Brooke wanted to share her version of her time in Australia. Enjoy!!

And it begins…

Nicole greeted us at our terminal, which relieved me to know she figured out when to be there because of our delay in LA. We had survived without incident amazingly and had added to our luggage thanks to hours to spend at LAX. I think Nicole really liked the presents since she switched purses instantly and wore the earrings everyday we were there. :). She took us to the house where we got a much needed shower and rushed to the marina to get groceries for supper and were given a two second tour of the marina before we headed to pick up the kiddos. They were pretty shocked to see us at their schools and it took them a little while to warm up to me. It has been six months since I had seen them last.

Kitchen Snafu

Yesterday we started the day in the hot tub and pool. Then we took the buggy for the first time (and managed to stay left 95% of the time) and took the scenic route to the marina. There aren’t many fun shops there so we hiked to sanctuary cove and saw some kangaroos both ways. We looked around in all of the shops and I bought a sun hat. We had lunch at a cafe and Australia’s best ice cream right next to the Mercedes dealer while looking at the ridiculous yachts and old people walking by. Once we got back to the marina we ran into the grocery store. What a pain! After searching everywhere for a few ingredients and having to convert everything only to find glucose syrup which tasted and looked like glue and NO butterscotch chips we headed to the house. No measuring cups, converting everything again and struggling to turn on the stove meant it was pool time again. In the end the ham balls didn’t taste the same, the scotcharoos fell apart cause I refused to use the glucose syrup and the corn casserole tasted close to the same. After our first and more than likely last time cooking in Australia, we needed a drink so while jay stayed with the kiddos we ran down to the wine bar. Don’t worry mom we were in bed by 9:30 cause nick has to work in a little bit.

Surfer’s “Paradise”

Nicole let us know that she could drop us off and pick us up from surfer’s paradise since she was going to work from home. We went along for drop offs at school, rushed back to the house to grab everything then hit traffic on the way to Nicole’s appointment. Once we got dropped off at the Soul building we crossed the busy road and saw the ocean. Holy moly it was crazy! It was so windy and the waves were ridiculous. The ocean has an unfathomable amount of water and this was the first time I’ve seen it! Before we headed down to the water we found a cafe for breakfast. As we made our way back to the water we stopped at a few shops and found some cute stuff. We made it out to the water and started to get some pictures but the sand storm on the beach that was caused by the cyclone was not making it too enjoyable. We decided to stick it out on the beach and tried to layout but after 15 minutes of constant 50+ mph winds and sand everywhere we decided to shop first and hope the wind would die down. We found more cute stuff, were ran into by an insane amount of Asians everywhere and found our way back to the beach. Desert storm was still going on so we went back for more exploring and shopping. We wound up at hurricanes and had some drinks. As we were leaving the hostess asked if we were Swedish. I’m partly and Tansie’s Norwegian but no we are not from Sweden lol! We went downstairs to Zushi and had really good Chinese food for lunch. They have these really cool wooden layout benches right above the beach and I tried to take a nap on one. Being sleep deprived I thought for sure I’d be able to sleep but no the wind and sand were still bad. We wound up at Waxys Irish Pub and had a kiwi vodka and lemonade drink. As we were walking in I noticed a sign that said tattoo policy. It seemed like a good place to have a drink since no bikies are allowed. Nicole and lily came to pick us up and on our way to Sovereign Islands we saw a whole group of kite surfers so we pulled over to watch. Sovereign Island is where the bazillionaires live and boy do rich people have some strange taste. We headed for home and had by far the best meal since we got here. The lasagna and garlic bread was amazing! After supper we curled up on the couch and watched one of Ty’s interesting movies. Sleeping by 8 pm was amazing and MUCH needed. We’ve decided to take it easy today and enjoy the million dollar views, the pool and probably a bike ride through the neighborhood. We’ve got some laundry and packing to do today for our Fraser Island/GBR excursions and will probably wind up at the tavern at the marina later for live music and drinks.

The Perfect Day

Hot tub
Pool
Layout
Laundry
Pool
Water volleyball
Hot tub
Buggy ride to marina for ice cream for lunch
Pool
Pool
Pack
Get ready to go out
 and have good steak at marina
Go to the tavern for live band that was pretty decent
In bed early for long day of driving

Fazah

Saturday we loaded up and headed to Hervey Bay, which is where you get on the ferry to come to Fraser Island. It was a beautiful drive but with my medicine it was impossible to stay awake. The girls’ car quickly grew quiet but no worries mate Nicole had fatigue zone trivia questions to answer. Why aren’t the entire states of Nebraska and South Dakota covered in these signs? Somebody should make a suggestion next time they’re talking to their manager at the DOT. We arrived in Hervey Bay early so had lunch at a little cafe and killed some time looking for shells on the beach of the Pacific Ocean. We enjoyed some ice cream while we waited for the ferry and Jay and Nick got to drive the wagon onto it while we took a bus to it. I was worried about the ferry I will admit. On our senior trip our ferry ride wasn’t so great. I went on the top level next to the “pilot” as Ty called him and had a nice ride. The only thing that would have made it better would have been to see whales but it’s not the season for them. Shucks guess I’ll just have to come back!

We arrived and checked out our villa, which felt more like a huge tree house in the jungle. We ventured back down towards the bay and went to the sandbar where the kids got to swim while waiting on the food. It had been a long day so we went back to the villa where Ty got to watch some tv and then we got to bed early for our even longer Sunday.

Funday Sunday

That pretty much sums up our day. We started it early as always and Ty and I played some games before headed out. We decided to come down to the resort for breakfast but an adult buffet was $25 and Ty’s buffet was $15 uhh no thank you. Jay went and got the 4×4 and we loaded up and rolled out. After I became the navigator and figured out where we were going we headed inland towards lake McKenzie. We stupidly walked down without all our swim stuff and jay quickly remedied the situation because we HAD to go in it. It was the most beautiful lake I’ve ever seen! It was unbelievably clear and perfect!! I could have spent ALL DAY EVERYDAY on this trip there and been satisfied. But the ocean road was waiting so we wound our way to central station, which is where the logging camp was and we took a little walk in the jungle thanks to a Rangers suggestion. It felt like we were in Jurassic Park and I was waiting for the raptors to surround us on the boardwalk. From there we headed to Eurong, which is another “resort” on the East end of the island. It looked more like a prison than a resort, but people don’t go there for the hotel they go for the view and you couldn’t beat it. We stopped there for some lunch and then we headed for the Pacific Ocean!

Driving on the beach was AWESOME!! No other way to describe it. We hit some jellyfish that were stranded on the beach and passed several temporary runways and headed north. We drove around some rocky areas that you couldn’t pass because of the beach and through Eli Creek without caution. In our defense, there was no sign on the shore and I hadn’t seen that note on the map until reading to everyone where we were afterwards. There were a lot of people stopped there so you’d think it was really something to see. Eh it was a little creek with a few Ty-size swimming holes so after a quick pit stop we were on our way. A little ways up the beach was the Maheno shipwreck, which is Fraser’s most famous shipwreck because you can actually reach it. We timed it perfectly and had it all to ourselves for just the right amount of time to check it out and take pictures before the caravans and buses started storming down the beach. We made our way up to the Pinnacles, which are colored sand cliff formations. There we found out there wasn’t time to go any farther North so we turned around to head back down the beach only this time I was right next to the ocean the whole way. As we passed the shipwreck I couldn’t believe how many people were everywhere. My guess is close to a hundred people from a couple caravans and 3 big buses were swarming the shipwreck. Perfect timing! We made our way through Eli Creek again this time knowing full well what we were doing. Jay gunned it, I recorded it, Nicole got a much-needed cool down thanks to my open window and we all wanted to do it again even Lily!

We somehow all missed a path to take us back a different way and wound up in Eurong again. Oh well we headed back to the Western side of the beach and rather than head back to the most beautiful lake in the world it was decided to see something new. We passed a big lake that people from a bus had been swimming at and continued on farther south to the “magical” red lake. The sandy roads had been rough all day but we were clearly going where few people go. This was a once in a lifetime adventure and even if we wanted to there was nowhere to turn around. Right before we reached the lake we passed two cars, which were the first people we had seen since the bus and the rougher roads. It made me relieved to know we weren’t that far from help if we needed it. We pulled into the lakes parking area and noticed one vehicle and a couple people inside the dingo protected picnic area and headed down to Lake Boomanjin. It looked awfully blue walking down and we were all really bummed, but once we got closer we could see that the local tea trees really did make it very red. Not two minutes after reaching the lake a guy came walking down and we all got an uneasy feeling. He walked right up between us uncomfortably close and started talking to us. We could tell he was middle eastern all the while Nicole’s wearing her bald eagle Merica shirt probably not the best fashion choice for this situation. He was acting very strange, it was getting late and we were far from the resort or anyone else so we hurried back to the car and got out of there. Luckily, they hadn’t stolen anything from the car like we had suspected, but my door in our 1980s 4×4 that had been locked was unlocked when I got back to it. The drive back from the lake seemed like an eternity, but we made it back in the nick of time. We enjoyed pizza in the tree house for supper and off to bed we went. Nicole informed me the next day that when Ty was asked what his favorite part of Sunday was he didn’t say four wheeling all over Fraser Island, he didn’t say driving on the beach and through Eli creek, he didn’t even say snorkeling in Mckenzie lake, he said playing with Aunt Brookie at the hotel before we left. Heart breaking!! Love him!!

Last Day on the Island

Monday we started off with an informative nature walk on the beach near the pier on Fraser Island. We saw jellyfish impressions where they burrow to find crabs during high tide. Ty loved jumping in the pools created by every one of the impressions. We learned some other interesting facts like the sand that makes up FI is all from Antarctica. What?!?! There’s sand in Antarctica?? We also learned why they logged on Fraser Island. It seems that there’s special trees not found everywhere that are used for ship and bridge building and the lumber even went into building of the London bridge. How crazy! From the time the man who first started harvesting the lumber on the island until 1992 when it was turned into a world heritage site the logging was selective and wasn’t overdone miraculously. Once our ranger with a strange laugh left us, we stumbled upon an older couple with a bucket and a strange metal plunger deal. We of course had to see what they were doing and found out they were collecting baitfish to go crabbing. Ty helped the man as he pumped the sand from the jellyfish impressions onto the beach to find yabbies. They have pinchers on one end so he had to be extra careful when picking them up and putting them in the bucket. For anyone looking ahead to Ty’s birthday he really really wants a yabbie plunger and a bucket. I think the last part will be too hard to come by though. After our nature walk we still had hours to burn before our 2:00 ferry ride back to the mainland. We decided to spend it in the pool at the resort since we hadn’t had time to go there before. Ty did his cannon ball, Lily did an insane amount of “threes” and we successfully disrupted the other guests’ peaceful morning. After a little while, Ty wasn’t entertained enough by the pool and hot tub and the boy needed some toys or noodles. Off he went to the front desk to ask for pool toys and after a little while I went to check on him. I went up to the desk and asked if there was a little boy asking for pool toys and they all started smiling and pointing around the corner. I found Ty holding a super spy toy while a kid is scrounging around a closet of junk. He saw me and said that he really wanted to find Ty some cool toys because he was so polite, but they didn’t really have anything. Proud aunt moment! The kid dug around some more and managed to find a boomerang and the world’s tiniest squirt gun. Back to the pool we went with the 3 most random “pool” toys ever, but Ty didn’t care. He spent most of the time spying around all the corners with his spy toy and squirting Jay with the gun. After a while we headed back and loaded up to go meet the ferry. My stomach wasn’t right and I thought for sure this is when I was going to get sick but I made it somehow and we were back on mainland. After the kids are lunch we split up and Jay took the kids South and us girls headed up to Agnes Water for our Great Barrier Reef adventure. The drive was gorgeous with the tree-covered mountains, the rolling acres of fruit trees, more sugarcane plants than you could ever imagine and one of the roughest roads imaginable due to the flooding in the region. We arrived at our villa late ran to the supermarket decided to make tacos and went to bed early because of the long day ahead of us.

Cyclone Chuck Norris
Disclaimer: This part is the truly ugly part so those with “weak stomachs” should skip ahead to the Last 3 Days in Paradise.

We left the hotel and headed a few miles down the road to start our Great Barrier Reef adventure completely unsuspecting of what lay ahead of us. After we checked into the tour in a little shack by the bay and walked down aimlessly towards a folding table near the dock where we got an island tour stamp we hopped onto a not-so-clear glass bottom dingy. Red flag #1, #2 & #3: that this probably was not going to become the day we had all imagined. Before I dive into the details, it is important that you know what the seas were like. 2 meter seas, 2 meter swells, 20-25k winds. For 3 girls from Iowa, even if they had told us that, we wouldn’t have known how extreme that is. As we approached the boat we could tell that we were going to be taking a reef tour like no other. The boat was ROUGH! It was ancient, it looked like the seats were from the 50s and the entire crew was made up of men who had clearly weathered more than their fair share of storms apart from two young guys. It was a strange feeling; it was comforting knowing that they knew how to run a boat, but I was terrified because I knew I was going to need taking care of on our trip. They were clearly not the nurturing type. Red flag #4: it was going to be a LONG day. We had sat outside on the upper deck and watched as more people loaded the boat than there seemed to be room for.

Finally, after everyone had boarded and we headed out of the bay they began the safety instructions. The only problem was that we couldn’t hear them over the engines and could only guess what they were saying by the hysterical visual instructions provided by one of the younger crewmembers. He showed us the proper way to use a motion sickness bag and how to put on the oldest life vest I’ve ever seen that required you wrap a strap around your waist and knot. Red flag #5 & 6: that our safety could be put in jeopardy. During the instructions there was a very creepy looking old man, who I was later informed was named Skipper, kept going on how we were going to get wet sitting outside. Shoot I really needed the fresh air, but my purse needed shelter so inside we went. After we sat down I noticed that the man who helped us board the boat had changed into a captain shirt and was behind the wheel. Red flag #7: I had lost all faith in the crew.

Next came the announcement that we were about to enter the ocean and I hear Nicole warn me that this where it was going to be the roughest and to just make it through it. Ummm, biggest understatement of her entire life!!! We hit the first wave and I instantly had to fight the urge to run off the back of the boat and onto the lifeboat and head for shore. Skippy was trying to reassure us that it was going to be rough “just a little while longer” and even though I was highly skeptical I stayed clutching to my seat with my m.s. bag close by. After crashing through waves to the sounds of Chinese boys enjoying a rollercoaster for what seemed like an eternity (was probably less than 10 minutes), I became the first victim on the top deck to fall ill. Shortly followed by one after another and another victim to motion sickness and in the end almost every single person on the boat became ill at some point on the trip. Every time I got a chance I begged the crew to tell me how much longer until it the waves calmed down and all they kept telling me was a little while longer. I was absolutely not convinced and finally one of the younger guys admitted that it was going to be that rough until we got there and I lost it.

This revelation was followed shortly by all of the crewmembers running to the back of the boat and as we came to the top of a particularly giant wave I could see a life raft in the water behind us. The Captain turned the boat around in pursuit of the fairly crucial safety device, but after some futile attempts to retrieve it the decision was not made to head back to the bay, but to turn back around and carry on. All the while, Nicole was freaking out because she heard that a boy not a boat had gone into the water. In full mama bear mode, her first thought was to run back and help, but luckily there was Tansie and another man to stop her from trying to even get out of her seat. Cue Skippy to enter again and put us all at ease about the situation and let us know that they were going to get to the bottom of why that wasn’t strapped on well enough. Had I not been so incredibly weak from being the sickest I’ve ever been in my life I would have let him know that it was obvious it was the monstrous waves we had been facing head on for a half an hour that had knocked it loose. Red flag #8, 9, 10, 11 & 12: that the likelihood of us never making it back to land was more likely than the alternative.

Find the horizon. Take a deep breath. Those two sentences were my mantra to try to calm my seizing body and racing mind. I’m sure they made some kind of difference, but it had already been the sickest day of my life and the prospects of it getting any better was awfully slim. My body was shaking uncontrollably, I was sweating so much it looked like I had just jumped out of the ocean and my stomach wasn’t convinced that it was completely empty yet. I lost consciousness countless times throughout the day and I started to feel my hands and feet go numb from oxygen deprivation. When you are seriously concerned about the lack of an extra swimsuit you know you are sick! I wish I were exaggerating.

Lady Musgrave Island

I was shaken awake by someone as I hear my best friend Skippy shout at me to get my “sparkle on” and get in the water. Nicole helped me up, but there was only one way to get down the steep ladder and that was on my incredibly weak legs. I somehow made it down and was rushed to the deck off the pontoon we had anchored to and stuck my feet in the freezing water. It helped to cool me down, but it did nothing for my motion sickness and I just needed to get on solid ground. An island made up of dead coral and seashells will do. Thank goodness for my amazing sister who went into full superhero mode and convinced the crew to take me to the island. Tansie hoped on the boat with me, but Nicole had to stay behind for her intro to scuba diving class. There were a few benches on the island and I curled up under my towel on one of them as the rest of them went on the tour of the island. He asked if I wanted to go back to the pontoon or stay on the island. I stayed and Tansie went back to the pontoon. The next group came to the island and the crew guy came up to me asked me how I was doing, which wasn’t much better and if I had seen a Chinese woman wondering around the island while he was gone. Uhhh, no! Red flag #13: Thank goodness for Nick and Tansie being in a way better state than me or we would honestly wind up stranded on this island. Following that tour I had to go back because it was lunchtime. When I got back I was able to see and hear the concern that everyone and I do mean everyone on the boat had for my wellbeing. It made me try to eat something and start to feel strong enough to be able to at least get in the water, but the smell of food made me sick again. I went and sat with my feet in the water and the other young crewmember started to feed some cool fish in front of me since I had missed it while I was on the island. Everyone kept telling me to get in the water, but I knew I wasn’t going to be able to swim in the state I was in. It was then time for Nicole and Tansie to go snorkeling and as they were bound and determined to see some turtles. Unfortunately, before they were able to see any a storm came out of nowhere and they struggled for a while to get back to the boat. By the time they made it back I knew I couldn’t get in the water which was upsetting, but honestly at that point I just wanted to be on land screw the reef. It was still raining so we huddled up together under a towel trying to stay warm. They decided not to go back in because it was nearly time to load up and head for land.

Finally it was 3 p.m. and we were told to sit on the lower deck this time so we wouldn’t be tossed around as much as the top deck. Other people must have been told the same thing because there was hardly any spots left and I went and sat front and center with an open door in front of me while they sat on the side. As we were trying to depart the pontoon it seemed to be taking a lot longer than it should have and they came on the intercom to let us know that we were down an engine and they were hoping to be able to fix it after we left. Have no fear! Skippy is here! Thank God too cause we were crawling back to the mainland with only one engine. It wasn’t long before the lady next to me felt her ipad was more important than my health and they shut the door for her. I couldn’t see anything but steel and I got sick instantly. The other young crewmember was responsible for me now and he brought me to the back of the boat to the only open bench that surprisingly had two batteries and extension cords where my feet were meant to go. That explains why it was empty. Although it was smoother on the way back, it was not smooth and according to Skippy there was “no helping me since I was sick on the way back.” He should have been more careful where he was standing while screaming that because it was just rough enough I could have lost control of my full bag. The kid took really good care of me because my hands and feet went numb from not being able to breathe. He stayed with me for almost half the trip back and kept asking me if I was breathing while keeping me cool and trying to get the feeling back in my hands. I’m eternally grateful for how much he took care of me because I really needed it after the previous 8 hours. At some point I passed out because I woke up with my hair in a bowl of ice water and half the lower deck on the bow of the boat to help shift the weight to the front so it wouldn’t run aground in the bay. I stayed where I was, but Nick and Tansie had to go out there. We made it into the safety of the bay and made it all onto the first boat back to land. It was a struggle to make it the 5 miles back to the hotel, but we made it and after passing out from exhaustion I woke up to discover that the jerks had watched the Bachelor without me. How rude!

Last 3 Days in Paradise

The next morning was an early one of packing and getting on the road for our 7-hour drive. It wasn’t pleasant feeling like I was swaying side to side while simultaneously moving forward down the rough roads back to Hope Island. They seemed to think it was funny. I did not. We were almost back and stopped to eat something and I tried some damper bread, which was delicious. We finally made it home and gave the kiddos extra hugs and kisses having survived what we had the day before.

Thursday morning Tansie and I weren’t feeling the greatest since we were still feeling the boat, but managed to feel better after getting into the hot tub and pool. We took Jay to the doctor and had lunch at the marina. Jay surprised us with offering to take us to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and after picking Ty up from school we headed towards the “zoo.” We got to pet a kangaroo, see some crocs and dingos, Tansie held the cutest baby koala and we bought some souvenirs. We stopped at California Tacos for supper, which was delicious and went to see Burleigh Beach before delivering Nick and Lily their supper. Friday was spent enjoying the pool and hot tub one last day and lots of packing. Once Nicole got home we headed to a Chinese restaurant at Sanctuary Cove and after some wine we were finally able to laugh about our amazing adventure at sea. We somehow managed to make everything fit in our suitcases and after going to watch Ty’s swim lesson it was time to say see you later and give some last good hugs and kisses to the kiddos. Nicole drove us to the airport and after an unexpected 7-hour delay in Dallas we made it home at last.

In the end…

We were in paradise for two weeks, we had several once in a lifetime adventures, I got to spend time with my adorable and super smart niece and nephew and my amazingly generous sister and brother in law and it was all worth it: the good, the bad and the truly ugly!