Mel's Travel Blog

2015 Adventures!!

Posted on April 25, 2015 by Mel

Woohoo 2015 adventures ahoy!

So this year I get to have two grand overseas trips. One was planned at the end of last year and is a 4.5 week jaunt through Barcelona, Rome, Naples and Paris in October/November. The second has been a little unexpected (read: last minute) and will hopefully see me adventuring to the USA for 10 days in late June.

So first, let’s talk about Europe. We jet off on October 12th to Barcelona and after a few days lounging in the sun we will join up with our intrepid tour. This will see us traveling for 15 days from Barcelona through a variety of locations across to Rome. After fare-welling our tour and a few extra days in Rome, we will head to Naples which puts us nice and close to both Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius. A few nights later it will be up to Paris for 5 nights, including attending the Moulin Rouge to celebrate my 30th birthday! Entering the age of denial in style.

Intrepid tours are a company I am not familiar with but B has done a very extended one before and had a lot of positive things to say. Their online reviews are positive and the idea of a small tour appealed to me although I am not sure how I will cope with the reliance on public transport to get from one city to the next, as opposed to say…an air conditioned coach. We have chosen one of the more relaxed tours (no camping etc) although they did have all sorts of trips for all sorts of interests and budgets.

The USA trip is a little more haphazard as it will be planned and booked very last minute. B is likely to be heading away for work over there for a few months so I get to go visit…hooray! The visit has been timed around my work commitments which is why it will be about a month into his work trip rather than closer to the end. At the moment it is actually still not fully confirmed as I can’t book my flights until he has the work go-ahead but it is looking likely. He will be based in the Washington area so there will be lots of exploring of Washington as well as 5 nights in New York! EEEEEE! Do you guys realise what is in Washington? Do you? DO YOU? Let me show you….

Not to mention…NEW YORK!! Very exciting. Probably our last year of travel adventures for a while (although South America and Antarctica/The Arctic are still high on the want list) so time to make the most of it. Did I mention that there will be bears in the US? Baby bears? Baby pandas? Did you see that?

Since Europe is mostly booked and paid for and the USA is still a “wait and see” operation….

The big discussion in our house is around luggage choices at the moment.

Neither of us are super happy with our suitcases but I am not prepared to fully commit to a backpack and B is not prepared to let me just have a suitcase on the intrepid tour as we are relying on trains to get around a fair bit. Stubborn man. So at the moment we are both spending a lot of time reading and researching. This is my front runner – the 80L Osprey Sojourn convertible wheeled bag although there are a lot of other similar things that cost less (but seem to break easy). He is a mad Osprey lover whereas I am new to their products….so we shall see.

Mel Update: No USA trip ended up happening…but Europe looms!

Categories: Europe 2015, USA 2015 | Tags: america, backpacks, barcelona, bears, blogging, BWI, Europe, flying, intrepid, love, luggage, osprey, osprey sojourn, pandas, Paris, pompeii, review, Rome, smithsonian, travel, travel blog, USA, washington, zoo | 3 Comments

Hamilton Island day 5 and home time

Posted on January 10, 2015 by Mel

Yesterday was a blissful day. We woke up early and had koala cuddles along with breakfast. The koalas name was Willow and she took a real liking to B. Me…not so much. Excuse the derp face.

After koala cuddles we went to Hamilton Island’s Spa wumurdaylin for a couples treatment including massage, facial, scalp massage and foot/hand treatment. I enjoyed it and B reckons he will do it again, although maybe without the foot bit as he is too ticklish.

After this we went to the tavern for lunch and then spent a few hours lounging around the pool, before relaxing in the room watching the sun go down.

Dinner was another great meal (have struggled to find bad food here!) and I wore my beautiful new opal jewellery out 🙂

As far as last days go it was pretty fabulous. The whole holiday has been very relaxing and it has been great to just switch off from work and worry and try to get away from it all. B was right, there really is a difference between a “trip” and a “holiday”. We need more holidays!! Hehe.

We have checked out this morning and are now having a final holiday cocktail before heading to the airport for the 7hr trip (plus stopovers) back to Canberra.

See you again soon Hamilton Island.

Categories: Hamilton Island 2015 | Tags: cocktails, hamilton island, holiday, island, koalas, ocean, queensland, relaxation, water, whitsundays | Leave a comment

Hamilton Island Days 1-3 more pics + Day 4 the reef tour

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Mel

Woohoo, finally got my camera pics on to my iPad so here are some extra day 1-3 ones…

Me enjoying the swim up bar at the hotel. Mmmm rum.

Patting baby kangaroos at the wildlife park

A giant, scary looking croc at the wildlife park!

Mr B having a go at paddle boarding

So….day 4 started early with a 7am breakfast and walk to the marina. We were a little sad to hear it was too rough to go to the outer reef but instead we were offered a day tour to two inner reefs and Whitehaven Beach which was a great alternative.

The first spot, Luncheon Bay was just off Hook Island and it was my very first time snorkelling. I was a bit nervous but had a good time in the end, I saw lots of fish and coral and didn’t drown or get eaten by a shark.

After Hook Island we went to Blue Pearl Bay where B napped on the boat and I did the scenic tourist thing. I think he quite likes this photo hehe it may go up on our mantle at home! A proud and accomplished napper he is 😄

We then went to Whitehaven beach which was just gorgeous. Amazing white sand. I can see why it is such a popular wedding destination, however if we ever got married here I think arrival would have to be by teleport as opposed to boat! Ick, sea sickness.

Categories: Hamilton Island 2015 | Tags: boats, cocktails, eating, great barrier reef, hamilton island, holidays, ocean, queensland, snorkelling | 2 Comments

Hamilton Island Day 1-3

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Mel

Day 1: we arrived! It was an okay flight although the process of getting off from Brisbane was delayed which was (as you would expect) frustrating. Delay me going home dammit!

We checked in at 2pm and went off to explore the resort area and for a quick swim at catseye beach before a sunset sail. Unfortunately….no sunset due to cloud cover

The view from our room at the reef view hotel is amazing.

Day 2: was a lounge around day. We had complimentary breakfast with the koalas and then basically just vegged out in the pool area and kept the bar busy 🙂

For dinner we went on a twilight cruise on the Denison Star. Delicious! Shame anther sunset was obscured by cloud cover…

Day 3: today we slept in and then had breakfast with the koalas again (those guys are awesome) before preparing to adventure out to Whitehaven Beach. Unfortunately this was cancelled due to the wind so we went back to the pool for more relaxing and cocktails. B had a go at paddle boarding which was equal parts hilarious (when he fell off) and unhappy making (motion sickness). We then went off to One Tree Hill bar to try again for the sunset but…cloud cover! Haha. Thwarted at every turn!

Tomorrow we are off to the Great Barrier Reef for a full day of snorkelling!

Categories: Hamilton Island 2015 | Tags: boats, cocktails, couples getaway, eating, fun, great barrier reef, hamilton island, holidays, ocean, poolbar, queensland, relaxation, relaxing, romantic, snorkelling, whitsundays | Leave a comment

Planning a future holiday…

Posted on July 21, 2014 by Mel

Well….since I am moving from WA to Canberra at the end of this school year, awesome holidays are temporarily on hold! At least until we both build up some more annual leave. Options that are currently being tossed around for mid to late next year are:

– Japan

– New Zealand

– Canada because I have never been and some of the scenery….woah

– Western Europe (I would love to go back to Paris and Rome and B has never been)

– Somewhere completely new! Peru? We would both like to go to Peru. I am open to suggestions on new and amazing places to visit overseas though! Fill me with your wonderful knowledge…

In the mean time I will just have to settle for a week away somewhere in Australia in the January 2015 holiday break. Considering a trip to Tasmania! Have never been and it looks beautiful 🙂 what do you think Anna? Would Percy enjoy Tassie?

To keep my love for wonderful holidays burning here are some recent photos of the beautiful snow (and delicious food halfway up a mountain) in Thredbo:

Taken from Thredbo Village, July 19th 2014

Amazing lunch at Kareela Hutte on the mountain July 17th, 2014

Categories: Europe 2015 | 5 Comments

Day 20: Home time today :(

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Mel

After checking out just before 11am we went into Tokyo station to explore the Tokyo Station city! We went down ramen street and had lunch, character street to see all the cool little tv show shops and sweet street where we watched a guy making candy and I bought some. Mmmmmm candy.

Then we organised our Narita Express tickets to go out to the airport from Tokyo which takes about an hour. It stops at our terminal (kinda like heathrow airport) so is nice and easy to use.

Back to the hotel at 2pm and then the fun and glorious task of dragging two backpacks, a snowboard bag and a giant (now partly broken) suitcase through the main station. I think we did much better this time! I didn’t punch anyone but I did annoy lots of people on escalators with the suitcase. The Narita Express is pretty groovy, it has funky seats that recline and a menu to order off:

Arriving at Narita airport nice and early for QF22 direct into Sydney we discovered qantas SUCK and don’t open check in until 2.5hrs before boarding time! Bloody ridiculous. So cookies and gross star bucks coffee it is rather than delicious lounge food in qantas club 😦

I think a special mention here needs to go to my boots. These boots (planet shoes brand from Melbourne) are the only pair of shoes I brought over and I’ve worn them day in and day out. They have been warm, waterproof and comfortable the entire trip! They also survived snow almost to the tops of the boots. Plus they have a raised instep for arch support and the base is inset to avoid slipping (although on ice it is kind of unavoidable). Hi-5 boots! You have been awesome and I will miss you in the return to Australian summer.

Tomorrow I will do a final blog post when we are home (well, back in
Canberra anyway) safe and sound. For now I will go back to glaring at qantas staff and hoping they open the check in early o.O

Categories: Japan Snow Trip | Tags: all over, hometime, Japan, sad faces | 5 Comments

Day 19: Ueno Zoo and the best food I’ve ever eaten

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Mel

I SAW A POLAR BEAR!! And giant pandas.

We got up and headed to Ueno Zoo yesterday. Weather was a bit nicer (not face freezing anyway) and it was a few stops up the metro line. The animals were pretty cute, I was pretty excited about the pandas, polar bear and seals while B made friends with a slow loris and also thought the seals were cute, especially the baby ones.

After a morning at the zoo we went to Ginza where there is a 4 level sony store. B enjoyed geek heaven while my new fluffy friend (from the zoo) and I sat in the pub on level 1 of the shop.

After a rest, we were back out searching for this amazing 511 restaurant B has been raving about the entire trip, apparently famous for it’s Kobe beef. It’s down some middle of nowhere alley….difficult to spot….but man once you get inside it is amazing!

They offer ladies a fluffy blanket to put on your lap or over your shoulders if the aircon is to cold (I thought that was pretty awesome) and I ordered a 6 course meal while B had a 9 course Japanese themed one (lots of fish mixed in which was why I skipped it). We also let the sommelier choose the one which was….the best red I have ever had in my life. Actually, it was the best overall dining experience ever!

As well as a free glass of wine at the start, they gave us a present! A free ramen noodle kit 🙂 I was very impressed.

Well, that was last night and today is fly home day 😦 we have a few hours of exploring left with no idea what to do then it is off to Tokyo station for the narita airport express train and a 7pm flight back to Sydney, then connecting through to canberra tomorrow. I come home to perth the following day after leaving all my ski stuff in the land of ice and snow (which is apparently in the midst of a heat wave right now….yay).

Time to wake B up and pack the suitcase *waaaah*

Categories: Japan Snow Trip | Tags: asia, holiday, Japan, japanuary, overseas, pandas, snow, snow trip, tokyo, ueno zoo, wagyu beef | Leave a comment

Day 18: Disneyland post 2 and Tokyo Tower

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Mel

Photos (most of them anyway) from Disneyland are in the previous post 🙂

So today we got up early ish at 8am and after a bakery breakfast (B’s favourite kind lol) we headed off to DISNEYLAND! There was a brief discussion of whether we wanted to commit to it because the maximum temp today was meant to be 4C and it was also meant to snow but B was keen and I was…uhhh a little excited….so we went! It was insanely cold. Colder than the snow. I think it’s because in the snow you have all your gear on but walking around in this you have jackets and gloves etc but it’s not the same. The biting cold still gets you.

Our train station is a block away and is on the Disney line so it was an easy 15min trip. When we got there we started walking and then saw the lines. I know they weren’t that bad but they felt like it to us! We were there 20mins before opening and it was already like this:

We decided our plan of action was get in, go for space mountain and then work it out from there. Tracey, Kiera and many others had warned us wait times for some rides could be over THREE HOURS, even in winter. When we got to space mountain the wait was 3 mins. Seriously! It was a bit of a let down though. Pirates of the Caribbean was much better (9 min wait) and we also went on splash mountain, star tours and big thunder mountain. We didn’t wait any longer than 10mins but by the last three we had started using their fast pass system which I can’t recommend enough. Basically you go up, get a ticket to ride for an hours time and then go do something else. When that hour is up you can not only get another fast pass for another ride BUT ALSO QUEUE JUMP YOUR CHOSEN RIDE! We got this down pat by the end of the day haha. We also watched the famous parade and I took lots of photos.

By 4pm we were knackered and after some present buying we headed back to the hotel. Unfortunately there were no personalised ears available but I bought Lana a bunch of presents and also got Katie, Braith and my nephew Hunter adorable kiddie ears! See pics of me modelling the adult versions haha:

I bought myself an adorable fluffy eeyore, he was the only one in the shop.

After a half hour rest we headed off to the Tokyo Sky Tree. Originally the plan had been to go to Tokyo Tower but a lot of reading said the sky tree was much more spectacular….but lines could be up to five hours long! We banked on the freezing cold, kids returning to school and middle of the week meaning it wouldn’t be that bad. Good call by us! No lines and no wait. The view and the building are amazing. It is over 450m tall….

We went up to the 350m point and did the full 360 degree walk. It was breathtaking, so glad we did it at night.

Afterwards we had delicious chocolate treats and looked at all the beautiful lit up trees 🙂

Tomorrow we are off to the zoo WHERE I WILL GET TO SEE POLAR BEARS!

In case you’re wondering, we only went to Disney land and not Disney sea today for two reasons. Firstly by 4pm we were shattered. Disney sea is open until 8pm but it was so cold and we were so tired by then we just didn’t have it in us. Secondly, having watched the documentary The Cove I had been feeling a little uncomfortable about going there….if you’re not sure what I mean, watch the doco. I am much happier with our decision to go to Ueno Zoo tomorrow instead.

Categories: Japan Snow Trip | Tags: asia, disneyland, holiday, Japan, japanuary, overseas, snow, snow trip, tokyo, tokyo tower | Leave a comment

Day 18: Disneyland post one (photos!)

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Mel

I’ll post more stuff later but here are some photos from Disneyland today. We had a max temp of 3.8C and it was so cold it almost snowed….it’s the coldest I’ve ever been, that includes being out on the snow! However it meant the crowds were relatively small and instead of a 3hr wait our longest ride wait time was 9mins 😀 more talky to come later, for now, photos!

Categories: Japan Snow Trip | Tags: asia, disneyland, holiday, Japan, japanuary, overseas, snow, snow trip, tokyo | Leave a comment

Day 17: Kyoto to Tokyo (short post)

Posted on January 14, 2014 by Mel

Yaaaaaawn. Travelling is a bit exhausting. Or I am an old lady at heart. Maybe both :p

Today we planned to sleep in but were both awake by 7:30am. We checked out of the hotel, left our luggage and went off to explore Kyoto Imperial Palace and Ginkajuji Temple. Turns out you need a permit to go into the palace annnnnd we certainly didn’t have that. So off to the temple we went, it is known as the silver pavilion but is nowhere as flash as the golden pavilion from the other day. The gardens were beautiful though and the view of Kyoto from above the gardens was also pretty impressive.

Then it was luggage collection and bullet train time! 2hrs 16mins to Tokyo which i read through and B napped/listened to music for. We are only one station away from Tokyo Station (at Hachibori) so although it was a long trek from one part of Tokyo station to another (970m!) the actual train transfer was easy.

When we finally got here and could drop all our bags it was nice to see they had folded pretty paper cranes on our robes 🙂

We were going to go to Tokyo tower tonight but we are both tired and a bit grumpy from travelling. Especially me, I hate the train stations and how crowded they are. When you have a suitcase people get really narky at you as well – interesting comparison to the UK where at nearly every station people would help or at least look sympathetic when I was faced with huge flights of stairs.

Disneyland in the morning maybe? Max temp here tomorrow is 5C so I’ll let B decide if he’s up for it lol. If not, we can maybe go to the zoo or I’ll go see Mickey on my own! Gotta get them Mickey Mouse ears for Lana and Hunter….

Categories: Japan Snow Trip | Tags: asia, bullet train, holiday, Japan, japanuary, Kyoto, overseas, snow, snow trip, tokyo | 4 Comments