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.