Once in a Lifetime Travel Experiences

With the travel industry coming back to life I am constantly daydreaming about our next trips! It also has me thinking about past trips and past once in a lifetime experiences. 

Seeing the Northern Lights in Iceland
We were so fortunate that even on a cloudy night we were able to see the auroras! To view more pictures and read more about our trip to Iceland, click > here!

Snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef

I have a like/dislike relationship with swimming or snorkeling in the open ocean. On our trips to Hawaii and Florida the water is typically colder and I really don't like that. But I like seeing all the fishes once I get in! But the Great Barrier Reef was a different story, the water was warm and felt really nice! This was a fun, possibly once in a lifetime experience. I say possibly because we are already thinking about our next trip to Australia and this time taking our daughter. Read about it > here!

Seeing the Twelve Apostles 

This was a MAJOR bucket list item of mine! I'm not sure why but I just had to see the rock formations before they disappear. It was the main reason we visited Melbourne during our 2019/2020 trip to Australia. Read about it > here!

Christmas in Italy 

A long time ago, in 2008, I was fortunate enough to get to take a trip to Italy with my then best friend. Since we were both in college we only had Christmas break as an option for travel. We took a Trafalgar tour called, The Best of Italy, and it was wonderful! It also marked the first time we were both away from our families for Christmas. But Christmas in Venice, Italy! 

Traveling with my Husband

As sappy as that sounds, this man has followed me around the world because I love to travel and see new things. When we first got together it wasn't easy to get this guy to take a vacation. Our first vacation was a quick weekend trip to Key West, Florida and then the next year I FINALLY convinced him to go to Hawaii and we haven't looked back. A few years after our first trip to Hawaii is when we started "the points game" and now we travel on points 80-90% of the time! 

So far, I haven't found a place I don't want to go back too, I'm always ready for a trip! One of the biggest dilemmas right now for us is wanting to take our kiddo along. She is officially in school and we don't want to be those parents who pull her out of school for a vacation. But I am also not one of those people that wants to pay ridiculous high prices for travel during traditional holidays... oh, what to do?! 

Do you have any amazing travel experiences? 

2021 Bucket List Update

With traveling starting to tick back up I thought it would be fun to update my travel bucket list!

Within the United States, where I am from and currently live, I have 12 more states to visit in my effort to visit all 50 states that make up the United States! I will add another state to the "Been There" list later this year. I also have in my "Been There" list two sates that I have only been to the airport. Do you count airport layovers as a visit? 

{map created at https://www.amcharts.com/visited_countries}

In addition to wanting to visit all 50 states I would also like to visit a good portion of the National Parks. To date I have visited 10 of the National Parks in the Untied States. We're visiting Glacier NP later this summer and I am hoping we can take a road trip next year to visit the Dakotas and see Badlands, Wind Cave and Theodore Roosevelt National Parks. The problem with this bucket list is that it is always growing! The National Parks Service adds new parks every year! The latest, New River Gorge in West Virginia, was added to the list in December of 2020. 

Other destinations that are on my list to visit next are: Puerto Rico, St. John, USVI, Croatia and Slovenia. I would also LOVE to visit Austria and Paris again, but this time around Christmas, and we are hoping to visit Australia again and take our daughter this time.  

{map created at https://www.amcharts.com/visited_countries}

Where are you heading to next? 

Minnie Mouse Birthday Party

Every year after Christmas I ask my daughter what theme she wants for her birthday party. I ask her WAY in advance so I have plenty time to plan and create. For her 2021 birthday she choose Minnie Mouse. Since 2020 was cancelled and we're still, sort of, living the pandemic lifestyle I want to throw her the best birthday party while taking into consideration appropriate safety precautions. 

We had a total of nine kids including our kiddo. All the kids were in the same school and most were in the same class. I held the party knowing people would have already had lunch and might only want snacks. I did make some snack baskets for each kid using berry baskets but the kids didn't really care, they just picked out what they wanted to snack on. The party started outside but it rained for the majority and the kids played inside while the adults hung out on the covered patio. 

{Sign by local Sign Gypsy}

I thought the party went really well and I was so happy that she was able to have friends over and things resembled some normalcy. 

{Minnie Cupcakes and Snack Station}

Normally I would have gone really big on food and done everything with a "Minnie" theme, like Minnie Corn Dogs, Minnie Carrots, Minnie Water Bottles...etc. But it wasn't the year for that. 

How are you celebrating birthday parties this year? 

Happy Mother's Day 2021

 I wanted to pop in on this wonderful Sunday to wish all the mothers out there a very happy Mother's Day! Whether you're mom, step-mom, dog mom or any other type of mom out there, its a day to celebrate you! 

This mother's day I was able to make some cookies for a few customers and my own mother. I created this cute mason jar bouquet! I thought it turned out really cute!

I spent the morning working out, went for a 5 mile run and then my Pure Barre class. And then I came home to flowers, cards and food!

Hope y'all had a wonderful weekend and day!

COVID-19: Year One

This is the inevitable one year (plus 1.5 months) into COVID-19 post. 

Its easy to start reflecting on COVID because I documented our life day-to-day when we all started a pseudo-lockdown in March 2020. March 16, 2020 my husband was sent home to work from home indefinitely (he is able to do his job from home), March 18, 2020 my daughter was sent home from school and on March 23, 2020 I was sent home for what ended up only being three weeks. 

We did remote learning as best we could for her 4K (pre-kindergarten) curriculum until that ended at the end of May. Once summer stared we happy to have some normalcy back when our daughter was able to attend summer day-camp, they managed with mask wearing on bad weather days but stuck to the outdoors most of the time. We never once had to have her home due to close contact quarantine, we were so lucky! 

Then came the cancellation of our vacation to Hawaii that was scheduled for late June/early July 2020. 

Weeks and months passed and then it was September and it was time for school to start. Our school district sent out many surveys to get an idea of what parents wanted and we started school 100% in-person. That lasted a month and then we were into a two-week virtual stint district wide. Then we went back to in-person for a few weeks and then started the virtual Wednesdays. This virtual Wednesday has lasted up to a few weeks ago! We also had virtual weeks after the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. 

{Reflections of 2020}

After the new year it was much of the same, mask wearing and temperature screening at work. And FINALLY, after so much time on the ground we took off for our happy place, Hawaii! In March of 2021, a year after COVID-19 took over in the US we took our first trip and it was wonderful! Read about it here!

With vaccinations rolling out I hope we, as citizens of the Earth, can put an end to this. I am ready to start traveling again and explore more of this great world! I have 13 more states to visit on my bucket list, hoping to knock out two more later this year, and so many other countries to visit! 

Easter 2021

Easter was EARLY this year! I was happy that I was able to continue to practice my royal icing skills again for this holiday. Check out what I created! I have also been working on taking better pictures. 

Hope you and your family had a nice weekend!

Hawaii on Points

If you're a recent visitor to my blog you may not know that we typically travel using rewards points. We stick to using points with United, Delta, Marriott and IHG (Holiday Inn) programs. 

This trip to Hawaii was no different, we used the following points:

• 135,000 United MileagePlus Points + $33.60 (45,000 + $11.20 per person)
• 220,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points + $150 for hotel parking (for a 5 night stay)
• $360 for rental car

Adding all of that up we're looking at $543.60 for a 6 day/5 night stay on Hawaii Island for three people.

Of course we had other expenses like renting snorkel gear, whale watching tour, manta ray snorkel, food/drink and gas. But our starting point was just under $550 when it could have been between $5,000 - $6,000 if we had booked hotel, air and car individually. 

I highly recommend reading posts from The Points Guy and One Mile at a Time if your wanting to learn more and are interesting in taking vacations for next to nothing! If you're interested in starting the points and miles game use my referral links below to start collecting points! I can be rewarded too if you apply here and are approved for the card. 

United | Marriott | Delta | IHG (Holiday Inn) | Chase Ultimate Rewards

Hawaii Island: 2021 Edition

Our most recent trip to Hawaii Island marked our third visit to this wonderful place (and fifth trip to the state). We absolutely LOVE Hawaii! Our favorite island is Hawaii Island (aka the Big Island) and our second favorite would probably be Maui. What is nice about Hawaii is each island is so different from each other and offers different things. 

Since we could probably start being considered frequent visitors to Hawaii, this trip was purely about relaxation after a stressful year (here's lookin' at you 2020). We stayed at the Mauna Kea Beach Resort which has an amazing beach and that is where we hung out for most of the trip! 

On days one and two the northwest coast had some horrible winds, so we headed south and hung out in Kona one day, walked Ali'i Drive and had some shave ice and the next day we visited Pu'uhonua O Hōnaunau National Historical Park and Hōnaunau Bay for some snorkeling. After snorkeling we headed out for some whale watching and saw nothing but spinner dolphins. We did see whales from our hotel lanai (aka balcony) every morning! We even saw a baby humpback. 

***Tip: If you plan on visiting Pu'uhonua O Hōnaunau National Historical Park and Volcanoes National Park you might want to look into a National Parks pass. Pu'uhonua O Hōnaunau National Historical Park has a $20 entry fee and Volcanoes National Park has a $35 entry fee. An annual National Parks pass is $80 so if you think you'll visit any other national park in the next 365 days it might be worth it to just get an annual pass. 

On our third day we had great weather and the rain seemed to break on other areas of the island so we headed over to Waipi'o Valley to FINALLY hike down into the valley and back up. On our previous two visits we haven't been able to do this hike. The total road portion down and back is about 2.6 miles with some areas estimating to be at a 45% incline and it averages 25% incline. We were both so impressed that out daughter, who is just shy of 6 years old, was able to accomplish this hike on her own! She did have some candy bar incentives along the way and there was minimal amounts of "can you carry me" but she did it! 

One of the negatives we experienced due to COVID was no grocery store or gas station would let us use their bathrooms. And when a kid has to go, they gotta go! It was really frustrating! Because of this, we decided to skip our planned day in Hilo and just stay at Mauna Kea and enjoy the beach and hotel. It was a nice way to spend our last full day on the island.

On our last night my husband went night snorkeling with the local manta ray population at the resort. He said it was amazing and that I should do it the next time we are there! Just another reason to go back. 

Due to some flight schedule changes on behalf of the airline and our horrible 2+ hour wait for our rental car, we only had 4 full days on the island. I wish we had had one more day. In the past we have done anywhere between 6 to 10 day trips so this one ended up being a little short for us (arriving on a Sunday and leaving on a Friday). Had our car rental not taken so long on our arrival day, we could have enjoyed a walk on the beach, dinner and the sunset...but instead we arrived after dark on our first night. 

{How it started vs How its going}

Traveling to Hawaii During COVID

The last flights we took we were to coming home from Australia back in January of 2020...and we hadn't flown since. That is until last week when we took a much needed family vacation to Hawaii (rescheduled from June 2020)! 

Traveling to Hawaii right now can seem a little daunting due to all the extra requirements you need to meet prior to arrival. But once all is done you're relieved and ready for travel!

Testing for Hawaii

First you'll need to create an account with the state of Hawaii's Safe Travels website; here you'll input all your personal and flight information, you'll also upload an up-to-date picture of yourself and upload your negative COVID-19 NAAT test results once you have them.

For us, at the time, our only testing option was Walgreens. This was due to location and our daughter's age (she is under the age of 12) and we needed a NAAT test in less than 72 hours from our departure to Hawaii. Walgreens has a 24 hour NAAT test for ages 3 and up. We tested at 9:15am and had our negative test results in hand by 11:30am the same day. We also chose to test within a 48 hour window of our departing flight to Hawaii due to possible weather delays (we were flying through Chicago and Denver in early March). 

At the Airport

Due to where we live we visited three airports on our way to Hawaii (ugh, connections). The main two were O'Hare and Denver. Both airports made frequent announcements about keeping your mask on, washing hands and social distancing. Many shops and restaurants were closed but the basics were open like fast food places and news stands. I would suggest packing your own food if you have a short connection or don't want McDonalds. 

We ended up literally running from Concourse F to B since our flight arrived late and we already had a short connection. And we did this in masks, which immediately made my mouth and throat dry up. 

Everyone was wearing a mask unless actively eating or drinking.  

On the Plane

Everyone complied with the federal mask laws/guidelines and the flight attendants were constantly making sure people were wearing them properly. 

We flew United and I felt like they were doing a good job with making sure people were wearing their masks properly and that the planes were clean. I could smell the cleaner as we boarded and they handed out a sanitizing wipe as you entered. You also got another wipe in your snack bag. 

Business class were the only passengers that received actual food and I think it was just United's snack boxes that you can normally purchase inflight. Economy was only offered the snack bags that included a wipe, two snacks and a small bottle of water. They also offered beverage service as usual but just gave you the can vs pouring the drink for you. They also had PLENTY of additional snacks in the back should you want more food.

Our flights to Hawaii were fairly full. We had a 2-2, 3-4-3 and 3-3 configurations. One the 2-2 my husband did not have to sit with anyone and since we're a family of 3 the 3-seater options were perfect. And our flights home were fairly empty which gave us some room to stretch out. 

United Clubs

The one thing I don't understand about the airline clubs is why close all but one? Then you're funneling all your passengers who have passes into one area...not good for social distancing. We visited the United Club in SFO from 8:30pm to 11pm and it was empty. Warm food offering was a bean burrito and other options were pre-packaged snacks like chips, crackers and string cheese. Here you also had to ask the bar tender for any beverage, whether it was a beer or water. 

We also visited the United Club at ORD from 5:45am to about 8:30am. It was empty when we first arrived but around 8am it really started to fill up. It started to get really busy to the point where you couldn't social distance and the noise level was getting annoying. So we left and headed to our gate a little early. The warm food here was an egg and cheese burrito or a warm bagel (warm, not toasted) and they had the dry packages of oatmeal you could make with hot water. They also had cereal and fruit. And unlike the club at SFO, you could get your own soda, juice and water at this club. 

Sydney Sights

 Arriving in Melbourne | The Great Ocean Road | Melbourne Sightseeing | The Great Barrier Reef

Fraser Island | Australia Zoo + Brisbane | The Blue Mountains

Sydney was our final city before we departed Australia. We landed around lunch time and headed to our hotel. After checking in we headed out to explore the harbour. We took in the sites of the famed Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and the Royal Botanic Gardens. Our hotel served high tea at their club starting at 2pm. We enjoyed our treats, drinks and sights from above. We were getting ready for bed and watching the news and we saw that they had lit up the Opera House with pictures of the dedicated fire fighters that had been working tirelessly to put out the bush fires that had ravaged the country during the summer season (starting in our fall of 2019 for the US and continuing into 2020). So we quickly got dressed and headed back up to the club to see the memorial. 

{views from the hotel rooftop club}

The next day we met our tour that would take us to the Blue Mountains in hopes of seeing the rock formation known as the Three Sisters. Please read about it ---> here!

On our last day in Sydney (and Australia) we were fortunate enough to have clear skies and amazing weather! We took a bus to Coogee Beach and started the 3.5 mile walk to Bondi! This a great and amazing walk and I highly recommend it, especially if you like to watch the waves. We started at Coogee and walked past Gordons Bay, Clovelly Beach, Bronte Beach, Tamarama Beach, the famous Boni Icebergs and finished with a swim at Bondi Beach. After a dip we had a snack and some drinks nearby and took the bus back to the hotel. We were able to freshen up and take part in tea time again! I am loving this afternoon snack situation that is "tea"! 

{Coogee to Bondi Beach walk}

{exploring Sydney and "The Rocks"

We didn't really have any plans for the rest of our afternoon, we debated taking the ferry to Taronga Zoo or Manly Beach but we decided to stay put and walk the other side of the harbour and walk around The Rocks district. We finished the evening with dessert and drinks back at the hotel, with these views where else would we have gone?! And we packed for our mid-morning flight the next day. 

The Blue Mountains, Australia

 Arriving in Melbourne | The Great Ocean Road | Melbourne Sightseeing | The Great Barrier Reef

Fraser Island | Australia Zoo + Brisbane

The only excursion we took while in Sydney was to the UNESCO World Heritage site, The Blue Mountains. Our trip was covered by a thick fog/mist so we didn't get the views that we had hoped for. But our tour guide Jed kept us entertained!   

We started the day at Featherdale Wildlife Park. This was a great, local wildlife park that had all the Australian animals you know and love. This is also where we heard the call of a koala, they don't sound as you would expect!

Then we were off to explore the Blue Mountains. We made a quick stop for lunch before we made our way to enjoy the area's three most popular attractions: the Scenic Cableway, the highest cable car in Australia (and where we got great views of the Three Sisters rock formation), the Scenic Skyway and the Scenic Railway, the steepest passenger railway in the world! 

On our way back we skipped Sydney's rush hour by taking a river cruise! We ended up with amazing views of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. The only thing that would have made it better was if we had had a sunny day!

Valentine's Day 2021

Happy Valentine's Day! We do not typically celebrate the holiday in any big way. But ever since having a child I feel like we need to make an effort to celebrate holidays like Valentine's Day, Easter and even the 4th of July. I got both my daughter and husband a card and my daughter some flowers. 

This year I made some cookies and I successfully sold them on my personal Facebook page (which I was really excited about). And we celebrated most of the day by hanging out inside due to the below zero outside temperatures and eating heart shaped pancakes for breakfast! I also went for a run in the sub-zero temperatures!

How did you celebrate Valentine's Day. 

Australia Zoo + Brisbane

 Arriving in Melbourne | The Great Ocean Road | Melbourne Sightseeing | The Great Barrier Reef
Fraser Island

CRIKY! We made it to the Australia Zoo! What an amazing day! We left Hervey Bay early so we could arrive as close as we could to when the zoo opened. I checked off a few bucket list items during our time at the zoo, holding a koala and interacting with some wombats! What an experience! 

We also got pretty luck because the Irwin Family did the croc show that day! So it was like watching their new TV show! The zoo was amazing and I feel like if we had taken our daughter we could have spent two full days there! If we are lucky enough to visit again I would love to do more animal encounters! 

After the zoo we headed back to Brisbane for the next three nights. We stopped for dinner at a relatives house before heading to our AirBnB for the night.

The next few days were pretty relaxing. I had originally wanted to head to Lamington National Park but it was a 2.5 hour drive and driving on the opposite site of the road is no easy task. Matt found it mentally draining since he had to concentrate so much more than if we were driving at home in the US. So we just walked around Brisbane, enjoyed the pool at our apartment rental and relaxed with drinks on the river. 

We also took some time to head down to Surfers Paradise. This area seemed VERY touristy and busy and more of maybe a Miami vibe (which is not our scene). 

A Reintroduction

Hey y'all, let me reintroduce myself! My name is Alexa and I have been blogging on and off since the beginning of 2011! I started with my blog, travel mi amor, and it was all about travel. On that blog I talked about pervious trips I had taken and I created a few "regular posts" like a Travel RoundUp where I would talk about what happened in the travel world that week and some Pinspiration posts too. And I will admit, some of my fluff content wasn't my own, I got ideas from others. 

But in 2014 I became pregnant and I figured I wouldn't be able to keep up with the frequent posting and the topics would venture away from travel. So in the summer of 2015 I created The Spotted Bulldog as more of a lifestyle blog and named after our sweet English bulldog, Lola. She was almost all white with one spot on her head...but, her skin was COVERED in small black spots that you could see on her belly and when we gave her a bath. That's how the blog got its name! And although Lola passed over the rainbow bridge back in 2016 we still have joy in our new spotted bulldog, Daisy! 

I think I did a pretty good job at keeping up with my posts...until I didn't. After looking back at pasts posts it seems that when we moved up to Wisconsin in 2016 things really tapered off. And I think one of the main reasons was that we had a basement office with no windows and no sense on inclusion with the rest of the family. So blogging and chronicling my life came to a stop. 

{Lola to the left and Daisy in the middle and right}

And now here I am in 2021 starting this bad boy up again in a time where people really don't read blogs anymore...whats up with that?! And guess what...still typing about travel! I am currently working on my posts from our trip to Australia in January 2020! 

Do you still read blogs? 

Fraser Island

 Arriving in Melbourne | The Great Ocean Road | Melbourne Sightseeing | The Great Barrier Reef

From Cairns we took off to Brisbane and drive up the coast to Hervey Bay! We made a little detour in the costal town of Noosa. 

Once in Hervey Bay we checked into our "motor lodge" as they called it, it was a Best Western, did a little grocery shopping and then went to bed. The next day we waited for our bus that would take us to the famous Fraser Island (a must stop I was told by a friend who had recently visited). 

Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island and you need to make sure you are riding the appropriate vehicle to navigate this islands terrain (its VERY bumpy). 

Once off the ferry we were taken by 4WD bus to Central Station, a former logging station for the once thriving timber industry on the island. We walked along the Wanggoolba Creek boardwalk where we saw crystal clear waters, king ferns, ghost gum and pine trees. Then we had lunch at the Eurong Beach Resort before we took off for 75 Mile Beach!

75 Mile Beach is a beach that you drive on, if you have 4WD. It was quite the experience to see this beach being using as a highway and landing strip. While on the drive we made stops at The Pinnacles, colored sand formations, Eli Creek, a clear and fast flowing fresh water creek and our last stop was the famous Maheno shipwreck! The Maheno was washed ashore in 1935 during an out-of-season hurricane (for cyclone as they are called on that side of the world). 

Our last stop of the day was at Lake McKenzie where we had time to enjoy the crystal clear waters! The lake is called a perched lake because it is well above the water table, so that means the lake consists of rainwater only. Because of the unique environment and acidity levels in the lake the water is unsuitable for all forms of plant and fish life. Making the lake VERY clear and pristine. The sand at Lake McKenzie is also pure silica giving the beach its white color. 

After about an hour on the beach at Lake McKenzie we headed back out to catch the ferry. Once back on the mainland we were able to see kangaroos in paddocks as we passed by. It was neat for us to see but probably not for native Australians, haha. For Americans, it would be like seeing a herd of deer in a field, no big deal. 

The Great Barrier Reef

 Arriving in Melbourne | The Great Ocean Road | Melbourne Sightseeing 

We set off for Cairns our 5th morning in Australia! Once we landed we rented our car and Matt took the wheel for the first time driving on the left side of the road and the right side of the car (he had previously driven on the left side in Grand Cayman but the car was made in America so the steering wheel was still on the left side!). 

We immediately hit the road to try and catch the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway before the closed for the day. We made it! But the weather had different plans. We made it to the first stop where we had to stop for a storm in the rainforest. We waited about 45 minutes and there were signs that it wasn't going to let up so they put us back in a cable car and we headed back down to where we started. We were bummed! We got our money back, hit the gift shop and then headed to our hotel.

Since we now had some unexpected free time and it wasn't raining on the coast we took a walk along the coastal sidewalk, headed to a local grocery store to check out what foods are like and packaged like in Australia and had a bite to eat at Muddy's Café. 

{flying into Cairns, snorkeling, Fitzroy Island, view from the Skyrail, reef, helicopter ride}

The next day we decided to have breakfast at Muddy's Café too and then we headed to the marina to check-in for our day long snorkel trip to the Great Barrier Reef! Our boat stopped at Fitzroy Island to pick up and drop people off (must stop here next time!) and then headed on its way to Moore Reef. We spent the whole day there! We snorkeled, took a helicopter tour of the reef and sunbathed. The excitement for the day was when we were snorkeling and a turned around to find a jellyfish right in front of my face! Luckily I was able to swim away before it stung me! We also saw some sea turtles while we snorkeled. And while we were in the helicopter we spotted a reef shark! It was a nice day on the water! 

Once back on land we decided to head up to see Barron Falls before it got dark. We would have seen this form the Skyrail had we been able to ride all the way up. It was quite the twisty and turny ride up the hillside and being on the opposite side of the road I think I had a few minor heart attacks! But we made it! 

{Barron Falls, more from the Skyrail and more from the Great Barrier Reef day trip}

After Barron Falls we returned to our hotel kind of late and it didn't look like much was open for food so we ate at the hotel. They didn't prepare my food right the first time I didn't end up eating until almost 8:30pm! And if you know me, that's late! If I hadn't had the fries to keep my tummy happy I would have been very hangry! 

It was a quick 1.5 days in Cairns and I wish we would have booked more time here (next time!). We stayed in Cairns at the Holiday Inn and if we had spent more time here I would have liked to have stayed at the Sheraton in Port Douglas and added the Daintree National Park to our list of activities. 

Melbourne Sightseeing: Days 4 & 5

Arriving in Melbourne | The Great Ocean Road

We started our second to last day in Melbourne by taking one of the trains all the way to the last stop so my cousin could meet us and pick us up for a day of site seeing around the Mornington Peninsula. After breakfast our first stop was the Cranbourne Gardens to see the native plants and red sand gardens. 

Then we headed to Coolart Wetlands and Homestead and took in the sites and walked along the beach. 

{Cranbourne Gardens & Coolart Wetlands and Homestead}

After the wetlands we headed to Dromana Beach for some lunch and beach walking. While we were walking on the pier we saw a sealion swimming alarmingly close to swimmers! It was a fun site to see! 

We continued down the coast to Brighton Beach to see the famous Brighton Beach Boxes. These are little beach huts that people own and they are essentially just a place for them to hang out and store their belongings at the beach. Some were just beach huts while others had full kitchens and were Pinterest worthy! 

{Brighton Beach Boxes} 

We had dinner at a bar near our hotel and had Melbourne's version of "bar food", chicken parmesan! And then it was off to bed. The next day was relaxed as we headed to Victoria's market again for treats and then to the Melbourne Zoo for our first sight at some Australian wildlife and our first of three zoo visits during our trip!

The Great Ocean Road

The whole reason I wanted to make Melbourne a part of our trip was to do a Great Ocean Road tour! I just had to see the Twelve Apostles with my own eyes! We started to tour bright and early with a pickup at our hotel. We made a handful of stops along the way before we made it to our final destination. We stopped in Torquay, home of the company Rip Curl, and had some banana bread and coffee on the beach. We stopped for a photo op at the Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch and about an hour before lunch we stopped at Kennett River Township to view some wild koalas and birds! We had lunch in the beach town of Apollo Bay and got to walk around a bit.

Now for the good stuff! We visited Melba Gully where we were able to get out and take a little walk to take in the beautiful sights! Then we finally made it to the sea cliffs! First stopping at Lock Ard Gorge and then finally the Twelve Apostles. I’ll let my pictures do the talking!

After the Twelve Apostles it was time to head back to Melbourne. We stopped at a small road side town for dinner. The dining options were limited and we did only have about 30 minutes for the stop so we opted to get get Macca's (a.k.a. McDonald's). 

What a great day checking a box off the bucket list!