Our One-Year Mark!

Today marks our first anniversary in Australia! One year ago today we left the US en route to Australia. (Today also marks another year for Bryan . . . it's his birthday!) It's hard to believe that its actually been an entire year. I'm sure most of you are surprised too, thinking that we just left not too long ago! Well, it has been a great year, full of trials (having a baby in another country isn't as easy and as similar to the US as you may think!), memories, exploring, and fun times as we have discovered Australia, it's culture, and everything that it has to offer.

We went whale watching on Saturday off of the Gold Coast at "The Humpback Whale Highway" and it was SPECTACULAR!! The humpback whale season is June-November as they are now migrating north from Antartica to have their babies in the warm waters of the Great Barrier Reef. We were somewhat unsure of what we would see or if we would even get to see a whale and boy were we surprised! There were TONS of whales out! At one point there were 4-5 whales "mugging" our boat (that is what they call it.) One even swam right up to the boat. Evan and I were standing on one side of the boat and got to watch it swim under us while Bryan and Kaden, on the other side of the boat, got to see it emerge and were able to hear the low rumbling sound it made. We witnessed all of the "tricks" that the whales can do as well. Such as a full-body breach, half breach, lobbing/slapping of the tail, and fin slapping. At one time one whale continuously completed about 30 tail saps while lying on his back. It was an exciting tour and a unique opportunity, even the skippers on board told us that we had received quite a show.

Here is a video clip of one whale doing a half breach and a tail flap. It's kinda blurry and bumpy but considering we were on a boat and constantly rocking back and forth it came out fairly good.


We also took many photos . . . more than you can imagine . . . so here are some shots for you to see. We were never able to get a good full body breach photo though. By the time it was happening our reaction time to take the picture wasn't quick enough and the photo just ended up looking like a big splash. (I have included a photo I found though so you can see what a full-body breach looks like!) The slide show I used is also called "magnifier" and comes with a magnifying glass that you can use to scan over the pictures and get a better look at the whales.
I also included some photos of some pretty posh houses that we rode by through the channel getting out to the ocean.

Here are some additional pictures of our time with the Davison Family. We hit alot of our favorite spots during their trip here, as well as some new locations.

The Whitsunday Islands

Our friends, The Davison's, arrived from India last Saturday. Chris works for John Deere in Inida on ex-pat assignment from America and they decided to take one of their rest and relaxation trips to see us in Australia before we depart. (We're not so sure about the rest and relaxation part of the trip though . . . they are coming to see The Perry family after all!!) Their plane arrived later than scheduled on Saturday evening and on Sunday both families headed back to the airport en route to Hamilton Island for a 4-day trip to the Whitsunday's.

We stayed at Daydream Island Resort & Spa, one of the islands located in the Whitsunday's. It was a beautiful location with lots of things to keep us busy and with a welcoming and friendly family atmosphere. The Daydream Outdoor Aquarium was very unique and is believed to be the world's largest, man-made living coral reef lagoon system. It's a complex and stunning network of reef lagoons containing thousands of tropical fish, live coral species and diverse sea creatures such as sharks, sting rays, anemones, sea cucumbers and star fish. We enjoyed watching the barramundi and sharks be fed on several mornings, as well as getting to explore the many unique star fish and sea cucumbers in the lagoon. Most of the species we were able to view from this lagoon system are often unseen by humans in the natural environment as they live at great ocean depths. Some of the other additional perks of the island that we enjoyed include watching a movie at the open air cinema one evening (Chris & Bryan were able to do this), swimming in one of the many pools, and hiking through a rainforest located on the island.

The highlight of the trip though was taking a one day cruise out to the Great Barrier Reef. We booked all of the kids into the Skipper Club on Daydream Island for the day so that the adults could enjoy their one day out . . . kid-free. We rode out to Knuckle Reef with Cruise Whitsunday's Great Barrier Reef Adventure. (On our way to the reef we were also lucky enough to catch a quick glimpse of a humpback whale migrating north.) Once we reached Knuckle Reef we all decided to go snorkeling. It was nice but alot of work as the waters were somewhat choppy and difficult swim through. We then all decided to try scuba diving so that we could get down deep to enjoy one of the 7 Wonders of the World. None of us had ever tried diving before so this was a new experience. AND it was spectacular! It took a little while to get used to breathing under water without panicking but soon we were all swimming near the ocean bottom checking out the beautiful reef. We like our first dive so much that we decided to go for a second dive before leaving the reef . . . and enjoyed it the second time even more than the first! It was definitely an experience that we will never forget.

After four days in the Whitsunday's we headed back to Brisbane to explore and share our city with The Davison's. More to come about the rest of our trip . . .

Stradbroke Island

This weekend took us out to Stradbroke Island just an hour off of the coast of Brisbane. We went out with friends to stay the weekend and explore. The only way to get our car there was by ferry. We stayed at a place called Amity Bungalows (or "dumbalows", as Evan would call them.) This was a resort located at the northern tip of Stradbroke Island right where the Coral Sea meets the South Pacific Ocean. It was a quiet and tranquil location that really made you feel like you were camping in the heart of the rainforest. Our bungalow was called "Possum Lodge". We also had our own private jetty, pool, and kids playground. We were told that wild dolphins would come to our jetty every night after dark to feed. We stood out on the jetty for quite awhile and the dolphins kept going back-and-forth between the jetty's around us but never got right underneath us. It was still very interesting to watch. There were also friendly kookaburras that would perch on the deck of our cabin (and would wake us with their cackling/laughing every morning.) We caught Evan on several occasions going out and having conversations with the kookaburras.

We spent some of the weekend hiking and 4-wheel driving on the island. Our friends brought their 4-wheel drive vehicle so we all piled in and drove several of the beautiful beaches on the island. This is a very unique and fun experience, but kind of just felt like driving on snow, without the cold, in America. We also went "back-roadin'" on the island to see the sights.

Our first hike took us along the whale watching path. There were several platforms along this one mile track where you could sit and watch the ocean for the whales migrating north. Unfortunately we were never able to locate one because the waters were too choppy but the locals did tell us that there were whales in the area (whale watching season is June-November.) We also took a hike on the Gorge path. This was a beautiful walk along the rocky coast of Stradbroke.