St. Patty's Day 2009

St. Patrick's Day was pretty low key this year but we did end up going out to Bondi to a popular Irish Pub called Cock and Bull. We waited FOREVER to get in! We had a couple of drinks, bought a couple of t-shirts and then called it a night.

Cock & Bull

The line to get into the pub

Having a drink and enjoying the music

Too packed to move!

The band

And our favorite Mexican restaurant in Bondi!

Tasmania

We took a long weekend in March and flew down to Tasmania which is part of Australia just off of the southeast coast. We landed in Hobart and rented a car for the weekend. Last year at a backpacker's expo I won 2 free tickets on a tour boat called Wild Thing that was supposed to take us on a 90minute adventure ride. We made it a point to reserve seats on it and that was our first activity planned in Tasmania. Let me just say, I'm glad it was free because it was pouring down rain and the "adventure" was trying to keep your face from being pelted into oblivion when the boat sped across the water.

The Wild Thing boat. Everyone was given these full body rain suits

Before we got soaked!

The oldest working lighthouse in Australia and the only cool thing we saw on the Wild Thing tour

Later that day we hopped into the rental car and made our way down to Mt. Field National Park to see some of the natural beauty that Tasmania always boasts about. It was beautiful! We got there after dark and slept in the car at one of the designated camping areas. This was when the crazy lady and her husband opened our doors while we were sleeping and accused us of stealing things from their RV. Very strange... We woke up early the next morning to do some exploring through the park and try to avoid crazy campers.

Russell Falls in Mt. Field National park

Russell Falls

Russell Falls

One of many wallabies that we saw

Lady Baron Falls in Mt. Field National Park

The Tall Trees Walk

Horseshoe Falls

Tasman National Park Lookout

I don't remember the name of this beach...

Another lookout point: Devil's Kitchen

Trying to cover as much ground as possible, we then made our way to Port Arthur's Convict site to see some of the old jail houses and some of Australia's history

Port Arthur's Convict Site

Port Arthur's Convict Site

Port Arthur's Convict Site

Inside one of the cells

After Port Arthur's we stopped off at a few other scenic areas for some photo ops

Almost got splashed!

I wanted to make one more touristy/history stop at the Female Factory Historic Site. Cascades Female Factory operated between 1828 and 1856 where women were either serving a sentence, awaiting assignment/hiring or awaiting confinement.

Female Factory. Reading some of the tragic stories

Cascade Brewery

After a long day of touring and site-seeing, we camped out by a beach in hope of seeing some little penguins coming in to their burrows. I caught a glimpse of one, but it was too dark to see anything without a flashlight and we didn't get any pictures. We did, however, make friends with another couple who camped in their RV next to us by the beach. Dan and Bruny had a much cooler camper van than our rental car and they offered us some drinks and then cooked us a steak and mashed potato dinner! I love Aussies!!

The next morning we went back in the city of Hobart. This is part of their University that was right on the Harbour. I thought it was neat.

Restaurant where we stopped in and had a drink

Hobart

Oyster Cove Marina

The most beautiful rainbow I'd ever seen over Peppermint Bay. The pictures don't do it justice

Two Rainbows!

Later that evening our American friends Mike and Dawn landed in Hobart so we met up with them for some drinks

Lucky for us, they had an extra bunk bed in their hostel so we ended up crashing with them that night and then waking up early the next morning to catch our flight back to Sydney

Nadi, Fiji

On March 4th Rob and I boarded our flight to FIJI!!! This has been on the top of my "must visit" list for years so I was thrilled! We landed in the Nadi airport and were greeted by a trio of islanders singing and playing the guitar. I must say that Fiji has the friendliest locals I've ever encountered. Every single person we passed greeted us with a friendly smile and said "Bula!" which means "hello", "cheers", or "welcome" in Fijian. And it wasn't like the Bahamas where they seem nice but really try to milk you for money. It was genuine kindness. We enjoyed being on "Fiji Time" and began our journey by taking a boat from Port Denaru to our first destination: Malolo Island in the Mamanuca Island group.

Taxi ride from the tiny Nadi airport to Port Denaru

Port Denaru

Having a drink at the Hard Rock Cafe in Fiji

On the boat to our first stop: Malolo Island

Taking in the scenery

Our tiny boat that took us to our resort

The singing welcoming committee at our resort: Walu Beach

Our Bure: Number 10

A deserted bar on a hilltop at our resort

Time for an adventure! We literally "island hopped" by wading in the water from our island (Malolo) to a nearby island called Malololailai

We walked all the way around this island and it is the largest on in the Mamanuca Islands! It took us about four hours

Once we crossed over to Malololailai we had a little fun at another resort: Banana Plantation. I hope they didn't mind us playing on the slide

We were too tired to make the trek back to our island so we hired a boat to get us back there. Once we returned to Walau Beach the staff referred to us as "Lost Guests" because we had missed breakfast and they didn't know where we were.

As if the 4 hour island hike wasn't enough, we then kayaked to yet another island. It took about two hours

Kayaking

Our destination: Qalito Island

Sweet victory and sore arms

Heading back to our resort

We climbed up to the highest point we could find on Malolo to try to watch the sunset. This is a picture from our resort of the island. One of the Fijian villages was just on the other side of this.

Our resort

The staff sending us off with a song

Once we left the Mamanuca Islands we headed to the mainland (Nadi) to stay at the Westin Resort for a couple of nights and actually try to relax. We ended up with the "Don't Drink the Fiji Water" blues and had no other choice than to relax!

Our room which was upgraded for free thanks to Rob's business connections

The view from outside our room

One of the pools

Taking it all in

Another one of our resort pools/hot tubs

Relaxing in the pool

We left the mainland for a day-long cruise on this boat. It included drinks, food, a snorkel trip, a fishing trip, a kava ceremony (local drink), and live music.

Morning cocktail aboard the "Whales Tale"

Sunburnt!

On our way to "Snorkel Island"

The Kava Ceremony. FYI: Kava tastes like dirt water and it makes your lips go numb!

On the fishing trip. The best catch of the day!

Rob belly flopping off the boat

The following day was Rob's birthday so the crew made a special announcement and cake for him!

On the way back to the mainland

King of the World

Once we were back on the mainland we caught a cab to Suva to the Shangri La Hotel where there is this gorgeous little wedding chapel that I was dying to see. This was the view from the chapel at sunset.

Fiji was unlike any other place I've ever experienced. It was gorgeous and the people were over-the-top friendly. I'd love to go back someday. 5 days wasn't nearly long enough!