Adventure-ers: Good Golly Miss Molly

I feel like I am always apologizing for my delayed posts now a days, but this just shows you all how much fun we are having Down Under!

Since my last blog post, my little sister Molly came, saw, conquered, and sadly left Australia. These were truly the best 4 months, so special having my sister here with me. Molly was in Aussie August - November 2013 studying abroad at the University of Sydney and joining these two adventure-ers on our Aussie explorations.

Although Molly had her own apartment, with a fellow Richmond undergrad, in the city, she happily moved in with us on the weekends. Who wouldn’t want to spend every weekend in Manly with these two cool kangaroos?!? We enjoyed many beach days, coastal walks, nights out, and cooking our traditional Mexican feast every Saturday night. Tommy hogged her during the weekdays, enjoying their weekly lunch dates in between class and work.

The highlight of our time together was our incredible trip to Tasmania and our last weekend together enjoying some sisterly bonding time at the Four Seasons Hotel. I decided to splurge a little and book the two of us a special treat for our last weekend together!

In Tasmania we flew into Hobart on the 6am flight Saturday morning to make full use of the day. With the heavy winds, it was an interesting landing as our first attempt did not work out as planned when a massive gust hit us and caused us to go right back up for a scenic loop of Mount Wellington before attempting again. After a couple of hours roaming the Saturday farmers market on Salamanca Place, we joined a wine tasting tour, visiting the historic town of Richmond and four boutique wineries, with incredible wines and fresh produce. It was an incredible day topped off with the infamous fish and chips at the harbor front.

Day 2 was just as jam-packed. We explored all of the nooks and crannies Hobart had to offer, enjoying a delicious brekkie at a local hole-in-the wall café. We boarded a ferry to MONA, Museum of Old and New Art, and spent hours exploring this very unique, and slightly disturbing, art museum. I have to be honest, I am not a big artsy fartsy, so I was a bit bored, however Molly & Tommy loved our visit. My favorite part of the day was lunch! Tasmania sure has incredible fresh and delicious food. Now food I do love, so I was in heaven!

Unfortunately on day 3 we said goodbye to Molly, as she had to get back to class, while Tommy and I continued our adventure. Bright and early on Monday morning, we rented a car, yes I know how to drive on the left side of the road, and cruised the Tasman Highway along the coast to Port Arthur. Port Arthur is a former convict settlement and one of Australia’s world heritage sites. It was an absolutely beautiful area and the history was very fascinating. The other thing Port Arthur is known for is its paranormal activity… I won’t go into the details but let’s just say I felt very spooked at times and we have a couple of freaky pictures.

Straight from here we got back in our little purple cruiser and headed to Freycinet National Park. It was quite a long day of driving, but the views along the coast were incredible and well worth the trek. Freycinet National Park is home to Wineglass Bay, ranked one of the top 5 most beautiful beaches in the world. We stayed in a small cabin on the water and woke up early to watch the sunrise and begin a full day of hiking. We were joined by a couple of kangaroos and wallabies as we explored the entire national park, which took us 5 hours to hike. The highlight of the day was the lookout over Wineglass Bay, where a Humpback Whale was spouting and a pod of bottlenose dolphins were playing and feeding in the shallow shores. Unbeatable. We had a romantic picnic to end the day with local Tassie wine & cheese.

On our last day we drove inland through the forest terrain to Launceston. Launceston was a cute little town, nothing special, but a good way to see more of Northern Tasmania.

What a fabulous trip!

To end Molly’s time in Australia with a bang, my entire family came out to visit and celebrate Molly’s 21^st birthday! My mom and Kirsten met Tommy and me every morning at Wharf 3 to pick us up from our Manly ferry and head to the Four Seasons for our daily brekkie buffet. We felt spoiled and enjoyed this treat before catching our trains to work (a bit of a change from shoveling down some yogurt and fruit on the ferry). I rejoined the gang after work every evening for a sunset cocktail and a new restaurant to try! The best dinner was at Café Sydney for my dad’s birthday, with incredible views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House. What a treat.

For our last week we all flew up to Port Douglas to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef. This was the highlight of the trip! I had already visited the reef last year with my mom, but it was so special to share this experience with the rest of my family.

It was an amazing trip, and as always, hard to say goodbye. Luckily I knew I would be home in just two months for Christmas!