Day and Night in Koh Phi Phi

From Phuket, we took a 2 1/2 hour ferry ride to the beautiful island of Koh Phi Phi, where we spent two nights. We stayed at Mama Beach Residence, which was up against high rock walls and in a quieter area of the beach. But we could easily walk to the "town," which was a maze of open-air souvenir shops, restaurants, and tour operators.

Whereas Phuket has a lot of stray dogs, Koh Phi Phi has a lot of stray cats. On one afternoon, we hiked to the top of the lookout. The view was amazing (I lost my beautiful wide-angle shots in the memory card debacle). Zack took this picture of one of the cats who sat on the bench with him as the sun went down. Cute, huh? We admired the sunset and then hiked back down for another delicious Thai dinner.

Koh Phi Phi is pretty crazy at night. We had the most fun at the Reggae Bar, which has a boxing ring set up in the center where tourists can put on gloves and fight each other for fun. Zack was almost convinced to "give it a go," but he was only willing to do it if he could fight a girl (and they wouldn't let him!). They also had some "professional" boxers, but the fights seemed staged.

The drink of choice on the island (and many places in Thailand) is a bucket. This is exactly what it sounds like. You get a bucket filled with a mixture of several kinds of alcohol combined with juice, soda, and/or Red Bull. You basically have no idea what's in it, and they shove five or six straws in the bucket, perhaps because you're supposed to share. We didn't! Zack and I each got our own bucket. If that sounds dangerous, it is. There are incredibly impressive fire dancers who perform on the beach at night. In the picture below, you can see Zack (post-bucket) doing his own version of a fire dance. And yes, we are sweaty messes in the picture to the right. That's because it is so hot and humid on Koh Phi Phi, you literally never stop sweating. But I didn't complain, because it was so nice to leave the winter weather of Melbourne behind for awhile! More to come from Koh Phi Phi...

Shopping, Sun, Sand, and Surf

Playing around near Darling Harbour.

My mom wrote most of this post too...(Mom, when did you do all of these?)

Um, yes, that is my dad planking in a water feature.

Saturday, November 12 began with a walk to Darling Harbour, a harbour just beside the famous Sydney Harbour.  It was quite a diverse shopping center with many restaurants, cafes, and and tourist shops.  There were various fountains and water features as well. 

This is made entirely of Legos!

After using yet another one of Aubree’s fabulous coupons and eating the most delicious pizza, we donned our swimsuits and took a bus to one of Australia’s most iconic destinations, Bondi Beach. 

Busy Bondi Beach

Bondi Beach is a large expanse of a fine white sand gashed out of rock platforms that borders the most beautiful aquamarine water.  Unfortunately, because of the cove’s shape, the swimming area is known for its dangerous and sometimes deadly rip currents.  Perhaps some of you have seen Bondi Rescue featured on one of the cable stations – I have not, but was quickly informed that the show features all of the happenings at the beach, including many swimming rescues.  While we were there, we ourselves saw three successful rescues – and each time, someone in our group could be heard saying, “Bondi Rescue!”  The beach was very popular for tanned and toned bods and a great place to people watch, and as we discovered, it's apparently one of Australia’s topless beaches. We chose not to participate in this custom.  

Listen to the signs...

...or you might get "Bondi rescued"!

Sculpture by the Sea, an annual outdoor sculpture exhibition, was taking place while we were there, so we walked along the oceanfront and saw several unique pieces of art.

Sculpture by the Sea piece

After returning to Sydney, we took a 30-minute ferry boat ride through the Sydney Harbour to Manly, a peninsula lined with fine restaurants and tourist attractions.  The ferry gave us a stunning view of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge spectacularly lit up in the evening sky.  We ate at a German restaurant that featured many kinds of sausage and delicious sauerkraut.  The evening was topped off by some delectable chocolate treats from Max Brenner Chocolate Bar.  -Sue

Sydney Opera House view from Manly ferry.

Lots more posts to come...our day in the Blue Mountains, time spent in Melbourne and along the Great Ocean Road, my adventures with Morgan in Uluru, etc. Thanks for reading!  -Aubree

Harbour Bridge view from Circular Quay.

Zack's Birthday Recap

Zack's birthday was on Monday.  He had to work during the day, but we had a nice evening together.  We took the city's ferry from Circular Quay to Manly, which is a thirty minute scenic ride that goes past the Harbour Bridge and around the Opera House over to Manly Wharf.  I've got some pictures from the ride on my Shutterfly page, but they are pretty fuzzy.  Trying to take pictures from a moving boat at night is not easy!  This picture was taken before Zack got home; I walked around at sunset to get some good shots.  But it shows the type of ferry we rode over to Manly.

Manly is a suburb of Sydney.  By the looks of it, it seems that lots of people take this ferry every day to work in the city.  We went to a restaurant called Hugo's, which was right on the water.  They are known for their good pizzas, so we ordered a fig one that kind of reminded us of pizza at The Stash in Crested Butte, Colorado.  Yum!  

For dessert, Zack ordered a chocolate tart.  It had raspberry sauce, ice cream, and pistachio fairy floss.  After some questioning of the waitress, we figured out that fairy floss is what they call cotton candy.  I told them it was his birthday, so they put a fun sparkler on the plate.  It was a good night, but tonight Zack gets to celebrate his birthday again, because I had already made some Melbourne plans.  Perhaps that will be tomorrow's entry!

In an unrelated note, we're pretty lucky that we made it back to Melbourne last night.  Tons of flights have been cancelled throughout Australia over the past few days because of the ash cloud from the Chilean volcano.  They started up again yesterday afternoon, so our flights last night were unaffected.  I feel sorry for all of the people who were stranded, especially some folks who had come from overseas and got rerouted to Brisbane or elsewhere.  Their vacations are wrecked.  Darn ash cloud!  

Lots more posts to come...our time in Sydney, the story of our surfboards, one about the currency here, our new apartment in July, etc.  Keep checking in!