Mary Cairncross & Montville

May 5, 2010

We liked Mary Cairncross Rainforest so much we knew we had to go back during the day. When we were in the visitors center the workers were telling us about the wildlife we might see. They were telling us about these giant worms and told us we would be lucky if we saw any. As we left the office Ryan said, "I've got to find one of those worms!" And what do you know, as we started down the trail what did we almost run over?

A worm!
This is a small one. A picture in the visitor's center showed an earthworm thick enough to fit fully in the palm of your hand. Try fishing with that bad boy.



The natives of Australia found me VERY desirable!

The first night we got to Australia we went to the beach by my parents house. I was enjoying digging my toes in the sand until I looked down and saw that my feet we COVERED in sand mites. I got over fifty bites!!! Me legs and feet got very swollen!They itched SO bad they kept me up many nights. None of the itch creams is proven safe for pregnant women so I used some tee tree oil which sometimes helped a little. So what is that bleeding from? Well as we were leaving the visitors center I thought I felt something on my leg. I lifted up my pant leg and there it was hanging on my leg.....

A LEACH!!!

Yes, a leach sucking away on my blood! It took a while to remove it. The workers were about to salt it. But lucky for that little leach Ryan was able to pull him off and he was put back into the wild to live another day and attack someone else.
(Just for the record today is June 17th and I still have red spots from the bites......It's been over six weeks since I was bitten!)

Of course the Rainforest had a park next to the parking lot! Man Australia is great!!!
Ezra really liked this spinning toy.

We loved driving around because it was so beautiful! The drive from the rainforest to Monteville was exceptionally beautiful. We kept saying "WOW, this is amazing!" I've honestly never seen such beauty in my life. As we were driving enjoying the amazing views we saw a sign for a lookout. We had to stop and see what could be more amazing than what we were already seeing.

As we were enjoying the view all of a sudden a rainbow appeared in the sky.
Magic!

The rainbow
So we got to the cute little town of Monteville at about 3:55PM. We were hungry so we went to a little cafe. As we were looking at the menu the waitress informed us they were closed. Not only were they closed the WHOLE town was closed!

Many places close at about 4:00PM in Australia. If you ask people why things close so early they say, "Why would you want to work late? What about family time?" Yes, families get home from school and work and spend time together. Wonderful!

I had to get a picture of this bat that was outside one of the shops.

We left Monteville in search of food. I suggested to Ryan we stop at Big Dad's Pies, a place he had been wanting to try. We stopped at Big Dad's.......closed.....you know...... family time.

Thankfully we found another one that was open.

So what is Big Dad's Pies? Apple, peach, pumpkin? No, it's meat pies. Meat pies are kind of like the American pot pie, but different. They don't have the gravy and they are full of filling, meat, vegtables, cheese. Delicious!!! You can eat them with tomato sauce, but we liked them just the way they came. Meat pies are really big in Australia. When you go to a ball game instead of hot dogs and hamburgers there are meat pies and fish & chips.

Jamieson Park

May 4, 2010

In Australia there are parks EVERYWHERE! You can't go more than about a mile without running into one. This is just one of the AMAZING parks we went to.

The view

Can you believe this is a park?

I'm pretty sure this is what the parks in heaven look like!

Australia Zoo

May 3, 2010

I can't believe we got to go to the Australia zoo! It is somewhere I've wanted to go for quite sometime. I leaned a lot more about it when Steve Irwin passed away. So here is a little info for those who don't know about the zoo or the Irwin family. The Australian Zoo was started by Steve Irwin's parents. The zoo started very small as a place to bring animals that the Irwin family rescued on their family adventures. Steve is famous for his show The Crocodile Hunter. A show that featured crazy Steve capturing crocodiles and saying CRICKY! He would catch crocs that were causing problems in areas. He saved the crocs lives because they would have just been killed. Steve was nine years old when he pounced his first croc!

The zoo raises not only money for but awareness about these wonderful animals and what we need to do to save them.

Ezra ready for a fun!

Our family with a statue of the Irwins.

When you first walk into the zoo they have animal handlers with animals you can touch. Ezra really liked the baby alligator!

He liked him a little TOO much!

As Ezra was patting ( that's what they call petting) the alligator he decided to squish his tummy. Do you like the reaction on my face? I sure hope Ezra learns how to be "soft" before the babies come!!!

So crocodiles that could eat Ezra in one bite he loved but a man in a crocodile suit FREAKED him out!

Feeding the kangaroos was AMAZING! You are walking around in their habitat and you can walk up and pat of or feed any of them. The nice thing is that the kangaroos can go into "no touch" areas if they want a break. I think that is so great! As you can tell there were plenty of kangaroos out for us to play with!

On a bad day this might not sound like a bad option......Ha ha ha!

We all got a chance to feed the elephants.

Ezra was amazed by the bird show at the crocasium.

If you keep a croc in a cage and just throw in food they would die because they wouldn't get to use their instincts. At the zoo they make them work for their food. It keeps the crocs happy and it's fun to watch! The Crocodile Hunter car is one of Steve's old cars.

Ezra is signing bird.

After all the animals were feed it was time to feed the people.

Ezra liked smooshing his face on the stroller canopy. He looked like a little spaceman.

Daddy and Ezra with the Red Pandas

Most people refer to Koalas as koala bears but they are not bears they are marsupials. Marsupial young are born immature and they develop further in the safety their mother's pouch.

Sweet baby!

When we found out we would be going to Australia I knew one thing I wanted to do for sure, and that was.....

hold a KOALA!!!
Look at my face..... I was SO excited!

They are so soft, kind of like a bunny.

These tigers are some that the zoo is trying to save. The handlers are using milk to get them to show off. Something that is very apparent at the zoo is how much they truly love and respect these animals. They really work with them a lot! The Australia Zoo is the only place in the world where handlers can get blood samples from the tigers without it being sedated. That is amazing! Not something I want to try, but amazing. Another example of love was with the Tasmanian devils. As we were getting ready to leave the zoo we saw a worker going into the Tasmanian devil habitat. She said each day, morning and night, they are cuddled. There she sat cuddling a little devil!

More kangaroos

This crocs name is Casper because he is white. He is not a albino. Albinos lack pigment in their skin Casper lacks only black pigment-he is called leusistic.

CRIKEY!

May 1, 2010

We started the day at the Eumundi Market. It is a huge market where all the locals bring things to sell...... Food, clothing, woodwork, crafts, art and everything and anything else you can think of. There are also people playing music. We had fun walking around and enjoying some Australian culture. If you don't know what a didgeridoo sounds like just watch an Outback Stake House commercial. Listen for the wa wa sound. Now playing the didgeridoo isn't as easy as you might think, it takes skill. To play you must buzz your lips while the didg is touching your mouth. Try buzzing your lips, now take your fingers and make a OK sign and put it up to your lips. Not so easy right? Now that's just to make a sound come out. If you want it to sound good/cool at all you have to move your tongue around or say words while buzzing. My little brother Alan has been playing since November and he is really good! People at the market would stop to watch him play. They would say "Look, it's that kid playing." I wanted to give it shot, and what do you know.....I'm a natural. I could even do a couple of tricks! I still have a LONG way to go before I consider myself good but it was really fun. My problem is I don't have enough breath support so I will have to wait till after the babies are born to really start practicing.

The Australians are very friendly! All day long you hear "G-day" (good day) "good on you" and "no worries". As I was standing in line for "the toilet" (that's how they refer to the bathroom) I had a lady say "Oh, you have such a lovely bump!" The bump is what they call the pregnant belly. It's also how they refer to your unborn child. Then the other ladies in line stared taking to me as well telling how wonderful I looked. They were all very excited about the twins! They were all so positive. I LOVE them!!! I'm so used to hearing "Wow, your huge!" or "Oh, twins....I feel sorry for you!" mostly negative things. What a nice change! I found Australians to be more positive than Americans in general. Australia is the place for pregnant women!

Speaking of pregnant women.....May 1, 2010 marked 25 weeks

Here is a picture of "The Bump"

After the market we stopped at a park to make lunch. Every park in Australia has electric grills and they are very well maintained. So what do you grill when you are in OZ? SAUSAGE!!!

Ezra LOVED It! We tried kangaroo sausages called kanga bangas. This was our first and only time eating kangaroo meat! Not because it tasted bad, it was good. The reason is knowledge..... Ryan read Steve Erwin's book and we learned more about kangaroos and how we need to protect them. Sorry Steve....we didn't know! I have to say this was the best lunch I've ever had made in a park!
In America we have pigeons as wild birds. In Australia they have turkeys. Ezra had a blast chasing them! he got pretty close too.

Noosa was beautiful! Blue water and white sand........ need I say more? Oh, the sand squeaks...... yes, SQUEAKS! When you walk on your toes you can hear it. Crazy! Ezra liked the sand not only to play in but to eat too! He had a great time knocking down the sandcastles Bethany and Alan made. Ezra did NOT like the water! He cried when the waves came up. Ryan and I LOVED the water, it felt great! The water in Australia is way more salty then the water here in America. I wonder why???

Beautiful!!!

That four wheeler car thing drove across to beach selling snow cones and ice cream.

The Big Pineapple is a pineapple farm and tour that is famous for a huge fake pineapple. Inside the pineapple you can take the stairs to the top to take a picture. On your way up there is a bunch of information about pineapples. Did you know it takes about three pineapples to make one regular sized can of pineapple!?! Impressive fact, no?

Last stop of the day was the beautiful Mary Cairncross rainforest. It was getting late and it was raining so we didn't get to say for long. I am glad we went at that time because we got these beautiful pictures.

The amazing thing is as you are driving to a rainforest the sky will be sunny and it isn't as green. As you get closer to the rainforest it gets greener and all of a sudden you hit the rainforest and it rains. I guess that's where they get their name. the mountains in the distance are the famous Glass House mountains. From certain angles the one on the right looks like a squatting gorilla.

Our first taste of Australia

April 30. 2010

In order for me to be able to get around and enjoy Australia and not over do it I needed a wheelchair. Luckily there was a rental place right down the street from my parents house. We were able to rent a wheelchair for the whole three weeks for $60......money well spent!

As we were strolling down the street we smelled something amazing and had to stop.

Cornish Pasties

They were delicious!!!!

In the middle is a picture of me with tomato sauce, Aussie ketchup.

Australia or BUST!

April 27, 2010

Passports, tickets, visas, diapers, clothes.....

After months of preparation the day had finally come we were going to Australia!

Ezra was Letting Grandma and Grandpa know we would be there soon!

A big thank you to our friend Ashley for picking us up (and all of our stuff) and taking us to the airport!

Our one hour flight to LA left at 6:00PM and was not bad at all. In LA we had a four hour layover which meant our flight to Brisbane didn't leave until 11:00PM. Now Ezra normally goes to bed at about 6:30, so he was really tried! Perfect, Right? No! There was so much going on in the airport that he wouldn't sleep and he was cranky. Ryan managed to get him to sleep before we got on our flight. We were hoping if we did this then he could just sleep on the plane. Well it was a good plan.... but it did not work at all! When the pilot turned the cabin lights on he immediately woke up. Ezra has sleep issues. In general he likes to be in perfect quiet and darkness. So here we go with a overly tried crying/ screaming baby on a THIRTEEN hour plane ride. Yes, our child was "THAT CHILD", the child you dread to be on a plane with. Luckily everyone around us was nice and seemed to have no trouble sleeping. I can't carry Ezra right now so poor Ryan had to take care of him. So we, and by we I mean mostly Ryan, spent thirteen hours with Ezra walking around, feeding him snacks, and doing anything and everything possible to keep him "happy" and not kill him. You think I'm just being a little dramatic? Just ask Ryan and watch him try not to twitch!!! Ezra did sleep...... for one hour...... total! Ryan, you are my hero!

Watching T.V.


At the end of the flight was breakfast. Ezra LOVED the orange juice!!!
Don't let that angel face fool you....... he really was a MONSTER 98% of the time! Even after him being SO horrible that little angel face melted my heart. Someday I will laugh at all this, right?