Island hopping in Thailand

Sunset in Koh Tao

We say goodbye to pho, rice hats, and overnight buses/trains and head to Thailand for some sun and relaxation. It started off great as we flew Bangkok Airways and got to stay in the lounge in Bangkok for a few hours before heading to Ko Samui (Definitely fly Bangkok Airways when in Thailand as you get the best service). At night we checked out the Fisherman’s village down by the water with a street market every Friday night with clothing and food merchants. I don’t know if we didn’t hear, or didn’t pay attention to the woman’s warning about how spicy the Pad Thai was, but we quickly found out what she was talking about. Boy did that burn and from then on, we always asked for mild.

The following day was our attempt at riding a scooter, which didn’t go very well. Theresa didn’t want to do it, but I was convinced that I could figure it out and we’d just share one. It turns out that I couldn’t figure it out and we only got as far as down the street before I dropped it on my leg and ended up turning the bike in. I still think I could have done it if it was just me on the bike and if I had a motor bike instead of a scooter, but I guess I’ll have to find out another time. Anyways, we grabbed a cab and went to our first stop, Hin Ta and Hin Yai (Grandfather and Grandmother rock) and decided to walk to our next two stops in the blazing heat which we thought wasn’t that far, but when it’s 1pm and 35 degrees, 5km is a lot further than you think. We did make it though and saw Wat Khunaram, the mummified monk, which was cool. We tried going to the beach and attempting to swim but the waves were way too rough so we called it a day. We did have the best green curry and walked by a Muay-Thai match that was going on. At night we checked out the Reggae Pub, which is an ode to Bob Marley if I’ve ever seen one. Pictures of him everywhere, some paintings, some photographs, and memorabilia of him hanging all over the place, but the best part was that the bar was 75% outside with a huge stage. The place was not hopping though so we stayed for the first set then called it quits.

What does everyone do when they go to Thailand? Get a $6 massage by the pool with the ocean waves crashing in your ear, that’s what. Not much else to do on Ko Samui so we head off to Koh Tao, which is about a 2 hour boat ride and very choppy. Once we arrive, our driver from the hotel asks us if we want to ride inside the pickup truck, or in the back, thank goodness we voted for the inside because it was another bumpy ride and I’m surprised the people in the back didn’t fly right out of it. The Montalay is a new resort with jungle huts which were a lot nicer than the ones we had in Halong Bay and everything we ate at the restaurant was perfect. We had cheeseburgers, spring rolls, cashew nut chicken, pad thai, spaghetti bolognese and all our breakfasts and everything was divine. The resort is a very nice place to stay on your honeymoon, but for two sisters, it was a bit secluded. Quiet, yes, and clear water for snorkeling, but very isolated. We went into town one night for drinks and to watch the most amazing sunset ever! Of course we took close to twenty photos of it because it kept changing, but seeing the long boats in the water, a palm tree hanging overhead, sitting in the sand on cushions with a Singha beer in hand, it was breathtaking.

Snorkeling was definitely on the agenda so we signed up for a trip around the island and we got to snorkel in Shark Bay (don’t worry, didn’t see any of those here), Aow Leuk Bay, Hin Bay, and Mango Bay for thirty minutes each which was really nice because you never got bored of being out there for too long. The fish were vibrant in colour, though the coral was not, but a lot of different fish to swim with. The most picturesque spot was our last stop at Nang Yuan Island just ten minutes from Koh Tao and after climbing up a very steep hill, you look out to the island and the sandbar that connects one side to the other which lies under the aqua clear waters. Koh Tao is a small but gorgeous island and perfect for when you want a little bit of tranquility.

Our next island hopping destination was Ko Phangan, home to the famous Full/Half Moon Parties. Not much on this island, but we did do another snorkel trip around half the island and received a lot of interesting facts about the island from our Californian tour guide. He told us why the Thai adore their king so much because he introduced modernization to them and brought over electricity and livestock to the island. The Thai people hold deer in very high regard and if you were to kill a deer you would be sentenced to 25 years in prison, which is longer sentence than if you killed a human. We had a delicious masala curry and beef penang which was spicy, but oh-so yummy. We did venture out to the Half Moon party in the jungle, as the Full Moon parties are on the beach, and it was good, but we didn’t really feel the big hype around it. Maybe you have to love house and dance music to really appreciate it, but it was fun to party in the jungle nonetheless.

Our final destination is the largest island in Thailand, Phuket. Unfortunately, there is nothing to be seen in Phuket unless you are interested in mingling with a lot of Thai lady-boys. This is the most touristy and tacky island of them all. We pretty much chilled by the pool, did a lot of souvenir shopping and hung out in the mall in town. We went on two day-trips to neighbouring islands and saw where the film The Beach was filmed. Maya Bay was gorgeous and we snorkeled around Phi Phi Island and never got to actually see the clown fish that we were so desperately trying to find, but again the other fish were fun to see. On the following day trip, we took a floating kayak through a bat cave, which led into a couple very peaceful lagoons, floated by the Viking Cave and saw the James Bond Island where, James Bond the Man with the Golden Gun was filmed. These excursions were fun and the water was lovely, but it was time to go back to Melbourne to spend our last few days to say goodbye to our friends there before packing up to head home for Christmas.

James Bond Island

Good Morning Vietnam

Linh Phnoc Pagoda, Dalat

I know we’ve been home for quite some time now and we’ve probably already shared all this with you, but there may have been some details that we left out that you’d be interested to know about. For example, that we flew out on Nov 11, 2011 at 11am and that arriving into Ho Chi Minh was nuts! So glad we had a driver from the hotel to pick us up because it was swarming with people wanting to give us a ride to our hotel. Visiting the Vietnam War museum was very graphic and left nothing to the imagination, but was definitely a must see when in Ho Chi Minh. The Cu Chi Tunnels were very cool especially because we got to crawl through them and boy were they tight at times. Don’t think my older brothers would have been able to get through them, as they are truly made for the Asian men. A couple of facts about Vietnam that our guide shared with us; there is currently only one political party in the country so it is very safe to travel around. There are 3 million handicapped Vietnamese and 2 million of them are because of the war. In Saigon, there are between 8,000 to 10,000 motorbike deaths per year in a city with 5.3 million people and 5 million motorbikes on the road. You don’t have to do the math to figure out how many people own motorbikes in Saigon. Yikes!

Getting back to our traveling, we began in the south of Vietnam and worked our way up north along the coast. We first stopped in Dalat to see the Hang Nga Crazy House, which seemed to resemble a place out of Alice in Wonderland, Thien Vien Truc Lam, a beautiful and serene Buddhist temple with gardens that go down towards a lake, and Datanla Falls, where you can take a ‘roller coaster’ down to the falls, or back up to the parking lot. One of my favourites of the day was visiting the Linh Phuoc Pagoda, which is made out of recycled ceramic tiles in a mosaic collage.

Our sleeper bus from Dalat to Nha Trang was comfortable and very quiet as there were only 9 of us and we were all tourists. We each had a bed with a blanket and pillow, but this trip was only for a few hours, so we really didn’t get to take full advantage of it. We had limited time in Nha Trang before boarding our overnight bus to Hoi An. Now this was another story. We were told to be back at the office for 6:30pm, but our bus never arrived until 8pm and we took a very short trip to the bus depot to wait for another hour, before we find out that our bus was broken and that we all had to exit the bus to get on another bus. Oh yeah, and they didn’t bother to check to ensure all our bags were transferred over until one of the tourists with us went outside to check and sure enough, they forgot to load up some of the bags. We then finally get on the road, but we stop every once in awhile to pick up random locals on the side of the road who pay the driver a few bucks and they sleep in the aisles around all of us full paying customers. It was a lovely 11 hour bus ride with only one bathroom stop at the 9.5 hour mark and a bus ride that we were thankful never to have to do again.

For those of you who like to have tailored made clothing done within a day, then you must make a travel stop to Hoi An. Tailors line both sides of the streets around town for you to compare and barter with ease. We had a referral from a friend of ours, so instead of checking out who was good and who was better, we went straight to Dong Duong and got a three piece suit (pants and skirt), two fall coats, one pair of jeans, another pant suit, a spring coat all made within a day and alterations done by the next morning and shipped off to arrive in Canada within three weeks. As it turns out, the clothes beat us home by a couple of weeks. We didn’t do much in Hoi An as our focus was on getting some clothes made, but we did take a Vietnamese cooking class with Mr Bup and we made vegetarian spring rolls, bbq macarel wrapped in banana leaf, green papaya salad with shrimp and fried eggplant in a spicy sauce. I can now understand all the hard work that goes into making spring rolls, but am looking forward to making it again as it was all absolutely delicious. Mr Bup is an excellent chef and teacher.

The following day we arrived in Hanoi where we had the best cappuccinos at Tamarind Café, so-so gelato at Fanny’s, yummy spring rolls at New Day and an interesting water puppet show which is apparently, very native to Vietnam. That night we took the overnight sleeper train to Sapa in the most northern part of Vietnam. We arrived at 6:00am and then a shuttle bus picked us up to take us to our hotel which was an hour away and the entire time I had to listen to the man’s iPod in front of me playing Selena Gomez’s ‘Love you Like a Love Song’ on REPEAT! Ugh! When we finally arrived we had breakfast and a nap and then met our guide for our 3 hour trek through the village of Cat Cat. Her name was Ya and she told us all about the Hmong people and how they use the indigo plants to dye their clothes and how the female children go into the forests to collect bamboo for cooking or fire burning and they care for the infants and carry them on their backs while their mothers work the fields. Ya mentioned how you always live with your parents even after you get married; you choose either the wife or husband’s parents to live with, but that most families have three to four generations living under one roof.

Our second day in Sapa included a 5 hour hike through the rice fields and nearby villages and we had a bit of extra company as the Hmong women from town followed us 2.5 hours to where we had lunch in a little hut half way up the rice fields and they waited until we were finished to buy bracelets, scarves, hats, bags, off them. I have to say that they are the most persistent sales people I have ever encountered as that was definitely not an easy 2.5 hour hike. We thoroughly enjoyed Sapa and loved being able to learn so much from the Hmong people.

Halong Bay was our next destination and this is where you get to stay on a junk boat overnight, but ours wasn’t exactly a junk boat, but still a very nice accommodation. We were so exhausted from all the waiting and buses and trains and walking with our backpacks and waiting some more and then taking boats to transfer us to other boats that it started out as a very irritating experience. The Vietnamese don’t like to rush so you’re waiting for a long time on things and can never get all the information you need. Once we finally settled onto our boat and had lunch, we docked in at the floating village and jumped in a kayak and explored the rocks and hidden lagoons, which was lovely. It’s incredible to see people live miles away from land and amidst the rock formations in the water in a floating village where I can only imagine families have lived for generations.

The weather hadn’t been great while in Halong Bay and of course our day on Cat Ba Island was teeming with rain and this was our day to either cycle or hike for a couple of hours. We opted for cycling mainly because it was a very straight road and very quiet. Thankfully the rain stopped so when we got to our huts for the night, after another bus and boat ride, we went kayaking again and watched a beautiful sunset before dinner, dominoes, ping pong, and pool before calling it a night. Vietnam has a lot of history and some amazing stories to tell and we were glad that we were able to experience even just a small part of it.

Rice fields in Sapa

Final goodbye to our favourite Australian cities

Finally a whale sighting at the Sydney Aquarium

You might think that you’ve already read this post before, but don’t be fooled as we did visit Sydney for a second time, but with different company. Theresa’s friend from childhood, Kim, joined us in the latter part of our trip to New Zealand and accompanied us in Sydney and Melbourne. Upon arriving in Sydney we quickly remembered how beautiful of a city it is. Our first day was spent walking around Darling Harbour and enjoying a lovely Italian dinner in Kings Cross with drinks at Gazebo, an outdoor bar filled with beautiful plants, twinkly lights and interesting people.

It can be hard in Australia, but we managed to find a tiny breakfast place that was quite inexpensive, which was a good idea right up until the moment when I cut into my food on the small table, that was probably more a table for two rather than three, and flipped the entire plate down my shirt. Knowing that butter and grease stains were not going to come out and it was all over my shirt, there was slight panic, but thankfully Theresa brought a long cardigan with her that covered up the entire stain, so I was saved from having to walk the 25 minutes back to our hotel to change. After the mini blip, we ventured through the aquarium and saw the dugongs which looked very sweet and took photos with our only whale sighting of the trip (a lego version of a killer whale). That night we made it to the infamous club, Ivy. Not all the floors were open, like the roof top pool that we were itching to see, but we did have a great night dancing with some of our friends from Melbourne who were visiting for the weekend. We decided to dance until either our feet gave out or the music stopped playing so what do you think came first? Yup, we stretched it as long as we could, but our feet lost the battle so we headed back to the hotel after a good night of dancing.

We had a very sunny Sunday, which meant it was time to see the Taronga Zoo. The easiest way to get there is via ferry so with the return boat pass and entrance fee to the zoo the deal was $50 per person, a steal I know. It is nice because then you can take the gondola up to the top and underneath you see the elephants roaming around and the apes climbing the trees. It was cool to see the massive brown bear, which gave us a new appreciation for Canadian animals and even created the desire for us to see the North American exhibit in the Toronto Zoo in the near future. After the zoo, we finished off the day with a walk on Manly beach and drinks at the super crammed Wharf Bar for an Australian Sunday session.

No trip to Sydney would be complete without a visit to the Blue Mountains where we actually saw the remnants of a bush fire that spread just a week earlier right around the gondola that crosses the gorge. Fortunately the gondola was not damaged, but the smell was still lingering the distinction of where the fire spread was quite evident. We did manage to see a few kangaroos eating not far off the highway on our way back to the city, which was a special treat.

Oaks Day at Flemington Racecourse

A few days later we left for Melbourne and it was time to get dressed to the nines for Oaks Day at Melbourne Cup. This is the most fashionable day of the year where everyone gets dolled up in their wild fascinators for the famous horse race including fashion icon Sarah Jessica Parker who was in attendance. Each race day holds a different title and though the day we went is classified as Oaks day which is more commonly known as Ladies Day, over the past few years, more and more men have been attending so it is now informally referred to as Blokes Day. It was wonderful to see fascinators and hats in all shapes and sizes and we loved being able to have an excuse to wear some ourselves. Of course when you’re at the races you have to place a bet so we pooled our monies together and our $15 bet gave us a whopping $22 return. Our winnings didn’t last long, but it did go to buy at least one round, so we thought we did pretty well with that.

The weather in Melbourne can be very unpredictable and change drastically from day to day or even day to night. So while cup day was chilly and probably a high of 15 degrees, two days later was a glorious 32 degrees without a cloud in the sky. We spent the early part of the day walking through Luna Park and sunning on St Kilda beach with a few thousand of our closest friends. We did however have our first try at lawn bowling and we were all hooked. It was also not your regular lawn bowling, but barefoot bowls with pitchers of beer. You can’t go wrong with that. Later that night we joined up with Pete, Anndrea and their friends for the Passenger concert. You could hear a pin drop when he played and mesmerized by his voice, it was so soothing. Other excursions and highlights while in Melbourne included shopping down Bridge Road, a picnic in the Royal Botanical Gardens, eating Melbourne’s best chicken parmigiana, having a rich treat at Lindt café, dining out at World Bar while enjoying a succulent kangaroo steak, losing a few dollars at the casino, and watching the penguins burrow into their homes at St Kilda pier. We all left Melbourne with Kim flying home to Toronto and Theresa and I flying to Vietnam to begin our Asian adventures.

The Land of the Kiwi

Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown

We arrived into Wellington and was very thankful to drop off our heavy backpacks and extra bags. We wandered around the city and took a much needed nap since coming off an overnight flight from Melbourne and having to kill 5 hours in the Auckland airport before flying to Wellington. The following day was spent taking in some culture and visiting the Te Papa Museum to see the world’s largest squid (pretty disgusting actually), we viewed the Melbourne National Museum and took the cable car up the mountain. That night, our dinner consisted of the best Italian at Fratelli’s with venison risotto (yum yum) and gnocchi (highly recommend it).

The following day, we set out on our ferry ride to the South Island, where we had an incredible view of the narrow passageway between the vibrant green forests and snow capped mountains. We came into Picton and drove up to a lookout point for a spectacular view of the town overlooking the bright blue water with a few albatross flying above and diving into the water to catch their dinner.

We had a short stop in Picton as there wasn’t much to see so we began the drive down the west coast with Nelson as our first destination on our road trip. We took a drive to check out the PuPu springs, which is New Zealand’s largest freshwater springs that discharges the world’s clearest water with ‘supposedly’ 62 metres visibility. I could not see that far down and no, it has nothing to do with my poor vision. We were quite disappointed with this site that was talked about so much in the travel books.

Now for the day that you have all been waiting to read about. The day that Theresa and Mary Wetzel jumped out of a plane at 16,500 feet. We watched the introductory video and were fine, suited up and were fine, got on the plane and were fine, looked out the window and were fine, then the door opened and the intense fear and realization of what we were about to do had set in. Before you know it, you’re falling from the sky and trying to get your bearings with a guy video taping you and trying to get you to look at the camera and enjoy the experience but all you can think about is when the guy attached to you is going to pull the parachute. The best way to describe the feeling is sensory overload. You will never experience anything like it. Once the parachute was open you feel like you could stay there forever and just float across the sky overlooking the mountains and beautiful aqua coloured waters that surround the Abel Tasman National Park. It was a pretty amazing experience and I know for me, a once in a lifetime one.

The drive from Nelson to Hokitika and then to Wanaka was by far the most beautiful strip of land ever to see. Driving through Fox Glacier and Haas Pass was incredible with the bright white snow capped mountains, intense green pastures and deep blue lakes was the most amazing complement of colours that you really couldn’t pull your eyes away from it. It was so serene with no one around and all you could hear is the wind blowing, which is wonderful, except when you tear your eyes away from the sight before you and look down at the gas gage to see that you are riding on empty and there is not a gas station for miles. We passed through two ‘towns’ and both gas stations were closed, but our grandfather was watching us from heaven as just when we thought our car was going to die and we would have to walk or push the car up some very steep hills, we came to an open gas station with an attendant on the outskirts of Wanaka. We decided from that point forward to not let the gas gauge drop below the halfway point, just to be on the safe side.

Queenstown was a very typical ski town, which I would have loved to have seen in the winter months. Several ski shops, a ton of restaurants and bars and a great view of the lake and mountains. We went jet boating through Shotover Canyon and took a 4WD tour around Queenstown to check out where scenes from the Lord of the Rings movies were filmed. We then went on to visit Glenorchy, Dunedin, and Christchurch. With the massive earthquakes that shook Christchurch earlier in the year, it was unfortunate to see the city boarded up and closed off with everywhere under construction. The city centre felt like a ghost town and even the beautiful cliffs on the waterfront were half gone and barricaded.

We picked up our friend Kim at the airport and continued up to Hanmer Springs to enjoy the hot springs and watch the World Rugby Cup finals where the All Blacks took home the cup. It was definitely a happy night all over the country. The next day was spent kayaking in the Abel Tasman National Park to see Split Apple Rock, we tried to go whale watching in Kaikoura but the whales were not operating in the area so that was kind of a waste of time. No whales were operating in the area, but there were plenty of playful seals to watch instead. Overall, it was a wonderful trip and a beautiful country that we would recommend anyone who can make the trip out there to visit.

The Parental Visit

Uluru in Ayers Rock

This past month involved a wonderful visit from our parents who got to experience the land down under first hand. After spending a week touring around the north island of New Zealand, Mom and Dad Wetzel flew to Melbourne to be greeted by Mary at Southern Cross station. That weekend we showed them around our neighbourhood and visited the Rippon Lea estate for the first time. For those of you unfamiliar with the Estate, it is an 1800 Victorian house converted into a Melbourne historical site. That night we took Mom and Dad to watch the footie match (AFL) where the St. Kilda Saints beat the Carlton Blues. They were able to witness first hand why Melbourne is the sporting capital of Australia. Somehow Dad managed to have two Father’s day in one year so on Sunday, as it was Australia Father’s Day, we took Dad out for brunch at a local café and then walked around the city. We then had a lovely BBQ at our friend’s Pete and Anndrea’s house. During the week Mom and Dad toured all around Melbourne, from going to all the museums, aquarium, wine tour of Yarra Valley, and a day trip to Ballarat. We celebrated Mary’s 30th birthday with a delicious dinner at the Meat and Wine Co. along Southbank and then a visit to the Crown Casino where Mary unfortunately didn’t have much birthday luck.

The following weekend we ventured to Ayers Rock, which is in the middle of the outback, to experience the changing colours of Uluru (the notorious Australian landmark). We stayed at the Lost Camel in the Ayers Rock resort, which is made up of five hotels. At night we took in the Sounds of Silence experience, where we sipped champagne while watching the sunset on Uluru and Kata Tjuta hearing the sounds of the haunting sounds of the didgeridoo in the background. After the sunset we had a sumptuous Northern Territory Buffet feast of barramundi, kangaroo, emu, crocodile and bush salads underneath the stars on the red sand. The local astronomer explained to us the different star constellations while looking through some fancy telescopes that allowed us to feel a little closer to the moon and stars. The next morning we woke at the crack of dawn to see the sunrise at the base of Uluru. It was a beautiful site to see how the colours of the rock changed from brown, orange, to the deep shades of red. Once the sun was fully set by seven am we set out on our three hour base walk around Uluru as you are not able to climb Uluru, except for one part of the rock because of the spiritual significance that the rock represents for the Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. At many points throughout the base walk you are prohibited from taking pictures because it is considered a sacred area to the Aboriginals. It was an exhausting walk, especially with the sun getting warmer as the day set on and with no washroom facilitates in site, it made for a challenging walk. It was cool to see the different vegetation that grew around the rock in the red soil. After the walk we had a bite to eat and then took a nap and chilled for the rest of the afternoon. That evening we had dinner at Gecko’s café and walked around checking out the rest of the resorts. Sunday we had a little sleep in and then flew back to Melbourne, while Mom and Dad flew to Sydney for the week.

12 Apostles along Great Ocean Road

While in Sydney for the week, Mom and Dad toured all over the city checking out the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Darling Harbour, Taronga Zoo, and the Blue Mountains (which I believe was the highlight of their Sydney trip). For the last weekend we took Mom and Dad for a roadtrip along the Great Ocean Road. We stayed at the Dolphin Apartments, which was a beautiful serviced apartment by the Apollo Bay beach. Saturday we drove to check out the 12 Apostles, which are famous rock formations in the ocean along the coastline. At one point in time, there were twelve rock formations, but over the years the rocks have decayed and now only eight are left standing. It was quite the spectacular view. Another great lookout is down the Gibson Steps, which gives you a view of the 12 Apostles from the beach and you can appreciate the magnitude of the rock formations. Sunday we went to the Otway Fly Tree Top Adventures, which is a rainforest with tree top bridges suspended throughout the forest. At Otway they have a zip-lining course, but we decided to pass on it and just stick with the rainforest walk. The walk within the forest was beautiful. Being able to see all the different trees and learn about the different plant life in the rainforest. The tree top bridges were fairly high up and with the wind it felt you were swaying in the air, but Mom and Dad were good sports and made it up to the top of the high tower in the middle of the forest. After returning to ground level with shaky legs and all we started our drive along the coast again and stopped in Lorne for some fish n’ chips.

After a tearful goodbye on Monday we saw Mom and Dad off, but happy to know that it would only be twelve weeks until we see them again in December. Monday also brought happy news of the birth of our newest niece, Quinnlan Giovanna Wetzel. Providing just another reason to rush back home to Canada for the complete family reunion!

Balling in Bali

Elephant Safari Park

As the Melbourne winter was getting too cold and damp for our thick Canadian skin, we decided it was time to take a break from it and go to Bali for some warmth and relaxation. We arrived Friday night to enter into the crazy Denpasar scooter-traffic. It was nuts to see how many scooters were on the road amongst the solid throng of cars and how they just zipped in and around the cars. We were very quiet as we held our breath going through the traffic. We eventually arrived to our hotel, the Amadea Resort, and had dinner at the hotel restaurant, which was very delicious. We then ventured down one of the main strips in Seminyak to enjoy some live music and margaritas, and wearing no jackets! Gotta love it.

The majority of our week was spent lounging by the pool, going to the beach and pampering ourselves with massages, facials, manicures, and pedicures. You’re probably thinking that this is quite the extravagant vacation and how us travellers can afford all this? Well, this is the best place to get everything done since everything is dirt-cheap and the services are fabulous. It just goes to show how much you should be paying for a massage and how much of a mark up it is at home. However, after a week of getting a treatment done almost everyday I can see how easily people can make it a regular event to go to the spa. Such a hard life to live…sign me up!

We did want to see a bit more of Bali and decided to hire a driver on Wednesday to take us to Ubud. This took a lot longer than expected due to the crazy scooter traffic (yet again). We visited a few temples and headed into the heart of Ubud where we bought some souvenirs at the market for our little ones back at home and for dinner stopped in at a yummy tapas restaurant. We braved the walk through the Monkey Forest but with much trepidation. The thing about the forest is that there are 300 monkeys who roam free around the park. You have the option to feed if you dare to; thankfully we were warned that if you do feed them, the little darlings might take more than just bananas from you. We actually witnessed one monkey steal a girl’s earring and had to have one of the ground’s keepers retrieve it for her. I also read there are three different packs of monkeys who live in the forest and are very territorial of their areas within the park, so there were a couple of times when they would screech at each other and get into a scrap. We thought we might be in the midst of Outbreak or Planet of the Apes. We didn’t spend too much time here, but snapped a few photos of the monkeys, took a video of a temple that was referenced as replicating something out of Indiana Jones and got ourselves far away from there.

Friday was a very long drive back into Ubud (or just outside it) to the Elephant Safari Park where we had a very entertaining show of the elephants painting a picture, shooting some hoops and kicking a soccer ball. Later we took an elephant ride around the grounds and into the water for the elephants to have a bit of a rinse. We were fortunate enough to ride the oldest elephant, Precy, who was 49 years old. He was such a dear. Later at night we headed into Kuta to watch Neon Trees at the Hard Rock Café, which was a pretty good show, but as we got there at 9pm and they didn’t come on until 12 and there was no opening band, it was a bit of a long night.

Bali is a lovely island with very friendly people, great spas, and delicious restaurants. Definitely the perfect oasis for anyone wanting to experience the ultimate relaxation vacation.

Three Canadians vs. Tasmania

Canadian ladies enjoying the view at Cradle Mountain

People had doubts of our plans for Tasmania; they said we couldn’t see it all. We received the same reaction from everyone we told about our trip itinerary, “There’s no way you can see the whole state in four days.” Our response was always, “how hard can it really be?” Just like all the Aussies who didn’t believe in us, so did Mother Nature as she thought it was necessary for us to have a few extra days in Tas, but we will get to that later.

Here’s the tale of the three Canadian girls who escaped to the land of the Tasmania devil. We left a chilly Thursday evening on the Spirit of Tasmania, which is a ferry (mini cruise ship) that departs every evening from Port Melbourne to Devonport. We boarded the ship and took a look at our sleeping arrangements for the night, which consisted of recliner chairs, which were like spacious airplane seats. We settled in after a little dinner and a glass of bubbly to commence our trip. We landed in Devonport on Friday morning at 6:30am wide-awake with excitement for the day. Our first stop was Cradle Mountain. On the way we stopped in the small town, Slater, for some brekky before checking out the Marakoopa Caves. As we were the first tour of the day we had our own private guided tour, where we learned all about how the caves were formed and about the stalactites, stalagmites and saw glowworms (they appear nothing like the cartoon, but we were still impressed). After our cave tour we drove up to Cradle Mountain to go for a few bushwalks and soak up the beautiful snowy scenery. They were just hit with lots of snow, so we all felt like we were home in Canada. I never thought I would miss snow until we saw all the snow capped mountains. After Cradle Mountain we drove to Strahan to check into our accommodations for the night. We were rushing to make it for this famous play that takes place in Strahan every night, but when we arrived to the town and no one seemed to knew where this play took place, so we ended up missing it (which I like to point out was on the only thing on our itinerary that we weren’t able to do).

On Saturday we had a nice brekky in Strahan, then began our winding drive through the mountains to Hobart. We’ve been on winding roads before, but this was terrible. For 3 hours solid you are driving along a cliff where you are constantly making turns and there is no straight road in sight. All of us were feeling super carsick, so we had to stop a few times along the way to take a breath. We encountered a lot of wildlife and unfortunately road kill along the way. I believe that along with New Zealand, Tasmania is another place where sheep outnumber people. Nancy, our Canadian friend who joined us on this trip, will tell you that cows, wallabies, and sheep attacked us, but we finally arrived to Hobart in one piece. We had a lovely dinner in the famous Salamanca market at a yummy Italian restaurant. After dinner we decided to check out the nightlife in Hobart, which is basically all in the Salamanca market. We went to every single bar in Hobart and could not find anywhere with decent music or atmosphere so we called it an early night.

Sunday morning we had another yummy brekky at a funky café in the Salamanca market. We then drove to Richmond, which is a quiet town just 20 minutes outside of Hobart, where their claim to fame is having the oldest bridge and oldest church in Australia. It was a lovely town that reminded me of somewhere in the English countryside. We continued our road trip to the historic town of Port Arthur, famous for being a former convict settlement and the scene of one of the worst massacres in 1996. We toured around the prison and it was a bit eerie like you could feel the presence of the convicts that once lived there. After a long day of sightseeing we drove to Bichenco, which is just outside Freycinet National Park to crash for the night.

Monday we ventured to Freycinet National Park, which is the quintessential postcard view of Tasmania. We took the hour and half hike to Wineglass Bay, which got its name because of the all the whaling that occurred there in the 1800s and it was shaped like a wineglass and the whaling you can figure out how the name came about. After the hike we treated ourselves to local dishes at the Freycinet Lodge restaurant. At lunch we feasted on local oysters, local beer, and burgers. As we made the trip back to Hobart, we kept hearing on the news that an ash cloud has formed above Australia due to the volcano that erupted in Chili a week ago and flights in Australia and New Zealand were cancelled. So we decided to go to the airport to figure out what the game plan was. At the airport they told us that our flight was cancelled and was scheduled to take off on Friday night instead. I guess Mother Nature thought we didn’t seen enough of the state yet and gave us a few more extra days. We stayed in Hobart two more nights and ended up getting a spot on the ferry for Wednesday night.

What did we decide to do with our two extra days in Tas? Well, we did what any good Canadian would do and feasted on good Tassie wine, cheese, and seafood. We treated ourselves to a delicious seafood platter at a restaurant along the Hobart waterfront and then on Wednesday on our drive to Devonport we stopped at a cheese factory and sampled some tasty Tassie cheeses. Right before we had to board the ferry on Wednesday night we had dinner at a quaint restaurant in Devonport called the Gingerbread House, it reminded me of something out of a Grimm Brothers’ fairytale. The ferry this time around was more crammed then before as everyone whose flight was cancelled was on the ferry, so we slept in the crammed cinema for the night, which was not a pleasant sleep at all.

Tassie is a beautiful state and an untapped gem in Australia that I think if you ever have the chance to visit to definitely make the trip. It has some of the most beautiful landscapes and scenic shots I have ever seen. Contrary to popular belief you can see the whole state in four days and we Canadians are proof that it’s possible.

May Madness in Melbourne

Horseback riding in Mornington Peninsula

What did we do this past May you ask? Well, we ventured out of Melbourne and took a look at what the state of Victoria has to offer. We did first check out the Melbourne aquarium and instantly fell in love with the King Penguins, which very much replicate the movie Happy Feet with their playful attitude and adorable waddle. We could have spent the whole day watching them, but we thought we should see what other interesting creatures awaited us. There were massive stingrays, sharks and tropical fish from all over the Australian waters. Another thing that we’ve always wanted to do was horse riding (because where else would you ride a horse that you would have to specify horse ’back’ riding?) on the beach! We drove down to the Mornington Peninsula and with the waves crashing in and us trotting down the beach in the surf, it was a beautiful day to be out riding. We however did a lot more trotting that we’re normally used to when doing a simple trail ride, so needless to say we were feeling pretty sore for the next few days. We were fortunate enough to see Cat Empire on their 10th anniversary show at the Prince of Wales in St Kilda (amazing Aussie band worth checking out if they come to a city near you).

The following weekend was a day trip to Lorne with a couple of Aussie friends and a new Canadian friend. The drive was about two hours west of Melbourne and right on the water. With the waves crashing in while you drive around the bend is breathtaking and for a moment you want to jump in for a swim, then you realize that you’re wearing a jacket, toque, gloves, and Uggs and you think that looking at it is just as good. Even though we were layered up, there were still about 50 people surfing in the water, crazy I tell ya. Two days later we headed up to the Eureka Skydeck to see the observatory level. I have to say it’s nothing like the CN Tower, but it was nice to see the view of Melbourne at night.

Theresa and I decided to hire a car again and check out the Lululemon outlet where we got a few deals and will be going back for more a few times before coming home. As we had a late skype date with the girls from home, we were not able to do the shopping on Bridge Road, but headed straight to the hot springs in Mornington for a nice relaxing and warm evening. I guess that was the idea for several others as every pool was packed. It was still nice to hop from one spa to the next and the hottest one of 42 degrees was lovely. You could only stay in it for a few minutes, but it was fabulous. As winter was dawning on us, we needed some warmer clothes so it was time to pick up a few things from Chadstone Shopping Centre.

The last weekend in May was a jammed packed weekend. First it was after work drinks which ended up turning into an Oktoberfest celebration. We were walking down one of Melbourne’s famous alleyways and came across a German Hofbrauhaus where the beers are served by the litre and polka music with boys sporting leader-hosen outfits doing their traditional thigh-slapping dance. It was a ton of fun and we even got to do the chicken dance, how could it not be a good night?

The following day was a drive to Bendigo to visit with Brian and Cathy Brennan, who are friends of Mike. We first stopped by the Bendigo Pottery Gallery to see Cathy’s Salt and Pepper gallery where all her work is displayed for viewing and purchase. There were so many amazing paintings, hand made scarves, and unique jewelry pieces that we couldn’t leave without picking up a few things. We later enjoyed a lovely Thai dinner at an old post office where we had excellent conversation and shared in some laughs. Brian and Cathy later brought us to the Shamrock hotel where Princess Diana and Prince Charles visited when they came to Australia many years ago. Sunday involved visits to Australia’s largest timber church and looking inside the first gothic church made in the twentieth century in the Southern Hemisphere. It was quite the sight and with it being on the top of the hill, you can see it from very far away. Following a bit of sight seeing, we drove to the Hepburn Springs in Daylesford for an afternoon of tea and Devonshire cream and lounging in the Sanctuary pools. One pool even had lounge chairs with jets underneath them; it was very heavenly. I was so relaxed; I even had a quick nap in one of the lounge chairs looking out to the woods. This is how everyone should spend their Sunday afternoons. Stay tuned for our next entry when we tour around the land of the Tasmania devil.

Wild, Wild, West!

Rottness Island

From the land of celebrities such as Heath Ledger, John Butler, and AC/DC, the Wetzel girls ventured to Western Australia for the Easter break. We stayed in Fremantle, about 30km outside Perth, where John Butler made his mark, busking in the streets of this hippie town. We arrived Friday evening, checked in at probably the worst hostel ever, the Backpackers Inn. Soon after we arrived Mary and I realized that we were too old for hostels and bunk beds are not as much fun as when you were eight. We spent the evening on a search for some tasty fish and chips along the harbor. Saturday was a gorgeous sunny day, which the West Coast has been fortunate enough to have plenty of these days as they haven’t had rain since Christmas. To soak up all the sunshine we headed up Cottesloe beach, which was a popular hang out for the late Heath Ledger to enjoy. We beached for the day and enjoyed the refreshing waves of the Indian Ocean. After a beach filled day we sampled some of Perth’s nightlife for dinner and drinks. Fremantle is fairly close to Perth with only being a 20 minute train ride away, but for some reason the city thought it would be a good idea during the long weekend to do work on the tracks so there were shuttle buses running from Fremantle to Perth, ultimately turning the convenient 20 minute trip into an a hour long trek. Anyways, once arriving in Perth we found a great Mexican restaurant and sampled a few WA bars.

Sunday we woke up extra early to Skype with the family for Cooper’s birthday and found out the exciting news of Tom and Cheryl expecting their second child in October. Another baby, wahoo!!  The news of the new baby made our day and gave us just another reason to ensure we return to Canada. After our Skype chat we spent the morning doing a tour of the Fremantle prison, which just this past year has been marked as a world heritage site. It was interesting to walk through the prison and hear stories about the prisoners and their failed attempts to escape. When we came across the prison cells we noticed that their cells were actually bigger than our hostel rooms and at that point Mary and I realized we were officially done with hostels … at least in Australia. The afternoon was spent walking the grounds of the largest inner city park in the world, King’s Park in Perth. We accomplished as much of the park before the rain started to hit the city. For dinner we tried the Mussels Bar along the harbour in Fremantle and dined on wine from Margaret River, mussels, and barramundi. We decided that since we were staying in Fremantle, we had to check out the nightlife that Fremantle had to offer, and it was actually pretty good.

Monday, we took the ferry to Rottness Island, which is a 30-minute ferry ride from Fremantle.  As this island is car free, everyone rents bikes to get around and discover the island.  It was a pretty hot day and the island was only 21 km but it was quite hilly so our ambitions of travelling around the whole island were quickly crushed after attempting to ride up this huge hill to check out a lighthouse, definitely not worth it. So we decided to take advantage of the many cool beaches around the island and enjoy the beautiful aqua-coloured water. After our brief day of biking I now have a new found respect for my friend Joanna and her friend Kyle who biked across Canada last year. I still do not know how they did it as my body was in some serious pain after a few hours on the bike. After spending a beautiful day on the island we took the ferry back to Fremantle and grabbed a bite and then headed to the airport for our red eye flight back to Melbourne. Mary and I both wished we could have spent more time out West to discover more of the surrounding areas, but it was great to have the opportunity to even have the chance to check out part of Western Australia.  Where will the Wetzel sisters go to next? You’ll have to keep reading to find out.

The Final Stretch

Surfing on Manly Beach

We finished off our road trip with a brief stop in Cairns. We ended up spending an extra night in Airlie Beach, which pushed back our arrival to Cairns by one day. During the long stretch from the Whitsundays to Cairns we passed through several towns that were hit by Cyclone Yasi. It appeared that people were returning back to their homes to begin the clean up. We arrived at night in Cairns just in time to check into the Bohemian hostel and then have a quick walk around town, checked out the lagoon and had dinner by the water. For dinner we sampled some of Australia’s finest cuisine with a platter of kangaroo, crocodile, and emu meat. Surprisingly, emu meat was the tastiest of the three. Then we had some delicious barramundi from the Great Barrier Reef. After our lovely dinner we hit up the town to see what Cairns had to offer. We checked out Gilligan’s, which is a huge bar that was built around this massive tree.

Cairns was officially the end of our road trip, which meant an early flight back to Sydney to end our journey with Gabi and Joanna. We arrived in Sydney without booking accommodations ahead of time thinking we could just book something when we arrived at the airport. Unfortunately with all the Mardi Gras celebrations the entire city was completely booked, so the only hotel we could find was in Brighton, which was by the airport. During the day on Friday, we were in Manly beach with Joanna’s friend Kathryn who was a gracious host and took us surfing for the day and then drove us around Manly to check out all the beaches. We even had the chance to hit up some of the hot spots where they film the Aussie soap opera Home and Away. Then we spent the evening watching the movie Tangled under the stars in Centennial Park. Our last day in Sydney was spent again in Manly Beach celebrating Kathryn’s birthday at her house then moving to a couple clubs along the Manly Beach strip. On Sunday we left for the airport and after tearful goodbyes to Gabi and Joanna, Mary and I flew back to Melbourne to start the next chapter of our adventure.

Over the last couple of months we were fortunate enough to stay with friends, Pete, Anndrea, Lily, Poppy, and Harrison who opened their home to us. We also had the opportunity to explore Melbourne and parts of Victoria. In early March we had hit up a food and wine festival in the city and travelled to Torquay where they have one of the world surfing championships every Easter. Then we spent a day in the Dandenongs National Park where we conquered the famous 1000 stair climb. We attended the annual F1 Grand Prix at Albert Park and watched everyone from Michael Schumacher to Mark Webber speed around the track at 300km/hour. It is quite the thing to see and hear. Stay tuned for videos showcasing all the Formula 1 action. Recently we took a wine tour around the Yarra Valley area and sampled wonderful wines from the local region. Mary and I are now both working and settling in our apartment just outside the city. Next, we are off to Perth to celebrate the Easter break.