Aussie Gift Guide

It seems that July is the perfect time for American expats to head home for a holiday.  It's a chance to escape winter in Australia and soak up some North American summer.  Americans are off school for the summer and most Aussie schools have a 2-3 week holiday break in July.

Annual home leave is a nice little perk that most expats enjoy.  A chance to reconnect with family and friends back in America.  And many of us want to bring gifts to all those people to let them know that even though we live on the other side of the world we haven't forgotten about them.

One can only buy so many stuffed koalas and coin purses made from kangaroo scrotum.  That's why I have put together the following Aussie Gift Guide.  There's a little something for everyone.

For Her:

An Oroton Bag
These beauties are designed in Australia and sold in boutiques around Oz and Europe.  As far as I know they are not widely available in the US.  A great gift for someone special.  They also sell key fobs and umbrellas if you're looking for something less expensive.

Von Treskow Coin Jewelry
This collection featuring Aussie coins that have been turned into necklaces, bracelets and earrings is one of my favourite things.  They're beautiful and wearable and Australian without being cheesy.

Ken Done Hoodie
These hoodies are nicer than your typical souvenir shop sweatshirts.  The colours are fun and Done's signature kangaroo silhouette is eye catching.

Havianas Aussie Beaches Flip Flops
Of course, in Australia they call them thongs.  These sport a small metal charm in the shape of Australia and they have the names of popular Aussie beaches printed on the sole.  So cute!  And everyone loves Havianas.

For Him:

Australian Wine
My favourite bottle shop is the Australian Wine Centre near Circular Quay.  They are helpful and have a great selection.  They will even package up your purchase in a box that can be checked as luggage on any major airline. 

Havianas (see above)
In addition to the Beaches version, Havianas also come with an Aussie Flag on the strap.

Bush Hat
These kangaroo leather bush hats are fun, and the Squashy collection are easy to pack in your suitcase.

Photography Prints
Ken Ducan has some amazing photographs of this beautiful country.  One of his prints (or a less expensive calendar or book) would make a great gift.

For Kids:

Between the Flags Gear
This shop benefits the Australian surf lifesavers, so you can feel good about shopping here.  Plenty of cute kids swimmers, hats, and towels.  Great sales in June- I saw lots of items for only $5 each! 

Candy by Sticky
This shop in The Rocks is a big hit with kids.  I picked up the cutest candy with a tiny koala on each piece.  Packaged in cellophane bags they make great little give aways for friends at home.

Anything from Paddy's Market
Paddy's Market (in Chinatown) is the place to go for cheap souvenirs.  If you need 30 pencil sets with Aussie animals on them, you'll find it at Paddy's.  They also have bags, towels, t-shirts and, strangely, a huge selection of trashy lingerie.  But that's another post.  Paddy's is a good place to go if you need to buy cheap gifts in bulk.

Animalz
These beautiful little wooden toys are designed in Australia.  The Aussie pouch, containing an echidna, koala and wombat is my favourite.

For Yourself:

Now that I'm back in the U.S., the one thing I wish I had more of is video.  I found a 45 second video of Balmoral on my phone today and watched it over and over.  I would love to be able to look back at quick snippets of our life in Sydney.  It would be the best gift of all.



Jenny

Don't Mind if I Doo

 

Doo Town is a quirky little place on the Tasman Peninsula.  The story goes that back in the 1930s, an early resident of Doo Town placed a name plate reading "Doo I" on his weekend cottage.  He started a trend, and creative townspeople have been naming their cottages ever since.

Here's a pictorial tour of Doo Town's clever cottages.

One of my favourites:

What doo you think?




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Scenic Tasmania

For our final Aussie holiday we headed down to Tasmania and spent some time exploring the Tasman peninsula and the capital city of Hobart.  Tassie has a reputation for being the most natural state in Australia.  It's rugged coastline and convict past didn't disappoint.  Tasmania was gorgeous (But really, isn't all of Australia?  Like this, this and this).

Tourists are discouraged from driving after dark in Tasmania.  It didn't take long to see why. At least 4 dead wombats lined the Arthur highway on the drive from Hobart to Port Arthur.  So much marsupial carnage was difficult to see.  Luckily the kiddos were too busy poking each other in the backseat to notice the roadkill wonderland.

Our first stop was Port Arthur, the site of the convict settlement in the 1800s.  The landscape was beautiful, and the ruins were interesting.  When you see the historic site you just can't help but think about how miserable it must have been to be a convict at Port Arthur.  It was freezing, the wind was whipping and the rain pelted us.  I just kept thinking about how lucky the Sydney convicts were by comparison.

We spent the night in Port Arthur at the Stewarts bay Lodge.  I highly recommend the deluxe cabins there.  The setting and the views were so beautiful.  The cabins were modern and clean and spacious.  And dinner at their Taylors restaurant was the best meal we had in Tassie (Ok- it was the only decent meal we had in Tassie).   I wish we could have stayed more than one night!

After Port Arthur we did some exploring on the Tasman Peninsula.  The coastline is breathtaking.  We visited Devil's Kitchen, The Blowhole, Tesselated Pavement and the Tasman Arch.

We drove through Doo Town (which was so amusing it deserves its own post) and spent the night in a guest bungalow in Marion Bay.  The bungalow had a wall of glass looking out on the gorgeous Tasmanian coast.  It was so picturesque.  Freezing cold and pouring rain, but still picturesque!

Day three brought us to Hobart and the famous Salamanca Markets.  We handed each kid a $20 bill and set the free to shop for souvenirs.  The market was huge, with stalls hawking everything from gorgeous handmade Tassie wood products to cheap "made in China" plastic trucks and fresh produce.  Wanna guess what the little buddy bought?

 

That night our family had a private night tour at the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary.  We were the only people in the park, with a private guide who took us inside the enclosures.  Nothing quite like tossing a chunk of opossum leg to a hungry Tassie Devil. 

 We also fed this frogmouth and the little potoroos.

 

We all enjoyed getting up close with the animals at the sanctuary.  Although I did freak out a bit when a sugar glider plopped down on the face of my sleeping baby.  That was a little too close for comfort for me!

On our final day in Tasmania we headed up to the top of Mt Wellington where we found SNOW!  We were completely ill prepared but the kids didn't care.  They reveled in throwing snowballs at each other and the Little Princess (the only one with gloves!)  insisted on building a snowman while the rest on the family retreated to the warmth of the car. 

After all that snow play we stopped by the Cascade Brewery.

And then made our way to the MONA.

 

 There were some really cool things at the MONA, like the full size mack truck in a corridor, and the wall of paper panels seen above.  The kids loved the light bulbs that flicker in time with your heartbeat and the architecture of the building with its massive sandstone wall is impressive.  But there were also some really disturbing things at the MONA.  And much of the content is totally inappropriate for kids.  A staff member was stationed outside the most objectionable exhibits so they were easy to avoid.  But when we got out of the lift on level 2 and found ourselves staring at a wall of plaster cast vaginas we realized the MONA might not be the best place for our inquisitive little children.   So we quickly headed back outside to the expansive grounds and watched them run around with these giant bean bags.  (Which I think are intended to be used by adults as they relax and sip wine).

We loved Tasmania.  Even with the road kill, the freezing rain, the creepy art and the lack of decent dining options, it was an amazing holiday.   It was rural and green and rugged and simply stunning.  Tasmania really is like no place else on earth- and I'm so glad I got to see it.

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On Becoming a Serial Expat

That's right- we're gonna do it again.  When we leave Australia in July we won't be moving back home to California.

We're going to London!

Source: weheartit.com via Savannah on Pinterest

We've been given a second once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I can't wait to embark on this new adventure.

But don't worry Mom, after this one we're definitely coming home (I think).

Tasmania- Autumn Way Down Under

In case you were wondering what the weather is like in Tassie in Autumn, here's a little video from our recent holiday.

To be fair, this was taken at the top of Mt. Wellington.  But trust me, it was cold everywhere!

More holiday highlights coming soon.

Defying Death on Holiday

Did you know there are a ridiculous number of things in Australia that can kill you?  Six of the ten deadliest snakes in the world are found here.  If the great white sharks don't get you, the box jellyfish might.  Look out for the giant salt water crocs, too.  Even the humble little platypus produces one of the most excruciating venoms known to man.  But perhaps the most frightening of all are the deadly spiders.

The problem with spiders is they can sneak up on you- any time, any place.   No warning, no sounds, no notice. 

This is scary enough when the sneaky arachnid is a (relatively) harmless huntsman.  We've had our share of those to deal with over the past 2 years.  But last week, in the midst of our farmstay holiday, I had an encounter with a real honest to goodness deadly Australian icon- the dreaded Sydney Funnel Web Spider.

I was in the lodge, minding my own business early in the morning.  I opened the curtains near the exterior door and that's when I spotted him.   I ran out to find a broom or something to shoo him away- leaving my frightened four year old whimpering on his bunk (bad mommy)!

My dear friend raced in with some bug spray and zapped him with a 30 second spray that gave her a raging headache for the day but barely stunned the creepy killer.

Finally, we located a broom and I whacked him and brushed him out of the room.  Even after all that, he was still moving around!  In the end, I had to stomp him.  It wasn't pretty- but a mother will do almost anything to save her child.

Everyone got a good look at him and we all agreed it was definitely a funnel web.  Surprisingly, I was too frightened and freaked out to grab my camera and take his picture, but he looked exactly like this:

After the whole incident was over I felt I had made it through some sort of Aussie rite of passage.  I survived an encounter with one of the world's deadliest creatures and went on with enjoying our holiday.  I feel almost as Australian as the crocodile hunter.

Jervis Bay

Last weekend we took a family road trip down the south coast of NSW to a beautiful area known as Jervis Bay.  It's about 200 km (125 miles) from Sydney.  All the brochures state it is an easy 2.5 hour drive.  I guess they mean it is 2.5 hours if you have only adults in the car and you leave at 11:15 am on a Tuesday.  Friday afternoon with three kids makes the trip a lot longer.  About twice as long in fact.  But, after 5 hours in the car, we arrived at this lovely holiday apartment in the town of Vincentia.

There is always a flurry of excitement when we arrive at our destination.  The kids run around, check out their room, open all the cupboards, explore the place and, in general, send me into a panic that something will be broken before we even unload the car. 

Luckily, no knick-knacks were harmed on this holiday!

We were up bright and early Saturday morning and set off to explore the town of Huskisson.  We had an uninspired breakfast at the Husky Bakery- which is only worth mentioning because they had an actual McDonald's playplace in the back of the cafe.


We had just enough time to book a dolphin watch cruise on The Extreme.  We thought the fast 1.5 hour trip would be perfect for the kids.  So we headed to the dock, armed with motion sickness tablets and armbands for the Little Princess.  We were all amazed to see large pods of dolphins jumping and swimming right next to the boat.  Of course, the dolphin watching was overshadowed a bit by the melt down and near panic attack suffered by the Little Princess.  She completely lost the plot (as they say here) and was terrified by the boat ride.  Afterward I asked her if it was all worth it to see the dolphins up close.  Her reply was a resounding, "NO!"  Oh well, I thought it was thrilling.

Jervis Bay is known for it's gorgeous beaches.  Hyams Beach claims to have the whitest sand in the world.  It is nearly pure silica and squeaks when you walk on it. 

The next day we took some time to explore Booderee National Park.  We bushwalked to Green Patch via the Rock Platform and saw lots of Neptune's Necklace in the tide pools.  The views were stunning (Would you expect anything else?  This is Australia!)


We also spent some time at beautiful Murray's Beach.  We saw more dolphins and even a stingray swimming very close to shore.  The water was absolutely crystal clear and still warm even though it is early Autumn.  It was a perfect place to spend the afternoon.  None of us wanted to leave.

But, as the weekend drew to a close we had to load up and head back to Sydney.  I wish we could go back during whale watching season, but I'm afraid that won't happen.  Too many places to see and, sadly, not enough time.

Jenolan Caves

At the end of January we spent a beautiful weekend up at the Jenolan Caves.  It is such an easy and fun getaway from Sydney.  We stayed in the Jenolan Cabins, which were cosy and in such a picturesque spot. 

 Bright red parrots and several wallabies were our neighbors for the weekend.  The kids loved running around the rolling green hillsides.  I was a little nervous about the "eco toilets" but am happy to report that they were not at all unpleasant.  

The only good thing about having a little baby who wakes up before the sun is that you get to see some gorgeous sunrises. 



The landscape in this part of the Blue Mountains is so pretty.

Of course the reason we made the trip was to see the Jenolan Caves.  We took guided tours of two different caves.  The temperature inside was a cool 13 degrees (c).  We weren't prepared for that!  The kids were fascinated by the giant stalactites and stalagmites. 

 

The Jenolan Caves were magical and we had such a great weekend up there.  Looking forward to many more weekend getaways during our final months in Australia.  So much gorgeous country to see here.

We're Back

Well, we're all safely back in the land down under.  The kids (as always) were great on the flight.  The passengers sitting around us complimented us on how well behaved they were and what good travelers they are.  I think I might be on to something here.  Load them up with yummy snacks, fully charged ipods, comfy clothes and put them to sleep in an airplane seat.  The novelty of it all makes them forget about tormenting each other!  If only it could be like that at home  . . . .

Anyway, we were so busy while in America that our 2 Year Expativersary passed by without any recognition.  Hard to believe it has been 2 years since we embarked on this adventure.  Sadly, it will be coming to an end in about 4 months time.  Time to make a list entitled "Things We Must Do Before We Leave Australia." 

Any suggestions?

We Made It

Our whole family has landed in the US and I am happy to report that the flight was an absolute piece of cake.  I was a bit worried about the baby but he was an angel and slept for 10 hours on my lap.  I think we are all getting used to these long haul flights.  Of course, being in Business Class didn't hurt . . . .

Upon arrival the customs line at LAX was unbelievably long.  It's embarrassing that the US doesn't have a better system for this.  Tired travelers were crawling along through the queue at a snail's pace.  Some kind agent spotted us with our three pajamma'd kiddos and heaps of luggage and pulled us over to the airline crew line.  Hooray! Of course there was some sort of mix-up and United had us listed as "no-boards" but the agent was pretty efficient and cleared it all up relatively quickly.  Then, as he was checking our passports, he called for the Little Buddy to look up at him.  Right at that moment the kid sneezed the biggest, greenest, snottiest sneeze ever.  That's my boy. 

And so here we are, back in beautiful sunny southern California.  The weather is gorgeous and I am reminded why I loved living here.  It not Sydney, but it is beautiful.

Valentine's Day is right around the corner and for the first time in like 18 years I won't be spending it with my love.  He's at Harvard filling his brain with important stuff and I'm here visiting and running around to doctors and dentists and schools and shops.  I miss him.  It's going to be a long 4 weeks.

xx

NZ Highlights

We had such a lovely holiday in New Zealand.  Here are a few of our favourite things.

 Getting blown away in Auckland.

 The amazing view of Lake Wakatipu and The Remarkables from our villa at the Heritage Queenstown.

 Seeing real kiwis at the wildlife sanctuary.

 Riding the gondola up over Queenstown.

 The Luge runs at the top of the gondola.

 TSS Earnslaw to the Walter Peak high country farm.

 Panning for gold in Arrowtown.

Beautiful, beautiful Queenstown.