Autumn In Australia

It’s Friday, April 27^th and we are sitting in Byron Bay on a rainy day. We can’t believe how much we have done in the past week here in beautiful Australia! One thing that has been a surprise to us is the lack of wifi in Australia. Apparently, everyone has a Internet connection on their phone. Since we do not have a phone it has been quite difficult to stay in contact with the outside world. While it is a downer to be stuck inside on a rainy day, it forces us to update our blog.

To those of us from the northern hemisphere April signifies a time of new life and the beginning of spring. Halfway around the world, we are experiencing falling leaves, cool mornings and nights and advertisements marketing ways to “stay warm this winter.” It’s hard to believe that a week and a half ago we were watching the cherry blossoms bloom in Seoul and here we are in Australia experiencing autumn.

 We landed in Melbourne on April 18^th and our dear friend, Lesley, picked us up from the airport. We met Lesley through CouchSurfing a couple of years ago. We hosted her in Denver and remained friends throughout the years. Now she is hosting us in Australia (Melbourne and Cairns). We are so fortunate to have such an amazing friend! It took us a few days to get over the shock that we were actually hanging out with each other again.

We took the first day to catch up on sleep, laundry, groceries, etc. The next day we took the train from Diamond Creek to Melbourne. It took an hour by train but the beautiful scenery helped to pass the time.  Our mission in the city was to book our Greyhound tickets up the east coast to Cairns. That’s right people we are riding Greyhound!

 

We explored the city and kept saying to each other “Can you believe we are in Australia?” We were on the quest for a “G’day Mate” and received a “G’day” from one of Lesley’s neighbors whilst (Australian version of while) walking back from the store. (We bet you just read G’day with an Australian accent). Yes!

Lesley planned a big night out on the town for us on Friday night for the International Comedy Festival. Josh was excited that drinking was on the agenda for the night and this time he had a drinking buddy, Lesley’s brother, Ross! The night started out with a very interesting ride on the train to the city. (Check out our photo tab for pictures)

We laughed our butts off while watching Lawrence Leung! Lesley translated the inside Australian jokes during the show.

Australian vs. American Vocabulary

Heaps = A lot (This is used a lot/heaps)

Thongs = Flip-Flops

G-String = Thong

Reckon = I Guess

Car Park = Parking Lot

Footpath = Sidewalk

Budgie Smugglers = Man’s Speedo (Banana Hammock)

Singlet = Tank Top

How are you going? = How are you doing?
Rubbish = Trash
Chewy = Gum

The next morning we met up with Ross and Kathryn (Kat) and headed to Kat’s parents’ lake house in Bonnie Doon. Lesley asked to borrow Kat’s thongs and thank goodness we already knew this meant her flip-flops! The drive to Bonnie Doon was so picturesque. We were in awe the entire 2½-hour drive.  The landscape was like nothing we had ever seen before and is truly one of a kind.

We boated:

                                                     Go Lesley!!

We ate BBQ including kangaroo:

We had a wonderful time hanging with our new friends playing ping-pong , dancing and enjoying each other’s company.  We felt like we were with old friends as we ate and drank throughout the night. We had heaps of fun!!!

The next morning we made another beautiful drive to Healesville Sanctuary.

Healesville Sanctuary has exhibits with only Australian animals!

Josh with wallaby = calm and lovable

Leanne with wallaby = bite your finger

Of course, the only way to follow a visit to the zoo is with cold local beers!

Yummm…White Rabbit!

Josh was longing for a ride on one of these antique beauties.

What a memorable weekend with our great friends!

We spent the next day preparing for our 12-hour Greyhound trip to Sydney that night. While we were excited to explore a new place we were sad to leave our friends. Lesley and her family and friends are as close to a family that we can get while on the road.

Sydney Bound!

We arrived in Sydney the morning of Tuesday, April 24^th.  Leanne is attempting to write the date in this blog and it keeps trying to auto-fill with the previous day since we are 16 hours ahead of Denver time.

Walking the Wharf

Famous Sydney Opera House

Victoria Bridge

There is such captivating beauty to Sydney. Our mode of transportation changed from subway riding to catching the ferry.

We were fortunate enough to be in Australia during Anzac Day. This is similar to Memorial Day and Veterans Day wrapped up into one. There were marches throughout Australia paying tribute to veterans.  There was a parade all day and it was very touching.

We took a trip on the ferry to Manly beach. Everything was really manly there, even our traveling bear!

Australia has recently tackled the microbrew scene. We pat Australian brewers on the back for their efforts but our taste still prefers Colorado microbrews.

We noticed something swimming in the ocean and tried to take a picture. We thought it was a platypus but a local woman said they only swim in fresh water. We did some research and this is not true. They swim in both fresh and salt water.

Leave us a comment as to what animal you think this is. It is definitely not a duck.

We packed as much as we could in our two days in Sydney but before we knew it the Greyhound was calling us again.

We rode through the night and were dropped off in the middle of nowhere in Coffs Harbour at 5:30 am.  At first we were a little worried about what we would do with our bags for our 10-hour visit. We walked 3 kms (seemed like forever) and found a nice hostel that let us store our bags and use the facilities for the day. This was the start of a great day.

We hiked and spent the day on the beach. We even saw a school of dolphins and a man wearing budgie smugglers (NOT pictured).  

The 10 hours we had to spend in Coffs Harbour went by so fast. We hopped a bus and rode 4 hours to our current location in Byron Bay.

We are about to head out on a walkabout to the lighthouse.  We look forward to catching up with you next time!

Thanks for following.

Cheers!

Leanne & Josh

Not Lost in Translation

It’s April 17^th and we are sitting in Shanghai airport. We just left Seoul and are on our way to Australia but we have to tackle a 10-hour layover first. We are not going to be able to post this until we arrive in Melbourne because we have to deal with “The Great Firewall of China.” We are unable to access our website or any type of social media while in China. We found out that you can leave the airport for the day (less than 24 hours) without a visa but we weren’t prepared to leave. We didn’t want to risk missing our flight to Melbourne so here we sit! Since we have so much time until our flight leaves we are going to reflect on the memories of our wonderful trip to Seoul, South Korea.

Our flight schedule to Seoul:

We departed on April 9^th

Austin à Denver à LAX à Beijing à Seoul = Total of 18 hours in the air

While waiting in LAX we met another Josh (awesome name) making his way to Taipei to visit his family.  He helped us understand that when traveling on China Air you just have to claim a spot in line and wait until the counter opens to check in for your flight.  Throughout the course of the night we spent time enjoying conversation. He even waited for us at the Beijing airport to make sure we knew how to transfer to our next flight. He is a great guy and meeting him just reaffirms the bond of travelers.

We crossed the international dateline so we slept for most of the 12- hour leg to Beijing to battle the jetlag.

Arrival in Seoul, South Korea

We landed in Seoul around 11:30 am on April 11^th.  It was a weird feeling to lose a day but we will gain it back slowly by traveling west.  We decided to cash in our hotel reward points to stay at a nice hotel for the first night. We were in desperate need of a shower but did not dare go to sleep for fear we would not wake up until the next day. We were on a mission not to succumb to jetlag.

Seoul is quite amazing with a population of over 20.5 million people in the metro area and has one of the most advanced subway and mass transit systems that either one of us has come across during our travels.  We spent the first night exploring the neighborhood where we were staying for the night. We found a “food court” and feasted on local cuisine.

We checked out of the nice hotel and made our way to what was going to become our new home for the next 5 nights. We are not sure what the proper word would be to describe this place…maybe a dorm?

Nothing like using co-ed showers in your 30's. Josh would like to stress that the showers were OK but the bathroom was a different story. After several days, we broke down and snuck into a Westin lobby to use the facilities.  Ultimately, the $25 per night price tag was worth it because it allowed us to splurge in other areas.

Our converter did not work so we spent the night tracking down an Apple store in the neighborhood where Josh used to live called Itaewon.  Check out the video of Josh reminiscing his high school days in Seoul. All of our videos are linked under the Video tab.  Josh wondered if his memories of Itaewon would have been best kept in his heart as he had mixed emotions by the change.  On one hand the advancement that has occurred over the past 20 years is amazing but the rustic feeling of the neighborhood has somehow been lost.  If you recall in the "About Us" Josh broke his hand playing a video game in Seoul. One night while out on the town, Josh came face-to-face with evil video that broke his hand. He confronted it, forgiven it, and is moving on with a free mind.  

The Reasons Why We Love Seoul

1. The People

It is hard to even describe just how genuine Koreans are. They have an overwhelming interest in Westerners traveling to their country. Everywhere we looked there were smiling faces of people wanting to become our friends and asking about our travels.

We stumbled across a place called Beer Denver so of course we had to stop in.

We ordered a bottle of Soju which is a traditional Korean rice liquor. We muscled the bottle down because it is not the tastiest of liquor drinks. Remember when you had to dissect an animal in school? It pretty much tasted like the formaldehyde that the animal was stored in but somehow a little worse.  A group at the bar said that Soju is a way to a Korean’s heart and that we won their hearts by drinking it. They proceeded to buy us another bottle. We couldn’t be rude so we were forced to finish it. Well, Josh mainly finished it.  (That turned out to be an ugly night and a harsh start to the next day for us both).

2. Sightseeing  and History

Parks and Palaces

Independence Park – a park that was dedicated to Korean martyrs that tried to gain independence during Japan’s colonization of Korea.   We were blown away with the depth of history between Korea and Japan.  

Side note: They must have been really short back in the day because the doors to the grounds were Leanne sized.

 Gyeonbokgong and Deoksugang Palaces 

Check out the video of the changing of the guards! (under the video tab as well)

Hanang Park (along the Han river)

Statues

Street food

                                                                Best fried potatoes ever!

Street Market

We visited local markets. One particular market was not for the faint of hearts as full slaughtered pigs hung from the ceiling as well as many other cultural products. We kept our pictures PG rated by just taking a picture of the outside.

3. The Worm Hole (Subway)

No, it’s not actually called the worm hole but that’s what it felt like. At each stop, there was a brand new adventure waiting for you at the top of the stairs. 

One stop would have huge multi-million dollar department stores another would have vendors selling crappy clothing on the streets and yet another one would have bars and street food as far as the eye could see.

You could spend years exploring every stop and still have surprises waiting for you at the next stop.

4. A New Friend

One of the highlights of our trip to Seoul was meeting our new friend, Helena. We not even really sure how we met. We were outside our “dorm?” and suddenly in a full conversation with someone we had never met. She said she would meet up the following day to show where to eat good Korean BBQ. She was not planning on staying but she and her dog ended up having lunch with us.

We enjoyed each other’s company so much that we decided to spend the day together. We visited one of her favorite areas of town called Sinsa. While walking around, we met this guy!

Maybe the blowfish inspired us, we are not entirely sure but Helena knew about one of the largest fish markets in Asia so we hopped the subway on a quest of seafood!  What a cultural experience! There were hundreds of vendors selling every kind of seafood imaginable and the smell was unbelievably pungent that you had to be there to fully appreciate it.

Helena helped navigate the way by translating with the vendors and even arranged for the food to be cooked afterwards. This was a sushi experience like none other.

We have a great video documenting the experience so check it out.

Helena is truly an unforgettable friend and we know our paths will cross again.

Overall, Seoul greatly exceeded our expectations. This was Leanne’s first time traveling to Asia so she was a bit apprehensive because of the difference in culture and language.  Josh went to high school in Seoul and already loves Korean culture and now Leanne does too.  Seoul will always have a special place in both of our hearts.

Now  for some traveling down under!