The Land of OZ

August was a great month for the Nicholsons. :) We were lucky enough to visit beautiful Australia!!!! We were in Melbourne for a couple of weeks, then flew to The Gold Coast for our last week. Will arrived two weeks before I did. I was only supposed to be there for 10 days, but we were able to stay another week. We had a blast! We saw so many cool things! When I got there, he took me to downtown Melbourne where we saw a street show, a guy with a horse head (what some would call "art") and an 88 story building that looks out over the whole city. It was very interesting. I arrived on a Friday so we had the weekend to do a lot of neat things. Our first adventure was The Wildlife Preserve, where we saw Tasmanian Devils, dingos, wombats, and of course, wallabies, kangaroos and koalas. We also learned that koala bears aren't bears at all...but a relative of the wombat. We got to feed the kangaroos. They are very sweet creatures, but greedy!!! They are a bit intimadating while standing on their hind legs to get to the food you're holding. hehehe We weren't allowed to pet the koalas since it is illegal to do so in Melbourne, because they are protected. The tour of the preserve was on our way to The Penguin Parade on Phillip Island. That is a very unique thing to see. Every night at sunset, hundreds of fairy penguins (the smallest in the world) come on shore and waddle to their little homes. They always stick to the same home and travel in groups called "rafts". Due to the little penguins being a bit scared, they allowed no pictures or video. So, the memory will have to do. Our next adventure was Sovereign Hill, Ballarat! That was very cool. Sovereign Hill is a little 1850s mining town that has been recreated to look like that time period. The employees are in period dress and put on shows for the guests throughout the day. :) We saw the smelting of a gold bar, took a tour in a real gold mine and panned for gold. We had a great time!!!! There was an old fashioned hotel with a theater, a post office, funeral home and a store with 19th century clothing and accessories. There was even a knitting/sewing section! We also saw how some of the mining machines work. Our last day in Melbourne was spent driving The Great Ocean Road on our way to see The Twelve Apostles, which are giant rocks that were created by erosion of limestone cliffs that began 10-20 million years ago. THAT was an interesting drive. First, we had to get used to driving on the right side of the car, and on the left side of the road. Everything was backwards!!!! We got a little lost because we missed our turn, so it took us a bit longer to get to the rock formations...I think it took us almost 5 hours. It rained off and on throughout the day, but when we finally arrived at The Twelve Apostles, it was raining...and FREEZING!!!! It felt like hail, but I think it was just really hard rain. It was so wet we couldn't really get good video or photos of the rocks, but we did what we could. It will be an experience we'll never forget. :) We really wanted to see more of Australia but weren't sure how we were going to do that, since everything was so expensive, but a friend wanted us to experience The Gold Coast, so he helped us out by giving us the gift of plane tickets. We were ready to go home but he insisted and we couldn't resist. We flew to The Gold Coast to stay for 5 days. It was much warmer there. August in Melbourne is really cold. Of course, our summer is their winter. We found a great little serviced apartment (which is kind of like a hotel suite, only nicer) about 2 blocks from the beach! We were told the weather on The Gold Coast is similar to Hawaii, but it seemed a bit cooler. It was definitely warmer there than in Melbourne. Our first night was spent just walking around getting to know locations of the restaurants and shops. The rest of the week was spent going to the beach or taking tours. The first tour was Whale Watching, which was very cool. We took a bus to Surfer's Paradise, then hopped on a boat. We saw a few whales but it seemed they were a little shy that day. Of course, just as they were starting to come out of the water to entertain us, the tour was over and we had to start making our way back to land. We did get a few neat pictures and videos, though. One awesome thing we did was our trip to The Australia Zoo: Home of the Crocodile Hunter. Another fantastic exerience. That is where I got to hold a koala. Evidently, it's legal in Queensland, Australia. The koala's name was Mist and she was SO soft and cuddly, with really sharp claws. ;)

Around 1 a.m. on our next to last night in Australia, the fire alarm sounded and the building had to be evacuated. Boy, that was fun. It was the loudest alarm we had ever heard. We were able to go back inside after about 20 minutes.

On a sour note, I owe my friend, Jared, a new Nintendo DS because I left his on a plane in Melbourne...oops. In my defense, I wasn't feeling well and that was one of the longest days EVER. Tiger Airways sucks!!!!! Luckily, he was really nice about it and he's getting a brand new DS out of it. I feel badly about the games he had on it, though. Thank goodness he's a nice guy. That was so out of character for me, and I think he realizes that. Oh, did I mention Tiger Airways sucks??? NEVER fly with Tiger Airways. Absolutely Horrible!!!!!!

Ok. Some things we learned about OZ...
1. There is no such thing as a "free refill" in a restaurant. They've never even heard of it.
2. No need to tip the server at a restaurant. They are paid at least minimum wage. Also, after they take your order, you don't see them again, unless you flag them down.
3. They round money to the nearest 5 cents because they don't have pennies.
4. They say "How's you going?" Which I guess means, "How are you?" in Australian. :) 5. They say, "Thank you" when we would normally say, "You're welcome or please." Yeah, that one confuses me.
6. The word "fanny" means something bad...
7. Australian football is a religion (and very cool)
8. Most of the shows on t.v. are American.

It was so fascinating to see how people on the other side of the world live. What an amazing experience. This was our first trip out of the country (for both of us) and it was definitely something we'll do again. Next time we would like to snorkel in The Great Barrier Reef.

Our next trip: Ireland!!!!!!!!!!!!