Steph's Adventures Near and Far: Christmas and New Year's Down Under and Homeward Bound

Coolum Beach is a quaint beach town on the Sunshine Coast, south of the much busier and touristy Noosa. It was perfectly our pace and with the beach a short walk from our condo, it was heaven! Christmas was a little different for us. Don't get us wrong, we loved it, but Christmas in a hot place is very unusual for us. We are used to the snow, skating, sledding, smell of a hot turkey and holopchi baking, and sitting by the fire with family. We loved the beach and loved our seafood dinner, but part of us was missing home on Christmas Day.

While at Coolum, we were able to make it to the Eumundi markets which are famous in this area, for a bit of shopping, and of course, to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. For the kids' Christmas gifts, I had booked an animal encounter with an animal of their choosing. Jaden chose the echidna, Kalan, the wombat, and Asha, the koala. We spent the whole day wandering around this amazing zoo and watching the kids experience an Aussie animal up close and personal. The best part for me, was seeing them enter the kangaroo enclosure and walk over to a kangaroo, hesitating, unsure if they could touch it, and then when they gave them a pat on the head, the big smile that came across their face. Leaving the enclosure, Kalan said "I'm good, I could go home now, I touched a kangaroo." :) On the way back to Coolum we even stopped for a beverage at the crazy Ettamogah Pub. The Sunshine Coast was a definite hit, but we had to move on, even further North, to Hervey Bay and Fraser Island.

Hervey Bay is famous for the whales that migrate through there. It has clearly grown up from a small beach town/fishing village into a popular tourist destination and a jumping off point for Fraser Island. We stayed at a resort out of the main town and wow, this place was incredible!! When I was booking these places, using www.booking.com I had no idea what I was getting. The pictures look nice and you hope for the best, but you don't want to let everyone down and you're never quite sure until you get there. Well, this place was definitely our favorite place on the whole trip - a large open concept condo with a balcony overlooking the resort pools and the ocean - spectacular!

The real reason we came to Hervey Bay was to head to Fraser Island. This would be my 3rd visit here and it is a place that never ceases to amaze me! It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is the largest sand island in the world, at 75 miles long! We booked with Fraser Free and hired a driver and SUV for the day - we got more than we could have ever expected with Troy (our driver and guide) and Goomblar (our Aboriginal guide). These guys drove us around almost the entire island for the day, teaching us about the history, and sharing many, many laughs along the way. If you are ever up that way, look them up at www.uniquefraser.com. Our day really was perfect - we swam in Mackenzie Lake, saw dingoes while having our morning tea, got to listen to Goomblar's musical and storytelling talents, saw incredible beauty, swam in Eli Creek (I even got football tackled in Eli Creek, but you'll need to ask Jaden about that one!!), had lunch on the beach, and swam in the Champagne Pools. I could keep going on and on, but there's still another coast.... A huge thank you to everyone at Unique Tours!

From Hervey Bay, it was time to start heading South... to the Gold Coast! Everyone thought I was crazy to book a place on the Gold Coast at New Year's, and I was pretty worried too. But, I tried to choose somewhere a bit quieter than Surfer's Paradise and hoped things wouldn't be too crazy at Burleigh Heads. The Gold Coast is known for being party central, tourists everywhere, and shopping, shopping, shopping. This wasn't why I wanted to go there, it was because of the beaches and the surf for the kids!

Byron Bay was our first stop, on New Year's Eve, and while festivities and craziness were starting to get into a bit of a swing, we enjoyed a quieter time further down the beach, watching the kids learn to surf. They were naturals and took to it quiet easily. The day was spent in the sun, sand and water of Byron Bay and this was by far, our favorite ocean spot for the water. The water was warm and the waves weren't too crazy so you could actually swim and surf. A spectacular day, which lead to a quieter evening back in Burleigh, welcoming in 2013 just a little bit earlier than midnight :)

New Year's Day we were picked up by our tour guide at 6:30am. OUCH! That was an early get up for sure, especially on New Year's Day, but we were all so excited that it was worth it. We were taken to the Gold Coast airport where we were flown up to the Southern part of the Great Barrier Reef to Lady Elliott Island. This was our chance to snorkel on the reef and see some of the incredible creatures that live there. We were in the water with our snorkel gear almost immediately, and the kids were swimming with sea turtles! They told me where to go and to touch the turtle's back. This was actually my first time snorkelling and so the whole concept of not diving further down than your snorkel hadn't quite sunk in. In an effort to dive down and touch the turtle's back, I ended up gagging on salt water and kicking back up to the top immediately. Oops! The day continued with a glass bottom boat tour, learning about the reef, and then snorkelling in the current seeing more turtles, fish galore, beautiful coral, starfish and even a reef shark! This was another one of those days you won't soon forget... snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef - wow!

Too soon it seemed, it was time for our great Aussie Adventure to come to an end. We returned to Brisbane for one last visit with Uncle Dennis and Auntie Susan before we made our way back home to Canada. Their hospitality was once again amazing and I'm so thankful for the time I shared with them. They welcomed me into their home and family throughout the year, and I hope sometime I can repay the same kindness. Your cooking lessons, family time, pool time, incredible food and wine, and wonderful warm welcome will always be a fond memory for me of my time in Australia. Thank you so much for everything!

Getting on that plane to head back home was a bit surreal... there it is, my word for the year. Everything seemed to have this whole surreal feeling about it, all year! This Christmas and New Year's vacation was no exception. The fact that I was able to share this incredible experience and country with the Weavers meant so much to me. You don't often get to make those kind of memories with family, so I know I am blessed. The places we saw, the things we did, and just being together to enjoy it... wow! As I'm coming to the end of my blogging, I feel like I've said 'grateful', 'blessed', and 'thankful' so much that people reading these are probably getting sick of them... but here it is.... I am truly, from the bottom of my heart, grateful for this amazing Christmas and New Year's that is on my list for one of the best moments in my life! :) Thank you! Thank you!