Mom in Australia - Part III of the Trilogy (Alice Springs, Melbourne, Yarra Valley)

This is starting to seem like the never-ending blog post, but my mom and I only had 2 weeks together, so we wanted to make the most of our time, and I really think we gave it a good effort. I wanted to start this final post about our trip by wishing my mom a Happy Birthday (it is tomorrow in America but today in Australia)! I wish I could be together with you to celebrate!!
When we got back to Alice Springs, the weather was not looking good. The dreary, wet weather made Alice look even more unappealing than it did before. We drove directly to the town centre to find the hotel we would be staying in for that one night before we flew to Melbourne the next day. I had booked the hotel online, and I had chosen a 4-star option that had pretty good reviews for having a good location and being an overall nice place to stay. Clearly the standards of hotels in Alice Springs are a little off, because the place we stayed was not as nice as many of the hostels I have been to. We checked in just after 2PM, but we still had to wait for someone to clean our room - that is after we finally found it! It was a little disconcerting seeing the woman cleaning our room sweeping up a ton of broken glass off of the floor...
The hotel was sparse to say the least, and we both wanted to get out of there ASAP, so we did a little research of what we could do with our time in Alice Springs. With the weather as it was, we knew it would have to be something indoors, so we juggled between going to the School of the Air or the Royal Flying Doctor Service Headquarters. We decided on the School of the Air, because it sounded a little more interesting, and it was in a part of Alice that we had not yet seen.
The School of the Air was actually a pretty interesting experience. For those who do not know what it is, the School of the Air was started in the 1950’s as a way to provide school to children who live in the middle of the Outback on cattle stations, farms, national parks, reserves, etc. Some of these kids are the only child for thousands of kilometers in radius, so there was never any organized way for them to get a proper education. What started over the radio (teachers would broadcast lessons over the airwaves) has now recently been upgraded in technology and most classes are done over the internet through webcam.
All equipment for the classes is provided by the School of the Air, including the computer and satellite for the internet as well as all books and lessons. They sustain the program through private funding (although I think they get some money from the government too) and donations from people like my mom and me. We actually purchased a book to donate to one of the students while we were there.

When we arrived at the School of the Air, there was an art class being taught by a teacher in one of the studios. It was interesting to watch the teacher being filmed by cameras, and we also had a view of what he sees on the screen. Each child’s face who is in attendance of the class appears on the screen, and he can communicate with each one of them individually or as a group. They can ask questions and hear the other students too.
It seems like a very impersonal way to go to school, but for some of these kids, it is the only interaction they have ever had with other children. Once again, I could not imagine living in such isolation as these families do, some with no neighbors in sight. The School of the Air considered this, so about 4 times a year, they invite the families to Alice Springs to meet each other and they organize special activities for the children. For a lot of these families, going to Alice is like going to a major city, and they make sure to get in all necessary appointments while they are there (doctor, dentist, etc.). The kids are encouraged to socialize with each other, and they even attend a class at a normal school to see how other children learn and interact.

The School of the Air only goes from primary school to the beginning of high school, so kids who complete the entire program must still go to boarding school to complete their education afterwards. A few of them end up going to university too, and this is actually an interesting thing in itself. Before the School of the Air, many of these kids would have just stayed in the Outback and taken over their family business, but now many of them are exposed to different things and actually decide to eventually move into the cities or overseas. The biggest challenge for many of these kids when they move away from the Outback is surprisingly not immersion with the culture or anything like that, but rather it is simply noise. Many of them complain about not being able to sleep when they live in the city, because they have gone their entire lives in isolation away from the city sounds.
These kids in the Outback are really amazing, and many of them are forced to grow up and do adult things before they are even of school age. We watched a video of a boy who could not have been older than 7 who helps his dad out on their cattle station by driving the truck around. He could not even see over the steering wheel!
The School of the Air reminds these kids that they are actually children, and they must take time each day to attend class and do homework assignments outside of class too. Each child must have a tutor to help with the lessons, and in some cases this is mom or dad, but a few also have live-in tutors as well. One of the tutors shown in the video was probably around my age, and she loves living with the family in the Outback, teaching their two sons. I could not imagine how lonely she must get sometimes...
There are some Aboriginal children who live on a reserve who also attend School of the Air even though there are a quite a few of them who live there. By Australian law, the government has to provide a school house and a teacher on Aboriginal land when there are more than a few children there. However in this case, the children are all different ages, and they only had one teacher and school between all of them. The teacher actually applied to the School of the Air because she was overwhelmed. The students are doing really well since being added to the School of the Air, and they were voted most improved this year!
Since the first School of the Air (the one in Alice) started in the 1950’s, others have opened and there are now about 15 I think across Australia. This just goes to show how many families live in the Outback, something that is still so foreign to me...

After the School of the Air, the weather was still not letting up, so we decided to drive to the mall and walk around inside. We ended up at the movie theater instead however, and we decided to go see the Social Network since it was just starting. My mom was in shock at how expensive movie tickets are in Australia, and even though she tried her usual “seniors” discount shpeal, they were not budging. They are very particular in Australia when it comes to discounts on anything. Students must have an Australian student card in most cases, and to qualify as a “senior,” you have to have pensioner status with the Australian government. The only way I am usually able to worm my way into a discount bracket is through my YHA card which shows I am a backpacker (or that I am traveling on a budget haha), but even that is rare.
We both enjoyed the movie, although I was now intrigued by the Eduardo character, Zuckerberg’s best friend at Harvard who co-founded Facebook with him. His shares in the company were diluted when Mark received additional investors without his knowing, and he ended up taking Mark to court over it which put a dent in their friendship. He was also supposedly one of the main sources behind the Ben Mezrich book (the inspiration behind the movie) until his case was settled. I did my own little research, and I am not exactly sure what he is doing these days, but he was eventually given back 5% share in Facebook and is now worth over $1 billion. If anyone knows where he is, send him my way!
After the movie, we decided to venture out from our hotel to find a place to eat dinner. We really had no idea where we were going so we ended up walking up and back the main street a few times. My mom and I were terrified as we were receiving strange looks and being catcalled, none of which was particularly a good experience. We finally found a Thai restaurant, and although it did not look great, we just wanted to go inside somewhere. The meal was decent but definitely not the best, and we were not going to be sad about leaving Alice Springs the next day. We went back to the hotel, and I actually slept inside of a sweatshirt with the hood on to avoid touching any of the hotel bedding. Yes, it was that bad!
The next morning was all packing in anticipation of flying to Melbourne, and we said goodbye to Alice Springs. We returned our rental car at the airport way over our kilometer limit and below full on gas (don’t want to know how much that ended up costing!). For the flight to Melbourne, my mom was leaving a few minutes before me on Qantas, and I had booked my flight with Tiger to save a little bit of money. Of course my mom’s flight was on-time, however Tiger was delayed because of the weather. There was no way to let my mom know, but I knew she would find out when she got to Melbourne and had to wait for me. Flying Tiger was back to reality for me, the plane was completely packed and no more lunch served for free. Also, the lady sitting next to me got ill which is always a great experience...
I had never flown Tiger before, but when you land in Melbourne, you literally collect your baggage from a shed. My mom was outside the gate of the shed waiting for me in the rain, and Renee had driven to come pick us up. The weather was so bad in Melbourne that it was difficult for Renee to see out of the windshield at some points along the drive to our apartment.
That night was actually the night before Halloween, and I was disappointed when I heard that no one really celebrates Halloween in Australia. I actually completely forgot about it, and instead Renee and I were heading to the welcome home party of Cassie and her boyfriend (I had worked with her at DraftFCB in SF). They are originally from Melbourne, but they had been living in SF for over four years and were finally returning home. When we were on the tram home from the party, there was a guy that had blood on his face. He was American, so of course the first thing I thought was, “another American giving Australians a bad impression of us!” Then Renee reminded me that it was Halloween and that was his costume! Sad but true, he was the only person I saw that was dressed up.
On actual Halloween, we had planned a brunch overlooking the beach with Peter and Joan and their daughter, Sarah, so that my mom could meet them. They were the people that picked me up from the airport and took me into their house when I first arrived in Melbourne. Of course, the place we chose for brunch would have been perfect if the weather was good, but it was still rainy, windy and freezing, so we ate inside.

After brunch, my mom and I decided to venture into the city with Renee’s car, which is always an adventure. The drivers in Melbourne are really bad, the road rules are foreign to me, and I usually end up getting lost. That being said, I think my mom handled the craziness pretty well although I could tell that she was a little terrified. On the drive, w almost got hit by a bus, the car stalled a few times, and I accidentally pulled into a parking garage that cost us $8! Not to mention how many other close calls we had! But I did manage to avoid making a hook turn (a right hand turn from the furthest left lane, makes sense, right?) which is always a challenge.
We went to the Queen Victoria Market, and of course we had to get our fill of warm jam donuts! We also bought some fresh fruit, meat and cheese, and my mom wanted to buy some souvenirs for people back home. We stayed at the market until they began packing up their stalls, and then we ventured back through the city to St. Kilda, stopping for coffee along the way. I don’t think I have drank as much coffee in my whole time in Australia than I did with my mom!

That night, I planned to go to dinner to meet Nyssa, an American girl who had been living in Sydney for the last few months. We had been introduced through one of my old coworkers from DraftFCB, and we had tried to meet up a few times, but none of them had worked. We chatted over dinner, and found out that we actually have a lot in common. She was in town for the races, so we planned to meet up again.
The next day was Monday and although most people were back at work, I still had a few more days off with my mom. The following day was the Melbourne Cup which is a public holiday in Melbourne, so everyone just works for the Monday unless they are lucky enough to get it off. The weather was slightly better on the Monday, so we decided to go wine tasting in the Yarra Valley with Peter and Sarah. We picked up Sarah at her apartment in St. Kilda then drove to meet Peter in Boronia, where he and Joan live. Thankfully, I did not have to drive any further because Peter volunteered to take us in his 4WD.

We only made it to two wineries, both of which I really enjoyed. We stopped in Healesville in between for lunch at the Healesville Hotel, and then went to go see if we could find some kangaroos in the wild. We went to the same place where I had seen my first kangaroo which is actually a reservoir. We did not have to drive for long when we saw the first kangaroo on the side of the road, and then we saw a lot more further up a hill. We got out of the car and started walking up the hill to get a closer look (of course the grass was muddy because of all of the rain lately). One of the kangaroos even had a joey in its pouch!

Joan decided not to come wine tasting with us, so she was at home slaving away and making us dinner. We went back to their house after the kangaroos, and drank one of the bottles of wine we had bought while we ate. Peter is such a nice older man and as he told us stories over dinner, I thought of how much I want to adopt him as my grandfather!
The next morning was the Melbourne Cup, “the race that stops a nation,” and we were planning to go. We had not purchased tickets ahead of time, because Renee had told us that we could just buy them at the door (but I should have known since she has said that about a few other things this year, all of which have sold out!). Renee’s friend, Kylie, was in town from Adelaide for the races, and Nyssa came over to go with us too. Renee had just finished up her job at Harris Scarfe (she was going to start her new job at Nine West on Thursday), so she had been given flowers from her coworkers wishing her well. We decided to use the fresh flowers in our hair with our fascinators, they actually looked great! We also drank a few bottles of champagne (one of which we bought when we were wine tasting the day before). We took a cab from our apartment to Flemington Racecourse around noon, and the weather was looking either like it might clear up or it might be quite rainy. We hoped for the first one...
When we got to the entrance to the races, there was no ticket window in sight, so we went up to ask where we get tickets. The guy informed my mom, Nyssa, and I that the race had sold out! Renee and Kylie had already bought tickets, so they were already inside. He told us that he had heard a rumor that they were still selling tickets over the phone or online at Ticketmaster, so we decided to try and call. I got through to someone over the phone, but when I was giving her our credit card information, the signal was dropped! I tried calling again and had just gotten through when Renee and Kylie were back outside. Apparently, they had used the men’s restroom (after a security guard had told them it was okay) only to get kicked out of the races by another security guard on their way out! They had taken their tickets and told them they could not go back in!

At this point, I was just about to book our tickets over the phone, but now we were unsure of whether we should even go in. We decided to just buy them since we were there, and then we would try and talk to the security guards about getting Renee and Kylie back in. Since we had booked them over the phone, they gave us a ticket number to show at the door as proof of purchase.

The first security guard that we talked to was just not hearing us, and we were starting to get annoyed. He stood and talked with us for like 20 minutes before he told us that he did not even have the authority to let the girls back in. At this point, one of Kylie’s old coworkers joined us (a guy in his 40’s) and we were now a group gathering attention at the gate to one of the most prestigious events in Melbourne. I mean, even Enrique Iglesias was there apparently! We asked the guard to get us someone who actually had the authority, and he said it would be about 20 minutes.
Finally, we found the head security guard, and I started to explain the situation to him. He calmly asked, “you only want to get into general admission?” It turns out that we did not even really need to buy our tickets because he just let us into one of the side doors, and that was it. So easy! We should have told him that we wanted to get into nursery (where the celebrities and rich people are), but we did not think that far ahead...

By that point, we all needed a drink, so we went to the closest bar and bought bottles of champagne for $35. Then we immediately went to go place bets on the main race. My mom bet on “Americain” (the horse from the USA), and a few of the other girls placed bets too. I decided to try the trifecta, since we had been getting tips on the race all day. In fact Jilly (think back to Port Douglas) had told us to bet on a horse called “So You Think” who was actually favored to win the race. I picked “So You Think,” “Americain,” and a third horse called “Zipping.” It did not matter which order they finished in as long as they came in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
Before the main race, we tried to make our way out to the track so we could actually see who won, but there were so many people in the way. It was hilarious, people were trying to do whatever they could to see. Some drunk girls in really nice dresses were on their boyfriends’ shoulders, and four or five guys were hugging each other in order to balance on a light pole stand. I could barely see the race on the screen over someone’s head, but that was the best it was going to get. It was pretty exciting since we all had a wager on the race, but in the end, “Americain” won, “Malucky Day” (some dumb Irish horse!) came in 2nd, and “So You Think” came in 3rd, I was so close! So my mom was the big winner of the day, woo!

And since gambling runs in our family, her and I decided to go bet on the next race too. We did not even know the horses in this one, but we met a guy in line that let us look at the odds in the paper. My mom randomly chose a horse to place and a horse to win (as did I), but of course hers ended up winning again!
With all of that luck, we decided it was now time to move from the races to the casino, so we finished the rest of our champagne and then went to go wait in the taxi queue. As you can imagine, the line for the taxis was extremely long, so while we were waiting, we started talking to the people around us. I think we even ate some food from the people in front of us which started some conversation with them. When we realized that we were a large enough group that we could skip the line to get a maxi cab, we invited our new friends to come with us. If everyone else was as smart as us in front of us in line, they would have grouped together too!
The cab ride to the casino felt like it was the longest in my life, as we got to know our new friends, Sydney and Hamish. Hamish was great, a really nice guy from Sydney, but Sydney his fiance was an American from Ohio living in Melbourne. Confusing I know! She had had a little too much to drink that day, but I do not blame the alcohol for her behavior. Sydney was just one of those Americans that make Americans look bad, and she kept talking about how great Hamish’s roommate was. I should mention that he was in the hospital for getting in a motorbike accident (and it sounded pretty serious!). At one point, Nyssa asked Sydney who she wanted to spend the rest of her life with, and she said Hamish’s roommates name, followed by “he is so hot!” We wished them the best of luck with their relationship, and then we got out of the cab at the Crown casino.

My mom and I wanted to play blackjack, so we went to go see the options of tables. We ended up upstairs and we were all playing at the same table for awhile. In the end, my mom ended up even (what happened to her luck?), I actually made $100 (I was gambling with my mom’s $50 and doubled it), and I think everyone else lost. We realized that we had not yet eaten dinner, so we got a quick sushi roll snack and then walked along Southbank to go catch a cab back to St. Kilda. Since it was Tuesday night, we decided to go to Republica for $10 steaks. We had a great dinner and Kylie’s old boss ended up ordering lots of wine. The weather completely turned when we were at dinner, and it was like hurricane weather when we were finished. At one point during the meal, the door blew open when someone walked in and brought in a freezing cold gust!
We called a cab to take us home even though we were within walking distance of our apartment, but when it didn’t come for awhile, we decided to hail one ourselves. My mom and I waited with Nyssa for the tram back to where she was staying, and luckily one was coming in the other direction that we could jump on. We decided to go home and hang out since my mom was leaving the next day, but the others went to a bar on Acland St.
Let’s just say that they must have all had a lot to drink, because my mom and I were woken up at like 4:30AM by some loud noises in our apartment. Renee had brought home 3 guys with her and they were not even trying to be quiet. I was annoyed because my mom had an early flight to catch the next morning, so I asked them to be quiet which did absolutely nothing. Luckily, my mom is a really deep sleeper and fell right back asleep, but I was up for the rest of the night. One funny thing though, the fire alarm started going off around 5:15AM, and Renee and the guys panicked and thought that they had done it. It wasn’t until they realized that it was going off in the entire building that they went out on the balcony and started singing the Ghostbusters theme song while the firemen arrived. I texted Renee and asked “is there really a fire?” because if there wasn’t, there was no chance I was going to get out of bed...
In a little over an hour, my mom and I woke up to get ready to go to the airport. My mom walked out of my room to find Renee and the guys all passed out on the couch haha. We made it to the airport and I only got lost once! I had packed my larger suitcase to send back with my mom, so she had a lot of baggage when I dropped her off. It was really sad to see her go, especially since I knew I would not see her again for 4 months! We had such a good time together though, so I was really glad that she was able to come. Now I knew that she would not worry as much about me, since she could see that I was doing okay here. She made it safely home, and thank goodness too, because a few days later is when Qantas started having a lot of trouble with their engines...
Sadly for me, it was back to work the next day, but the good news was I only had a little over a month left and then I was off again for the next adventure!

Mom in Australia Part II (Great Barrier Reef, Alice Springs, Ayers Rock)

Continuing with the Great Barrier Reef where I left off, I was hoping the outer reef would live up to our expectations. We had seen many pictures of beautiful, colorful coral unlike anything I had ever seen before. And we were promised that this is what we would see...


We reached our first stop called Nobody’s, and my mom and I waited for the crowd to clear before we made our way to the back of the boat. As I said, my mom does not know how to swim so she was really nervous about getting in the water. We found her a life vest, and I sprayed some de-fogger in her goggles. I put her mask and snorkel on and she practiced breathing through it. One of the girls who works on the boat volunteered to take my mom out to ease her into the experience. I decided to videotape my mom’s first snorkel experience on my camera, and I got into the water alongside them.

All of a sudden while I was videotaping, a message came up on my camera screen warning that something might have gotten inside the battery compartment. I got out of the water as quickly as I could keeping my hands above the water, but by the time I climbed back on the boat, it was too late! Somehow water had leaked into the battery getting inside the camera, and it would not even turn on. How could I have ruined two cameras so far in Australia?

As I foreshadowed earlier, Liz (who we had met on our boat) had rented a camera so she promised to send me pictures from the day. Sadly, I had not even had the chance to take any pictures other than one of my mom before she got into the water. And it was such a beautiful day at the reef! In retrospect though, the nice thing about not having to worry about taking pictures of the reef was I was able to really enjoy the experience. I swam as far away from the boat as possible (to avoid getting kicked in the head by other people!) and really explored each of the dive sights.

After a bit, we left the first site to move to our second for the day, called Advanced Whammies. I am not really sure who names these sites or what they mean, but I think it is more of a way for the crew of the boat to describe the conditions there? In that case though, I still have no idea what this site’s name means...

At the second site, we were served lunch, so we smartly waited to go into the water until after we ate. Just to be clear though, we did not wait because we were warned that we might get cramps if we get into the water right after we eat. In fact, one of the crew onboard told Kevin that that was actually a myth! They have never had any problems with anyone cramping up from swimming/snorkeling after eating, and they claim this is an old wive’s tale. The real reason that we waited was that from where we were sitting, we were in the perfect location to be close to first in the buffet line.

It sounds like such an American thing to say I realize (and Kevin and Liz were in fact the first people in line, oh Americans!), but if you do not get in early at the buffet, it is not a pretty sight. And in this particular instance, it looked like there might not be enough food available for all of the people onboard. The food was supposed to be “5-star” as Jilly explained, but it was really just alright. There were a few different options for salad, - lettuce, potato, and macaroni - and cold cuts served with bread and butter, and prawns. The macaroni salad was probably the best thing on the menu, because it was filled with seafood, yum. The prawns were good too, but they were the ones with the eyes and all of the shells, so they required a lot of work to be enjoyed.

Since I now knew that the swimming after eating rule was a myth, I jumped into the water directly after eating and swam far away from the boat again. I do have to say that I did not experience any cramping! But then again, when you snorkel, you do not really swim very quickly. And there were so many beautiful things to look at, I was probably swimming slower than I normally would anyway.

I could not believe the colors that were emitted from the reef when the sun shone down through the water. I have honestly never seen anything like it before in my life, even my last experience at the Great Barrier Reef. The pictures did not lie, the Outer Reef is definitely a different world, so hopefully it remains that way for future generations to see. I also don’t think it hurt that it was a sunny day, because it really made such a difference. I saw so many different types of colorful fish, and the reef was completely different looking here than where Humme and I snorkeled. There were no giant clams to be found, but instead the coral here was shaped differently and larger in size. I saw a lot of the same fish that I had seen before, but I also felt like they looked bigger out here. For example, I saw some clownfish (Nemo!) swimming in the anemone. and they were enormous! I had to go find Liz and bring her over to show them to her. The ones I had seen previously were tiny in comparison.

The third site, Gone Again, was hyped up to be the best site of the day, but after swimming around for a bit, I definitely did not agree. I would say that Advanced Whammies was my favorite as it had the most diversity and interesting things to see. Each of the sights were only a short ride away from one another, but they were all slightly varied which is really interesting. At this site, I did a swim around the entire coral area then decided to get out and dry off by laying out on the front of the boat. The dessert was cheese, crackers, and fruit, so I helped myself to some and then relaxed in the sun. My mom had not gotten back in the water since the first site, even though I tried to persuade her, but we still had such a great day at the reef.

As we made our way back to Port Douglas, I realized that I had not reapplied sunscreen since that morning, but the sun and wind felt amazing out on the front of the boat, so I could not be bothered to get up. I stayed out there the entire ride chatting with Liz and Kevin, and before I knew it we reached shore (about nearly 2 hours ride I would say). I did not really feel sunburnt, but it quickly became clear that we had all had too much sun, and not in a good way. My entire backside was sunburnt - I guess that is what happens when you snorkel facedown for so long! Liz was also looking pretty bad.

We took the shuttle back to our respective hotels, but my mom and I made plans to almost immediately go pick up Liz and Kevin and go out for some drinks and appetizers. Jilly had told us about this place called “On the Inlet” which has a Port Douglas tradition, feeding George the Grouper. Every night from 5 - 5:30PM, the staff at the restaurant feed George, and he has been coming back for years. We got there just on-time, and there was a large crowd gathering to watch. Unfortunately, no George! Apparently, it was mating season for groupers at this time of the year, so George was busy doing something else... However, we had heard that George had been coming late the last few days, so we decided to hang around and get some drinks and appetizers while we waited. Before I go on, I failed to mention how completely enormous George is. Although I did not get to see him with my own eyes, I did see a picture, and he is huge! I kept it to myself, but I secretly wondered if maybe he had been caught which is why he had not shown up. He would be any fishermen’s big catch!

“On the Inlet” was actually a lovely little place overlooking the water, and we ate a bucket of prawns and some fish tacos. The staff at the restaurant encouraged us to throw our prawn shells into the water below, and we had a great time watching the fish below swim up and eat them. We even saw two enormous stingrays in the water below, and an interesting looking crab on the rocks below. So even though we left without seeing George, it was still a really great experience.

We had planned to either eat dinner with Liz and Kevin in downtown Port Douglas or take them to the Beach Shack, however Liz was not feeling well. Her sunburn was making her feel physically ill, and she did not think she would be fun to hang around, so she left early. Kevin felt bad, so he planned to get some takeaway food to bring back to the hotel to share with Liz. Obviously my mom and I decided to go back to the Beach Shack after showering, it was after all our last night in Port Douglas! As usual, we were not disappointed with the food, and we made it a point to tell our waitress it would be the last time we would be there since we were leaving the next morning.

On our last morning in Port Douglas, we packed up the car and then decided to take advantage of the breakfast buffet at our hotel before driving the hour or so to Cairns airport. On the drive, I started to have camera anxiety, because I knew we would want to take pictures of the rest of our trip. Since my camera was still useless, we decided to try and find some disposable cameras to hold us over until we could take mine to a repair shop. This was not going to happen this morning however, because we needed to return our rental car by 10AM for our 11:50AM flight to Alice Springs.

I was not overly concerned yet that my camera was still not turning on. For some reason, I thought that maybe the one-year warranty that I had been told about when I bought my camera would cover the damages. Plus, I had just bought travel insurance which could also potentially cover buying a new camera. I originally was only going to buy the travel insurance for the two months that I was going to be in Southeast Asia, but it was only a couple dollars more to extend it for the rest of my time in Australia. Also, I had heard some horror stories about Tiger Airlines just canceling their flights, so I thought it would be better to be safe than sorry.

Anyway, we made it to our flight on-time and since we were flying Qantas again, we would be served lunch. Unlike our flight to Cairns where we received hot food, we were disappointed by the lunch they served us. Literally two pieces of silverside (think something similar to corned beef) on bread with mustard and pickles, the lunch was disappointing so we were glad we had eaten such a large breakfast at the hotel. Also, against my warnings that she would be searched at customs, my mom packed multiple snacks into her luggage which we ate then also.

When we landed in Alice Springs, we disembarked the plane from stairs onto the jetway. It was a completely different climate than Queensland - it was much more dry, similar to Arizona. But unlike Arizona, a wall of flies greeted us as we stepped out of the plane. I told my mom about the Australian hello (people swatting flies away from their face haha), and it would have been funny but they were still annoying us even when we made it inside the airport. We were not staying in Alice Springs for long - we were actually driving to Ayers Rock (or Uluru as the Aboriginals call it) that day.

For the drive, we had rented a car from Thrifty and just had to pick it up at the airport. The only thing about renting a car in Alice Springs is that they take advantage of the fact that they are in the middle of nowhere. Instead of giving unlimited kilometers like everywhere else, they only give a set limit of 100 km per day. Ayers Rock is 441 km away from Alice Springs, and we were only renting the car for 3 days, so we were given 300 km total. We had booked the rental car through Expedia, and when I called to ask if we could get additional km (otherwise they cost $0.25/km over the 300), they gave us a bonus 300km. We told the girl at the airport counter this, and she added it to our reservation. We did not realize that we could have told her we had more bonus km, but oh well...

Since we were already in Alice Springs, we figured we would drive through the town center and stop at the grocery store to pick up some snacks for our 4-hour drive ahead of us. On our initial drive through of “Alice,” we were unimpressed. I had heard from other backpackers to avoid visiting if possible, and now I could see why. Even Lonely Planet suggests to avoid walking by yourself at night. The main reason for this is the distinctly divided Aboriginal community that lives in Alice Springs. They have a reputation for always being drunk and pestering backpackers as they walk through town. Even during the day, it was depressing to see a very sad representation of how Aboriginals are being forced to fit into a society that is so far removed from what they know and believe. I had never seen anything like it, and I did not like what I saw.

All in all, the town center of Alice Springs is only a couple square blocks, so we quickly saw everything there was to see. We passed a Kmart (they are big on those over here!) so we decided to go in and see if they had any cheap cameras that we could buy until we figured out what to do with mine. The girl suggested that we go to the Camera House near the Coles supermarket because that was where I originally bought my camera, and they might be able to do something with it because it was under warranty.

I was doubtful, but we figured that it would be worth a try before we bought some cheap poor quality cameras that would not even take good pictures. We found the Camera House, and the man who helped us there was a cute, grandpa type. Since my camera was still under warranty, he could send it in to get fixed, but there was no guarantee they would be able to or how long it would take. He suggested that I just buy the newer model of the camera and claim it through my travel insurance. That way I would get a brand new camera and hopefully not even lose any money out of the deal. He was a good salesman, and before we knew it, I had a new camera, memory card (Olympus no longer take XD, yay!) and another $200 printer voucher!

With new camera and some snacks for the trip, we packed in the car and began the long drive. For anyone thinking to do the drive from Alice Springs to Ayers Rock, I would not recommend it. It was actually very similar to the drive from Phoenix to Tucson in terms of scenery, although twice as long and there was less to look at along the way. For being the middle of the desert, there was actually a lot of greenery, probably due to how much rain Australia had been getting this year. The sand was a distinctive red color (like something you would see in Sedona), and the road was straight and empty. I think for the entire drive, we only saw a handful of cars and most of them were coming the opposite direction.

There were a couple of small towns along the way, and when I say small, I mean small. The “towns” usually consisted of a petrol station and possibly a restaurant, but that was it. I could not imagine how desolate the lives of the people who worked at all of those places must be. That actually started to become a theme of this part of the trip...

If doing the drive to Ayers Rock, stop to get gas at Erldunga and try not to stop the rest of the way. There was one town in particular where there were a few Aboriginal families sitting outside the restaurant. I stopped and got out of the car to refill my water bottle, and I felt eyes watching my every move. No one spoke to me, but I had everyone’s attention - even the kids who were playing. It was very awkward, and let’s just say I was glad to be pulling away from that place.

The speed limit for most of the drive is marked as 110 km/hr, but there is one section where the speed limit gets up to 130 km/hr - the fastest I have seen yet in Australia. I drove the entire way to our resort in Yulara, and it became a race with the sunset towards the end. We did not want to get caught in the complete darkness driving down this empty highway, so I sped a little towards the end. There were actually signs on the side of the road saying that speed cameras are in use in the Northern Territory, but I decided to chance it.

Rather than worrying about getting my picture taken, I was more worried that if the sun went down, the animals would come out since they are most active at dawn and dusk. Luckily, we did not see any animals (other than a lot of lizards!). In fact, the entire time we were in the Northern Territory, we did not see many animals. I was a little disappointed because I had heard about the kangaroos in this part of Australia, and they are supposed to be the largest variety.

In the race against the sunset, I would say it ended in a tie as we got to the resort right as the sun disappeared completely. Ayers Rock Resort is an interesting place located about 14km from Ayers Rock itself. It is pretty much the only option in terms of accommodation for Ayers Rock, so any visitors that come for more than one day have spent some time there. As it is the only option, the resort is more of a town than a resort and offers a range of types of accommodation as well as its own grocery store, post office, and even police station. There is a campsite, a hostel, and a few hotels ranging in amenities and price. The highest cost option are these luxury tents that actually sit outside of the resort in the middle of the desert. Costing upwards of $2,000 a night, you wake up in your luxury tent overlooking Ayers Rock at sunrise and have breakfast personally delivered to you. Sounds amazing I know, but we had chosen one of the hotels in the middle, The Lost Camel Hotel, which was the 4-star choice.

As I mentioned earlier about people working in desolate places, I could not help but wonder how the employees of the resort did it (and where did they live?). So I asked one of the young girls who worked at our hotel reception desk, and she said that they all live at the resort in an employee area. There are a couple thousand of them I would guess based on the size of the resort. She was actually only at the resort for nine months since she was doing some work experience, and while I was chatting with her, I could not help but wonder what they all do on their days off. What an interesting lifestyle...

Anyway, the Lost Camel Hotel is an interesting place, but I would not say that it was really worth what we ended up paying for it. As the resort is in the middle of nowhere, they can charge hefty prices and they definitely do. The room that we were given was tiny, and there were no lifts to get to the second floor where it was located. We had to carry our own bags up two flights of stairs, and there were moths and bugs everywhere! My mom and I figured out that we had to get inside of the room and close the door completely before turning on the light, otherwise we would have unwanted critters in there with us.

As we were carrying our bags from the car into the hotel, a girl with dreadlocks approached me and asked if I knew if there were any bars around. Of course, I told her that I had just arrived and had no clue, but I could not imagine there were any crazy parties going on in the middle of the desert. I later came to find out that each hotel has its own small bar, but the biggest party scene was definitely at the hostel. We never made it for ourselves, but the hostel had a “restaurant” with DIY barbecue and live music at the bar each night.

The next morning, we woke up pretty early and drove to the national park where Ayers Rock is, but we decided to drive to the Olgas (or Kata Tjuta as the Aboriginals call it) first. To enter the park is $25/person, but the pass is good for 3 days. I am not really sure that you would need 3 days to see everything though. We planned to only spend one entire day there, so we knew we would be packing a lot into a small amount of time. We had been told to do the Valley of the Winds walk at the Olgas (btw, Kata Tjuta means “many heads,” and the Olgas are a collection of large rocks). The Valley of the Winds is a 7.4km circuit walk through the Olgas which is estimated to take about 3 hours. My mom and I decided to do the entire circuit, and it ended up being quite a difficult walk at some points.

Right as we began the walk, we saw some quick movement in path ahead of us, and before we knew it, about 10 - 15 wild camels ran across our path! It all happened so quickly that we were not sure if we were having a desert mirage. Luckily, there were a couple in front of us who also saw the camels, so we validated that they were actually there. We started talking to the couple (from somewhere in NSW), and the wife asked if she could do the walk with my mom and me. Her husband was not in physical shape for it, and she did not feel comfortable doing it on her own. Of course we said yes, and we set off on the walk.

I should mention that although I have not talked about the flies since we first arrived at the airport, they were always around, constantly pestering us. In fact, a few of them hitched a ride on my mom’s back as we walked through the Olgas. For some reason, they were strangely drawn to my mouth, and I had to be careful each time I talked that they did not go inside.

There were some difficult parts of the walk where we were not sure we were going the right way - like when we had to climb up an enormous boulder - but luckily, we kept finding the path markers. I was really proud of my mom, because she made it look easy! Miraculously, neither of us fell once during the entire circuit!

From the Olgas, we were going to go see Ayers Rock up close. I cannot really explain why seeing enormous rocks feels like a spiritual experience, but I think it must have to do with how significant they are to the Aboriginal people. From the moment you see Ayers Rock, something about it draws your interest and attention to it, and surprisingly, it is not just its size. Don’t get me wrong, it is massive, but now I know the only way to really appreciate how big it is, is to do the entire walk around its base.

A few people had asked me if I planned to climb Ayers Rock, but whereas this would normally interest me, I did not really have an inclination to do it. Climbing Uluru is of special significance to Aboriginals, and it can be quite dangerous. There are signs posted that explain that Aboriginal males who come to Uluru climb the rock as a rite of passage, and it deeply saddens them when people get hurt or die attempting to do it. I had already decided that I was not going to do the climb, but my choice was cemented when the area was closed due to strong wind anyway. Quite a steep and difficult climb, there are cables to hold onto the entire way to the top. The woman we had done the previous walk with had done it just the day before, and she said a 4-year-old boy and his dad were ahead of her!

After the 7.4km Valley of the Winds walk, my mom was not sure how much more walking she wanted to do that day. I convinced her that we should do the entire base walk and she finally agreed, but neither of us had any idea how much of an undertaking it would be. I think we discovered it was something just shy of 11km, and it ended up taking us a little more than 3 hours. There are certain parts of the walk where you get really close to the rock, and then there are also large sections where you look at it from afar. Many of these further sections lead you away from areas of spiritual significance to the Aboriginals, and you are not allowed to walk or take any pictures in these places. None of the specific significance is explained about these places, because the Aboriginals only pass on the stories within their tribe.

Even though it felt like we were walking forever, it was quite peaceful and my mom and I were the only people around for most of the walk. Each side of the rock was completely different looking from the others, and one section even had water right up to the base of the rock. We met an Italian couple along the way who were probably on their honeymoon, and they were also crazy like us, doing the entire base walk.

The bottom of my feet were tingling when we completed the entire circuit, and I was actually glad when I saw the area where we had parked our car. We were actually quite lucky that there were some clouds in the sky, because it was not as hot as it could have been. We had packed lots of water, and there were places along the walk to refill our bottles anyway. They recommend that you drink 1 liter of water for every hour you are walking, but I do not think that I drank nearly that amount.

That night, we were planning to do the Sounds of Silence dinner, so we went back to the hotel and relaxed and showered before we had to leave. I had read about the Sounds of Silence online when I was doing research, and it sounded like something my mom and I would be interested in doing. Basically a tour bus comes to pick you up at the resort, and they take you to a place in the middle of the desert overlooking Ayers Rock at sunset on one side and the Olgas on the other. They serve some canapes and champagne while everyone stands around mingling, and then you move to an outdoor seating area for the main dinner. After dinner, there is dessert and then they explain the southern sky while everyone stargazes. The Sounds of Silence has won a lot of tourism awards, and there was a promise of lots of wine and typical Aussie food - kangaroo, crocodile, etc.

My mom and I got ready for dinner, and we really had no idea what to wear. I figured since it was a nice dinner that people would dress up, but there was really the range of outfits on the tour with us. There was a large group of young people who were dressed in cocktail dresses, and there were also a few couples who were dressed head to toe in khaki like they were going on a safari. When we got onto the tour bus (they took us there in class haha!) they told us that we would be going down a dirt road to our secret location in the middle of the desert. The sun was already starting to set a little bit, but unlike earlier, we were a little disappointed that there were so many clouds in the sky. We would probably not be able to see the many colors of the sunset or the stars!

About 10 minutes drive from the resort, we stopped on the dirt road (it was a bumpy ride!) and exited the tour bus. We made our way up to a clearing that housed a bar, and there was live didgeridoo music playing as we milled about drinking champagne. My mom decided to top her champagne off with orange juice, and we enjoyed crocodile, salmon, vegetarian sushi rolls, and the view. After we were able to take a handful of pictures, they moved us down to the seating area. First, they sent down groups of 4 or more, and then the smaller groups were able to fill in the empty seats at the table.

My mom and I ended up next to a Czech couple on my mom’s side and a gay couple from Sydney celebrating their 10-year anniversary on my side. I was so glad to be seated next to the guys, because they were hilarious and entertained me the entire time. Apparently, they were actually celebrating their 70th anniversary, because they say that gay couples get to multiply the length of their relationship by 7 since it is so much more difficult to be monogamous...

Also seated at our table were two women in their forties I would guess, who were actually really annoying. One of them was a firefighter, and she got really drunk on a few glasses of champagne and just talked really loudly the entire time. I felt bad for the people who were forced to sit next to her.

The thing that they do not share in the tour description is the bugs, but I guess what can you expect when you eat in the middle of the desert? In the middle of each table, they had a light that attracted the bugs, however many of them got a little confused and ended up either in my wine or on my plate. It is a good thing that I have become less squeamish since traveling, otherwise I would not have been able to enjoy the experience as much as I did. The meal started with pumpkin soup, and then one table at a time, we were invited up to serve ourselves at the buffet, as waiters walked around filling up our wine glasses.

At one point in the meal, Michael (one of the gay guys) was able to steal a bottle of wine when we decided the waiters were not being attentive enough. I think this happened after we had already eaten our meal, dessert (served with port!), and probably a few critters haha. When the meal was over, the stargazer specialist came out to explain the southern sky to us, but unfortunately, the cloud cover was quite thick and we could not see everything she described. One little known fact (well I didn’t know it) is that the reddish looking, bright star you can see is actually Jupiter! And similar to our northern sky and the North Star, there is a bright star that they can follow when lost (although I forget what it is called, maybe the South Star?).

We left Ayers Rock Resort the next morning, and we originally planned to drive to King’s Canyon to do the rim walk there, however we changed our mind last minute. When we woke up, there were rain clouds in the sky, and we did not want to add any more kilometers, so we decided to just drive back to Alice Springs. If you have a 2WD car (which we did), going to King’s Canyon is quite out of the way. If you have a 4WD, you can actually take a shortcut back to Alice Springs, so it would take a lot less time. My mom actually drove for about 100km of the drive - she was definitely speeding! - and we got into Alice Springs just before 2PM.  Along the drive, we stopped to see the last big rock in the desert Mt. Connor from afar and had to get in one last picture.

Once again, this post is getting a little long, so I will finish our adventure in the next one. Still to come, a terrifying night in Alice Springs, wine tasting in the Yarra Valley, and Melbourne Cup - not to be missed!

Mom in Australia (Sydney, Cairns, Port Douglas, Great Barrier Reef)

My mom never thought she would come to Australia in her lifetime, so she was extremely nervous to make the long flight(s) from Arizona to Sydney. A nervous traveller anyway, she really does not fly much except for her yearly trip to see our family in New Jersey each summer. The last big trip my mom took was to Italy with me in 2006, and I had to convince her to go see her family since she had not been for 25 years!

I booked the first flight out on Thursday morning on Tiger Airlines (my first experience with the airline!) and Renee was nice enough to drive me to the airport before work in her pajamas. I had planned to meet my mom at the domestic terminal in Sydney since her flight was meant to land in Sydney before mine. Her cell phone (mobile - pronounced mobeyele in Australia) would not work once she landed since they take a different SIM card here, so she was going to wait for me in baggage check.

I started to get a little nervous when I had already collected my bag and my mom was nowhere to be found. I went to the information desk, but since I was in the domestic terminal, they could not tell me any information about the flights landing in the international terminal. I decided to walk back and forth for about 30 minutes just in case my mom was there and I had not seen her. Still no sign of her... The problem with Sydney airport is that the international terminal is only reachable by train, and I did not want to pay the $5 to go there only to find out that my mom was at the domestic terminal all along. So I decided to call Qantas, the airline she flew in on, and the automated message told me that a flight had landed from LA at 8:50AM. Her flight was meant to land at 7:35AM, so I thought maybe it had been delayed a little bit so I should continue waiting for her for a little bit longer.

Luckily, I had also brought my laptop along for the trip, and even though there was not free wi-fi available, the Sydney Airport site popped up which shows all flight information. I discovered that her flight was actually delayed a few hours and had not yet landed, but was expected to arrive at 10:20AM. At this point, it was only a little bit after 9AM, so I decided to take the train to the International Terminal and would be there waiting for her as she exited customs.

Once I got to the International Terminal, I sat down and started to read my book until I realized that her flight had landed on one of the nearby screens. I figured it would take some time for them to go through customs, and knowing my mom she would probably get stopped and possibly searched. She had told me she was planning to bring snacks with her (the things I missed from home), but I warned her that they might be confiscated at the airport. I should have known that she would be able to talk her way out of getting in trouble even if she had.

Anyway, it was really clear when the flight from Los Angeles landed, because all of the American tourists definitely stood out. However, it was nearly 30 minutes after I had seen the first person exit from her flight, and I still did not see my mom. I was starting to worry that she had gotten scared and decided not to come or she had missed her flight, when I saw her coming towards me. Apparently, Qantas had grounded her plane in Los Angeles for 3 hours due to an "engineering problem." They had to communicate with Sydney while they sat in the plane waiting. Then I guess they decided that the problem was fixed and they took off in the same plane! While they were fixing the problem, they were not allowed to use any electronic appliances, so she could not even call me or my dad to let us know that they were delayed. At least we were able to find each other, eventually...

We took the train from the airport to Sydney Central Station, and we checked into our home for the next two nights. I had decided to book a place that was close to the center of the city mostly just so we could put our bags down quickly and go be tourists. Where we stayed was really central for everything, and we could easily walk or take the train anywhere we wanted.

Since it was a beautiful, sunny day, we decided to walk down to Circular Quay (even though we could have taken the train) and take the ferry to Manly Beach. One of the first things that my mom said she noticed about Sydney is that it reminded her a lot of New York City, and I agree. Since it was a Thursday (nearly lunchtime), a lot of the workforce were out in their black suits, walking like they have somewhere really important to be. Also, the sun was blocked out by the tall buildings surrounding us on all sides.

The Manly Ferry runs on the 1/2 hour from Circular Quay, and we barely made the 2PM ferry by the time we got there (barely making it would be a common theme for the public transportation in Sydney). We sat outside on the back of the boat (finally figured it out!!) which is the best place to watch the Opera House and Harbour Bridge fade away as you leave it behind. By now, my obsession with the Opera House is pretty well known, but I had to tell my mom about it as we were passing by.

About 30 minutes later, we got off the ferry in Manly, walked down the Corso and walked along the beach. My mom loved Manly and was in awe of the crystal blue water and amazing weather (and good-looking people!). Even though it was a Thursday afternoon, there were tons of people surfing in the water or sunbathing on the beach. We walked to Shelley Beach and on the way back, we decided to stop at Manly Wine for a glass of wine and some snacks before heading back. Alyssa and I had been with Clive and his friend Adam when we were in Manly and really enjoyed it, so I was glad to be able to share the experience with my mom. We tried a few different types of wine (thanks to our cute Kiwi waiter) and had some bread, cheese, olives, and delicious capsicum dip. It was a great way to welcome my mom to Australia and help her get over her jet-lag.

Before we left Manly, we decided to go to the public library and email my dad and brother to let them know that my mom had safely made it, and that they were missing out on an amazing trip! From there, we barely caught the ferry back (we actually ran and were the last ones on-board!) to Circular Quay and said good-bye to Manly.

Once back on land, we decided to walk around the Opera House to the Botanical Gardens. We took the obligatory pictures in the Botanical Gardens with the Opera House, bridge, and city in the background, and then we decided to head back to our accommodation since it was getting dark and a little bit cooler. My mom was also looking a little bit tired, and I had already given her a good workout on her first day. And we did not really have a choice in the matter as the ranger kindly showed us the way out of the Botanical Gardens!

On Friday morning, we woke up pretty early and decided to check out Paddy's Markets for some fresh fruit before heading to Bondi Beach for the day. We caught the train to Bondi Junction and then took the bus to Bondi Beach. I decided to rent a surfboard and catch a few waves while my mom soaked up some sun on the beach. I did not realize that I should have asked for a longer surfboard, and I was really frustrated when I was unable to catch my first few waves. I must have looked helpless, because a guy nearby came over and started giving me surf tips... He was actually really nice, and he ended up switching me boards so that I was more comfortable. I caught a few waves and was exhausted (it is a hard work out!), so I got out and laid out a little bit with my mom.

After a little bit of relaxing, we decided to do the coastal walk over to the next beaches, Tamarama and Bronte. Although we did not make it all the way to Coogee (still the only time was with Humme!), we took in the amazing views and watched the many surfers from the path. We walked as far as the cemetery and then we decided to turn around and walk back along the coast when we were starting to get hungry. We ate at my favorite Thai restaurant (the one with the lunch special) then caught the bus back to Sydney Central.

A nap was much needed after all of the sunshine and our long walk, so we snoozed for about an hour before getting ready for the night. My friend from Melbourne had suggested we go eat at his friend's wine bar/restaurant in Surrey Hills called Vini, so we were headed there that night. It was very small and casual, and Giorgio was our host for the night - he was so sweet. My mom loved chatting with him in Italian, and he paired each one of our plates with a different wine (and never let our glasses go empty). We had not planned on eating much since we had a late lunch, but we were both stuffed as we left and could not believe we polished off (both!) of the desserts he comped us.

We walked back to our accommodation so my mom could change her shoes, and then we walked to Darling Harbour. We wanted to walk our dinners off, and since we had taken naps, we could actually stay up to almost a reasonable hour. As we were walking around Darling Harbour, we met these two guys from Uruguay (who like most of the South Americans I have met have been very flirty!) who took our picture. There were a lot of people out drinking and dancing, but we were just enjoying walking along the water taking in all of the sights and sounds.

My mom and I had a whirlwind trip planned for the next two weeks, and we did not have much time left in Sydney before we were headed to Cairns. On our last day, we had a good (and free!) wi-fi connection, so we decided to call people over Google Phone before we checked out. We talked to my dad, my uncle, and I left messages for a few other people who would did not answer. It was Homecoming Weekend in Tucson, and I could not believe it was my first time in 8 years that I was not actually going to be there. We called Humme who was there and chatted with him before he headed to Frog and Firkin (so jealous!). Since we only had a short amount of time left in Sydney before our flight, we decided to walk around Hyde Park then head to the airport.

We had checked the weather for Cairns before leaving, and the forecast did not look great over the next few days. It was surprising then that as we were flying into North Tropical Queensland that the sun was shining even if there were a few clouds in the sky. We flew into Cairns Airport, but we were going to be making Port Douglas our home base for this leg of the trip. I had already spent a lot of time in Cairns, and it was more of a backpacker scene. Port Douglas (Humme and I had stayed here on our trip) is much more laid-back, exclusive, and picturesque than Cairns, so I was excited to be returning. We picked up our rental car at the airport (trusty Hyundai Getz!) and found our way north to Port Douglas. Since I was driving, my mom was enjoying the cliffside views over the water, even though she was holding on for dear life around the corners haha.

When we arrived in Port Douglas, we found our resort where we would be staying for four nights. It had recently been remodeled and was built into a rainforest setting with the beach nearby. With many trees and plants, there were always bugs and birds welcoming you when you walked outside. Before dinner, we ventured out to famous Four Mile Beach (still don't understand why they lose the metric system when they name their beaches). We did not really walk very far as it was getting dark, but we met a couple of people along the way. We saw this young couple digging an enormous hole in the sand (the guy was standing in the hole and you could only see the top of his head), and we started chatting with them. They were from Minnesota (I have never met so many Americans as when I was with my mom!) and they joked that they had not booked accommodation so they would be sleeping on the beach!

When it really started to get dark quickly, we decided to walk back to our hotel. There was a full moon which actually made me think of Amy, because she was planning to go to the Full Moon Party on Magnetic Island. Basically just another reason to party, when there is a full moon, backpackers make their way to the beaches at Magnetic Island (can you tell I am jealous that I missed out?).

On our walk back to the hotel, we met a girl on a bike who was lost in the dark. We tried to explain to her how to get back to the main road when we realized that we were a little confused in the dark too. We did not stress out too much though, and eventually we found our way, also leading out our new biker friend. Once we returned to the safety of our hotel, we decided to eat dinner at our hotel on the first night. We sat poolside while we enjoyed our asparagus and pear risotto with salmon (sounds weird but was actually pretty good) and Thai beef salad.

The next morning was Sunday, so we planned to walk down Four Mile Beach into Port Douglas to go see the famous markets that are held there weekly. While walking down the beach, we took off our shoes and walked in the water. Even though November was just around the corner (when the stingers return), we did not worry as we could see right to the bottom of the crystal clear water. When we reached town, we stopped for iced coffees after our walk. I wanted my mom to experience the iced coffees in Australia (complete with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, yum!), and she really enjoyed it.

We walked around the Port Douglas Markets for a little while, sampling the freshly squeezed pineapple juice and homemade frittata with tomato relish. We ended up buying fruit (paw paw or papaya, mangoes, passionfruit, kiwis, bananas, etc.) to take back with us for snacks over the next couple of days.

As we were walking around town, we decided to stop at one of the tour booking desks to do some research for which boat we should take to the Great Barrier Reef. We ended up meeting Jilly at the tour desk, who would forever change our trip. She not only recommended which boat we should book for the reef (Aristocat!), but she gave us advice about where to eat dinner (a locals restaurant), how to avoid tourists but still see Mossman Gorge beauty, where to go to see George (a Port Douglas tradition), and told my mom to make sure she got sea sickness tablets before heading out on the boat. While we were standing there talking to Jilly, she stopped talking all of a sudden and asked me, "Who is your ex-boyfriend?" It was completely out of nowhere, so I was really confused, but then she told me that she was able to see into the future, and that I would end up getting back together with him. I am not really sure who she means, but she said I should email her and let her know what happens haha...

While we were talking with Jilly, we met a couple from Melbourne who were also getting advice for their trip. They did not have any plans to go out on a boat to the Great Barrier Reef, so we were surprised when we ended up running into them a few days later on the Aristocat. Jilly must be a really good salesperson! They invited my mom and I over to their house for dinner for when she would be in Melbourne, and we told them we would give them a call when we got in.

After chatting with Jilly and our new friends, my mom and I walked back along Four Mile Beach to our hotel. We relaxed for a little while, then we packed up the car and drove to Mossman Gorge. Even though Humme and I had been there only a few months before, Mossman Gorge was completely different this time around. They are currently constructing a new boardwalk for tourists, so they no longer let you drive in and park near the gorge. Instead, you now have to park down the road, and a free shuttle comes by every fifteen minutes to take you there. When Humme and I were at Mossman Gorge, we tried to go to the Aboriginal Centre for a guided tour through the rainforest but it was closed. My mom and I did not have luck with this either as it was Sunday when we were there, and the Aboriginal Centre was closed again!

The shuttle bus dropped us off at the entrance to Mossman Gorge, and we started the walk through the rainforest. When we reached the part where you can actually enter the water and swim (against the advice of the signs posted there), I convinced my mom to take off her shoes and feel the icy water. I went for a quick swim, but my mom quickly got out and waited for me on the banks.

As everyone who has come to visit me so far knows (or really anyone that knows me at all), I really enjoy walking. I just expect that everyone enjoys it as much as me, but I could tell my mom was getting tired - especially after all of the walking I had made her do thus far! - so we did not walk the entire circuit at Mossman Gorge.

Instead, we decided to drive instead to Shannonvale Tropical Fruit Winery for some wine tasting. Like regular wine made from grapes, the fruit wine is made in a similar way using fruits such as mango, pineapple, and other tropical varieties. The only difference is that grape wine is a much more natural process, and has a more delicious result! In tropical fruit winemaking, they actually add a lot of water before the wine is made, because the fruit flavor is too strong otherwise. My mom and I tried about fourteen different wines, and neither of us really loved any of them. In fact, my mom used the word "horrible" to describe the pineapple wine haha. It was a fun experience, but I think we will stick with grape wine in the future.

On our second night, we decided to venture to the locals restaurant that Jilly told us about, the Beach Shack. She told us how to walk "the back way" from our hotel, so we decided to be adventurous and see if we could find it. As it was already dark when we set out, it was very hard to see anything with the absence of street lights. My mom made me walk in front of her in case anything jumped out at us. Jilly told us that "the back way" would appear a little sketchy because it does not look like there should be a restaurant there, and then all of a sudden, you walk over a bridge and come out at the entrance. My mom was skeptical as I led her in the dark over this random bridge, but sure enough, we found it! The Beach Shack would become our nightly routine, we enjoyed it so much.

Like the Sandbar in Scottsdale, the Beach Shack has sand on the ground and is pretty casual. Our same waitress was there every night, and instead of ordering from the menu, we would try different specials such as duck with citrus dressing, yellowfin tuna with tiger prawn-infused mashed potatoes, pork dumplings, teriyaki beef skewers, and apple crumble with rum raisin ice cream, yum! They also offered takeaway pizzas as an option, so one night (when we did not feel like getting dressed up for dinner), we drove by and grabbed a pizza to eat at our hotel.

In the morning, we set out to find the Silky Oaks Lodge, another recommendation from Jilly. She told us that if we wanted to spend some more time in the Mossman Gorge setting away from the tourists, we should drive to the 5-star resort. We had tried to find it the previous day and were unsuccessful, but this morning we were more confident that we would be able to find it, and we did.

After enjoying some more iced coffees overlooking the flowing river, we decided to do one of the hikes at the resort called "the Mountain Trail." Throughout the entire walk, we could hear the river flowing somewhere in the distance, which was so peaceful as we made our way through the rainforest. We followed the trail markers and were reaching the point where the trees were thinning out and the sunshine was shining through, when we lost our way. For about half an hour, we tried to find the path again unsuccessfully. We were really disappointed that we had walked up all this way and would not even be able to see the view from the top! After we both fell down trying to find our way, we decided to head back down the way we came.

Tired, sweaty, and annoyed that we had gotten lost, we decided to relax by the side of the river for a little while. The rainforest setting was so incredibly peaceful that we could have spent the rest of the day there. We had planned to drive down to the Atherton Tablelands and do the Waterfall Circuit though, so we eventually had to get on our way.

The drive from Silky Oaks Lodge to the Atherton Tablelands was very windy through the mountains. It was an incredibly beautiful drive through the rainforest with a few lookouts over the water. Then all of a sudden, when we reached the tablelands, the land was much flatter and there were farms and cows everywhere. It was such an abrupt change in scenery that we did not expect. To be honest, we were not exactly sure what we were looking for while we drove through the Atherton Tablelands. It has been commercialized for tourists I think, and there were many random museums and tourist traps along the way. We did not really care to stop at Humpy Nut World or the Go Kart racetrack, so we drove straight through to the waterfall circuit.

First along the drive, we stopped at Malanda Falls which we could have skipped. I cannot really say if Malanda Falls is a manmade waterfall, but it was definitely not picturesque. We briefly stopped here before continuing on to Milaa Milaa Falls. The town of Milaa Milaa was not worth seeing (we made a wrong turn that took us to the tiny town centre), but the waterfalls here were actually quite impressive. I went for a swim under the falls, and it reminded me of Costa Rica. Swimming under a waterfall is an entirely different type of experience, and even though water kept getting in my contacts, I was glad I did it.

Next up was Zillie Falls, and although the water at this one was quite brown, it was still beautiful in a weird way. Zillie Falls did not have a path to walk down but instead you just kind of peered over the edge to see the drop below. The last waterfall for the day along the circuit was Ellinjaa Falls. We walked down the path to the bottom of the falls, and since we were the only ones there briefly, we enjoyed the peace and quiet. We decided to start our drive back after we climbed back up. I wanted to quickly show my mom Cairns, and then we drove up to Port Douglas once again.

We did not even spend an hour in Cairns, and my mom was so glad that I had decided to book our hotel in Port Douglas instead. I pointed out the esplanade and the lagoon, the hotel that Humme and I had stayed at, and the hostel where I had stayed with Amy, Vic, and Mark for about a week. It was getting dark by this point, so we made our way back to our hotel (stopping for pizza at the Beach Shack on the way).

The next morning, we were waking up early to go to the Great Barrier Reef for the day. My mom is terrified of any kind of swimming, but she could not come all the way to Australia and miss out on seeing it! We got picked up from our hotel in the morning and driven to the marina in Port Douglas to meet our boat, the Aristocat. This one differed from the one that Humme and I took, because it left from Port Douglas, and it could fit a lot more people. My mom and I wanted to go to the Outer Reef for our trip, because it is not too far from Port Douglas, and the visibility is supposedly better there. Sadly, due to tourism, crown-of-thorn starfish, global warming, etc., a lot of the Great Barrier Reef is getting bleached in many places. However, the Agincourt Reef is still relatively well-preserved, and that is where we were going.

Once we were on the boat, my Mom and I found some seats and a table inside to claim as our own for the 1 1/2 hour trip out to the reef. My mom had taken sea sickness tablets (just in case!), so we were prepared for the ride. The weather was perfect for a day on the water (it was not as windy as when Humme and I went), so the boat ride was pretty calm for the most part. Once we helped ourselves to the complimentary tea and coffee as well as cakes for breakfast, we were joined by a daughter and her father who asked if they could sit with us. We spent the entire trip to the reef getting to know them (instead of listening to the safety briefings, oops!) and it was a pleasure. They were from Rhode Island (more Americans!) and were in Australia for a conference. The father owns a business for which his daughter does the marketing, so they had flown in for the conference and then decided to travel for a month afterward in Australia and New Zealand.

We learned that the dad had bought a private plane and was taking lessons to learn how to fly it. He had also already published a business book and had just secured a publisher for his second book. My mom thought it was too bad that he was not a little younger, because he was a great catch haha. I automatically thought of Sarah's mom who also lives in Rhode Island - maybe I will have to do a little matchmaking!! Anyway, it was a good thing that we met them, because Liz (the daughter) rented an underwater camera from the boat to take with her when she went snorkeling. (This is foreshadowing a little bit...)

This post is getting a little long, so I will continue with our trip (Great Barrier Reef, Ayers Rock, and Melbourne) in the next one. Lots of good stuff to come, promise!