Hallo from Amsterdam!

When we arrived Sunday night, we were the only people in the customs line…cannot get much quicker than that!  Our first order of business the next morning was a Canal Cruise.  We saw beautiful architecture, so many leaning buildings (because of the high water table marshlands) and some really expensive row houses.  Boat houses are far more affordable (only 700K Euro)!  We found a cute little lunch spot down a (tight) alley where we ate savory pancakes, that look like crepes, filled with apple and bacon/cheese.  It has sprinkled on us each day in Amsterdam but we haven’t melted yet!  We walked the canal route this afternoon and enjoyed a stroll through the flea market.  We also have been amazed at all the cyclists; you have never seen so many bikes at one time!  We also decided we must walk through the Red Light District.  The afternoon here is much milder…thank goodness! 😉  We have done a lot of walking today; our hotel is very centrally located!

Saturday morning we grabbed (free) breakfast at the hotel…a huge perk to Cory’s status with Marriott.  We pretended to be locals today when we rented bikes and visited many playgrounds!  Our first park was an urban one that included trikes to ride on.  It also had some chickens and a rabbit.  Thanks to my friend’s uncle for most of our day’s activities!  We hit a second park before going to the highlight of the day…Groot Melkhuis!  It was a cafe that had a playground and a bounce house.  What could be better for kids!  This is located in Vondelpark which was a sprawling park full of people.  Teddy missed playground #4 as he was out cold.  All in all it was a day we felt we would’ve had if we lived here!  We also were exhausted from all the biking and slept really well!

This morning we ventured out for breakfast for Dutch pancakes (another recommendation from a colleague of Cory’s) and they were so yummy!  We proceeded to bike around more finding an art market to walk through.  It has been the most relaxing weekend!

More pictures are below from this long weekend’s fun!

Now on a train to Frankfurt…

Love,
Cory, Millie, Bea & Teddy

So many bikes!

Canal…in the Red Light District

Dutch shoes 

SUV of bikes that Cory drove

Griot Melkhuis Cafe and Playground

One of the many beautiful canals

Lots of leaning buildings

Amsterdam Centraal (train station)

Hello a last time!

Almost time to say good bye…

Our final week was spent in Sydney.  We have stayed in Marriotts, in the big cities, as this is Cory’s consistent hotel chain when he travels.  The local here in the Circular Quay was as amazing as Brisbane (overlooking the Brisbane River and Story Bridge) with a view of the Opera House and harbour.  Cory has spoiled us with our accommodations for sure!  We arrived late (for traveling with little kids standards ha) so we quickly checked in and requested an easy dinner recommendation for our family.  Our meal was delicious but we laughed as the concierge sent us to a restaurant where everyone was in business attire (ps I had sunscreen in my hair from being on the beach earlier in the day) and they didn’t have any high chairs.  Oops!  We made it home, got cleaned up and the room organized for the week.  As you know it’s necessary with kids to be organized or you’ll never find anything.  We are using our second double bed for luggage as Bea requested to stay in a crib and Teddy has floor space in his tent.

With two days left of our family of four vacation, we hit the sites the next morning.  Starting with a pancake house in The Rocks area where Bea had smiley face with ‘mushrooms’ (she meant marshmallows) for eyes. 😉  We walked through The Rocks market where we found lots of fun goodies. It was a beautiful day so we rode the ferry to Manly Beach.  The view didn’t disappoint from what a local had recommended for us….Opera House, Harbour Bridge and amazing houses and sail boats.  We lunched by the boats and just soaked in all the surroundings including a couple of Indigenous men playing the didgeridoo.  It quite intrigued Bea and Teddy!  After naps we walked to dinner only to be reminded that it was Halloween.  Only a small amount of Australians dress up for Halloween; and we found that in Sydney, they interpret it as make a zombie out of whatever costume you can think of with lots of red paint for blood.  We decided this could potentially give Bea nightmares so we quickly found a restaurant off the beaten path.  I got to witness a sweet fireworks show over the Opera House from our hotel window after the kids were down for the night.  So Halloween did have a perk for us after all!

On our last full day of family vacation we were so thankful as it was sunny and warm enough to take it to the beach.  We had an amazing time feeling ‘local’ and watching surfers.  The big kids (aka adults) were far out on boards and the little kids (preteen boys) were close in body surfing.  Teddy thought he was big enough to be in the water so we let him out just far enough to where the larger waves would get up to his waist.  Well these waves were quite forceful and would’ve taken him out to sea had I not been gripping his arms.  Every time the water hit him, he cackled!  We continued to soak in Bondi Beach with lunch overlooking the ocean and a drive through it all on the way back to the hotel.  Teddy and Bea both had worked so hard that they fell asleep on the short drive home.

On Monday Cory headed off to work, and subsequently arrived before anyone else in the office.  We both were apprehensive about today as it had been such amazing quality time for our family but the real world does call.  I was so off my game today!  There are a few reasons.  I’m in an unfamiliar city; I haven’t taken care of the kids alone for 31 days and my google maps wouldn’t work as I’m driving to a location that I didn’t realize had 0 parking. Ha  Needless to say,  Cory has spoiled me!  When we finally arrived, we enjoyed the aquarium and wildlife park.  The aquarium had a dugong (similar to our manatee) and lots of sharks to see.  At the wildlife park, we enjoyed a beautiful butterfly exhibit and watching a crocodile being fed.

Tonight Cory was presenting at an event so the kids and I enjoyed a lovely dinner by the harbour and a walk down to the Opera House.  We saw lots of patrons heading in for a play.  It took me back to when Momma, Daddy and I attended a play there.  I hope the play was better than the one we saw. 😉

Tuesday was a big day for Australia….the Melbourne Cup horse races.  Even though we’re not in Melbourne, they take off work and watch the races at bars/restaurants.  I was able to join Cory and his colleagues this afternoon to watch the races.  It was such a treat to have a ‘date day’ in Sydney!

On our travels we have only tried one museum (where it had a train ride).  Since it turned out well, I thought we’d have another go at the Australia Museum (oldest museum in the country).  It is a natural history museum and had neat skeletons of all sorts of animals including dinosaurs.  It would’ve gone over better had they not had sound effects.  Bea heard the dinosaur sound once, covered her ears and said “can we go?”  Oh mercy!  The saving grace was an area called Kidspace where they had tons of plush, figurine and dress up animals to enjoy.  For lunch we ate at the cafe in the museum and enjoyed a beautiful (though cloudy) view of St Mary’s Cathedral.  On a much sunnier day, 11.5 years ago, I have a picture of Momma and Daddy sitting on the church steps; it was fun to flash back to picture that fun time!

After traveling a bunch, it’s good to take a down day.  So the following day, we had a pj day with room service for breakfast, playing with our toys and watching some cartoons.  I do believe it was a hit.  We did finally get out of the hotel to meet a couple of Cory’s colleagues who had been so hospitable to us.

On our last full day in Australia, it was nice, sunny and hot so we took it to the zoo of course.  It was a fun adventure even before we saw any animals.  We rode the ferry to Taronga Zoo.  The zoo is up on sort of a cliff so then we rode a gondola up to the entrance.  It was super fun!  We made our first stop to see koalas for the last time.  It’s a big zoo with plenty of hills (some I had to run down as walking behind the stroller was harder work)!  Next we found chimpanzees….many chimps including a couple babies.  They walked in a group; when they stopped, one of the baby chimps was right in front of us.  We had a blast watching him play!  We saw two enclosures of elephants because the male is not too friendly.   While the seal show was going on, we saw a personal show from one seal who continued to swim past us while we watched.  Our giraffe and goat viewing was awesome because you could see the Sydney skyline just past the water.  We saw a few silverback gorillas including a baby before Bea said she didn’t want to see anymore animals! Ha  Off we go then!  Back to the hotel to quickly pack and wipe off the sunscreen we had lathered on earlier that morning.  We caught a flight back to Melbourne (business class…thanks Cory) and had our last sleep in Australia.

Bea and Teddy were amazing travelers…again!  Teddy slept the majority of the long flight and Bea slept some and enjoyed a good handful of movies.  Since she enjoyed those movies, we had a bit of a melt down in LAX; but, after a good rest in the stroller, she was good to go!  We were delayed in LA which would’ve caused us to miss our connection in Houston.  However, SWA pulls through again.  They held the plane for us (and a few more people) as it was the last flight to Birmingham that evening.  We were so glad!  Side note, a story about Bea was in last month’s issue of the SWA inflight magazine.

Well, that’s it from the Minton’s Aussie  adventures.  Thank you for letting us share our wonderful time as a family exploring new destinations.

Love,
Cory, Millie, Bea & Teddy

View from our room

Sydney Opera House while riding the ferry

Bondi Beach baby

Dugong at the Aquarium

Ratings Zoo: last koala sighting

Sydney skyline behind giraffes

Heading home

Hi again!

With only a couple weeks left, we are soaking up this beautiful country as much as possible.  This week we get to do it with Sharon; she took off two weeks to play with us while we were in Brisbane and on our ‘beaches’ vacation drive down the coast.  Beaches is a loose term at this point though as we had more rain and less beach than we hoped for.

I mentioned before that Bea can spot a playground a kilometer away.  At home she always requests meals Chick-Fil-A; but, since they don’t have any, it’s Macca’s as they too have great playgrounds.  We didn’t hit the playground this morning, but we did grab a quick breakfast here before heading to Mt Tambourine.  We took a lovely tree top rainforest walk complete with beautiful green butterflies!  Bea had a big time being the leader to point out which arrows to follow.  Next we went to a man made cave to see glow worms.  It was so neat as they started with 300 and are up to 5000 now.  Their goal is 10,000 so they’re on their way.  Teddy wasn’t a huge fan of the dark cave, even with a little red light to show you the worms up close.  After a nice lunch, we drove on to Yamba for the evening.

Yamba is an adorable little town where we walked around window shopping then decided to hit the beach.  We had seen that the weather might not cooperate this week with as much sunshine as we wanted so we took advantage of the sun.  Sharon grabbed the kids pails and shovels which were such a hit!  These kids really do love the beach.  Bea is getting braver with the water but she still prefers to play in the sand.  Teddy, on the other hand, will just walk straight on into the water.  You have to pull him out when we go; he loved the water!  After a beach rinse off, we went back to our hotel as Sharon had found a prize possession we had been looking for (in every freezer in Australia) since we left Adelaide.  See Bea saw an Olaf ice cream before we went to Kangaroo Island; and after a few days of her requesting one, we bought one.  However we put the original Olaf in our campervan freezer and forgot about him.  When we realized it, we didn’t mention it.  Bea never forgets and a couple days into our next city’s adventure she asked where her ice cream was!  So when Sharon found one, we had no option but to go back and eat it immediately!  It didn’t disappoint!

This evening we enjoyed a beautiful dinner in the home of Sharon’s aunt and uncle.  They live in South West Rocks which was on our coastal trip heading south.  They also joined us for breakfast the next morning at the national park and then showed us kangaroos in the wild!  Then it started to pour so we drove on to Port Macquarie.  We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon/evening in our unit along with the new Cinderella movie.  Teddy was over it almost as quickly as it started. Ha

On Wednesday, we went back tourist style starting with finding the koala statues that were hand painted (matching the location in which is was sponsored by) all over Port Macquarie.  Our first was at Billabong Koala and Wildlife Park where we also saw one of every animal including cockatoos (one who came after Sharon who had taken a work call and wasn’t aware), very smelly wombats, meerkats, beautiful cheetahs, snow leopards, koalas and wallabies.  Today Teddy turned a corner because he decided the wallabies weren’t all bad after all and wanted to interact with them.  We let him out of the stroller and off he went walking toward them, grabbing their faces, playing peekaboo with a joey and feeding them.  It might be his confidence to walk is getting greater; but, whatever it was, it was fun to watch!  Needless to say there are plenty of spills with a new walker.   Unfortunately, being in an area where animals are roaming free, it isn’t the cleanest.  Baths were a must when we got back to our unit that afternoon!  Before nap time, we found a handful more koala statues around our lunch spot.  Bea had a big time posing with them all.

On Thursday, we met some friends of Sharon’s at a Ricardo’s Tomato and Strawberry Farm.  Cory and Bea toured the farm then we all went strawberry picking.  We had a blast cutting our specially picked strawberries then even ate a chocolate covered one on the way out.  Why not have chocolate dip at the register!  Our final koala statue was at Cassegrain Winery so we also enjoyed a little wine tasting while we were there.

I drove us to a town called The Entrance this afternoon to our last night’s stay with Sharon.  Since we need more rooms, we’ve stayed in sprawling units that I could actually live in! Ha. This place was no different with a pool off the back patio where we of course swam the next morning.  We made the most of it the next day with pool time then on to lunch and beach time at the Norah Head Rock Pool….then back to the pool. Sweet Teddy however didn’t last for the second pool swim but I did get to hold him while he slept.  This hasn’t happened since he was an infant and I loved every minute of it!

We had an amazing week having Sharon all to ourselves!  Bea and Teddy loved being with her as much as we did.  We soaked up our time with her especially Cory and me as we would chat and play cards at night.  It doesn’t get much better than that.  It was so hard to drop her off at the Sydney airport on Friday night to head home.

Love,
Cory, Millie, Bea & Teddy

Mt. Tambourine

Glow worms

Olaf ice cream

Billabong Koala and Wildlife Park’s statue

Teddy and wallabies

Strawberry picking 

Norah Head Beach

Hello again!

So 11.5 years ago, I came to Brisbane to do an internship at the end of college.  Little did I know, I was adding to my family.  I stayed with the Schaers who took me in as one of their own.  The girls of the family have all come to the states to see us but it’s been 10 years (since our wedding day) that I last saw Sharon, my Aussie mom.

Needless to say, I was quite anxious to get to Brisbane to see everyone.  Our first night in town, we took the City Cat, which is the water taxi on the Brisbane River, to Southbank to meet Sharon for dinner.  The last time I rode the City Cat was with my momma and daddy!  We got to Southbank before Sharon so I was watching to spot her.  I was looking in the wrong direction when Cory said “there she is; she’s running!”  We were both quite excited to see each other that I’m pretty sure I stepped on her toes as I ran to meet her.  I don’t think she minded. 😉  It was a wonderful evening and Bea and Teddy took straight to her!  On our City Cat ride back to our hotel, Bea said “it was really fun to meet Sharon!”

Our first full day in town, Sharon coordinated for us to see Joan (her mom), Kelsey, Shane (her partner), Harlow (their new 2 week young) and Hans (Kelsey’s dad).  It was a beautiful day of catching up, enjoying the spring weather and just taking it all in.  Bea and Teddy jumped right in again with our Aussie family and I couldn’t be happier for my family to meet everyone!  Sharon made dinner at her home for us this evening.  It is just so surreal to be back but feels so normal!

After a day of ‘being a local’, we decided to go tourist again and explore the Australia Zoo.  This is the zoo Steve Irwin started and I didn’t get there on my first visit to Australia.  Sharon and Hans enjoyed the zoo with us and we didn’t miss an animal!  We saw koalas, dingo pups, a tiger, rhinos, zebras giraffes and even got to feed kangaroos, goats and pigs.  They also had water dragons (not in cages) walking all around the zoo; they quite intrigued Teddy as he liked to watch how fast they could move.  Bea said no thanks and would walk wide to avoid them. ha  Of course we didn’t leave out the crocodiles.  Yes, we saw crocs of all kinds (including some American alligators) and ages.  They had a croc who had been born in 1933!  Who knew crocodiles lived that long!  They put on a big show of reptiles, birds and crocs that was amazing!  The birds were actually quite intriguing and birds don’t usually excite me that much.  However, they had these birds (macaws, condors, cockatoos, etc) trained so to fly all around and then back to their enclosure.  Then came the trainers and a crocodile; they are brave souls as they truly let the croc get so close to them to show us different movements that crocs made.  However, when they agitated the croc and finally fed him, they were completely out of breath from being so focused.  Fun side note is that while we ate lunch, we looked up and saw a koala sitting in a tree beside us just snoozing away.  It doesn’t get old to see them!  Some nights are meant for relaxation and movies so that’s just what we did tonight.  After a very early supper and baths, we snuggled up on our double bed (all four of us…while Teddy lasted) and watched Tinkerbell.  Bea has gotten really into fairies lately. 😉

Sharon had arranged such a fun week of seeing friends and family so we took the next morning to meet a friend that I worked with at Driza-bone and her two boys (ages 2 and 4).  Bea had a big time playing with them as I’m sure she misses playing with kids her age regularly at play school.  She has however made sure to practice her ballet skills at every balance beam (or make shift one) she has come across so she won’t be behind in ballet class when we return. 😉

We ended our day with a lovely dinner at Mt. Coot-tha Lookout (beautiful, vast view of Brisbane and we got to see the view before the sun went down too) and Summit restaurant with Sharon and Joan.  The kids were in rare form this night so as you can imagine this type of behavior typically comes with injuries.  Throughout the trip, Bea has skinned her knee and smashed fingers and toes; Teddy has bonked his head and bloodied his mouth more than once.  I thought I had brought enough bandaids for the trip.  As it turns out, I’ve already bought the second box as bandaids as they seem to really help any situation especially for Bea.  As I had seen back home, I’m constantly reminded of how different boys and girls are.  Bea needs a bandaid every time she barely hits something.  Teddy needs a hug only when he’s bleeding or has a pump knot; otherwise, he just keeps on going.

We’ve really enjoyed a balance of touring the city and just relaxing.  Wednesday we did a little of both!  Sharon joined us for breakfast at the hotel before heading out on a City Cat ride down the Brisbane River to an area called New Farm.  It has lovely grassy areas, beautiful jacarandas (purple budded trees that Bea loves) and an awesome playground.  As usual Bea hit the playground running to try out all the new things and today, so did Teddy.  He said I can get to things this time too as he walked all around!  When I get home and Cory goes back to work, I think I have my work cut out for me to keep up with them both!  This afternoon Cory and I both took some time for ourselves; we traded staying with the kids while they napped.  I emptied my backpack before running a couple errands so I’d have room for the items I was purchasing.  It felt so strange to walk out the door without a stroller or diapers. ha  We rounded out our evening by going to see Kelsey, Shane and baby Harlow.  Sharon read Bea and Teddy an Aussie book called Possum Magic; it’s a precious book!

So when you’ve been away from home for a month, you tend to need some downtime.  We took some the next morning by not leaving the hotel until 5pm!  We had a jammie morning (as we like to call it) and just relaxed.  We had breakfast in the restaurant downstairs outside soaking in the sunshine.  The sun is definitely more intense here so you don’t stay outside very long without putting 30+spf sunscreen on at all times.  Thank goodness Bea and Teddy don’t mind be lathered up.

Tonight we were scheduled to have a family BBQ at Southbank but the rain took us to Sharon’s sister, Melinda’s house instead.  We got to see Melinda, her husband and 2 girls; their daughters were 3 and 5 years the last time I saw them. 😉  Needless to say they have grown up and were so sweet playing with Bea and Teddy.  Sharon, Joan and Cory did all the cooking and it was delicious!

On Friday of this week, Cory trained down to Surfer’s Paradise in the Gold Coast to see the beaches and enjoy Aussie V8 Supercar races.  He had so much fun seeing their beautiful beaches as well as watching their V8s….the race cars are the same car Cory drives daily at home!  With only a couple more days in Brisbane, we wanted to visit with our Aussie family as much as possible so that’s just what we did.  We hung out at Sharon’s house as well as hitting a playground with a zip line!  Cory and I acted like big kids then said our goodbyes to Joan, Hans, Kelsey, Shane and baby Harlow.  It was so much fun but saying good bye this time was even harder.  It has been amazing to watch my family meet and fall in love with my Aussie family like I did.  I’m not sure they realize what a God-send they were when they said “sure we’ll host this American girl at our house.”  I’m so incredibly thankful they did!

Love,
Cory, Millie, Bea & Teddy

City Cat ride

Aussie family pics: Joan and Sharon (top left), Hans (top right), Baby Harlow (bottom left), Shane (bottom middle), Kelsey (bottom right)
Kangaroo feeding time

Brisbane is a beautiful city!

Bea loves the jacarandas!

Daddy taught Bea to climb her first tree!

Sharon reading to Bea and Teddy

G’day mates! (A lady taught Bea to say this!)

And back to warmer weather…we flew to Hervey Bay for our first stop in the state of Queensland.  A quick night’s sleep at a beautiful hotel called Oceans and then a quick ferry ride over to Fraser Island.  We had a relaxing swim (in a cold pool) this morning and Teddy has still snuck in some morning naps while in the campervan as well as the stroller.  After a quick room switch (our only travel issues thus far), we had a relaxing afternoon of 3+ hour naps and Cory fixed supper in our villa.  Our issue with our initial room is that required many steps or a long, steep hill to get to it.  Neither were great options with a stroller!

We were up early the next morning to catch our boat for the humpback whale watching trip.  I had always wanted to do this but wasn’t quite prepared when I first saw these magnificent creatures.  It was breathtaking!  We rode for about an hour before we stopped at our first ‘pod’ of whales; most pods include a momma and calf.  This pod didn’t disappoint as the calf practiced his breeching as he swam along side his momma.  We saw a few more pods who breeched, blew (meaning they shot air out of their spout), gave a pectoral slap with their fin and plenty of tail slapping.  Our last pod of the day was the pinnacle as these whales came to people watch!  As they came toward our boat (very trusting of us), we realized it was 2 mommas, 2 calves and an escort they called him as they didn’t know if it was another female or a male.  These whales were quite interested in us and did a bunch of ‘spy hopping’ where they popped their head out of the water to see us.  As well as swimming back and forth underneath our boat!  We hurried from one side to the next to get close up pictures… and I mean close up!  They were so close you could see the spots on their head.  They are the most amazing creatures I have ever seen!  After such an amazing morning, we all took naps before an evening swim and dinner.

We had another full day with our ‘Beauty Spot 4WD Tour‘ led by guide Peter Meyer.  Thank goodness neither of our kids get motion sickness as we sat on the next to back row (kids in car seats) as we enjoyed what felt like an all day roller coaster ride.  You have to drive a 4WD on the island because there are very few sealed (as they call them) roads and the rest is all sand.  After a fun ride with Teddy kicking his legs and giggling, we stopped in one of the many rain water lakes called Lake McKenzie.  Next was Wanggaoolba, or Invisible Creek where we did a 30 minute hike which included 120+ stairs at the end….all of which Bea climbed herself!  We saw a couple of yellow spotted monitor lizards, yellow/leafy looking spider and another big spider Bea found that morning.  Soon after she saw the big spider, Bea said “Will you hold me please, Daddy?”  😉  It was a fun day of remembering a similar tour I took with my sister Nan and cousin Rebecca 11.5 years ago on this island.  After lunch, we drove on the beach where we saw 2 dingo pups and their mom who had stolen some food from someone’s camp!  By the way, our bus was a 48 seater with 4WD so the back of the bus was bumpy!  Cory and Bea took a scenic plane ride over the island and Bea was glued to the window the whole time!  They took off and landed on the beach.  Our last swimming spot of the day was at Eli Creek where it’s like a lazy river.  I thought the kids would love this….wrong!  It was quite cold water and they both virtually cried the whole time; so we carried them. ha  On our way home, we got a flat tire so unfortunately we had to wake Teddy while it was changed.  Thankfully though the guide was quick and we were back on the sandy road in no time.  We decided after such a full day that another dinner in was a good idea.

The next morning we said good bye to Fraser Island and took the ferry back over to Hervey Bay to rent a car.  We headed south to Tewantin/Noosa Heads area for the evening.  It is a beautiful little beach town where we sat outside for supper and enjoyed an ice cream after dinner.  Tonight we stayed in another villa at a holiday park.  These holiday parks are so perfect for a family on their travels.

Next is Brisbane….

Love,
Cory, Millie, Bea & Teddy
Teddy sleeping on Fraser Island in stroller

Humpback Whale: first four pictures are of a full breech including the splash then a close up a momma and calf. You can see her eye we’re so close!

4WD Tour: hiking through the rainforest, Lake McKenzie, Cory and Bea’s float plane ride

G’day all!

And the travels continue….as we drove further west, we enjoyed seeing vineyard after vineyard.  The people in South Australia know how to grow some grapes!  We actually found vineyards all over this state as well as in Kangaroo Island.  We’ve also learned a couple more tricks about Bea and Teddy.  One being how to keep Teddy happy during a meal (when he hasn’t gotten full yet)…a balloon.  We stopped at Macca’s on our drive to South Australia and he was given a balloon (on a stick).  He LOVED it!  He ate every chicken nugget bite with his right hand while holding the balloon in his left hand.  Second, we learned that Bea can spot a playground a mile away and she let’s you know!  Who knew there were so many playgrounds in Australia!  And we’ve stopped at most of them!

I finally took a turn and drove the campervan and man was it different.  It’s not much longer than my vehicle at home but definitely taller and it doesn’t turn very easily.  I didn’t last long behind the wheel and let Cory drive the rest of our travels.  Bless him, that was a lot of driving!

We took a stay in Hahndorf, the oldest German village in Australia, where we enjoyed a smorgasbord of sausages.  They were delicious!  They have a farm barn where the kids got to feed and pet baby goats, chicks, lamb and calves.  Teddy wanted to pet a chick but didn’t realize him strength.  Luckily, Cory got the chick’s head out of Teddy’s hand before anything bad happened!  They also had kangaroo and Bea is becoming a natural at feeding them.

A couple fun side notes, we learned the black and white bird we see everywhere and hear (they have an amazingly different sound) is called a Magpie.  Funny enough, our favorite band sings a song about Magpies.  Another is that instead of butter they put yogurt or ice cream on pancakes for breakfast!  Bea is loving eating ice cream for breakfast!

On to Kangaroo Island via ferry….we sat right up front so we could watch during the 45 min ferry ride.  Our first stop was Seal Bay for Ranger Conrad to lead us on a small tour to see seals up close.  We heard a pup calling out for his mom and when she didn’t answer he went to the edge of he water to wait for her!  Vivonne Bay came next with
lunch in campervan and playing in the sand on the beach.  There was hardly anyone else there and the sand felt like you were walking on kinetic sand.  We also took advantage of our campervan and took turns enjoying the beach while the kids took their afternoon naps in the van!  Our campervan park in Western KI was full of wildlife where we watched two momma kangaroos and their joeys (one in the pouch and one newly outside the pouch) have supper as well as a hurd of rock wallabys bound around.

The next day was quite different, mainly because of the temperature drop!  We drove to Flinders Chase Park to see the rock formations: Admiral’s Arch (amazing rock formations where New Zealand fur seals live on the rocks; the waves here were also unbelievably wild!) and Remarkable Rocks (you can walk on).  We were waiting though to see wildlife just on our drive and we got it!  A kangaroo jumped in front of our car (luckily we were watching for wildlife) and an echidna (looks like a porcupine) and an eagle.  This place is magical!  And it didn’t stop there when we went to the KI Wildlife Park.  This park is the most raw animal viewing place I’ve ever been to.  Upon walking up a cockatoo named Stanley greeted us; he talks, cries and coughs!  Bea thought he was awesome!  Again, we got to pet and feed kangaroos and wallabys….one wallaby being a momma with her Joey in her pouch while we hand fed her!  Teddy doesn’t love the bigger animals.  He cried and put his head in my chest when I bent down to get him closer to the kangaroos and wallabys.  He did however LOVE the koalas and oohed over them!  Cory and I both got to hold Chloe which I forgot how awesome this was!  Teddy and Bea both got to pet her while we held her.  Then Teddy went too far and grabbed her ear!  The zookeeper quickly tried to help as he didn’t want me to get scratched or bit.   This park also had peacocks (a white one too), pelicans, penguins, owls, etc.  We were truly blown away at this place!

Our time in KI ended and we headed back to Adelaide for an evening to let the kids stretch their legs at the holiday park playground and in our cabin.  We ended up getting a cabin our final night in our campervan as we were all tired of sleeping in such tight quarters as well as showering in dorm settings.  I also did lots of laundry again at the park.

We ended our time in South Australia at the National Railway Museum on a train ride.  We’re excited for a few days on the beach before seeing our Aussie family in Brisbane!

Love,
Cory, Millie, Bea & Teddy

Teddy holding balloon in Macca’s

Campervan pics: downstairs and kids’ bunk

Hahndorf Farm Barn: petting a calf

Seal Bay Conservatory

Admiral’s Arch

Remarkable Rocks
Koala with joey

Holding “Chloe”

Hi friends!

And so another portion of our trip is in the books….the Great Ocean Road!

On our way to pick up our campervan, we grabbed breakfast at McDonalds, or Macca’s as they call it.  Our first stop in our campervan was to get supplies.  But more importantly we had to find a parking spot that would fit our newly acquired oversized vehicle.  After going around the block and much searching, we found a spot in
the back of the car park (as they call it).  All stops take much longer than allotted for with little kids.  Then onto the Great Ocean Road and to see Bell’s Beach.  This is a huge surfing spot and there were tons of surfers.  We were wearing light jackets so brrr in the
water!

Our first holiday park was also a learning experience.  Cory was going to fix supper only to realize we didn’t have any propane in the tank (even though they said it was 3/4 full).  So we punted with sandwiches and microwaved beans…good camp food. 😉  Then he proceeded to get the van ready for bed while I corralled the kids at the playground.  In order to go to bed, he had to take out both car seats and basically unload all our luggage outside.  Then you set up the top bunk (which I got up there only once to put Teddy to bed and was so incredibly claustrophobic) by pulling out boards and putting cushions on top.  Then he put Teddy’s mini tent up there and Bea sleeps beside him in a sleeping bag.  Ok, so they’re settled and now for us.  We also had to pull out boards and cushions to make our bed.  Then Cory had to figure out where all our luggage would fit….mostly in the cab and under our bed.  It’s like a jigsaw puzzle.  As it turns out, it’s quite a system to set up both for night and day time in the campervan but we’re getting more efficient each day.  Even though it’s a tight space and lots of unloading and loading, we think it was still a good idea for the kids to have consistent sleeping arrangements for this part of our trip.

We took a couple serene rainforest walks.  The fern branches/leaves are the biggest we’ve ever seen!  On down the road, we stopped to see koalas in the wild.  As it turns out, it’s the same stop I took with my friend Katelyn (on our day trip down the Great Ocean Road from Melbourne) 11 years ago!  We did in fact see a couple koalas and cockatoos along with a kookaburra (bird native and only found in Australia) and other radiantly colored birds.

Next up was viewing the magnificent Twelve Apostles….and they were magnificent!  We got supper from a pub and had a picnic while we enjoyed the beautiful scenery!  We wanted to stay and see the penguins return from their fishing for the day but decided to get the kids to bed instead.  So we proceeded to take our first ‘campervan’ shower experience.  Teddy proceeded to scream (Bea and I could hear him from our showers) the entire time.  Poor Cory!  This was a mom and pop park like the previous one we had stayed in.

The next day was what we called our best food day to date.  It started at the Do Duck Inn Cafe in Princetown where we had toast covered in two fried eggs, spinach, ham and tomato and sausage….delicious!  Then we enjoyed the rest of the Great Ocean Road highlights: Loch Ard Gorge, London Bridge and Bay of Martyrs.  In 1990 a part of the London Bridge fell into the ocean and I can see why.  The waves here were unbelievably strong!  I cannot imagine how fish stay alive with those waves!  Continuing our yummy meals was lunch at Simon’s on the water in Warrnambool (the names of these cities are starting to get hard to pronounce). ha  We sat looking at the ocean while Cory had the best fish and chips (thus far in Australia) and I enjoyed a salmon and mango salsa meal.  Wow!

We ended our official Great Ocean Road travels in Port Fairy where we thought we’d hit the jackpot for two reasons.  One was The Stag; a restaurant clearly not intended for children but amazing!  We first had a purple carrot (didn’t know they existed) for an entree (as they call an appetizer here), cheesy cauliflower and wallaby.  It tastes
like cow. 😉  Two is we finally stayed at a Big4 holiday park.  They had a ‘jumping pillow’ and both kids loved it!  Check out Cory’s Instagram for a video of Bea jumping.  The park also had a playground and indoor bounce/play area.  I mean, it was the jackpot for these children who had been living in a campervan.

We were amazed at the beauty of the Great Ocean Road!  Here are some photo highlights of our trip!

Love,
Cory, Millie, Bea & Teddy

Bell’s Beach (see the surfer’s behind them)

Rainforest walk

Twelve Apostles

Campervan fun

London Bridge

Hello again!

So I’ll finally get to share the rest of last week’s time in Melbourne; as it turns out, wifi hasn’t been readily available for the past few days.

I found out jet lag is real for everyone as it definitely took 4-6 days to get the kids on the right time zone.  They were taking 3-4 hour naps….and even then I had to wake them!  I was also napping 1-2 hours each day.  shh!  But now we’re back on our normal schedule.

We had some really fun adventures last week while Cory was at work.  One day, we took the free tram to the Aquarium.  Bea thought she was big stuff getting to hold on to the pole by herself.  The schools in the state of Victoria (where Melbourne is located) were on holidays last week so we weren’t the only ones with the idea to go to the aquarium.    Bea and Teddy were so amazing though to stand patiently in line for 30 min to get inside.  I was so thankful!  Once we got in through, we had a blast seeing huge stingrays, a gigantic crocodile (I was so glad he was behind the glass), penguins and more.  Another day we went to Federation Square (where there were lots of girls auditioning for Australia’s Next Top Model) and found the “Art Play” area for kids.  Bea enjoyed a few short films until an emcee invited kids onstage.  Bea didn’t give it a second thought and hopped right on stage (with Teddy and me in the audience).  They danced and acted like different animals.  To date, I think this was Bea’s favorite activity in Australia. ha

I’ve also done our laundry once in what they call it a ‘launderette.’  Regardless, I haven’t had to wash laundry outside my own home in probably 11 years…since I was in Australia before. 🙂

On Cory’s last work day, EMC hosted Kids@Work day and it gave the wrong impression to Bea and Teddy as to what Cory actually does at work.  ha  Bea had her nails painted, of course.  They both had their faces painted for the first time.  Bea had Minnie Mouse and Teddy had Batman; they both sat spellbound while the artist painted their faces.  Another first for Bea was trying cotton candy.

On our last night in Melbourne, I decided it would be a good idea to have a snack in the executive lounge before supper to help with Teddy being so hungry when we got to a restaurant.  Oh did this turn out to be a bad idea!  We had to go to our second restaurant option (first option obviously wasn’t interested in children at their establishment) and by the time we got there, he was in a big way!  So much so that he poured the baby food packet we gave him ALL OVER HIS HEAD AND OUTFIT which made him even angrier.  The waitress (who may or may not have been tired of Teddy’s screaming) gave both Bea and Teddy lollipops before we even ordered…if a spoonful of sugar helps, why not a stick covered in it!

Side note, you have to put your key into a slot to turn on the lights in your hotel room…seriously, when you walk in the room, you put your room key in a slot that turns on some sort of master electrical switch making the room come to life.  Very strange, but Cory reminded me this was how hotels in Europe do as well…maybe we are the weird ones.

As it turns out, Friday was a holiday in Victoria for the “Australian Football League Finals” so we decided to head out of town to the Yarra Valley.  Our first stop was a Tulip Festival where there were colors I’ve never seen before…breathtaking!  Then we drove on to our hotel, De’vine Escape, right beside the family owned vineyard, Fergusson Winery.  The kids played on the playground while we drank some wine that we had just tasted in the tasting room and enjoyed some delicious locally crafted cheeses.

Healesville Sanctuary was our next stop where we saw koalas and got to hear a male’s growl/grunting sound.  Like an Aussie told us, they don’t sound as cute as they look!  Bea and Cory got to pet and feed some kangaroos (one in particular named “Krystal” who Bea got to hug)…huge highlight of the trip so far!  We also saw platypus, played with a wombat and saw a baby kangaroo they were nursing back to health…Mommy Bea was super interested in the bottle feeding of a baby kangaroo.

All in all our Melbourne area week was amazing!  We cannot even believe a week is already over but we sure have soaked it in and had a blast!

Thanks again for your prayers.  Next up, the Great Ocean Road!

Love,
Cory, Millie, Bea and Teddy

Kids@Work face painting 

Tulip Festival

Bea’s dinner in Yarra Valley came with an Australian flag in it!

Feeding “Krystal” the kangaroo

Healesville Sanctuary

Petting “Shadow” the wombat