Straddie Island

This past week has been such a relaxing experience. We have been trying new restaurants around the apartment and going on 5k walks on the river at night. We still do not feel like this is home just yet but it is starting to sink in a little more each day. My sister and brother n law were in the Bahamas so we were only able to Skype with the kids once so it seemed like a dramatic change. We are so thankful for modern technology so that we are able to communicate daily with our family and friends.

Our two year anniversary was this week as well. We were thinking about the past two years and realizing that there were many changes. Two year ago I was graduating college and we were getting married in Indiana. A year ago we were celebrating our anniversary and promotions in Mexico and this year Joe has graduated college and we are now living in Australia. What an incredible ride so far!

View from a cafe close to the river. Those vines are all around our apartment in Southbank.

On the pedestrian bridge on one of our nightly walks.

This year for our anniversary we decided to take a trip to Stradbroke Island which is also known as Straddie Island. This is a view of the bay once we made it to the coast.

Joe just checking out the scenery

So many sailboats and mansions on the water

Of course we had to capture the signage

This ferry carried over people and their personal vehicles. If you were travelling with a vehicle it was $125 for a round trip.

It was a double decker ferry so people would drive on to the top level and it would raise and then the bottom level would fill in. The people seemed to stay in their vehicles but I don't believe they had to.

This is the ferry we took to the island

View from the back of the ferry as it pulled away from the docks. It was about a 25 minute ride to the island and costs $20 pp round trip.

As soon as we got to the beach we ran over to what is called Point Lookout. It was an incredible view.

Point Lookout is actually the number one place for whale watching in the world. As we looked out across the Pacific, we could see whales shooting water from their blowholes. It was amazing!

This is looking over the cliff. Joe would not let me get any closer than that haha

I did not realize that my shirt would be the same color as the ocean but non the less it was beautiful.

I think he was nervous to get too close to the edge haha

Thank you to the lady who offered to take our picture together. That is one of the worst parts of traveling is that most of the pictures only have one of us in them. I love when people offer to help out and I try to do the same as much as possible. 

Another shot of the coast. The waves were massive.

There were paths that wrapped around the coast

On our way to what is known as the "Blowhole"

And this is the "Blowhole" It looked fake because it was that perfect. It gets the name because the waves crashing against the rocks sound like the blowhole of the whales.

Okay so Joe started to yell at me at this point. I had to get a shot over the cliff.

The water down this cove was crystal clear with hints of green. 

One last shot before walking back

I just couldn't take enough pictures. These aren't even half of what I took.

There were Koala and Kangaroo signs at common places where they are seen. They are kind of like deer crossing signs.

And wouldn't you know it, we saw wild kangaroos!!! I am thinking this is the mama and...

...this is the little joey! Again I wasn't allowed to touch them. What does Joe know anyway haha

We stayed as long as we could but needed to head back before the sun went down. 

On the bus back to the ferry, the driver kept pushing more and more people onto the bus. We were lucky enough to get a seat but the people kept yelling to strap anyone else to the top!

Okay this is a little ditch that is about waist high. It is located outside of the train station. Joe must have been feeling loopy because as we were walking to the apartment he says " Now if I were a squirrel I would be gettin it down that thing!" Haha what a goober

So according to Joe and some people back home, I should be posting more often on my blog so I will try to have shorter posts through out the week. We shall see if that actually happens :)