Celebrating the New Year, Sydney style, Australia Part 3

Links to Parts One and Two.

After sailing, we made our way to a teeeeeeeny tiny airport with a single departure gate in Proserpine. From there it was a hop to Brisbane then Sydney. We took the train into the city and a bus to North Sydney where we were staying in a hotel. By this point in the trip, I can't even describe how happy I was to be in a king sized bed with an en suite bathroom. It's the little things that are important in life, like full length showers with consistent hot water. It all felt so luxurious after nine nights of hostels and boats. Sydney is built around a stunning harbor with an iconic bridge and the famous sails of the Sydney Opera House.

It was overcast and raining off and on when we arrived. We walked out to find dinner and head to our planned fireworks vantage. The skies opened and dumped water everywhere. So, we headed back for an umbrella and went to dinner nearby. Then we headed out to Barangaroo Reserve. The beautiful Sydney Harbor Bridge was between us and the Reserve. We followed a huge crowd out and realized that the bridge was closed for the first fireworks show at 9 pm. Sydney has an early one for families and then the main event. They fancy 'round here. We ended up following the crowd to a park to catch the first show and decided the view was better than it would have been on the other side. This side was right over the Sydney Opera House with a side view of the bridge. And, it was free. I like all these things.

We then hung out for three hours vying for space until the main show started. At the countdown, the crowd went nuts, yelling each number from 10 to one. Cell phones lit up all around us. The show was amazing! Fireworks exploded over the Opera House, from the bridge and all down the river in both directions. The show lasted over 12 minutes. Some people filmed the whole time. It's kind of ironic, right? They're watching this amazing thing happening all around them through a screen so they can watch it again later. Weird. I took a short video clip and some photos here and there, but it's cooler to actually watch the show. Sydney puts on a hell of a NYE show. It was worth it. Most vantage points cost money up to $1200/night (that one includes an opera, fancy dinner and fireworks show). YouTube has a WAY better video with all the vantage points and the actual music if you want to enjoy the whole thing.

The next morning we met up with Carl and Jane (from the sailboat) to do a Sydney walking tour. It was really good. We saw all sorts of cool things downtown and learned some of the history of both Sydney and Australia. For example, 150,000 prisoners were shipped to Australia from England. That's a whole ton of people going about as far from England as humanly possible. Afterward we wandered the Royal Botanical Gardens.

One of my bucket list items was to see a symphony at the Sydney Opera House. I was worried there wouldn't be an option with the holiday (aside from the $1200 NYE package, no thanks). Instead, right where I wanted it was a symphony of the Beatles songs. Perfect! We were Americans listening to British music in Australia. Anyway, we arrived a bit early to walk around the building, have a glass of wine and enjoy some macarons. The show was really good. The symphony included four gentlemen with fantastic voices who alternated singing the songs. During intermission we went to the front of the building which has lovely harbor views with the weird Luna Park amusement park shining across the water.




The final morning we walked to a gluten free cafe I read about. Turns out it, like many other businesses, was closed for the start of the new year. Right around the corner was a delightful little cafe that made me amazing avocado toast and even provided a free GF pastry to split. The service was incredible. From there we hopped a bus and wandered Sydney Harbor National Park by the zoo. It had a nice little walking trail with water views and a secluded beach. We took the ferry across the harbor just to enjoy the views, then headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags and head to the airport.


Part Four

Sailing the Whitsunday Islands, Australia Part 2

If you missed Part 1, find it here.

In the beautiful resort town of Airlie Beach, we checked into our sailing trip and boarded the lovely 43' ketch Kiana for three days and two nights of navigating the Whitsunday Islands. We were assigned a "big" cabin under the deck with a double bed and a bunk above. The double was missing a corner. I slept in the upper bunk because it was hot both nights. There were twelve other passengers and four crew aboard. Two from DC, four from Hungary, two from Germany, a French family of four, and our Aussie crew. We sailed (motored) out of the harbor, through Hook Passage to Whitehaven Beach which may be the most beautiful place in existence.


We hiked up to a few overlooks of swirling turquoise waters and white sand. Then walked down for a little beach time. Like in Cairns, we were required to wear stinger suits to get in the water. So, we had a beautiful beach to enjoy dressed like ninjas. Hmmmm… We walked the whole beach and waded into the water to find stingrays that wander right up into the shallows. There were also these pretty little lemon sharks in a lagoon and the shallows. It was amazing!


Afterward, we sailed around Whitsnday Island and camped in a cove in the wind for the night. The Whitsundays have these delightful creatures called March flies. When I say delightful, I mean hell spawn. They are the size of quarters and can bite through a 1mm wetsuit. The youngest of the French boys was contracted as our fly killer. He was very successful. I enjoyed a lovely sunset on the way to the cove. We had a steamed dinner that was amazing: lamb, pumpkin, and root veggies. Then everyone crashed out almost immediately.

The second day we moved to a little reef for some diving. Mike and I went with the two Germans in the first group. We saw a bunch of nudibranchs (sea slugs) of different varieties. They were a lot bigger and more beautiful than any I'd seen before. I know, sea slugs sound gross, but you're thinking sea cucumbers, which are freaky. I also saw a bumphead wrasse which is different from the parrotfish at the first stop. Unfortunately, the vis was terrible and we had a newbie diver with us. So, 35 mins later we were on the surface. This was annoying to me after three days of independent 50-60 minute dives. Oh well. The sailboat's dingy picked us up with a rope and handles tied to the back and dragged us back to the boat. We were facedown, kicking for stability, with our regulators in, so it was basically speed diving as I watched the reef zip by beneath me. I thought it was super fun. Under the boat, some huge gray angel fish were hanging out. Afterward, Emmy the divemaster and overall leader of the trip took two other groups of people scuba diving. The four of us from the first lot hung out in the sun on the front of the boat.

In the afternoon, everyone jumped into the water for some snorkeling. We saw some fishies, some clams, and just enjoyed being in the sunshine in our dorky wetsuits. We weren't allowed to dive more than a few feet due to risk of nitrogen in the blood after scuba diving. But I always love to be in the water.

We motored over to another cove for the night. It seemed to be the spot to be. We were surrounded by other catamarans and monohulls. Some of these are bareboat charters, others were tour boats. Our boat's personal amusement came from watching a boat called "Spank Me" sail past with a whole load of bros and maybe three or four girls. In the harbor we had a pasta dinner followed by crepes. Everyone started to make their way to bed. I heard splashing next to the boat and went to investigate. Like on the dive boat, the light was attracting plankton. This time, however, the plankton brought in squid. A giant trevally was feeding on the squid. If you know nothing about giant trevally, watch this video. Once the lights were out, the big fish disappeared and we watched bioluminescent squid inking their way all throughout the bay. The wind was blowing which meant pockets of bright, numerous stars opened above us. Occasionally a shooting star crossed the sky. This was one of those perfect moments I will remember forever.

The last day, two of the try divers went out for another dive. Mike and I swam from the boat to a little reef and did some free diving. We swam out with weight belts while the rest of the group was dropped off from the zodiac with pool noodles. Who lives in the water? *raises hand* The vis was again terrible, maybe 8 feet at best. I would lose sight of Mike almost immediately when he dove. We saw a sting ray, a really big silver fish, another bumphead wrasse, and a ton of gorgeous blue, green, and purple clams. The clams might have been my favorite thing. I know. It sounds lame, but they're like disco pretty.

We stopped at a pretty little island with a big sandbar and "hiked" up to an overlook. It was a pretty stop and nice to get off the boat for a minute.


From there, we packed up our cabin and sailed, yes, actually sailed, back to the harbor. I love sailing! I need to get better at it so that I can do a trip like this on my own schedule. The trip back in was lovely! Captain Greg who's been doing this for the past 30-something years gave us all the gossip on who owned which boat or mansion, how much they paid for it, etc. He's sailed almost every boat in that harbor. He was awesome!

We spent the night in Airlie and met up with all of the folks from the trip for drinks, dinner, and live music at a bar. It was really fun until they jacked the music up for the second live performance. After an hour of yelling at each other while the table worked through three pitchers of free beer, we left with our ears reverberating.

Part Three

Diving the Great Barrier Reef, Australia Part 1

Mike is officially old. He turned 40 this year. When I asked him what he wanted to do for his 40th birthday, he said, "I want to go sailing and diving." I looked around and found out we could do both in one of the most beautiful places in the world, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. I set everything up months ahead of time and we were able to use the holidays and Christmas closure of work to our advantage.

We flew from Honolulu to Sydney to Cairns. It was a long travel day, but we made time to hit a gym and restaurant between flights. That made the long hours in uncomfortable seats just a little better. I had planned in a day of buffer before leaving on a dive boat for three days and two nights. It was ridiculously hot that day. We walked the esplanade with it's lagoon (public pool) by the sea (apparently no one swims in the sea because of crocodiles and sharks), playgrounds, skate park, bouldering area and live musicians. What a cool place! There are cool sculptures here and there. Pelicans preened along the coast (side note: are they not seriously the weirdest birds? they can make their mouths turn inside out. Bizarre!) Colorful lorikeets flew everywhere being noisy and contentious. We must have seen 10-15 other varieties of birds.

Past the Esplanade is the Flecker Botanical Garden. It's a giant semi-cultivated wilderness area north of town. As we walked along under the trees, I saw what I thought would be a good picture. and started following what I thought was a slightly underutilized trail. Mike asked if I was sure this was a trail. I told him that it looked like one but I should probably remember I'm not in Hawaii anymore. Then I startled a snake and ran back the way I came yelling obscenities. Classy. I hate snakes. Remember this is Day One. Winning.

The next morning we woke to POURING rain. The bus for the dive boat picked us up promptly at 6:15 AM. After dropping our extra bag off at the dive shop, we boarded the boat with 31 other divers and snorkelers. We were assigned a cabin with a double bed right next to the galley. The ride out to the reef takes about three and a half hours. It was raining relentlessly and windy, so the seas were rough. Most of the folks on the boat were looking a little green by the time we arrived.

We did four dives the first day on Milln Reef. Jumping in the water after the boat ride was really great for relieving any sort of seasickness. We saw an enormous giant clam. I know that sounds reduntant, but it was a giant clam, and it was a REALLY big giant clam. Anyway, other things we saw: a cuttlefish (not cuddly, but alien), sting rays, a few turtles, some sharks, a thousand different fish, some fantastic coral, massive bumphead parrotfish, and a titan triggerfish that tried to beat up Mike. I noticed this attack and did what every good dive buddy should: took pictures. He had it handled.


The night dive the first day was amazing. The boat's lights attract plankton which attracts small fish which attract big fish which attract sharks. That's a whole lotta attraction right there. Mike and I opted to go for our own dive. While I was putting my fins on, a shark swam through my jump in point. I let Mike go first. See? Best dive buddy ever, right here. Dropping into the water was awesome! I was surrounded by big fish using my light to hunt. My beam caught the eyeshine of a gray reef shark and I watched it circle wide as I descended. I love night diving. My world shrinks to what I can see in my flashlight beam. I have very little trepidation or fear of what I can't see. In this case, what I couldn't see were likely a few sharks, lots of big fish and some pinchy things. Nothing too worrisome. One of my favorite things about diving at night is that shrimp have eyes that reflect red in a torch beam. That makes them easy to spot. They're really cool and everywhere. At one point, I looked down at a five foot whitetip reef shark who was hunting. He was right below me. Beautiful.

One of the cool things about this dive boat is that they teach you to use a compass, give a kick-ass dive brief and throw you in the water to do your thing. This teaches navigation skills as well as time/air management and gives a diver free rein to manage her own time. By the time the trip was over I was feeling really good about navigating my own dives. Mike and I were almost always first in the water and last or nearly last out of it. Because of that, dive sites never felt crowded and we never felt rushed. If we wanted 10 minutes to capture a cuttlefish or to chase around a school of bumphead parrotfish, no big deal.

The second day was Christmas. We woke up to dive right away. With the foul weather, the visibility in the water had deteriorated a lot. We went a different direction and explored a giant split "bommie" (meaning formation in the water). The split was this cool canyon thing full of seafans and featherstars. In perfect vis, it would have been unbelievable. It was still cool. When we came up for brekkie (side note: Australians LOVE to turn every noun into a shorter word and add ie to the end), we learned that the boat ahead of us had snapped their mooring line during the night because of the wind. Subsequently, they cancelled all dives for the day. So, we stayed put and did two dives around the split. The second dive had nothing for visibility, but was memorable because when we returned to the dive boat, we ascended through a huge bloom of moon jellyfish. They were everywhere, so thick that they could not be avoided. We were dressed head to toe in thin stinger suits, so were only affected on our faces. It was absolutely incredible.

In the afternoon, the weather was cooperating enough to move us to Flynn Reef. The dive we did there was my favorite of the day. It wound through lots of little bommies with swim-throughs and canyons to follow. The vis wasn't bad and we saw several turtles, stingrays, and woke up a sleepy whitetip. The colors, fish and coral were gorgeous! I loved it. The night dive was canceled "because the wind picked up", really it was Christmas night and the crew wanted to chill and have a drink. Can't blame them there. Pedro, the chef, cooked us up a fantastic Ham dinner with GF fruitcake and custard for dessert. Leighton, Ryan, Chris, James, and Mel, the dive masters and boat crew made up a trivia game and divided us into groups to play. We were all really bad at underwater and Australia trivia. BUT, my team won. Yeah! We won candy bars. I saved them for the train to Proserpine. It was a loud, really fun night with a bunch of strangers who felt like friends.

We woke up roasting during the night and found out it was due to 100 liters of jellies being sucked into the air conditioner condenser intake and clogging it. So crazy! The last day was really poor vis. We did three more dives on Flynn Reef. The most amazing thing we saw was a canyon full of the giant bumpheads. I swam under them and Mike swam behind. So cool!

The boat ride back was quiet and less tough than the way out. I napped the whole way. Being on a boat does that to me. We checked back into the hostel, took real showers (being able to shampoo and condition my hair was the best moment of the whole day), and met up with a bunch of folks at Bavarian Beerhouse for food and drinks. Ryan and James showed up and provided no end of entertainment. Ryan is a kiwi and all personality with entertaining small town party boy stories.

The next morning we boarded a train to Proserpine which is south of Cairns. Since we had 8 hours, we read, napped, watched movies, ate anything we could get our hands on. I watched the beautiful Queensland countryside flying by and even saw a wild kangaroo bouncing through a field. Cool! A bus took us to beautiful Airlie Beach where I talked Mike into a run on the boardwalk in the dark. So worth it. The boardwalk runs all along the coast past fancy resort condos and yacht harbors.

I was going to do all of Queensland in one post, but this is already ridiculously long. So, see Australia Post #2.

Diving video from GBR here: https://youtu.be/C1bfdsgpex0

Friends Trip Round 2

2018 was the second annual friends trip with Rachel, Brad, Thomas, and Camille. Last year we spent three days on Lanai. This year we visited Kauai. We also had an addition this year. Rachel and Brad brought Iris, their lovely five month old baby girl. Having a baby changes the dynamic just a bit, but the trip was no less fun for it.

We spent the first day on the west side of the island. We drove to Waimea Canyon and did some hiking above beautiful Kalalau Valley. It was super muddy, but we had a great time. Afterward, we caught sunset on the perfect powdery beach at Barking Sands. I tried to get us a room here, but apparently Veteran's Day weekend on a military installation is popular. Who knew?

We stayed in Princeville on the North Shore in a big, open Airbnb. Saturday, we left Iris with the boys and took off for a girls morning. Everyone wanted to float the canals on tubes, but babies aren't allowed, so we split up the two days. Floating the canals sounded fun enough. The actual adventure much exceeded my hopes and expectations. It was way fun playing bumper tubes with random people. On the way home we stopped for the most amazing acai bowls.

The boys with baby in stroller were at the park playing frisbee when we made it back to Princeville. The girls joined in for a bit. Brad and Rachel went to feed Iris. So, Thomas, Camille, Mike and I went to Queen's Bath. When I visited last time, Queen's Bath was a raging, dangerous place and Mike was almost lost at sea. This time it was calmer, not summer bath time calm, but we weren't at risk of dying. So that's cool.



After showers and lunch, the group headed out for drinks at the St. Regis hotel. Everything was as expensive as the name would suggest. They did a little Hawaiian ceremony at sunset where the manager came out in a Hawaiian sash, headpiece, and arm bands and sang a couple of songs. Iris was completely enraptured by him. He was so touched by it that he brought us all free champagne, minus Iris, of course.


Princeville hosts a Saturday night market with food, live music, etc. We wandered through the market and picked up all sorts of stuff for a house party. Too many chips, a couple of bottles of wine, and lots of HeadsUp later, everyone was out.

Sunday was the boys turn to go tubing. It was nice to sleep in a bit. The girls took a walk around the neighborhood with Iris. We found free avocados. We cleaned up the house, ate some leftover junk food and headed to Poipu to meet the guys. We stopped at two waterfall overlooks along the way before ending up at a glass beach. I'm not sure if there was a bottling company there, or if it's just a landfill. The beach is covered in tons of shimmering seaglass in all colors. It's a really cool little spot.


We grabbed lunch in Poipu and walked around some shops. Brad and Rachel hit the airport early since they had more stuff. The rest of us found a beach to visit before we headed back. It was such a lovely trip!

Hiking Old Rag in DC

Last month I spent two weeks in Washington DC. It was a work trip, but I was fortunate to snag a weekend to do a bit of exploring. A local friend of mine offered to take me hiking. Old Rag is apparently a super popular hike despite its distance (10ish miles). It's a solid hour and a half outside of the city in Shenandoah National Park. The drive is absolutely beautiful. City slowly gives way to green, tree-covered hills. There are small wineries tucked in the valleys along the way.
It costs $15 per person for a trail pass, which seems worthwhile considering the traffic the area sees. Parking is free if you show up early. If not, there's an old lady with a field next door who is perfectly happy to hustle you out of $10. Whatever, worth it. The hike is actually a half mile up the road from there. It seemed like there were a thousand people when I went, but they quickly thinned as we climbed.

Once we broke the tree line, there were gorgeous views everywhere and the real fun began. There's some rock jumping, climbing, pinch points where a little teamwork could be required. So much fun to be had. The rock is also really grippy, so as long as it's dry, nothing to worry about. There are a few overlooks along the way that are worth a stop. Several groups found big boulders to have lunch on. Sean and I opted for rum and gummy bears because what else would you want on a hike?

The way down finally earned us a small measure of solitude, not that the trail was empty, just far less busy than the rest. We had a few minutes between passing people going either direction. The whole trail is beautiful, so having to slow down and wait for someone is never that big of a deal. If you talk to the folks around you, you'll meet people from everywhere.

Definitely make time to stop for a wine tasting. Magnolia Winery provides cheese or chocolate with every pour and has sweet dogs.