it's all I ever wanted from Australia.

Many of my dreams came true on our second day in Brisbane. 

First off- it stopped raining and we didn't see another drop our entire trip. I prayed a lot that it would stop raining and I'm grateful that my prayers worked!

Second- we went to Steve Irwin's famed Australia Zoo.  Steve Irwin is still very beloved and quite the legend in Australia- but especially so in Brisbane where his family lives and continues to run the zoo.  The place was astounding. Honestly one of my favorite things that we did in Australia.

Just check out the foilage. I've never been anywhere so green.

I love that you've got palm trees, coniferous trees, and then normal deciduous trees all in the same spot.

I'm assuming this is what Hawaii looks like?!

The zoo is no ordinary zoo.  Some animals just roam wild (mostly lizards and birds) and run over your feet!

and check this out- even their pigeons are better than ours.

I have no idea what kind of bird this is- but I loved it.

 The very coolest thing about the place was that you could walk freely through the uncaged animal areas!!!
I was obsessed with the koalas.  They have to be the cutest little creatures you've ever seen. I just wanted to SQUEEZE them.  We weren't supposed to bother the sleeping ones - but I couldn't help snapping a gazillion pictures (and maybe touching a few). 

You can't tell me that this guy isn't adorable?!

While I was petting one of the awake koalas and talking to Kent- I realized that my feet were getting wet.  I looked down to see that I was being peed all over.  Lovely.  It was well worth it, though.

Honestly I probably took at least 75 pictures of these guys.  These are just a few of my faves.

The zoo is obviously quite famous for the crocodiles and the crocodile show was pretty exciting.

Plus- they gave away free stuff to the person who could be the best wild animal.  Yea. I totally won that one.  There's not much I won't do for free stuff.

and Kent won us some more free stuff when he volunteered to be a landing pad for birds. 

 We hit the 'Asian' section of the zoo where we got to see tigers and feed elephants!

 The elephants got our hands pretty snotty and gross.

My favorite animals of all were the roos.  Such amazing creatures!

We even saw a bunch with joeys in their pouches!  it was really really cool.

They had pretty sharp and large claws but only got temperamental when I tried to pick one up.  They do get you pretty nasty and gooey with their saliva, though.  We got some food to give them and they got pretty crazy trying to get every last piece!

The wallabies liked Kent lots more than they liked me.

I couldn't believe how soft and fluffy the roos and wallabies were.  I was expecting them to be rougher.
We definitely lucked out with a very non crowded day. We got to spend a lot of time with the animals without  very many people around!

This roo wouldn't let go of Kent's hand, I loved it.

I had to include this sign at the eating area.  I love the word rubbish.

After a long day at the zoo- Kent posed with Steve and we made our way back to the train station to head back downtown.

If you ever go to Australia- you've got to go to the zoo.  I really wanted to see roos and koalas- and it made it so much better to be able to play with them!!  plus just the atmosphere of the zoo with all of the trees and plants and flowers.  A-mazing.

BLOG change!!

I've decided it's time to change up the blog.  I hadn't changed much of anything since we moved to Toledo four years ago! Now that I've got my nicer camera- and some amazing pics from Australia- I want to be able to make them HUGE.  The next post on Australia should be almost life size :) 

Brizzy Brisbane.

 After a day and a half in Sydney we flew to Brisbane!  We spent the next five days in Brisbane and each day got better and better.  It was honestly the perfect vacation.

The first morning there Kent and I went on a run and got caught in a cyclone (that's what a hurricane is called in australia)!  Okay- so it wasn't quite that bad- but it was crazy.  We got caught out in the storm at mile three and had to go back 3 more miles to get home!  I had to close my eyes because it was raining so hard!  It turns out our first day there was the rainiest march 29th in history :) Luckily for us - after that first day the weather was PERFECT.  75-85 degrees- a few clouds, low humidity, and NO rain :)

After our run, we went downtown to check out the farmer's market/souvenirs/etc.  It continued to rain and we ended up doing a lot of eating :)  I didn't take as many pictures this day because of the rain- so there aren't as many to narrate our day! 

 Downtown with my Aunt Michelle and our new Australia umbrella.

 Here's Kent testing out the famous Australian 'pies'.  We had quite a few flavors while we were there. Our favorite was the 'brekky' pie.  Brekky is short for breakfast.  Australians shorten all of their words.  Brisbane is called 'brizzy', sunglasses are 'sunnies', McDonalds is 'Maccas', Mosquitoes are 'mozzies', universities or 'unies' - and I could go on and on.  I actually really like the idea and may adopt it permanently.

 They also love pumkpin!  It's on lots of their sandwiches, on their pizzas, and anywhere else they can think to put it.  I'm a fan.

 For lunch on rain day we went to the mall and had 'kebabs' or shawarmas.  Mediterranean wraps. They were one of my favorite foods we ate the whole trip!

There's a pretty strong asian influence and Kent enjoyed thai one of the days. One of the best parts of a vacation is trying out new foods and not having to cook :)  We were not disappointed in the variety and quality of food on our vacation!

After being rained on sufficiently -Kent and I decided to venture down to the 'Gold Coast' while everybody else went home.  I wanted to check out 'Surfer's Paradise' and see some of the country side via train.  I really really love traveling on trains. We talked to some super friendly people and saw a lot of beautiful scenery. Plus- the Gold coast was pretty cool.  It was a little gloomy- but at least it had stopped pouring rain.

Surfer's paradise had some amazing waves and was the coolest color.  I'm just not used to the blue/green water!  The beaches I've been to aren't nearly as pretty as in Australia!

Surfer's paradise and the Gold Coast are supposed to be one of the top ten surfing locations in the world!  The area is super touristy and reminds me of what Miami would look like.  We did a lot of window and souvenir shopping and enjoyed people watching.

Here I am chasing birds on the beach. They didn't budge. They weren't afraid of me in the slightest. 

 

 Australia is famous for the 'Gold Coast' and the 'Sunshine Coast'.  We went to the sunshine coast two days later and I'm glad that I got to experience both.  You'll have to wait and see which I liked better!

our day in the Sydney ER!

Check out the Australian paramedic. A little modelesque don't you think?  I wasn't just randomly snapping pictures of attractive Australians by the way- this guy was actually really nice and quite helpful.

Our first day in Australia just happened to be the last day of my grandpa's Australian vacation (he had been staying with my aunt and uncle) so we were meeting up in Sydney to see some of the sites together- but he and my uncle had a little mishap along the way!   Just ten minutes before we were supposed to meet- my Uncle called to say that they'd been in an accident.  My family is so prone to dramatics/adventures/strange happenings!  We ran to the hotel and asked directions to the nearest hospital and set out the seven or so blocks to get there.  As soon as we were on our way- a bunch of ambulances and police cars passed us and then stopped just a few blocks ahead.  We started running and came upon the accident in a matter of minutes!

On the other side of the car- my grandpa was spread out on the sidewalk getting checked.  Don't think I'm too mean- he asked me to take all of these pictures!  that must be where I get my picture taking habits :)

It turns out the taxi they were in was broadsided and pushed into a small cafe.  They narrowly missed a woman pushing her baby in a stroller. It was so close that as she was running out of the way- the taxi clipped her foot- ripping off her tennis shoe!  She had one scrape- but nothing else.

All three people in the taxi were taken to the hospital for scans and x-rays- but luckily there were no major injuries. My grandpa is 84 years old and in the most amazing shape ever. He'd been snorkeling and biking all week long and still motorbikes and bridge jumps at home!  The doctors were super impressed that he's on no medications at all and in excellent health!  They couldn't believe he didn't have any broken bones or anything!

Being in the hospital for the morning wasn't actually all that bad. The people were all so incredibly nice and Kent got to see the Australian medical system at work.  They let him read the ecg- look at the scans- and watch the ultrasound.  Really- Australians are the friendliest people ever.

  

Once everything came back clear my grandpa insisted that we go out and sight see the rest of the day. He ended up being able to leave on his scheduled flight the next day!

AUSTRALIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the longest I've ever not blogged since my blog began!!

First things first- WE'RE HOME!!!  there's nothing better than your own bed and house after a crazy and busy two weeks away!  Kent and I have been on TEN airplanes for a total of 39 hours in the last 15 days.  Ridiculous!  and now we're all finally ready to readjust to the eastern time zone and get back to normal Toledo life! for eight weeks anyway- and then we MOVE. I just can't believe that this part of our lives it ending.

But on to more important things- our vacation!!   We set sail (or flight) to Australia to celebrate kent's soon to be graduation from medical school. We've been planning to go somewhere fun for the last four years and when my uncle dave and aunt michelle were put in Australia for a work assignment we decided that Brisbane was the perfect place for our giant celebration!  We've worked hard the last four years and definitely deserved a kid free vacation!  It was perfect and wouldn't have been so without the help my my parents, kent's parents, sisters, brothers-in-law, aunts, uncles, cousins, and everybody else who played a part! so, thanks a million!!!


Holy smokes. It was amazing. unreal. It was the perfect combination of adventure and relaxation.   I took a lot of pictures.  And when I say a lot- I really mean A LOT.  Somewhere in the range of 1500.  Luckily for my blog and you readers- I'll only be posting a small fraction of those- hopefully less than ten percent :)  Good luck to you all as you read through my blog over the next few days (or maybe weeks!).


Let me begin with a disclaimer:

#1- I tend to complain about pictures with no people in them- but our adventures down under will include more than a few.  There were just so many amazing places/things/animals that didn't need our faces distracting from their greatness.

Day 1.
We flew over the international date line and skipped sunday altogether landing in Sydney early Monday morning.

We spent the majority of our time in Sydney just walking the city and sightseeing.   Hyde park and the botanical gardens were stunning.  The tropical greenery- the creatures- the buildings- everything!

This picture is near the end of our day and that's why I look so ridiculous.  I was exhausted.   14.5 hours on a plane and then 12+ hours walking around!

The inside of this cathedral was fairy tale like!

The new plethora of birds/insects/animals was definitely the highlight for me.  The botanical aspect of biology has always been a little dull to me- but I love the zoology.

These Ibises are like our seagulls or pigeons. They eat trash and they're ubiquitous. I'm sure all of the Australians were bewildered as to why I want a picture of their nasty birds- but I loved them and their long beaks.

And to see birds this brightly colored just flying around a large metropolitan city was so strange!

 The ginormous spiders were a favorite!  They were all over the botanical gardens!

But surely the most exciting find of the day were these creatures.

Tens of thousands of them fill the trees of Sydney.  They are the 'grey headed flying foxes'. Gigantuous bats that have overtaken the trees in the city. I guess they are quite a nuisance but I was enthralled. They shriek and fly overhead and create quite a spectacle in the gardens.

I even think they're kind of cute.

The gardens open right onto Sydney harbor with the famed opera house and bridge.  The sydney skyline is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen!

We walked over the bridge (at street level) and checked out the views from every side.  I really love to explore big cities.  Australia is going into fall right now so the weather was PERFECT and it wasn't busy at all! 

 

 

The Sydney harbor is HUGE. We took a ferry across it and checked out a famous beach (Manly beach) on the other side. It was by far the best way to see Sydney.  I got some great pictures and loved the experience.

The closest we got to any 'true australians' was at the harbor as well. An aboriginal man was playing his didgeridoo and posing for pictures :) 

Truly the most memorable part of Sydney was the half day we spent in the hospital- but that deserves a post by itself and will have to wait until tomorrow!