Month: January 2019

Australia

Springbrook National Park

As our time in Australia draws to a close, we decided to take advantage of one of the many opportunities here in Queensland to do so hiking. We choose a relatively short (about 2 hours) hike that was not too difficult, rated as a Grade 3 (moderate fitness required) in Springbrook National Park.

The park is about an hour south of Brisbane and is listed as a World Heritage site. It was a spectacular hike. We chose the Twin Falls Circuit which is about 4km or 2.5 miles. As the name suggests along the way we passed two waterfalls, walked through the rainforest and got some phenomenal scenic views.

I couldn’t decide which photos to include in this post, so I just uploaded them all…

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Australia

Summer Days in Surfer’s Paradise

It’s summer on the Gold Coast and we are finding plenty to do to entertain ourselves.

Since we technically are still tourists, we decided to do one of the ultimate touristy things – we attended a staged production by the Australian Outback Spectacular called Heartland. Maybe staged is not the correct word to use, since the show was presented in a upscale indoor rodeo with arena. A combination of horses, cattle, cars, trucks, 4 wheelers, singing, dancing and amazing choreography (most of it on horseback) was sewn together with very creative use of scenery projected onto the arena via an extremely sophisticated lighting system.

The story was a familiar Australian tale: cattle ranchers in the outback struggled to hang onto their farms through a severe drought. There was a love story, comedy and a villainous banker who tried to foreclose on the ranch. We were amazed how they were able to serve a three course meal to the whole arena while the showers was taking place. And we got hats!

About 40 minutes drive from the house is the Burleigh Heads National Park. There are many walking tracks within the park itself including the Ocean View Walk around the the rocky headland; the Rainforest Circuit which takes you through the park where you can view beautiful plant and bird life. Along the way there are many places that allow access to the beach. We went on a Saturday, so the beaches and trails were busy, but everyone was friendly and we had a great hike of about 3 miles or so. The views were amazing!

On another evening, we caught a ride from friendly Uber driver Dave. We went to wander through the Night Quarter

Rows and rows of storage containers have been converted to create alleys of shops, food vendors, beer stands and live music. This is truly a locals hangout, we were among extremely few tourist at there. The food was excellent, the beer was cold and cheap and the music was energetic. Definitely worth a visit.

George’s birthday dinner was a special evening. We sat at the edge of the lagoon, at the Intercontinenal Hotel a table with fine china and while linen table cloths and our bare feet in soft white sand. Dinner was a giant seafood buffet, with oysters, crab, jumbo shrimp (they call them prawns here) and an amazing dessert bar. Our waitress Kelsie made sure that our glasses stayed full of champagne and then red or white wine which flowed freely throughout the night. All in all, a delightful experience at a very reasonable price of for an “all you can eat (and drink)” meal In an ideal setting.

Australia

A Cocktail For Queensland

The idealic setting of the Gold Coast in Australia inspired a new cocktail called “Santuary Cove”.

Ingredients:

  • 1 oz (30 ml) white rum
  • 1/2 oz light agave syrup
  • 1/2 oz freshly squeezed lime juice
  • 1 oz Champagne or Prosecco

Add ice, lime, agave syrup,and rum to a Boston shaker. Shake, break and strain into a martini glass. 

Top with champagne, garnish with a lime wheel, enjoy with friends!

Australia

The Australia Zoo

Steve Irwin has been gone since 1996 when he was stung through the heart by the barb of a stingray tail. Ironically he was working on a film called “Ocean’s Deadliest”. But 23 years have done little to fade the memories of his exploits in global television shows such as the crocodile hunter.

In 1970 Steve started working with reptiles at his parents nature preserve in Northern Queensland, at 10 he wrestled his first crocodile while his father looked on. Later Steve married an American from Oregon (Teri) and together tho two launched a film series aimed at raising consciousness about wildlife conservation and raising money to expand the preserve his parents had started.

Today that preserve is the Australia Zoo and has more than 1,000 acres and is owned by Teri Irwin the family. Yesterday we drove two hours north to the Zoo and had an amazing day.