Fraser Island

Another thing all our visitors can expect is a trip to paradise. Kate, Bryson, Jeff and I spent a long weekend in Fraser Island, which could quite possibly be the closest place to paradise, or at least how I define it. Fraser Island is an island created by over 800,000 years of drifting sands, and is an ecological wonderland like no where on earth (I stole that from a book). Seriously though, this place is amazing. See pictures below to begin to understand the utopia we were in for 3 days...

We departed for Fraser early Friday morning, and after chasing the bus to the ferry, we successfully made it to the Island! The weather was a little overcast on Friday evening, so we spent the afternoon on the beach, chasing crabs and exploring. When we arrived to the beach we were greeted with the following sign. This made me feel really good and safe. Good gosh.

We rented a 4-wheel drive vehicle to explore the island and headed out early Saturday morning. Jeff was the hero of the weekend, as he drove us around the island, like a 4-wheeling professional. I'm wondering if this is something he's done before...

Kate may or may not be getting really car sick right here...

Our first stop was Lake McKenzie. Lake McKenzie is a crystal clear natural lake in the middle of the island, surrounded by white sands and trees. It was quite the experience. Evidenced below...

Yep, that's Jeff in a big lake.

Can you tell which pictures came from Bryson's camera?

After the remarkable Lake McKenzie we battled through the jungle of Fraser Island about 15 kilometers until we arrived at the beach... and just when we thought it couldn't get any more incredible... we drove upon this...

We continued down the beach until we arrived at the Maheno Shipwreck. Naturally we took jumping pictures in front of the wreckage?!? Why, don't ask, we'd been in the car a long time at this point. The Maheno shipwreck happened is 1935 as a result of a cyclone. It was a pretty amazing site, I must admit.

From the Maheno Shipwreck we drove further down the beach to Indian Head lookout. This my friends, takes the cake. It honestly was the most breathtaking view I've ever seen. I think each of us had our own personal spiritual experience standing on top of Indian Head. Sadly all of these pictures don't do it justice, but I'm posting them anyway.

Yes, I was about to kill him... Jeff, back away from the edge. Please.

On our drive back towards the mainland we ran into some Dingos! I was quite excited, as witnessing a Dingo from the safety of your car isn't half as scary as I expected. Not to mention they look like wonderfully friendly cute little dogs. I thought about taking one home. Still am.

And this my friends was just day one... day two, still to come...

Kate and Bryson have arrived!

After a short 14 hour flight, Kate and Bryson have arrived! I couldn't be more excited to see my little sister. We welcomed them with a champagne toast (yes, all of our visitors can expect this same, royal treatment), and headed out for a fun night on the town.

Their first day here was filled with site-seeing, delicious food, and a glorious game of lawn bowling. Somehow, Kate is a natural at lawn bowling (we all have our talents) and took the top scores for the day. Jeff came in a close second. We've been practicing ever since.

Winner!


Sometimes meditation helps.


Focused. That's my game stance.

Sydney Opera House, Brisbane Opera House, same difference. Kate, Bryson, Jeff and I were invited to join some of our friends to a night at the opera. We learned some Italian, had several drinks, and enjoyed a cultural evening together.

Our fun didn't stop at the opera... we'll need an entirely new blog post for the adventures that happened next...

Lessons Learned

Lesson #1- any sport played in Australia is called Footy. Rugby, football, soccer, cricket, bowling... all footy. We've been to a handful of "footy" games, not knowing what we're going to watch, or who we're going to cheer for until we get there (or at least that's how I feel). Our latest footy show was an AFL (Australian football league) game, my favorite of the bunch. Fun to watch, sort of understand the point of the game and Brisbane's team, The Lions, is pretty good. Photos from the footy game...

Lesson #2- Never play barefoot soccer. Jeff joined the KPMG soccer team, The Write-offs (accounting humor at its best). His first game was a weekend long tournament with 4 games on Saturday and 2 games on Sunday. One teammate had the brilliant idea to play a soccer match barefoot... I mean, why not?!? It's like football without pads, boxing without gloves, swimming without a speedo, or bungee jumping without the cord. Who needs shoes? Apparently The Write-off's do. They ended up coming in 2nd place, and Jeff's feet ended up looking like this...

The Write-Offs. Yes, those are KPMG jerseys





Lesson #3- When your wife is a bit lonely and misses home, bring her flowers. Big shout out to Jeff for coming home with flowers and a bottle of wine to cheer me up. Been getting a little homesick lately... but have a wonderful husband and city to keep me distracted.

Please excuse the vase... options are limited in Australia. My wonderful husband and beautiful city