying in Freo if I ever visited this area again (which is highly unlikely, btw, because of how far it is from everything!). 

Bottom Line
All in all, I'm glad we saw this area, however I don't think it's worth a separate trip out here if you are visiting Australia.  If you are into wine, Margaret River might be fun, but we much preferred the New Zealand wine region which might be a closer flight depending on where you are in Australia.  Also, Perth is incredibly expensive due to the huge energy and mining boom in the area.

After spending a full day learning about the Opera House, we spent the next few days exploring other sites in Sydney, wandering through its many shops, sampling some of the great food and catching up with a couple of US expats who have come to call this city home. 

Our Sydney Apartment
First, I want to quickly mention where we stayed in Sydney - The Meriton Apartments on Campbell Street in Chinatown. These apartments were great - spacious, fully-equipped and right around the corner from Sydney's main thoroughfare, George Street. There is a free bus that runs up and down George Street during the day, which we used daily to get around to some of the main attractions. Being in Chinatown (and Thai Town), it's also located near tons of great restaurants. We ate Thai food twice while we were there!

Walking Tour
One day we joined up with the Sydney Free Walking Tour. This is a great way to get an orientation to the city (and it's free).  The guides work for tips, so it's up to you how much to leave.  We met our guide downtown at 10:30am and spent the next 3 hours seeing most of the major sights in the downtown area and learning about the city's history. Here are a few things we learned about this city:

Another day, we spent the morning walking through the beautiful botanic gardens:

Later that morning we also visited the New South Wales Art Gallery, which was fantastic. It's free during the day and it has a variety of pieces including classical, impressionism, expressionism, modern and aboriginal art. Here are a few examples of what we saw: 

We spent the afternoon exploring a few different neighborhoods including Darlinghurst & Surry Hills.  We had lunch at a little diner-like placed called the Tropicana Cafe and then got gelato at Messina. The banana caramel cheesecake was delish, rivaling the gelato we had in Italy. 

A Night in Bondi
One evening we got together with my friend from Chicago, Maureen, and her husband Doug. These two used to live in Chicago but didn't meet until they both lived in Sydney. They now live in an adorable house near Bondi Beach and are loving life in Sydney.  Maureen and Doug showed us around Bondi where we had drinks by the beach at a colorful little open air bar. Then we went to The Hill for margaritas and a variety of awesome food.  The service was great as was the food and we ended up closing down the restaurant that night. Thank you Maureen & Doug for a great night out in Bondi!

A Manly Last Day
On our last day, we explored Manly Beach, which is a 30-minute ferry ride from Circular Quay (near the Opera House). The ferry ride was great because of the fabulous views of the bridge and the Opera House.  We arrived in Manly around lunch time so we at a couple of burgers right across the street from the beach. Once our bellies were full, we sauntered over to the beach and snoozed for a couple of hours. It was spring break in Sydney so all the high school kids were at the beach sporting their neon-colored bikinis, oddly shaped cut-offs, and insanely large tank tops. I even spotted a few pairs of overall jean shorts.  I felt like I was on the set of an early episode of 90210, except everyone had Australian accents and regularly attacked each other with the footy (what they call a rugby ball). 

We had a great time in Sydney. It's a fantastic, diverse, and lively city. I only wish it was closer to the States!

We spent our first full day in Sydney by the harbour learning about the city's most iconic building - the magnificent Sydney Opera House.  Buried behind this most interesting structure is a lesson about human creativity, perseverance and art and science working together to push the boundaries of possibility. 

Opera House Tour
While the Opera House is today recognized as an iconic building throughout the world and one of the main symbols associated with Australia, it also has a very interesting history, which we learned all about on the official Sydney Opera House tour. We thought this tour was well worth the money as it was very informative, it allowed us to see the building's interior while no one else was there, and it got us a great discount on a show that night!

Opera House History


The Contest
The Opera House sits at the end of a narrow peninsula jutting out into the harbor from the central part of Sydney.  Until the early 60’s, this site housed an industrial area and an unsightly rail yard.  The city’s government proposed to clean up the site and the decision was made to build an opera house.  They decided to seek proposals for the structure’s design from around the world, and launched a design competition.  Over 250 submissions were received from all over the world, most of which involved rather conventional rectangular structures. 

 A Risky Winner
The concept that led to the ultimate design of the Opera House was initially discarded by the panel of judges.  One judge was late to the discussion, and asked to see the submissions that had already been discarded.  Upon seeing this proposal, he reignited support for this winning design, submitted by Danish architect Jørn Utzon.   The only problem was that this design was very conceptual- just a series of sketches, really - and no structure like this had ever been built before.  Utzon was confident he could figure out how to build it, so the judges took a risk and selected this unconventional design, giving Utzon $7 million and 3 years to  complete the project. 

Art & Science: The Struggle & Solution
Over the next several years, as the construction of the base of the building got underway, there was no solution for how to construct the massive sails comprising the structure’s roof.  Utzon and the structural engineering team, Ove Arup & Partners simply could not figure out how to build a structurally sound roof that would satisfy Utzon's vision.  Art & science were working against each other.  Finally, a breakthrough was achieved, which entailed the concrete roofs being fabricated as slices of the same sphere and then joined together in mid-air.  Honestly, I don't quite understand how it works, but it does, and I'm really glad they figured it out. 

A Sad Ending (for Utzon)
This unique approach, which had never before been undertaken, led to massive cost and time over-runs.  By 1970, a new Sydney government, frustrated with the slow progress, decided to replace the architect who poured so much creativity and work into this massive piece of art.  Thus, Jørn Utzon returned to Denmark and never returned to Sydney to see the structure completed.

Finally, in 1973, the completed Opera House was opened after 13 years and over $100 million. Today, most people in Sydney still believe that all this time and investment was worthwhile, as it is one of the most important symbols of Sydney and Australia.  In fact, even the cost overruns were not ultimately a problem, as the Sydney government ran a lottery upon its completion to raise money to repay the bonds issued to fund the construction.  Amazingly, the lottery was hugely effective and the debt was repaid within just 18 months!  

Today, the Opera House is one of the most financially successful public opera houses in the world, with over 85% of its operating budget funded by performances and events.  

We enjoyed being able to see the different theaters within the two buildings comprising the Opera House along our tour.  Here is some of what we saw:

Surprise Treat:
During our tour, a classical orchestra was rehearsing for their opening performance the next evening.  We watched the rehearsal for about 15 minutes (our small tour group were the only people in the huge empty concert hall) and it gave me chills.  Some folks on the tour were tearing up.  The music was so exquisite and I could hear and feel every single note - all without amplification due to the hall's excellent acoustics.  I was in awe that some people have the ability to create and beautifully execute something so complicated.  What is even more mind-boggling is that it takes a multitude of diverse talents - both artistic and scientific - and hundreds of years to perfect a symphony. Those wonderful 15 minutes of music were the result of  years of work from composers, instrument makers, architects, engineers, conductors and musicians. It was a good reminder about the importance of mixing diverse talents in an effort to improve, progress, inspire and (in my case) amaze.  

Showtime!
Another benefit of taking the Opera House tour is that you are able to get big discounts on performance tickets for that evening, if any are left.  That night they were showing South Pacific, a musical I regularly watched with my grandmother growing up. So we decided to check it out.  We really enjoyed the show, and especially the chance to see a show in this magnificent building!

We dedicated a full day to seeing the famous Great Ocean Road, which runs along the coast beginning about an hour west of Melbourne.  The road was built by veterans between 1919 and 1932 and dedicated to soldiers that died in World War I, making it the largest war memorial in the world.  It's a beautiful coastal drive with several stops where you can see the orange cliffs drop into the wild ocean. Its most famous landmark is called the Twelve Apostles, which are limestone rock formations scattered along part of the coastline. Here is a map of the route, starting in Torquay which is about an hour outside of Melbourne.

While most people take 2-3 days to drive the  Great Ocean Road, we decided to do it in a day. Chris is no stranger to driving long distances and felt up to the task.  For us, a day worked out well because we made many stops along the way which really broke up the drive.  We left Melbourne at 8:30am and returned around 9:30pm.  Here is the route the we took:

Torquay & Bells Beach
Apollo Bay (lunch)
Cape Ottway National Park (koala spotting)
Twelve Apostles
Loch and Gorge & Thunder Cave
London Arch & London Bridge
Back to Twelve Apostles for sunset
Departed Port Campbell for Melbourne via the A1 highway which runs north of the coast

Here is what we saw along the way:

We spent 3 days exploring the city of Melbourne, plus a day trip to drive the Great Ocean Road (the subject of future post).  Melbourne is considered the most European of all the cities in Australia, however I only found this to be true for a few alleys lined with cafes.  While there are lots of places to eat outdoors, most of the city is very modern and colorful.  Unlike Queensland (and most European cities for that matter) it has a very diverse population, which was a nice change of pace.   

We stayed in a great apartment building called City Tempo, which was only a few blocks from Melbourne's famous outdoor food market, Victoria Market.  We loved our little studio apartment because it had a well-equipped kitchen, a washer/dryer, and being on the 27th floor, we had a great view facing west.  Also, its proximity to Victoria Market was key since we really enjoyed shopping for fresh food there! 

We did a lot of exploring in Melbourne, visiting the following places:

• Victoria Market  (outdoor food market)
• South Bank (river walk, cafes, casinos, shopping)
• Crown Entertainment Complex (full of shops & casinos - a lot like Vegas)
• Royal Botanic Gardens
• St. Kilda (low-key beach town with lots of cafes)
• Downtown shops (there are lots!)
• Fitzroy (hipster boutiques, bars & cafes)
• Hardware Lane (a charming alley full of restaurants where every owner harasses you to choose theirs)

Here are some pictures from around Melbourne:

Typical Australian rowhouses

St. Kilda
St. Kilda is a little beach town about a 20 minute tram ride from Melbourne central. While we were there, it was too cold to enjoy the beach, but I can see this neighborhood being really fun in the summer time. There is a main street filled with cafes, restaurants and shops. There is one stretch of this road that has about 4-5 cake shops in a row. We definitely indulged!

Fitzroy & Naked for Satan
One evening we went out in the Fitzroy neighborhood to a restaurant called Naked for Satan. Fitzroy seems to be where a lot of the hipsters hang out and this place is a crowd favorite.  Its specialty is vodka, and they have an extensive menu of vodkas from around the world, infused vodkas and exotic vodka cocktails. On the ground level, they offer $2 tapas (the price drops to $1 later at night, which fortunately coincided with our arrival). Upstairs, there is a full service restaurant and a rooftop bar that was jammed packed. We opted to for downstairs and really enjoyed our drinks and the interesting tapas they served.  Chris tried a sampler of their infused vodka and they all tasted like cough medicine, so make sure you pass on those if you ever visit. 

I really liked the back story for the bar name, Naked for Satan: A guy named Satanovich moved to Australia from Russia after his family perished in the early 1900's. He settled in Fitzroy and worked as a sweeper in the building currently occupied by the bar. During the Great Depression, alcohol became very expensive. Satanovich knew how to make vodka because it was his father's profession back in Russia. So in the basement of this building, he started making vodka, allowing anyone with ingredients to use his facilities. As you can imagine, he became very popular! During the summer, the basement was sweltering while the vodka was brewing, so Satanovich would strip off his clothes until he was almost naked to stay cool. Those who joined him did the same. The Aussies, who tend to shorten words, called him Satan instead of Satanovich. So whenever someone wanted vodka they would go and get naked with Satan.  

We had about three days to check out the city, and I'm sure we didn't even scratch the surface. One thing that we didn't check out was Phillip Island, where you can go at dusk to see a colony of penguins return from a day at sea.  Phillip Island is 1.5-2 hours outside of town, depending on your mode of transport, so we decided to skip it, however, we may have checked it out if we'd had an extra day.  Overall, we enjoyed Melbourne.  It was a smaller city, but it was full of energy and had a lot to do.  

Stay tuned for our next post on our trip along the Great Ocean Road, stretching west along the coast from Melbourne.

We had a wonderful time exploring Queensland's beautiful coastline.  Since this is a popular driving route with many choices, I thought it might be helpful to outline what I would have done differently, had I known then what I know now. 

An ideal route will depend a lot upon your specific interests and goals for your trip.  Our priorities were:

• SCUBA certification & seeing the Great Barrier Reef
• Seeing & learning about Australia's native animals 
• Visiting our friends in Gladstone
• Liveaboard sailing and seeing the Whitsunday Islands
• Beach time

We spent about 3 weeks (22 days) on Australia's east coast - from August 20th through September 11th. Here was our itinerary:

While we loved exploring the east coast, we would have made some changes. Specifically, we would have skipped Mission Beach, spent less time in Brisbane and dedicated more time to diving off the islands. In hindsight, this is what we should have done:

Eliminate the first three stops from the itinerary above and start in Gladstone/Heron.  

If it's cost prohibitive to fly to Gladstone, then start and end your trip in Cairns. During this time you can drive as far as Airlie Beach, enjoying the islands off this part of the coast. It would be a shame to miss out on Heron Island but it can be a bit pricey to fly in and out of Gladstone airport, and the drive from Gladstone to Airlie Beach eats up a full day. 

Spend more time along the coast from Byron Bay through Noosa Heads.  If you also like to dive, then go as far as Gladstone and get your diving fix on Heron Island. 

We split up the drive from Magnetic Island to Cairns with a night in Mission Beach.  The Mission Beach area is technically a collection of four small towns along a pretty stretch of coastline.  The area is notable for the presence of a very rare bird called the Cassowary, a large, colorful, flightless species that resembles an emu.  On the way up to Mission Beach, we saw a dramatic change in the landscape as we crossed a small mountain range and left the dry, parched scrub bushes behind for lush rainforest.

The towns that comprise Mission Beach are small and low-key with a lot of well-to-do aging semi-hippies (expensive crystal shops, flowy skirts and earthy soap).  South Mission Beach is home to a population of wild wallabies, which were fun for us to see, but the locals consider them pests.

We grabbed dinner at a Thai restaurant called Nana's across from the beach, just barely escaping a massive downpour from this storm:

We had a great dinner at the Thai place, which proved to be extremely popular.  By the time we'd been there 20 minutes, they were already turning away even takeaway orders for the rest of the night.  After dinner, we headed back to our hotel for the night, a rustic B&B in the middle of a rainforest garden called Licuala. Although the owners were super nice, I can't really recommend the place because the bed was uncomfortable, the walls were thin and there was no hot water in the morning.  The next morning before we left, we found this guy rooting around the garden:

Cairns
That morning, we headed up to Cairns.  On the way, we ran into a random DUI checkpoint where everyone had to stop and take a breathalyzer test.  Since we are a couple of dorks, we were actually pretty excited to try out the breathalyzer. 

Cairns was a much larger city than we'd expected.  It's a hub for all different types of travelers, as it's a logical jumping off point for seeing some of the best parts of the Great Barrier Reef.  There are lots of restaurants and bars, and it turns into a major party scene at night.

Once we arrived in Cairns, we checked into our Reef Palms apartment and set out to plan the next couple of days.  Our plan was to try to get in a few dives on the outer Great Barrier Reef. Like everywhere else in Australia, you get a much better deal working through a local travel agent vs. booking on your own online.  It's really difficult to compare travel packages online in Australia, yet there are countless travel agents competing for your business on two streets in downtown Cairns. So after visiting a few of the local agents, we ended up booking our stay for the next night on Fitzroy Island, and a trip for the following day to head out to the reef.  

Fitzroy Island vs. Green Island
There are several islands off the coast of Cairns. A few of them are really high end and expensive. The two most popular and reasonable islands are Fitztroy and Green islands.  Both islands have one resort, yet Green Island is a coral cay (like Heron Island) and is much smaller than Fitzroy Island.  We chose Fitzroy Island simply because our dive day trip through Cairns Dive Center stopped at Fitzroy on its way out to the outer reef.  Had we gone with Green Island, we would have had to book a much more expensive day trip for our dives. 

Fitzroy Island & Diving the Outer Reef
The next morning, we headed off to Fitzroy Island, which is located about 45 minutes by ferry from Cairns.  There is only one resort on the island plus a small camp site.  There are two beaches that can be reached on foot, and the remainder of the island is wooded with two peaks that can you can hike to. The island was beautiful and the resort's amenities were very nice. Our room, however, did not meet our expectations. We were on the ground floor facing the forest. The resort's walkways were located outside our only window so the room received very little sunlight. No only did this result in a dark room, but it also smelled of mildew.  If you find yourself considering an overnight at Fitzroy, make sure you book a room facing the beach!

That evening we had a picnic on the beach at sunset with some groceries we purchased in Cairns. We then went to the resort bar, Foxy's, for a couple drinks which we enjoyed to a playlist of cheesy 90's music. 

The next morning we were picked up by the Cairns Dive Center (CDC) to head out to the outer reef for a couple of scuba dives.  While waiting on the jetty, we noticed another couple around our age waiting with a Pemberton Farm shopping bag.  Pemberton Farm is a small specialty grocer in Cambridge, so we asked them if they were from Boston and sure enough, they were.  Small world!

CDC brought us to a small part of the reef called Briggs Reef.  We had two great dives that day and saw the most beautiful reef we've ever seen.  The water was incredibly clear and we floated among a city of fish, coral, sharks and turtles. It was a spectacular array of moving colors and and shapes. At one point I was face to face with a sea turtle, both of us curiously evaluating each other for a few seconds, before it swam to the surface for some air.  After our first dive,  we saw a whale in the distance, although sadly we didn't get to see it underwater!  

We did both of our dives with a guide named Killian from the Cairns Dive Center. Killian was awesome - the best dive guide we've had thus far.  He brought us around to the best spots on the reef and pointed out lots of interesting sea life that we probably would have missed on our own.  Overall, we found this company to be amazing, with an incredibly professional and friendly staff.  We would highly recommend them if you are considering diving in this area.

That night we were dropped of back at Cairns and headed into town for some burgers before turning in for the night.  The next day we had an early departure for the airport to head on to our next stop - Melbourne!

After the debacle at the Whitsundays, we were hoping that the weather would improve for our visit to Magnetic Island.  The island, which sits about a 30 minute ferry ride off the coast of Townsville, is home to a combination of vacationers and Townsvillians who commute to work on the mainland each day.  It is also Australia's largest natural koala sanctuary, as the wild koalas that live there can neither leave the island nor be killed by humans.  Chris really wanted to see a koala in the wild - would Magnetic Island finally provide the chance?

Maggie Island, as they say, also features a lot of A-frame cabins, which are present throughout the island.  We snagged our own A-frame for two nights at the Canopy Tropical Chalets.  Here are a few shots of our digs:

Barbie or Bomber?
We had the option of taking our car to the island, but heard you could rent little vehicles called mokes for about $40 per day.  These are sort of a cross between a small car and a golf cart.  Since it was fairly expensive to bring the car over, we thought it would be fun to moke it up for a couple of days.

The only problem was, once we arrived, we learned that the car you can rent for $40 was not a moke at all.  The mokes were more like $80 per day, which we had a hard time justifying.  We decided to get the $40 car instead:

We ended up saving our money and renting this old Ford hatchback.  They call these cars bombers, probably because they have been rebuilt so many times and could explode on you at any moment.  We rented it from some guy who works in a garage outside of town.  Fortunately, this one got us around smoothly!

They say there's good snorkeling around Magnetic, so thought we'd check out some of the sea life.  We headed across the island to Horseshoe Bay to get the lay of the land.  The only problem was the wind was still not cooperating, so the surf was a bit too rough for any decent snorkeling. 

Instead we headed over to the Bungalow Bay Koala Sanctuary.  This place is part hostel, part campsite and part zoo.  The zoo is sort of an interactive experience, where you get to know many different types of Australian animals - personally!

Bird Smooch
We met a friendly black parrot named Shadow.  If you put a seed in your mouth, Shadow would gently take it with his beak, making it look like he was kissing you. See the video of me and Shadow below:

Our ranger told us that Shadow loved men. Sure enough, he was pretty jazzed when Chris stepped up for his kiss. 

Let's get a close-up of that smile:

Maggie's Beautiful Beaches
After many close encounters with a lot of Australian animals, we spent the rest of the day exploring some of the island's beautiful beaches.

Despite our inability to snorkel, we had a really nice time visiting Maggie Island and would recommend it.  Unfortunately, we never did get to see those wild koalas, but we got to meet some up close, which was even better!

After our first taste of the Great Barrier Reef on Heron Island, we were pumped to see more pristine beaches and underwater fish cities. We left Gladstone and made the 7-hour drive up to Airlie Beach, which is the jumping off point for the famous Whitsunday Islands.  

The Whitsundays are known for sailing and for one of the most picturesque beaches in the world, Whitehaven Beach.  

We checked into our hotel for the night, Whitsundays Moorings B&B, which had a lovely view of the Airlie Beach marina & Whitsunday islands. 

Booking a Sailing Trip
We wanted to do a 2-night catamaran sailing trip.  We read online that you can get the best prices on one of these trips if you show up the day before, go to several of the travel agencies in Airlie Beach, and ask about standby fares, which are last-minute discounted prices that the boats offer to fill up their cabins.  We showed up on Monday night, visited 3 agencies and got a discounted private double room aboard the Whitsunday Adventurer, set to leave the next afternoon and return on Thursday.  The woman at the travel agency told us to check in first thing in the morning because the weather forecast said there was a potential for high winds. 

Windy Weather Woes
The moment we stepped outside on Tuesday, we knew the wind would be problematic.  Sure enough, our trip was canceled due to gale force winds. In fact, all the boats were moored until the wind passed. We were pretty bummed, but happy to be on land and not on a sailboat in super windy weather!  Since the weather advisory was for Tuesday and Wednesday, we booked a day trip for Thursday.  I really wanted to see Whitehaven beach!  Sadly, Thursday came around and it was raining and windy, and that trip was canceled as well.  The forecast didn't look great for the weekend, so we decided to cut our losses and continue our journey north.

Great B&B in Airlie Beach
When our first sailing trip was canceled, we tried to get an additional night at the Moorings B&B, but they were fully booked.  We ended up finding a room at the nearby Island View B&B which we loved!  It's run by a really nice family, has great views and really good wi-fi. We stayed in a bedroom in the main house our first night and then they gave us a 2 bedroom apartment the following night, since their main house was booked. We really enjoyed our stay here. 

Things to Do Around Airlie Beach During Bad Weather
Airlie beach is a small backpacker town with a main strip full of shops, restaurants, bars, hostels and tons of travel agencies. There is also a little man-made lagoon near the beach where everyone swims because you can't swim off the main beach on account of stingers (jellyfish that could be deadly).  You can probably spend a half day enjoying the little town & beach.  Nicole & Brad recommended a great restaurant here called Mr. Bones. They had delicious pizzas with fresh ingredients!  We also went to one of the indoor/outdoor bars to listen to some live music which was fun. 

During the day we visited the following places:

Cape Gloucester Beach
This beach was somewhat shielded from the wind. It was a really pretty beach, located next to an eco resort of the same name. We went around lunchtime and only saw two other people there, one of whom we met. She lived on a sailboat, which was moored in the bay, and told us it would have been 'carnage' if we had gone out on the charter boat this week. While this place was pretty, it was still too windy to enjoy the beach. 

Conway Beach
We arrived at Conway Beach during low tide.  The tide receded really far out making the landscape look otherworldly. It was as if we were walking along the shores of a distant planet and I half expected one of the monkey people from Planet of the Apes to greet us. 

Koala or Maniacal Tree Monkey?
The sand on Conway Beach was tightly packed making it perfect for writing and drawing.  We each sketched a couple of critters.  Chris attempted to draw a koala, however I guessed he was drawing some kind of maniacal tree clown:

Cedar Creek Waterfalls 
Well, it was more like water-less falls:

Conway National Park Great Walk
While we only did about 2 miles of the Great Walk, we got a small glimpse of the Australian rainforest. The best part was seeing this tree:

Whitsunday Gold Coffee Roasters
One particularly rainy day, we stopped at a coffee roaster popular in the area called Whitsunday Gold.  We both ordered flat whites and while I really liked the coffee, Chris thought it was a little weak. I wish we could have enjoyed our coffees at this bohemian-country cafe, but unfortunately it was raining and there was no indoor seating so we had to run back to our car. Here are a few pictures from the cafe:

The activities above helped pass the time, but weren't particularly interesting, especially compared to what we were supposed to be doing (island hopping on a sailboat!).  Our visit to Airlie was a bit of bust because we never got to see the islands, dive the reefs or walk along beautiful Whitehaven Beach.  While this was a downer, we realized that we've had phenomenal weather on our trip thus far. Until this stop, the weather had not really interfered with our plans, so I'd say we've been pretty lucky.  We'll just have to come back to Australia again in the future so we can see Whitehaven beach:)