You can read part one of our Mexican Adventure here.

The second part of our adventure took us to Guadalajara, well, sort of.  For 4 1/2 hours we traveled on a Primera Plus first-class bus from Querétaro to Guadalajara. The ride cost us 423 pesos ($35 CDN – seriously, this would give you a one hour ride on a Greyhound here in Canada!) and again, we had assigned seats and were given food & drink. We had bought these tickets in advance at an OXXO (a chain of convenience stores that you see everywhere in Mexico). We probably did not need to buy them ahead of time as there are buses basically leaving hourly from Querétaro to Guadalajara but I wanted to make sure that we got on the one that we wanted. As we left the state of Querétaro and entered Jalisco, the landscape was awesome to watch from the bus.  It seemed that as soon as we crossed the state borders, we began seeing the beautiful fields of blue agave that the beloved tequila is made from.

The plan for this part of the trip was to see tequila-related things and to visit the town Tequila. Beyond that idea, we had no plan. While I am a virgo and am pretty organised in most aspects of my life, when it comes to traveling, I do not plan things out 100%. I like to make sure that I know I have a place to sleep and ideally I like to know how I am getting there but other than that, I like to decide on things as the time comes. We did do a little research before leaving Toronto. We asked friends who had been to Tequila before and everyone told us to book a hotel in Guadalajara and then do day trips to Tequila and the distilleries. When asked where to stay in Guadalajara, we were told to avoid the downtown and instead to stay at a hotel near the highway.

We booked three nights at a hotel along the highway called Camino Real Guadalajara. This meant that we would have two full days to spend in tequila land before heading out on the final leg of our trip. There are a couple of different bus terminals in Guadalajara. The one that we arrived at seemed to be the main one, at least for long-distance buses and it’s called the Nueva Central Camionera. It’s a number of kilometres South-east of Guadalajara and the taxi from here to our hotel was pricey in terms of Mexican rates at 215 pesos ($18 CDN). The Camino Real was an older hotel that you could tell was THE place for business travellers a number of years ago and had just not been upgraded. The grounds were beautiful (hello fruit trees!) and I liked that our room was a bit of a walk to the lobby. The room cost $285 USD for three nights but wifi was not included. They charged $15 USD per day for it which just didn’t worth it. There was a nice bar here where we went on the first night to drink tequila on the patio near the pool. For breakfast they had a great buffet ($20 USD per person – again pricey but man, it was convenient and delicious!).

As I said earlier, we did not have a real plan for this part of the trip. Lucky for us, we found out that the whole Australian and Canadian Tequila Tromba team would be in Guadalajara at the exact same time as us. Not only were they around, but they were kind enough to invite us along on their fun. The first day, the plan was to go to the town Tequila to visit some distilleries. Tequila is about an hour’s drive from Guadalajara. Once you leave the city, the landscape is a rolling sea of blue (agave) and this is considered the lowlands of tequila country. We arrived in Tequila and decided to hit the Jose Cuervo distillery first for a tour. We had heard that it is the Disneyland of distilleries but that it was also very pretty. Also, Cuervo is everywhere in Mexico. If you see “Traditional” on the tequila list at a bar, it’s the Jose Cuervo Traditional. With some time to kill before the tour started, we scoped out the main square of Tequila. I loved the banners and murals and the fact that tequila was present everywhere.

Every state in Mexico has it’s own food and drink. Something special that you can only in a specific spot. In Jalisco, one of the drinks that you can only get here is called Tejuino. Tejuino is a drink made from fermented corn. In Tequila, we found a man with a cart on the street selling a drink called Pachecada which we decided to check out. It turned out to be Tejuino and beer, served in a styrofoam cup with ice. On a hot day like that one, there was nothing more refreshing.

The Jose Cuervo distillery was beautiful. I loved all of the tiles and sculptures. The actual tour was pretty cool, although most of the experience bartenders with us thought that maybe it wasn’t that great. One of the best parts: they made us wear hair nets!

Above you see one of the ovens where the agave piñas bake. They let us try a piece of the cooked agave. It was sweet like sugar cane and I would have liked more.

Yes, they had their mascot, a crow in a cage. Jose Cuervo in English literally means “Joe Crow”. Apparently this guy was about eleven years old and I am not sure that I really like that he is kept in a cage like that.

At the end of the tour they gave us a margarita. The most expensive (and arguably the best) tequila that Jose Cuervo produces is the Reserva de la Familia. Every year they release special edition boxes with this tequila. We bought a sample of it, that was poured directly from a barrel and it was delicious.

After the Cuervo tour, there was some miscommunication with our driver. For some reason he took us out of Tequila and we drove for over an hour, ending up at an archeological site called Guachimontones. I have been to a lot of ruins in Mexico and this one was pretty cool. The visitor centre that they have there is very new and the tour guide was eager to practise her English. What is cool about this site is that this culture was one that was completely unrelated to any other Aztec/Mayan, etc. culture during the time. They were completely their own people with their own structures, games and ways of life. Instead of traditional pyramids that you see in places like Tulum and Teotihuacaan, they made circular central plazas and conical step pyramids. In 2008 the site was included on the  World Monuments Watch list of 100 Most Endangered Sites. How cool is that?!

After the tour of the ruins and it was explained to our driver that we were there to see things all-related to booze, we headed back to the town of Tequila so that we could take in whatever else there was to be seen. Unfortunately by this point, it was nearing 5pm which meant all of the distilleries were closing and we were starving. We opted for food first.

After dinner, most of us were unsure of what to do. Then Jez quietly said that he was going to head to a bar that his friend had told him about. It was called La Capilla and it had a bartender who was in his nineties. We were sold.

When you walk into La Capilla, you just know that you are entering something special. This is a proper cantina in Mexico. It’s the oldest bar in Tequila. The guy working the bar told us it was over ninety years old. The man himself – owner and bartender – Don Javier was hanging out at a table watching tv when we walked in. The walls were covered in memorabilia and trophies. We sat at the bar and the bartender, who told us Don Javier was his Uncle, made us Botangas (blanco tequila, lime, coke and a salt rim). Don Javier is actually the inventor of the Botanga. How cool is that?!

Last year, La Capilla was voted the 20th best bar in the world. All of the bars in the top twenty were from places like London and NYC, except for La Capilla. After a little persuasion, Jez got Don Javier behind the bar to show him how to make his Botanga. The knife used to cut the limes is the same one used to stir the drinks. As silly as it may sound, this experience was seriously a magical one. You should take a moment to watch this video of Don Javier at his bar. It is times like these that make me realise how truly blessed I am in in my life.

After a full day driving around and seeing tequila things, we headed back to Guadalajara. The next day was a big one because it was all about Tromba. On this day we headed to the highlands or Los Altos as opposed to the lowlands where we were the day before. The first stop on this day was a real life blue agave field. Let me tell you about agave: they’re sharp. We were told to wear long pants and closed shoes on this day and I can see why. After being in the field for about a half hour, it’s safe to say that all of us tourists were bleeding a little bit somewhere. While here I took some photos and videos for Tromba and it was pretty fun (and dangerous! Those plants kept sneaking up on my backside!).

The jimador showed up how he hacks the agave into the piña that is then used in the making of tequila. He let the whole crew of us give it a shot and let me tell you, it’s not as easy as it looks.

After the visit to the fields, we were invited into the distiller’s beautiful home. Marco Cedano was the master distiller at Don Julio before moving onto Tromba so he really knows his stuff. In their living room there was a barrel of tequila that we happily sampled.

The next stop for the day was to head to the distillery where Tromba is made. There they were having a Thank You lunch for all of the people who work so hard making the tequila. Our crew made cocktails for the people who actually make the tequila. It was a total cultural exchange and I loved not only witnessing it but also being able to capture it all on my camera.

On the drive home the car ride was pretty quiet. Lots of tequila and tacos were in our bellies; it had been a pretty full day. The sun was going down and we were entering what is dubbed “magic hour”. Jez yelled, “Jess! We have to stop to take photos of this, you tell us when the perfect spot comes up.” We turned on the road and there was an open field of agave with a golden sun setting behind it. We pulled over, took photos and soaked it all in. It was a perfect end to what was a magical tequila time. The next morning, we were heading to the beach for a little relaxing in the sun.

Everyone already knows how much I love Mexico. I travel there whenever I get a chance and it is always an adventure. There is so much to see and do there and I am feel fortunate that I have avoided the all-inclusives and have seen a lot of real, true Mexico. At this point, I have traveled to about thirteen states here which is only a third of the country. I have been wanting Josh to visit here for a while. It was kind of a test for him as he had never been before. If he didn’t love it there as much as I do, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. A piece of my heart lives there. We began planning this adventure a couple of months prior, just after I returned from my last adventure to New Zealand and Australia. The plan was to take two weeks and see as much as we possibly could within that time. We would include family time, booze time (Josh is a bartender after all!) and beach time. Throughout it all, we would eat awesome food, drink great drinks and see new things. We would visit four different states in these two weeks. I was pumped.

First stop was family time in Querétaro. Here we would spend four nights: two near El Pueblito where my sister lives and two in El Centro. My niece Vannya was celebrating her third birthday and my nephew Owen was being baptised so we thought this was a great place to begin our adventure. For this trip, we flew into Mexico City via Houston and flew out of Puerto Vallarta via San Francisco (this was a long day that had us arriving at 6:30am the next morning but it was totally worth it). Our flights cost about $1100 CAD for both of us. Incredible. We arrived in Mexico City on a Thursday morning, collected our luggage, bought some water and a couple of snacks and within a half hour, we were on a Primera Plus bus on our way to Querétaro. Riding first-class buses in Mexico is the way to travel around this beautiful country. They are safe, efficient and allow you to see some pretty awesome landscapes (hello mountains!). Our one way tickets cost 350 pesos each (that’s less than $30 CAD!) and took about 2 1/2 hours to get to Querétaro. When you buy a ticket for one of these first-class buses, you choose your assigned seat and they give you food – a small ham & cheese sandwich, a drink and a snack. The buses are air conditioned and there are tv’s. Hello luxury!

The first hotel – the Hilton Garden Inn – that we were staying at was chosen because of it’s proximity to El Pueblito where my sister lives plus we could walk to the church from there. To get to the Hilton, we took a taxi from the bus station in Querétaro. Taxis are awesome in this city as they work on a zone system. From the bus station, you purchase a chit for your taxi ride. You tell them where you are going and they charge you according to the zone that you are traveling to. I love this system because then you know that you are paying the right fee and not getting ripped off. To get to the hotel, we paid only 55 pesos (that’s only $4.60 in Canadian. In Toronto, it costs you that much the second you step into a taxi). The Hilton Garden Inn is a brand new hotel so it is gorgeous. So gorgeous, that I forgot to take any photos of the room. Basically, what you see on their website is what you see in real life. I did take a photo of the view from our room which you can see above. Everyone that worked here was super friendly and their English was great. We paid  1,813.05 pesos ($150 CDN) for two nights stay here. The hotel was situated beside a plaza that had some bars and restaurants (we may have had beers and snacks at the Wing Factory on the first night, maybe). Our favourite spot that we hit when staying here was down the street called Cafe Amadeus. Mexican breakfast is basically one of my most favourite things and my sister had told us that Cafe Amadeus was where it’s at. Amadeus is a bakery as well as a cafe. It’s a little German and a lot Mexican. Josh had his favourite breakfast on our trip here: Huevos Oaxaqueños. (Again, no photos because it was that good!)

After two nights at the Hilton, we headed to a new hotel in El Centro. I wanted Josh to experience this gorgeous part of the city which is designated at a UNESCO heritage site. I wanted a place that was within walking distance to spots that were familiar to me. There are tons of options for places to stay in the historic district. I chose based on price and free wifi and ended up booking a room at Meson de la Merced ($2,062 pesos for two nights or $170 CDN). This hotel looked super cool as it said that each room had three floors plus it was old so it had character, I was sold.

Once you are checked in at the concierge  you walk down the stairs to this beautiful courtyard. It was filled with potted plants, lemon and orange trees and umbrellaed tables. Each room opens onto this courtyard and each room has it’s own table and chairs.

The room was, by far, one of the coolest hotel rooms that I have stayed in. Because of it’s layout, it was hard to capture in the photos. When you walk in, there is a seating area and bar, complete with a mini fridge. You walk up a flight of stairs to another seating area that overlooks the first floor. We opted to keep our suitcases on this floor, rather than lugging them up another flight of stairs.

The third floor had the bed, seating area, sink and bathroom, as well as a little balcony that looked into the courtyard. There was a tv with all of the channels that you would want plus wifi was accessible in every room. I loved the character of the place and all of the little details in the decor. It was a much different vibe than the Hilton Garden Inn and I felt it was a much more Mexican one.

My brother-in-law and his sister took Josh and I on a bar run on our second night in Querétaro. Wanting to impress bartender Josh, he had asked his coworkers what places we should visit and what exactly we should drink while there. Our first stop was a mezcal place called Maria y su Bici. There we had a drink called Chaman (translation: Shaman) which was a fruity number served in a coconut shell topped with a grapefruit slice and some crickets. Yes, I said bugs. The bartender came out wearing a mask, did a ritual and made you sip mezcal from a glass in his hands before dumping it in your drink. Besides mezcal, this bar seemed to also specialise in insects. Bencar and Liz ordered us the Botana Alebrijes which included chapulines (grasshoppers), chicatanas (ants), sal de gusano (worm salt) and gusano de maguey (Maguey worms, as in, the ones you find in the bottom of the mezcal bottle). I have not had meat since I was sixteen and only started eating fish about five years ago. Josh has been vegan for twelve years and only started eating meat a couple of weeks before we left in preparation for the trip. But we thought, why not and we ended up making bug tacos. They were crunchy and didn’t really taste like much. About halfway through a taco, Josh and I looked at each other with a look that said it all and politely finished what was in our hands. He later said that at that moment all he could think about was the movie Beetlejuice and all I could imagine was bug legs stuck in my teeth (the first thing that I did back at the hotel was floss!).

The second bar that we visited on this run was Don Amado – a cantina that was exactly as Josh imagined a proper Mexican one being. A paper sign on the door with the name written on it was barely visible. Inside, it was a bright white room with a tv playing soccer and a bunch of men sitting at the bar. Here we were told that we had to have the Hernandez Amargo. I had no idea what it was but we were given it in a shot glass with a glass of water. I took a sip and nearly choked. Amargo is a very herby liquor, like Jaggermister but way stronger in taste. After that first sip, I actually liked it, I swear.

Our last stop for the night had just drinking Derrame Cerebrals (Brain Hemorrhage – Peach Schnapps, Bailey’s Irish Cream and grenadine) at Bar de Cortes. After that, we decided that it was safe to call it a night.

The following night was our first one staying downtown. One of the things that I have always wanted to do when in Querétaro was to sit at one of the cafes in a square and people-watch. On this trip, we finally got to do it! We chose a place with an outdoor patio that had optimal people viewing potential. There we had 1 litre Micheladas (see above cheesy photo that we asked the waiter to take in full tourist fashion) and guacamole. I love Micheladas (30 pesos) and drank them at every opportunity that I got on this trip. A Michelada is made with beer, spices, lime juice and ideally tomato or Clamato juice. Delicious.

After the Micheladas, we ordered some tequila – our first for this trip. When you order a shot of tequila in Mexico, they often ask if you want it as a flag. Throughout the trip, we were served this Mexican flag in various formats. Sometimes you will receive a shot of tequila, a shot of lime juice and a shot of sangrita (sometimes a tomato-y liquid, sometimes a more fruity one).  On this night, the tequila came in a nice glass and the lime was served in slices. Yes, Josh brought his hilarious awesome coasters along on this trip and we used (and left!) them everywhere.

When sitting outside basically anywhere in Mexico, you will have a constant flow of people coming up to you trying to sell something. They will sell anything from gum (Chiclets) to flowers to jewellery to performing a song or two. On this night we were approached by an adorable girl in her Girl’s Guide uniform, accompanied by her GG leader. She was about ten years old and asked us in Spanish if we spoke Spanish, English or French. We told her English and she then proceeded to tell us who she was and that she was selling us cookies for ten pesos and that the money would go to the Girl Guides. We then asked her to say it in French and she said it all again, perfectly in what would be her third language. Naturally we bought two – and look how cute they were all wrapped up!

We spent the last morning in Querétaro walking around the historic district. We were about to travel on a bus for four and a half hours so I thought that a little exercise was probably wise. I could not resist the awesome morning light. I wish the light in Toronto was like this all year long.

Our Lonely Planet Guide told us about a church called Templo y Convento de la Santa Cruz which was built between 1654 and 1815 that we decided to walk to it. What made this place significant is that Emperor Maximilian had his headquarters here in 1867 while under siege in Querétaro and after his surrender, he was jailed here until the firing squad was ready for him. There is so much history here!

Sometimes, my timing is not the best. While wandering around in our last few hours in Querétaro, we stumbled upon the opening ceremonies for Photofest Querétaro. There, a public figure was speaking and I realised that there was photo displays being hung everywhere. Above is the work in progress for the National Geographic display on a cobble-stoned pedestrian-only street. I wish that we had of had another day to explore it all but alas, we had a bus to catch – Guadalajara and Tequila were calling!

We had some bubbly and then Josh whipped up some more cocktails. This time he did the Calar del Sole which is a drink with Aperol, gin, blanco vermouth and a orange bitters. I love Aperol – the colour of it is gorgeous. At this point, we moved onto the main for the night, something that I have dubbed the dirty pizza. It’s actually probably one of the cleanest pizzas that you can eat but it just sounds like it’s junk food: Buffalo Cauliflower Wing Pizza with Tofu Blue Cheese Spread. This was our second time making it and it was awesome. For the crust, I had bought a frozen gluten-free one. To balance out all of that neutral colours, we also had a green salad topped with our favourite: tamari nuts (toss any nuts in tamari sauce and bake for about fifteen minutes at 350 degrees, stirring every five minutes).

For dessert, I cheated a bit in that I didn’t make it myself. None of us are super into dessert (bring on the real food!) but I felt that we had to do something. We live close to Yummy Stuff and they have a bunch of different cupcakes – including vegan and gluten-free ones. Problem solved! All in all, it was an awesome night of food and drinks. Best part of the new apartment: having a dishwasher so the clean up feels like nothing.

And my Australian adventure continued! If you have been following along, it began with camping for six days at the Woodford Folk Festival and then heading to Airlie Beach for a little sailing adventure in the Whitsundays. When we got to the hotel after the sailing tour, we had to sit down and figure out just what we going to do for the next four days until I flew back to Toronto. We had originally thought that we would rent a car and drive down the coast back to Brisbane with a stop at Fraser Island. After reading more about it, we thought that Fraser Island is something that you don’t want to rush and to do it right, you need to full out camp there for a few days. Since we didn’t have that much time and we had just spent six days already camping, we thought we should do something else. I am a big fan of nature and since Australia is the grandmaster country of the most interesting animals, I wanted to do something where we could see more of them. When driving around, it’s not hard to see kangaroos in the fields and cockatoos are flying around everywhere but I wanted to see more. When we were sailing, a few people had mentioned going to Magnetic Island. An island sounded like another adventure to me and after a little research in my trusty Lonely Planet Guide, I learned that the largest population of wild koalas live on Magnetic Island. With this information, I was sold! Within an hour, we had decided the plan: rent a car, drive up to Townsville, take a ferry and spend two nights on Magnetic Island. We would then drive back to Airlie Beach and fly back to Brissy. Game on.

The drive to Townsville was a pretty one. We drove through Bowen which is home to the Big Mango. They love Big Things in Australia – scattered across the country are about 150 sculptures of them. The last time that I was in Oz, I saw the Big Banana in Coffs Harbour and the Big Pineapple in Woombye so it was nice to continue on the fruit theme. My favourite part of it may have been the matching trailer located behind it which I can only assume is someone’s dwelling.

To get to Magnetic Island, you have to drive to Townsville and catch a ferry from there. There are two ferries that frequently go to the Island: a passenger and a vehicle ferry. Magnetic Island has a great bus system so we had originally thought that it would be more economical to park the rental car and take the passenger ferry and then bus it around the Island. When we factored in the cost for parking the car and the bus tickets for three days, it ended up being cheaper for us to take the car ($174 AU). If there had been a fourth person, however, it would have been less expensive to take the passenger ferry. When you drive your car over, it includes three people and there is an additional charge for more people. Why? Quien sabes!

Ferries are always fun. You park the car and head up to the top deck for the view. The water was pretty choppy and it was super windy so there was no way that I was tempted to get a beer that was offered on the middle deck. Hello potential motion sickness!

Magnetic Island is small and full of hills. There are four towns on the island and they are all super quaint. The largest of them seemed to be Horseshoe Bay on the North side of the island. This was where the nicest restaurants were and also the most tourists. Both ferries bring you into Nelly Bay. There is a big grocery store right here which is super convenient. We picked up some groceries and stopped at the Thirsty Camel for some Townsville beers. The hotel that we chose was in Picnic Bay which is the town on the southernmost part of the island and isn’t too far from the ferry (well nothing is really far from anything here – there is one main road that carries you from Picnic Bay to Horseshoe Bay).

The hotel that we chose to stay at was the Tropical Palms. We found it by searching on Google but later realised that it was also listed in the Lonely Planet Guide. The owners Michele and Dave were super sweet, as was their dog that hung out near the reception. The hotel had a great garden with a BBQ and large table which were available for anyone to use plus a salt water pool. Our room had a kitchenette plus a double and single bed. It was perfect for us.

Since we arrived late in the day, options for going out for dinner were limited (although I think they are probably always limited!). Dave recommended the R&R Bistro at the Picnic Bay Hotel. The food was great and the beer was cold so we liked it. We ended up eating dinner here again the following night. It was so lovely and quiet here in Picnic Bay. At night the Kookaburras laughed away and in the mornings, you would hear the cockatoos.

I loved the curlews that were everywhere in Picnic Bay. There was also a great beach here that had a stinger net so you didn’t have to worry about swimming with a stinger suit here.

The majority of the Island is designated as the Magnetic Island Nation Park so there are a bunch of hikes that you can do here. This was January in Australia and it was hot and dry, and hot, so we just chose to do the hike that would give us the most potential to see a koala in the wild. The trail was called the Forts Walk and it took you to an old fort before looping back around. It is about four kilometres so took about an hour and a half. The views were awesome.

We had our eyes constantly looking for koalas and totally went off track a couple of times to try to find them but those guys were hidden too well for us. The closest we came to seeing one is some dried up turds. Dave later told us that he had a guest at the hotel who stayed for five days. He was determined to see a koala in the wild and everyday he spent on that trail. He didn’t see one until his final day when he was lucky enough to see five. Apparently perseverance pays.

I was really wanting fish & chips for lunch and we were told that there was a spot in Horseshoe Bay so we headed that way. Horseshoe Bay has a cute strip of restaurants and shops along the water and the beach there has a stinger net. We got our fish & chips and ate at the beach and it was lovely. There we also ran into some of the other people who were on our sailing trip and immediately felt like the adults of the crew with our car and hotel (as opposed to their hostels and bikes).

I was pretty determined to see a koala since we were in their environment and since we did not have days to hang out in the woods to find them, we headed to Bungalow Bay where they have an animal sanctuary.  There are accommodations at Bungalow Bay and they also have a volunteer program where you can help out with things there to have a cheaper stay. We did the Wildlife Tour which cost $20 AU. It included a guided tour through the park and let everyone handle the animals. I’m not a super fan of people handling animals to be honest but it was still a good tour to see them up close.

The coolest animals there was definitely the koalas, as well as the wombat and echidna. Australia, you have cool creatures.

Yes, I look pretty dirty in these photos. We had just hiked for a couple of hours in the heat! I can’t help it.

We were on the last tour of the day at Bungalow Bay which is apparently the best tour to be on because the end of it coincides with the time that they feed the Rainbow Lorikeets. These beauties are basically my most favourite bird ever. When I was in Australia two years ago, I saw one briefly as it flew by the car. It was just a smear of rainbow and I almost didn’t believe that I had actually seen it. To then experience tons of them together like this was incredible. When I showed Josh a photo of them, he described the Rainbow Lorikeet perfectly: a bird that only a seven year old would dream up. I went a little nuts photographing them and while doing so, they would land on me, which was the beginning of one of my newest favourite things: Selfies with Wildlife.

Samples of Selfies with Wildlife.

Dave had told us that if we wanted to see a gorgeous sunset, that we should drive to the western part of the island. To get there, you drive past Picnic Bay, past the golf course and then the road basically turns into a dirt track. From there you drive until it stops at a gorgeous sandy beach. There were a few other people there fishing and just hanging out. We watched the sun set and then drove back in the dark while tons of flying foxes flew above.

Before leaving Magnetic Island the next day, we had one more animal to see: the Rock Wallaby. There is a spot in Arcadia where you can see them, mostly because people bring food for them there. Rock Wallabies are super cute and are simliar to kangaroos. They are both marsupials so they have pouches for their babies. There was one female with a wee one in hers and it was one of the most adorable things that I have ever seen.

I was also able to get a Selfie with Wildlife here with the wallaby. That makes two for my collection.

After hanging with the wallabies, we caught the ferry back to Townsville and wandered around there to have lunch. It seemed to be a bit of a rundown town, one that was probably hopping back in the day but now, not so much. I love to photograph places like this so I did not mind.

The drive back to Airlie Beach was pretty magical. There was this field of Magpie Geese. I also saw a few Emus which was super cool. The funniest spy was seeing a camel in a field with some cows. For that one, we just had to stop to take a proper photo. I mean, a camel, in a field. Love it.

During the drive, we also saw the most magical rainbow. Dayle is a huge fan of rainbows so she was loving it. We followed this one all the way to Airlie Beach where it seemed to end in the bay, making one of the most picturesque things ever.

LOJ!

Cane toads are a big thing in Australia. They are big and ugly and are considered an invasive species. I did not see any live ones but I did see this road-kill version. Look at how big it was!

Our flight from Proserpine was leaving the following morning so we got a room again at the Whitsunday Terraces. Funny enough, they gave us the exact same room that we had stayed in three nights prior. We celebrated another great adventure with this bottle of bubbly from Koomooloo Vineyard. Naturally the label caught my eye – the skull treehouse was gorgeous!

Leaving for the airport made me a little sad. I wanted to see more wildlife because I knew that the next day would be spent in Brisbane and then I would be heading home. We drove the car to the airport and when we got out, this beautiful Blue-winged Kookaburra was on a lampost. He allowed me to photograph him from all angles. Below is a recording of the Laughing Kookaburras that we heard at night from the hotel on Magentic Island. Whenever you heard “jungle” sounds in movies or tv shows, they are typically actually kookaburra calls.

No trip to Australia is complete without some Vegemite. I picked this up for Josh and we actually kind of love eating it in the morning on toast.

Already this trip seems like it was an eternity ago even though it was only in January that I was sailing the Whitsundays. Since my next big trip is coming up in a couple of weeks, I thought that I ought to get this one blogged. Man alive, I loved this part of my big New Zealand/Australia trip.

This was my second time traveling to Australia. The first time I spent the majority of the time in Melbourne and then flew up to Brisbane, finishing the trip by driving down to Sydney and flying home. This time around, I wanted to see the Great Barrier Reef, or at least a part of it. I had eight days of my trip to plan something fun while traveling with my friends Dayle and Adrian who live in Brisbane. At first eight days seemed like a long time but we quickly realised, that it wasn’t. They decided that the best way to experience the Reef was to do an overnight sailing trip in the Whitsundays. We tried doing some research which proved difficult with us being in completely different timezones and settled on buying flights to Airlie Beach with the idea that from there, we would figure it all out. I love traveling by the seat of your pants!

The night before we left for the coast, we were at the Woodford Folk Festival. We piled into the rental car after the big fire ceremony and drove to Dayle and Adrian’s apartment in Brissy. From there, we repacked our cases, got a couple of hours of sleep and before we knew it, we were driving to the airport all set for a completely new adventure. Airlie Beach is about halfway up the coast between Brisbane and Cairns and the closest airport there is Proserpine. The flight was about 1 hour 45 minutes. We really had not researched much, although we did have our Lonely Planet Guide in-hand and basically had no plans for what would happen after we landed. We collected our luggage and then figured out just how to get to Airlie Beach since Proserpine is about a 35 minute drive from the town. There are many options for getting to Airlie including taxis and buses. Most people seemed to know what they were doing or had pre-purchased their bus tickets. We got lucky in that there were three empty seats on the bus. We paid $15 each and hopped on, telling the driver that we wanted to get off somewhere downtown.

Since it was midday, we thought that when we arrived in Airlie Beach, we would find a hotel room (hello nap time! That Woodford tuckered us out!) and then plan to go on a sailing trip the next day. The bus dropped us off on the main strip of Airlie and right in front of a tourist information store. Dayle and I walked in, told the woman that we were looking for an overnight tour and minutes later we ended up getting booked on a sailboat that was leaving in two hours. It was a little wild from there: we had to pay for our tickets (only about $325 AU each for three days and two nights on a boat!), walk down the street to the boat’s actual tour spot, return to the original tourist information place to pack bags and then walk to the harbour to meet the crew. We honestly had no idea what we were getting into.

I had never been on a sailboat before, let alone slept on one so I had no idea what to expect for this trip. Since there were twenty-eight tourists on the boat, you are no allowed to bring big cases. We had to pack small bags of clothes to bring and we left the rest of our things at the tourist information store. I was initially hesitant to do this. Since I was traveling for over three weeks I had a lot of things with me, let alone camera equipment. I managed to pack most of my camera gear and a few outfits and necessities. When you book an overnight sailing trip, the excursions and meals are included and you just have to bring any alcohol. We stopped at the store on the way to the harbour and got some Goon, which is basically gross boxed wine that people love to drink in Australia. (We opted for the “rose” version.)

The boat we were on was called the British Defender and had a crew of three: Liam the captain, Louise and a young hot thing whose name was  Dave (I feel that his job was to be there to show off his muscles for any single lady tourists). We all got aboard the boat and were assigned our bunks. Mine was right beside the kitchen on the bottom and Dayle & Adrian were above me. We were asked about any dietary needs and were told what our route would be. We strapped out bags in and were told to go up on deck.

We basically sailed the entire first day before getting to Whitehaven Beach which is on the eastern side of Whitsunday Island. At first I was pretty nervous on the boat. I couldn’t believe how much it tipped (and therefore worried that my precious camera would be laying across the boat after we settled!). The crew asked for volunteers to do various rope things but I preferred watching it all happen instead. At times it was really windy and rough and I swore that I would be the one person to fall overboard but alas, there were no casualties.

Being out on the open water was awesome. I love the ocean and one day need to live beside it somewhere in this wild world. The landscape was also very cool. The greenery and random rocks totally made me think of LOST.

Out of the twenty-eight tourists on the boat, I am pretty sure that we were basically the oldest ones at the ripe age of thirty-two. The majority of the guests were backpackers in their early twenties and everyone was from a different country.  It was cool to talk to them and to hear about where they were coming from and where they were heading after this lag of the trip. I quickly realised that if you are backpacking in Australia, there is a normal route in how to do it.

We docked on the first night near Whitehaven Beach and watched the sunset while drinking that delicious Goon. Everything felt a bit surreal. I had just spent six days camping at a folk festival and here I was, sitting on a boat in the Great Barrier Reef. Life is pretty incredible sometimes.

After breakfast, we were given stinger suits and told that we were heading to the beach. I had heard about the stingers but did not realise that it was such a serious thing. Stinger season runs from November until about May. During that time, the stingers are around because the water is so warm. Stingers, like Box Jellyfish are lethal if they sting you so that is why it’s crucial that you wear a stinger suit.

We piled in a small dingy boat that then took us to Whitehaven Beach. It was nice to be on land and man, that beach is gorgeous. The sand here is 98% silica which make it super white. Liam warned us about this and told us not to bring any expensive cameras because the sand would stick to everything. Luckily, Dayle has the super cool waterproof Canon Powershot D20, so we were able to take photos. The sand was incredibly exfoliating plus it cleans up silver jewellery quite nicely.

After spending a couple of hours hanging on the beach, we went back to the boat for lunch. The afternoon was then spent doing what I was there to do – snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef. I love snorkelling. I love being in water. I love seeing the wild world that lives down there. The best snorkelling that I had done before this was in Tobago a number of years ago. The waters here did not disappoint. The colours and variety in the coral was incredible. And the fish blew me away, especially the Parrot fish. I love them so much and could have stayed here until my entire body was pruned.

The next stop on our tour was Tongue Bay and an incredible lookout that is part of the Whitsunday Island National Park. Again, we were taken to shore on a small dingy and from there we hiked up a trail to the lookout.

We were told that that view is the third most photographed location in Australia, after the Sydney Opera House and Uluru, and I can see why. It was seriously breathtaking. The colours in the water were unreal. From the lookout you could see big stingrays in the water and mountains in the distance. I could have filled my memory card with photos just from here.

The second night had another gorgeous sunset, this time from Blue Pearl Bay. This bay is located at Hayman Island which is the most Northern island of the Whitsundays. Looking out you saw basically nothing on the horizon.

On our last morning after breakfast, we snorkelled. The coral and fish blew me away yet again. This time we saw a jellyfish that initially made us nervous but he was a slow-moving passive guy.

We got back to Airlie Beach around noon and did it ever feel great to be on real land again. As much as I loved being on the sailboat, it was nice to not be in constant swaying motion. We were also looking forward to laying in real beds and having hot showers while blasting air conditioning.

We headed back to the tourist information place to get our luggage and book a hotel. The woman quickly got us a room with space to sleep plenty plus wifi for only $150 AU. Hello luxury! We definitely felt like ballers. The Whitsunday Terraces is located just off of the main strip in Airlie Beach and up a steep hill. It had a kitchenette, separate bedroom plus two additional single beds and a balcony where a beautiful cockatoo visited us.

Upon arriving, our cases literally exploded and we all took turns having half hour long showers (I’m exaggerating on the length – I promise!). Adrian being the good man that he is, went down to a store and came back with some bubbly and cheese and we had a little feast. That night, everyone who had been on the tour was invited to go to a bar downtown where they would have free pitchers of beer for us. I thought that it was a sweet gesture and it was nice to hang out again with our fellow sailors. Liam had said he would come but he was a no show, which was probably a good thing.

The next morning, we had breakfast at a cute cafe that was about five minutes from the Whitsundays Terraces. Breakfast is my favourite and I love eating like this – a little of everything, hold the meat.

All in all, this lag of my trip was an incredible experience. If you ever get the chance to sail the Whitsundays, do it. It should definitely be on everyone’s list of goals in life.

Tips for Sailing the Whitsundays
• Do not forget the sunscreen! Traveling in January meant that we were in the heat of the summer. The sun belts down on you when in the middle of the water so lather up, constantly.
• If you experience motion sickness, pick up some medication before hitting the water. There are pharmacies in Airlie Beach that can help you out. I picked up some ginger pills just in case but was happy to say that I did not need them.
• The food on the British Defender was great! They worked with my (mostly) lacto-ovo vegetarian diet. There was a girl who was gluten-free and had allergies to a number of other things and they were able to accommodate that.
• Label your Goon bag! There was definitely some Goon stealing happening on board. Everyone’s drinks goes into one cooler so you want to make sure that you label yours to avoid any disappointment later.
• There will be partiers! But you’re on a sailboat with young traveling people so what else can you expect?! This isn’t a five-star hotel, this is an adventure.
• You will be out of your comfort zone, sleeping in an open boat with a bunch of strangers and being woken to Louise pounding on a pot. But go with it, everyone else is in the same boat (literally!).
• Showering does not exist, well it sort of does. There were three bathrooms on the boat. The sink had a facet that pulled out and you can then use it to shower yourself. Seriously though, why bother?! You’re on the boat for two night and are spending a lot of time in the ocean. You’re not here to be fashionable or to be primped up. Let loose, get a little dirty and wear that outfit two days in a row. No one will even notice.
• Airlie Beach is a great little beach town to stay in if you are planning on doing the Whitsundays. There are a bunch of hotels and hostels and everything seemed to be in walking distance.

I recently had a terrible customer service experience at a restaurant that I absolutely love. The experience was disappointing and got me thinking a lot about customer service and how a lot of establishments and people are truly lacking in the good stuff. In this digital age of social media, it seems that simple etiquette is really missing. I cannot tell you the number of emails that I have received from potential clients who do not even address me and simply write a message such as, “You are too expensive”. (I’m not, by the way!) I cannot imagine ever addressing a person face to face and saying something like that. You just wouldn’t do it. But now in the era of Twitter,  email and Facebook, we lose our personal face to face interaction with people and are therefore forgetting our manners. This then reflects in the times that we have to deal with real people. At my recent restaurant experience, the hostess yelled at me after I asked if our table was going to be ready in a few minutes, as she had said it would be a few minutes previously (and after she had told us that it was an hour wait that then became over two hours). She yelled, I was appalled. I wondered if she spoke to her mother like that.

I have been working with people since I was in high school. For seven years, I worked at various print shops where I dealt with business owners needing things printed right then and there. When I was a university student, I worked at the CN Tower and I got to deal with the most special kind of people: tourists. I learned  a lot about patience from them (plus I became really kickass at Photoshop after doing all of those cheesy green-screen bungee jump photos!). As a small business owner now, I deal with regular everyday people. I work with new parents, art directors and models. I work with brides and grooms – and their parents – on one of the most stressful days in their lives: their wedding. On those days, I also have the wedding party and the hundreds of guests to work with. It’s always challenging but never once, have I lost my cool with them. My job is to be there to do what I was hired to do in the best way that I can. It’s not about me, it’s about the client. I treat them as I treat my best friends and this is why they keep coming back to me.  I go out of my way to treat my clients well, to get to know them, to make sure they are happy and I sure as heck, send them a thank you card at the end of it all. When did it become alright to yell at a customer after they ask you a reasonable question?

I am a loyal person. I buy brands that I love and respect. I shop at stores where I know the names of the staff behind the counter (hello Jeff at Vistek!). I eat at restaurants where I know the bartender’s name. To me – who is the regular everyday person – these things are important. I work hard for my money and I choose to spend it in these ways. And when clients hire me for their photos, I am thankful that they chose to spend their hard-earned money on me. I make sure that they are happy and that they don’t ever regret that decision.

I may not be one of the cool people. You know, the ones with the fancy blogs who get sent to all of the fun events where they drink for free and come home with bags of swag. But I am a small business owner who has been running it consistently for a decade. I have 1500 followers on twitter , and while they may not be the trendy, “famous on twitter people”, they are the ones who read, interact and, most importantly, spend their hard-earned money on products and services and at stores and restaurants – especially ones that are recommended to them by people that they respect. Those people that I was recently dining with when we had the terrible customer service experience? One of them happens to have some very high profile clients in her own profession. Had the experience that night been awesome, I bet her clients would have chosen to dine there in the future. You never know who a person is or what their story is so never dismiss anyone. Full stop.

I say, let’s start treating everyone equally. When you work with people, you are providing a service so provide the best customer service that you possibly can. Treat others as you would like to be treated. Let’s all drop the cool wall for a while and just be human.

Sidenote: the restaurant did comp our meal. While this was a nice gesture, I rather would have had a good ol’ fashioned apology for the way that we were treated. In my opinion, words carry more power in situations like that one.

The Woodford Folk Festival is held annually from December 27th until January 1st on a 500-acre property located near Woodford, Queensland Australia which is about an hour north of Brisbane. Every year about 150,000 people attend this festival, one that includes not only music but also comedy, workshops, lectures, dance, art – basically anything that you can imagine. You can experience Woodford in a couple of ways: you can buy day passes for any specific (or all!) day(s) or  you can choose to camp for the entire six days. We chose the latter – go big or go home. If you want to really experience Woodford, this is the only way to do it. Tickets for Woodford go on sale in the spring and they offer a 25% discount if you buy yours at this time. I paid about $400 for my Seasons with camping ticket which included six days of camping plus entrance to the festival. To me, this was ridiculously inexpensive.

The drive from Brisbane to Woodford is a gorgeous one. You drive past the Glass House Mountains that are just incredible to see. I also saw kangaroos and I just new that this was going to be an amazing experience. The festival is located literally beside a field with cows.

As I said, camping is the only way to truly experience Woodford. There are no designated spots so it works on a first come basis. You can pay extra money to arrive on December 26th if you want to be sure to get a good spot. We arrived around midday on the 27th and were surprised by how many people had already arrived and set up camp.

The roads had cute little names and after the first day, we pretty much knew our way around the campground. Since we were traveling with kids, we opted for a site that was further from the action (crowds!) and also one that was on a hill. In past years, Woodford usually gets pounded with rain so we wanted to make sure that our site did not become a river. The walk from our campsite to the festival entrance was about fifteen to twenty minutes. Going there was fine but coming home at night was mostly uphill so we definitely got our exercise in. There is a shuttle that runs throughout the camping area and drops you off at the festival entrance every half hour which we did take a couple of times.

We traveled with a trailer where Katie and her family slept and I had my own tent. Camping here was different than what I am used to here in Canada. First off, there are no animals like bears or raccoons so you do not have to worry about any critters getting into your food and garbage. I slept in my tent on a cot – being off of the ground made me feel like I was camping in luxury. Katie and Rob’s trailer has solar power with a fridge and stove plus running water so we were able to have breakfast and chai in the morning here. We could also charge our iPhones. There are flush toilets and cold showers everywhere. If you go in the afternoon, there isn’t even a line-up. There were signs everywhere about conserving water and they asked to limit showers to one minute long.

While there were nothing like bears or raccoons to worry about here, there were definitely critters of other sorts. This beautiful spider made a web in the trailer. The one evening we were walking to the festival when Rob yelled, “Snake!” just as I was about to step on said snake. At first he thought that it was a Brown Snake but it turned out to “just be a python.” We don’t have things like deadly snakes and spiders in Ontario (well barely) so this was something new for me. When camping in Australia, watch out for the little guys. Keep your tent zippers done up and always check your shoes before putting them on. Another fun thing about Australia, is the Flying Foxes (basically they are really big bats). One night I saw about thirty of them all flying in the same direction, soaring at different levels. It was a pretty magical sight. Katie told me that when you see that many together, it’s a sign of a change about to happen. I liked this.

December and January is prime summertime in Australia and the weather at Woodford was hot, hot, hot. We stuck to the shade as best as we could because man, did that sun belt down at  us. I was constantly applying my SPF 60 sunscreen. I often wore my scarf over my shoulders in the afternoon to avoid getting burnt and I had my hat on during the entire time that the sun was out. I am happy to say that I avoided getting sunburnt (although I definitely did get a few new freckles!). Constantly drinking water is definitely a necessity here.

Comfortable footwear was a key for Woodford because you sure put in the miles walking around here. I brought these yellow flats and wore them everyday knowing that they would be destroyed by the end of the festival. Since we basically did not get any rain, everything was a big dust pit. I am not sure that my feet were ever actually clean for the entire six days.  I happily threw these shoes out the second I got back to Brisbane.

The musical line-up this year at Woodford was incredible. I was happily surprised that there was so much Canadian content. There was a ton of Canadian government sponsorship and I was pretty proud of this. There were about five stages throughout the festival that had music and the tunes were going from midday until midnight at all of them. If you didn’t find an act that you liked here, well, you just must not be a big music fan. I honestly found it a big overwhelming when trying to decide who we should go see play. Often times, we would just choose to wander around until we found something that we liked.

One of the bands that a lot of people were talking about at the festival was the Montreal band Half Moon Run. I had seen them play once in Toronto so was excited to see them play again. They played four times at Woodford and I caught three of those sets. They are such a great band and I highly recommend seeing them if you get the chance. I also caught Hawksley Workman who is always a delight to see play. There was a Canadian showcase called O’Canada with Hawksley, Andy Brown, Dave Gunning and Tim Chaisson which was great. Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings played a couple of sets. I have seen them play many times in Toronto so it was fun to see them bring the same energy down under. We also saw the beautiful Julia Stone and Kate Miller-Heidke play one night at the amphitheatre  I was blown away by both of them and totally bought their albums when I got home. Jon Butler Trio was also incredible. Jon seems like such a genuine and real person that you cannot help but be mesmerized when seeing him perform live.

Simply wandering around the festival and taking it all in was one of the best things at Woodford. Often Katie and I just wanted to stop and people watch. There were artists and actors all dressed up and performing everywhere which made the experience a lot of fun. There were a couple of ladies dressed in pink as “traffic ladies” who gave our little five year old Pearl a “ticket” for being a “cheeky pedestrian”. She thought it was hilarious.

Of course, I, the photographer, got asked to take photos for other people.

The food and drink choices were immense at Woodford and all of the prices were reasonable considering it was a festival. We never went hungry or thirsty here. Common Ground had great tofu burgers and the Mexican place had great quesadillas. Katie and I got addicted to this Green Drink that included silverbeet, kale & broccoli greens, grapefruit juice, orange juice, yerba mate green tea, apple juice, honey, apples and linseed. Seriously, it was delicious. There were also bars/pubs scattered throughout the festival where you could have a cold beer or cider. And I had to have a flat white every morning (the Aussie version of coffee with milk).

One of the biggest things talked about at this year’s festival was the Chai Tent. We heard from a number of people who attend Woodford every year about how there was big change with the Chai Tent. It was in a different location then normal and was apparently much smaller then in the past. We liked it all the same and went for a chai almost every afternoon. People would hang out there for hours. I found it very peaceful. Plus, they had amazing vegan, gluten-free cake.

The vendors at Woodford were great and I did a lot of shopping here. In fact, pretty much all of the gifts that I bought for my family on my trip were purchased here. I bought a great shirt for Josh that has a Llama wearing headphones from an organic clothing company called My Heart Beats Green.

I fell in love with a vendor called Wear Ya Bin and visited their booth many times before buying a necklace. There you could make your own custom necklace with typewriter letters, Scrabble tiles and different charms. With encouragement from the owner, I chose about seven charms to hang from my own necklace. The idea is to tell your own story with the ones you choose. My favourite is the Scrabble piece that reads, “She believe she could so she did.”

Another favourite booth that we discovered was Burlap Cottage. We were on our way to meet Rob one morning when we suddenly discovered this booth and we quickly got distracted by the pretty. We stopped, dug through everything and came out with bracelets, earrings and thoughts of when we could return (and we did!).

The workshops at Woodford were one of the best things there. You can choose to sign up in advance for them but we were not that organised so it was the first thing that we did on day one of the festival. The workshops cost extra money and are limited to a number of participants. Katie and I did three workshops and by far my favourite one was making a melon basket. I can be a pretty crafty girl when I put my mind (and time!) to it and this is definitely thanks to my very talented Mom but never have I ever woven a basket before. I had not idea how they were even made. Anaheke Metua taught the class and I was pretty proud of myself when I was done. Guys, I made a real life basket! Anaheke said that your first basket should be given away so I gave mine to Katie but at least I have some pretty photos to prove that I did make it. Anaheke is such a talented fibre artist and it was a real pleasure to learn from her.

The second workshop that we did was to make the above pendant. I basically laughed throughout the entire process because, well, all we did was bend some wire. But it was still fun to make and I am happy with the end-result.

The last workshop that Katie and I did was the woven spiral. Anaheke taught this workshop alongside some other talented weavers. They each taught a different weaving technique and we made sprials out of natural fibres that are native to Australia. Once you learn the basics of these, you can make basically anything from rugs to baskets to water bottle holders.

We also did a weaving workshop with an Auntie who showed us how to make fish and grasshoppers out of palm leaves. How cool is that?!

There were two very awesome events at Woodford. Since the festival runs over New Year’s Eve, they do a special ceremony to bring in the new year. At 11:30pm that night, there was three minutes of silence. How 100,000 people were suddenly quiet for three whole minutes was unbelievable but I expereienced it so I know that it happened. We sat around the Village Green and birthday candles were passed around. Everyone lit them  and for three minutes the only sound was the cicadas. It was truly magical. Check out the video below to see for yourself** (Actually, for the life of me, I cannot get this video to embed. Is is just embedding the second video. To see the moment of silence video, please click here.)

On New Year’s Day, Woodford hosts the Closing Fire Event at the Amphitheatre. We settled on the hill in front of the amphitheatre early to get a good spot. Immediately two things happened: we saw a kangaroo bouncing around above us going a little wild and then a few minutes later a pram with a baby inside went bombing down the hill. Luckily the baby (and the man that the pram hit!) were fine. But we were definitely shaken up! At Woodford there was a big ship beside the amphitheatre stage throughout the entire festival and every night, there were “offerings” given to it. Throughout  the festival, there were boxes where you could put pieces of paper that you wrote your wishes for the coming year on. These boxes were then delivered to the ship on January 1st. There was a lantern procession and a large choir that sang. They then set the ship on fire.  It was a seriously beautiful thing to watch. Again, you can watch a video of it below.

Tips for Woodford Folk Festival
• Woodford wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the thousands of volunteers there. Be nice to them.
• There is great programming there for kids with everything from Pirate School to a flea circus. The kids area of the festival is fun and safe with ample amount of shade.
• You will get lost for the first couple of days. This place is big and everything looks the same!
• Drink lots of water – bring your own reusable bottle. There are stations where you can pay to refill your own bottle for very little money. Hydration is the key when you are sweating all day.
• Having a car here is useful but not necessary. If it rains a lot, I can imagine that you would want one, even just to use to hide out in. But, you don’t need one to go to Woodford whether camping or not. There are buses that run from everywhere, including the Brisbane airport, that will take you to the festival.
• Bring cash. I only saw one ATM, bank machine or as the Australians call it EFTPOS here. The fee to use it was about $3 which was not that much more than any other one that I had used in Australia. However, I recommend paying cash for everything here. A lot of the vendors do not accept credit cards or debit and when they do, they charge you extra to use it.
• Power. There is no electricity at the campsites but they do have an internet cafe and phone charging booth near the entrance. The cost was relatively cheap to use both. There was also a booth at Woodford selling solar phone chargers which I thought was brilliant – and apparently everyone else did as well because they were sold out on day one!
• Caboolture is a nearby town that sells everything. We drove up and down a strip of it a few times buying supplies and they had every store you could imagine. Say, for example, that the tent you were meant to sleep in turned out to be a wee bit to small for you, Caboolture is a perfect town to dip into to buy a larger one. (Still one of the funniest times of my entire trip!)

P.S. Pretty much any photo that you see of me in this post is thanks to Katie! Thanks for sharing the photos! x

About a year ago I learned to crochet. It was something that I had always wanted to learn and once I got going on it, I actually really enjoyed it. You may remember that my first project was a blanket for myself. Last summer when I realised that I would be spending Christmas in Australia with my very dear friend Katie, I knew that I wanted to give them a gift that was pretty special. I decided to crochet another blanket. Originally I wanted to choose ocean colours since my brain at that time was all about the Great Barrier Reef. My Moms and I quickly decided that the blanket needed more contrast so we added in the raspberry and eggplant. Here is the end result, sitting on Katie & Rob’s bed in sunny Queensland.

This awesome mobile is hanging at Katie’s house above her daughter’s crib. It is of knitted birds that are all native to Australia. Love it.

It’s that time of year when New Year’s resolutions are attempted. Often these resolutions involve getting more active and eating better. The beginning of a new year is a fun time because of this. It’s our chance to start fresh. I was at my sister’s for lunch on the weekend and we had a big discussion about health and eating well. We are both pretty food-conscious people. She cut out from her diet white sugar years ago and recently, she stopped eating wheat. She has never felt better. In a classic teenage girl moment, I stopped eating meat when I was sixteen (for the animals!) and have continued this to present day (for the health!). I started eating fish about four years ago because I found that it made it easier when I travel.

The point of this rant is this: healthy eating is easy.

I am amazed by what people consume without even thinking about it. Prepared foods. Tons of desserts. Salty snacks. Eating just to eat and not actually enjoying the food. If we do not have our health, life is pretty difficult. One of the easiest ways to look after ourselves – both physically and mentally – is by eating well. If you know that something is bad for you or that you will over-consume, simply do not have it in your house. Out of sight, out of mind. Stock your fridge with fresh, colourful food and I guarantee that you will be motivated to eat it.

Since getting back from spending nearly a month in New Zealand and Australia, I made a vow to start cooking more and eating out less. My boyfriend and I have pretty wild schedules and we have been pretty poor at planning proper meals lately. It often seems easier to go out for a burrito then to make dinner at home. This past weekend, I have got back into the groove of this buying groceries thing and it feels great.

On the weekend, I decided that we need to eat more kale because it is so good for you (hello iron, Vitamin A, C & K and calcium!). I wanted to make a salad with it but I wanted it to have some substance. I decided to buy a bunch of things that I love and put them all together. The end result was a salad with kale, quinoa, avocado, kalamata olives and red pepper. I then made a dressing with lemon juice, garlic and olive oil. For a topping, I made tamari roasted pecans and hazelnuts (coat in tamari, bake on a sheet at 250 degrees for 25 minutes). The end result was delicious. I had to actually stop Josh from eating more so that I would have enough leftover for lunch. The entire thing took me less than a half hour to make and suddenly I had dinner and lunch for two.

Needing cooking inspiration? I highly suggest checking out Pinterest. It is such a pretty way to browse recipes. You can see what recipes I have pinned there here.