Smith's Farm and Mountain Biking the Queen Charlotte Track

After our wine tasting afternoon, we stayed the night at Smith's Farm in Havelock. It had some fun animals and a pretty hike on site that led to a big waterfall. If you stay in the woods until dark, I guess you can also see glowworms, but I did the hike in the daylight.

On Monday morning, we rented mountain bikes and rode part of the Queen Charlotte Track, which we could access by riding only four kilometers from our campsite. New Zealand has several famous hikes; some take a full day and others take several days. The Queen Charlotte Track is one of the longer ones; it's 71 kilometers and takes most walkers four or five days and bikers two or three. We only rode to a major lookout and back, which took us a couple of hours. But that still gave us great views of the Marlborough Sounds. The panoramic shots below show you our whole view (if you combine them together).

It was a fun mountain bike ride and a good way to start the day, even though the weather was a little drizzly. But there was still some driving to do and more fun to be had on Christmas Eve Day! Stay tuned...

Biking Bonanza

Remember this post about my bike getting stolen? Well, I'm not sure I ever mentioned that I found the same red bike for sale on eBay a few weeks later. It's not an uncommon bike here, because it's made by Reid Cycles, an Australian company, but I did think for a second that it might actually be mine being resold by the thief (it wasn't). Anyway, so I have a red bike again, and on Sunday, Zack and I did a loooooong ride with Kristy and Nigel along the Yarra River. Kristy has the same bike as me, but hers is white.

After several kilometers of riding, we arrived at our destination, Fairfield Park Boathouse & Tea Gardens. This riverfront restaurant was extremely popular and crowded on this sunny Sunday, and we had to wait a long time for our food. In the meanwhile, we enjoyed sipping on spiders, which is what Australians call floats. You know, like root beer floats...soda with ice cream in it. We had a raspberry soda one, and it was delicious. 

This place really is a boathouse, and you can rent canoes and kayaks here to paddle around in the river. The whole area is very scenic with tall eucalyptus trees, a bridge, and ducks swimming around. I wish there had been a koala in one of the trees; that would have made the place perfect!

After lunch, Kristy shared her fairy floss, which is what Australians call cotton candy. If you're a longtime reader, you may remember that from the post about Zack's birthday last year. Anyway, we sat along the river and soaked up the sun for awhile (Zack even took a little nap!) before hopping back on our bikes for the long ride home. We got a bit lost for awhile and couldn't seem to find the path back to the river, but we eventually made it and biked home to collapse on the couch for the rest of the evening. We sure slept well that night. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon spent with friends, though it hurt a bit to bike to the store the next day!

Sipping on spiders-ignore the rogue piece of hair in my face!

My Beloved Bike

Until about two hours ago, I had a bike. It was shiny and red, and I had colorful spoke beads on it that went click-clack when I rode around town (put on after the picture was taken). I loved my bike. It was my main mode of transportation, and it got all sorts of compliments from friends and strangers. Tonight I got home from an appointment and left it in our gated front porch area during dinner. I was going to head back out in just an hour or so, so I left it unlocked, thinking it would be alright. When I looked outside a little bit later, our gate was wide open, and my bike was gone!

I'm crushed. I had the bike fixed up just the way I liked it-lights, bell, spoke beads, etc. I rode that thing everywhere...to school, to the market, running errands, etc. Now I have no bike. I am so sad. And mad. That was one bold thief...opening our gate and stealing it while we were home. I'm surprised we didn't hear anything. We filed a police report, and Zack and I biked around the neighborhood seeing if anyone was around and had seen anything. The thing is, our new neighborhood is so quiet. We rarely see anyone walking around on our street at all. We can't figure out what type of person would have done this.

If you live in the Melbourne area, and you see a bike like this somewhere (it won't have the basket-that's still in my room), check the back fender. If there is a line of touch-up paint on it, it's mine! Do a citizen's arrest on the thief and let me know where I can find my beloved bike! I miss it badly. Meanwhile, it looks like I'll be walking for awhile. :(

Mountain Biking and a Monotreme

Zack tackles an obstacle with ease.

On Saturday, Zack and I drove to Lysterfield Park to do some mountain biking. This park, which is about forty-five minutes away from our place, has tons of trails through the woods. We rode some good singletrack, especially enjoying the trails that were specifically for bikers. My favorite part was finding wallabies and kangaroos throughout our ride. You haven't really lived until a mother and baby kangaroo hop across the path in front of you while you're biking!

I wanted a shot with me riding near the pretty flowers.

There were also tons of butterflies flying around, just like on our Great Ocean Road hike, and pretty purple wildflowers along the path. There were some challenging, technical parts, which Zack could handle better than me, and some of the uphill sections kicked my butt, but it was still a good time.

These two kangaroos later hopped in front of me on the bike path!

On our drive out of the park, Zack yelled "porcupine" and hit the brakes. I immediately knew that he had seen an echidna (pronounced uh-KID-nuh), and I'd been wanting to see one in the wild for a long time. I raced out of the car with my camera, and sure enough, this spiky guy was crawling around in the grass near the road!





Echidnas are also known as spiny anteaters. The bottom left of this picture shows its pointy snout. Along with the platypus, echidnas are the only monotremes (egg-laying mammals) in the world, and they can only be found in Australia and New Guinea. Pretty cool, huh?

As we got closer, this echidna balled up and stuck out his spines. This picture shows a close-up of the prickly-ness. We didn't try to pet it!

Mountain biking in Australia is a bit different than it was in Colorado or Utah. Kangaroos instead of deer surprise you in the woods. Dirt paths with tree roots are more common than the red, rocky terrain. Butterflies surround your head instead of mountaintop views, and an echidna might cross your path instead of a rattlesnake. I'll take it for now!

I Think I'll Go See The Queen Today!

"I think I'll go see the Queen today." That's what I said to Zack when I woke up this morning. How random is it that something like this could be on my agenda for the day? Queen Elizabeth II is in Australia for ten days, and today she made a stop in Melbourne for a few hours. She was here to open the new Royal Children's Hospital, view some Indigenous art at the Ian Potter Gallery, visit with her fans, and attend a royal reception. I would like to note (with glee) that she is not going to Sydney on this royal visit; that's because Melbourne is better-hehehe! :)

Anyway, I rode my bike down to Federation Square this afternoon and joined the masses to see Her Majesty board the specially decorated Royal Tram for a ride down St Kilda Road. It was very cool to be a part of it all. In this picture, you can see Flinders Street Station in the background, the large police presence watching everyone, the fancy horses leading the procession, and the Royal Tram about to start heading my way. You can also see one of the big hats that all of the schoolchildren here are required to wear when they're outside, because Australia's sun is so strong. Several schools took a little field trip downtown today!

This is a shot from when the Royal Tram passed by me the first time. Because I was biking, I could actually follow along on the sidewalk and see it several times. People waved flags (as you can see), broke out in renditions of "God Save the Queen," and one lady was yelling, "I love you Prince Phillip!" Australia, though led by a Prime Minister, is still officially a monarchy, and Australians love their Queen!

Queen Elizabeth was decked out in bright pink with a matching hat. She looked out the tram's window and waved at everyone. This is one of my better shots; it was hard to get a great one with the glare of the windows! I've got several more on my Shutterfly site, so head there if you're interested. I even got a little peek of her getting out of the tram at the end of the route.

I love that I live in a city where once-in-a-lifetime opportunities like this are just a bike ride away on a random Wednesday afternoon. They say this is probably going to be her last visit to Australia, so I was extra lucky to catch a glimpse of her! Very cool. I topped off my afternoon by enjoying a raspberry Slurpee (the color of the Queen's outfit) on my bike ride home in the sunshine. Pretty cool!

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip pass by in the Royal Tram

Fog, Jog, and a Dog

How was your weekend? This was the view from one of our balconies on Friday afternoon. The fog rolled in big-time; it was almost kind of scary! At one point, all I could see was white out the windows. Anyway, on Friday night we ordered in some pizza and watched Back to the Future Part II (I had never seen it).

On Saturday, we had cappuccinos and lattes with Heath and Isabelle on Acland Street. Then Zack and I walked around St. Kilda and enjoyed the beautiful sunny weather. We have never seen so many people out and about! I guess this is a hint of what's to come this summer. Anyway, we ended up on Fitzroy Street where we used a Groupon-type deal that I had for a rum tasting at a place called 29th Apartment. We got to try six different rums with accompanying desserts as we sat outside in the sunshine. Yummy! This restaurant had fun games to play, and we ended up playing a Connect Four tournament with two Australian guys. Then we ended up doing shouts with them for the next few hours. A "shout" is when someone buys drinks for everyone else; you take turns "shouting" the round. When it started getting cold, Zack and I got some pasta for dinner and went home for an early bedtime.

Sunday morning came quickly, and Zack headed off for a 110km bike ride with Adam and Heath and Isabelle. I met up with Emily for a ten mile run. She's training for a half marathon, and I try to join her for some training runs for the heck of it. Later that afternoon, we had lunch at a Japanese place with Adam and Emily and two other couples from a Meetup group and got some frozen yogurt on Fitzroy Street.

Because I was missing my dog Molly, I posted an ad on Gumtree offering to walk dogs in the area. I got a response from a lady who lives nearby, and now I get to walk her family's dog a few times a week. I can bring Emmey to the beach, take her on a run, or whatever I want...and I get paid! This morning was my first time, and I took a picture down at St. Kilda Beach. Isn't she cute (though not nearly as cute as Molly!)? She's a mix between a beagle and a lab. Emmey is my pseudo-dog here in Australia-yay! So that's what's going on with us lately. Hope you had a good weekend too!

An Afternoon at the Aquarium

Since we don't have a car, I purchased a comfy light blue cruiser bike off Gumtree (the Australian equivalent of Craigslist) earlier this week.  Yesterday, I rode it to the Melbourne Aquarium, and I spent a nice afternoon there looking at sea creatures and taking pictures.  Side note-does anybody know an EASY way to get your pictures to show up in a higher quality on Blogger?  Everything I've found online makes it sound like a pain, but my pictures look like crud on here!  

It's a pretty good aquarium.  I found a coupon to get in for the child's price, so I'd say it was worth $19.  They had one especially huge room where both full walls were tanks, and they also had two of those "tunnels" where you walk under the fish while they swim over you. Those are always neat.  There were several other decent displays as well...penguins, a Great Barrier Reef section, a billabong, etc.

The coolest part was getting to see all sorts of strange fish and sea creatures that are native to Australia.  It's hard to believe that some of the wild-looking things I saw are basically right out my back door.  I'm a little afraid of seeing one of these guys (a shark) while surfing, but I can't wait to go snorkeling up North!  

Anyway, it was a nice afternoon at the aquarium.  I biked home, picking up a bottle of wine on the way back, and made baked potato soup and peanut butter cookies for dinner.  The hubby got home, and we ate and then watched Master Chef Australia (more about that in another post).  And that is your update for today!