Stradbroke Island

In Australia, Christmas falls right smack in the midst of the summer holidays, which makes it one of the busiest vacation weeks of the year.  Like the Fourth of July at home, everyone in Australia packs up for holidays on Christmas.  For many Brisbanites, the Christmas holiday is synonymous with Stradbroke Island, or Straddie as it is known locally.  

Like Fraser Island, Stradbroke sits in the waters off the Queensland coast.  Although long ago the island was a glorified sand dune, it now teams with life.  Most of the island is national park, but unlike Fraser there are paved roads and a few settlements on the Northern End of the Island.  For the summer holidays, and especially for the seven days between Christmas and New Years, people from Brisbane flock onto the ferry and over to Straddie to surf, swim, and sunbake.  

The house that we stayed in had a beautiful view of that marine park off the shore of the island.  At low tide we could see the reefs and rocks that are home to fish, turtles, rays, and sharks.  The waters around Straddie are known to have quite a few sharks, but since the Aussies maintain their respect for the water - staying out at dusk and dawn, and not swimming when there are lots of fish around - there hasn't been a shark attack for many years.

Roads will get you around Straddie, but the best way to see the island is on foot.  Each morning, Mark's sister and I took a massive walk through the bush and along the coast of the island.  We would find great lookouts, and amazing views over the water.  Once, I nearly stepped on a three-foot-long snake skin (luckily, however, I kept up my record of not seeing any live snakes in Australia).  Another morning we spotted a pod of dolphins surfing the waves and playing in the water.  At one point I looked over my shoulder, and a dolphin had jumped clear out of the water ahead of a massive wave.  It was a Hollywood moment that was over in a split second, but amazing none-the-less.

When you remember that Stradbroke has formed entirely from sand, the cliffs, hills, and valleys on the island are even more breathtaking.  One stunning feature is the gorge, two inlets where the ocean has carved right through the rock.  Walking around the gorge, you are mesmerized by the turquoise water and white foam.

But if you're able to look closer for just a minute you see something even better - sea turtles coming to the surface for a breath before diving beneath the waves.  It's hard to believe that these creatures are endangered when you see so many of them!  The gorge provides a protected place for the turtles to hunt, without having to worry about becoming a shark's breakfast.  

Can you spot the turtle?  His head is just about center of the photo.

As you can imagine, I was sad to leave Australia after nearly eighteen months.  However, spending a week at Straddie was the perfect place to bid farewell to my surrogate home.  

Christmas Down Under

Merry [belated] Christmas!  

Last year I posted about the different ways Aussies celebrate Christmas.  One of the biggest differences is that Aussie Christmases almost always involve the beach.  And that was certainly true for me this year.  On Christmas Eve we packed up the pressies and the prawns, and headed to Stradbroke Island, a summer oasis.  

After a year and a half in Australia, I was more prepared for my second summer Christmas.  I accepted that a "real" Christmas tree wasn't in the cards this year, and embraced the scrawny, plastic tree in our lounge room.  I even began to think it was cute, in a Grinchy sort of way.  I came to peace with the fact that I couldn't make marshmallow wreaths, because in the Queensland heat, they came out more like marshmallow mush, and I looked up some new recipes for Christmas cookies that could survive the summer.

Although I don't think a mid-summer celebration will every feel truly Christmasy to me, a celebration on the beach with fresh fruit and fresh seafood was wonderful.  But I must admit, I was dreaming of a white Christmas.

Is This Your Australia?

When my mother and sister came to visit, they just couldn't believe how different Australia was to their expectations.  "It's so mountainous!" they exclaimed.  "It's so beautiful!"

As the week went on and this comments came with more frequency, we asked them what exactly they had been expecting.  "Well," they said, "like the movies."  Hollywood's version of Australia involves lots of red sand and flat plains, and this is what they had been expecting to see when they arrived down under.  

Of course, the reality is that Australia is diverse.  It is mountainous.  There are rainforests, deciduous forests, and places where you can't see a tree in any direction.  Even the famed Australian "Outback" is more than meets the Hollywood lense.   "The Outback" can refer to almost anything on the interior of Australia, the "2.5 million square miles inhabited by less than 60,000 people."  Although you're unlikely to see many other people in the outback, you might see desert, sheep stations, tropical waterholes, or massive crocodiles.  If you're lucky you may even get to see the World-Heritage-Listed Uluru, and other majestic sand formations.  

Whatever Australia is, it certainly isn't uniform.  When I arrived I wasn't sure what to expect, but I now know that whether it's beach, mountains, or bush, it's probably going to be strikingly beautiful.  

Australia Post

By now, I've blogged about many of the small differences between Australia and the USA.  But one difference that has managed to escape me so far is the Australian Post.  Like the US, they can get your letter just about anywhere, quickly and inexpensively.  But how they do it is different - instead of hoping in the mail van or setting off on foot like mailmen in the US, the Australian postmen set out on their scooters to deliver the mail.  That's right - scooters!  Rain, shine, or magpies, the postmen zip along the footpaths (sidewalks) delivering mail into everyone's mailbox.  You can imagine my shock the first time I saw that high-visabilty, sun-safe scooter whipping along the walkway!

The Great Barrier Reef

Where does one even begin to write about visiting the Great Barrier Reef?  Perhaps by saying that this is something that should be on everyone's "bucket list."  If you're afraid of the 25 hours of travel to get to Australia, let me assure you - a day of the reef makes it all worthwhile. 

The reef stretches 1,800 miles along the north-east coast of Australia, and is the only living thing visible from outer space.  Although the system is considered one entity, the Great Barrier Reef is actually made up of over 3,000 individual reefs, and hundreds of coral islands.  

On this visit, we went to the southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef, which is off the coast about 6 hours north of Brisbane.  Lady Musgrave Island sits in a coral quay - a protected lagoon surrounded by coral reef.  Because the lagoon is protected, it is the perfect home for a variety of sea life; but before we could enjoy the beauty, we had to travel over 50 miles from the Town of 1770 out to the reef.  

Lady Musgrave Island 

We had been warned that the trek was over open water, and may be rough.  The crew was even kind enough to demonstrate how to use the "just-in-case" bags that they had provided everyone.  Well, those bags were for more than "just-in-case" - about three-quaters of the passengers on the boat were sea-sick, and one woman even fainted.  Luckily, the Sullivan girls felt just fine, although Mark wasn't so lucky.

After about 90 minutes we finally reached the reef, much to the relief of everyone on the boat.  Right away we could see we were in for something special.  The water in the quay is an intense blue, with spots of turquoise showing you were the reef is.  As we were pulling in to the quay, through a small opening in the coral, two dolphins swam in front of our boat, and we could see hundreds of birds circling above us.

Once the boat was settled, the first thing we were invited to do was take a glass-bottom boat ride over to the island.  In the boat, our guide took us over a "turtle wash" - a coral where sea turtles stop to rest and be cleaned by one of the fish on the reef.  Low and behold, there were two sea turtles resting up as we drove over.

Lady Musgrave Island is surrounded by an ocean wonderland - but the island itself can't be overlooked.  When we visited, the tiny island was home to 100,000 nesting migratory birds.  Everywhere you looked there were birds' nests - in the trees, in logs, even buried into the ground!  Somehow, we managed to walk through the island without being pooed on, which was a minor miracle in itself - but that wasn't the biggest danger lurking!  When we made it out to the other side of the island we saw a school of reef sharks fishing in the shallows. 

When we returned from the island, it was time to get in the water and snorkle.  Although we had seen turtles from the boat, I didn't think we would be able to actually swim with them.  Boy was I wrong!  Mom was the first one to spot a turtle, sitting on the bottom the the reef and having a rest.  After we knew where to look for them, we saw them everywhere, even coming up for a breath right behind Mark!  Turtles weren't the only wildlife - there were sea stars, sea cucumbers, sting rays, and heaps of fish.  We even found Nemo!  Can you?

I'm a writer, and I like to think that I have a good handle on words.  But I struggle to explain how it feels to be out in the ocean, inches away from plants and animals you've only seen in a book or on television.  It really was an awesome experience, which Mom summed up perfectly, when she said, "I'm glad we did this on the last day, because there is no way we'd be able to wake up and top that!"

Tropical Paradise

Snorkling

   

An Aussie Thanksgiving

After two years of missing out on Turkey Coma, I decided that this year, some Thanksgiving was better than none.  Planning the holiday on the other side of the globe took some adjusting.  Here turkey is reserved for Christmas, so we had a fish dinner (I'm sure they ate fish in Plymouth too!), and our feast had to be cooked around our work schedules.  But when it came down to it, we had the essentials - a great evening with the family, and delicious dessert.

Most Australians have heard of Thanksgiving, but not too many know what the holiday is for.  I didn't have time to make everyone pilgrim hats and feather headdresses, but I did give a little history lesson. Mostly, I tried to convey how Thanksgiving is such a beautiful celebration of everything we're thankful for - from the little things like a football win, right up to wonderful family and friends. 

For some reason, one thing Aussies all know about is pumpkin pie.  Anyone I mentioned Thanksgiving to asked if I was making pumpkin pie, or "Does your Mum (translation: Mom) have a special recipe?"  As someone who has never had pumpkin pie, at Thanksgiving or otherwise, I got a kick out of their fascination.  But for now, I'll stick to apple crisp.

Royal Arrival

Queen Elizabeth II arrived in Brisbane yesterday, and did exactly what all tourists do upon arriving in town - went to meet the koalas from Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.  Except, if you're the Queen, the koalas come to you.

Unlike the United States, which roared for independence at the earliest opportunity, Australia has never completely cut ties with England.  Like Canada, India, and many other former colonies, Australia remains part of the British Commonwealth, and is a constitutional monarchy under the system.  So although Australian laws and governing practices are a neat combination of American and English systems, the country is still closely bound to the monarchy.  In fact, the English monarch is still the Head of State in Australia, a role which comes with fun little perks, like being featured on all Aussie money.

As you would expect, this strange situation leads to lots of political musings down under.  Aussies are pretty clearly split, according to the polls - many like the idea of having a Queen, and feel it honors the heritage of the country (after all, a generation ago it was not uncommon to hear Australians refer to England as "home," even if they hadn't ever set foot in the country).  Others question why an independent country would allow the head of a different independent country to represent them - and we must admit that put that way, the system does sound silly.  Overall, Aussies, like the rest of us, are a bit enamoured with the Royals, especially Lizzie.  However, when Queen Elizabeth dies, calls for Australia to become an independent republic are sure to increase.

Despite all this, the Queen picked a lovely day to drop into the state that is named after her.  Queensland has had a very rough ten months, betweens floods and cyclones, but has really made an amazing recovery - nearly everything is back to normal.  The Queen and Prince Phillip took a boat ride up the now-tame Brisbane river, and walked through Southbank, the parklands that were completely under water nine months ago.  Then, a mere four hours after she arrived, she waved goodbye to Brisie.  After all, she is a very busy lady.