The Styches' Whirlwind Tour of Australia

Finally!  Here is my super belated post about our three fun-filled weeks with Alex’s parents.  We kept busy traversing the country, squeezing in as much as we could while they were here.  It was a wonderful adventure; we had a great time showing them around Australia and Alex & I even got to see a few new places along the way. 

The fun started in Melbourne where we were all fresh and eager to see the sights.  We wandered around downtown for several days visiting the Eureka Skydeck for its unrivaled views of the city, Victoria Markets for their amazing selection of products and produce, and the city laneways to experience the café culture for which Melbourne is famous.

 

From there we rented a car and set out on the Great Ocean Road.  Along the drive we hit Bells Beach to see surfers riding huge waves (in freezing water on a chilly day – seriously, these people were crazy, you couldn’t have paid me to get in that water), stopped at the famous Twelve Apostles rock formation, and enjoyed the brief moments of beautiful scenery when the, misleadingly named, Great Ocean Road actually ran along the ocean (the majority of the road was inland and ocean views were sporadic and not as plentiful as any of us had hoped). 

After the GOR, we continued driving west and caught the ferry to Kangaroo Island, an hour and a half south of Adelaide.  We were all excited for the Styche parents’ first taste of Australian wildlife so we set out on what the lady at the info center referred to as ‘the best walk in South Australia’.  It was perhaps a bit ambitious, and I will concede that the walk was more of a hike, but we had no idea of this when we started.  We all survived, but some of us, I won’t name names, fared better than others, and Mr & Mrs Styche would have you believe we tried to kill them off.  Here is a photo of the gorgeous beach at the end of the hike and one of Mrs Styche with Alex before the walk took a turn for the worse.

After our morning excursion, we headed towards the coast to see Admirals Arch and the Remarkable Rocks.  At the Arch, the fur seals and the flies were the more notable attractions.  The seals were so cute sunning themselves on the rocks and frolicking in a shallow pool and we spent the better part of an hour just checking them out. 

On our way back to the carpark the flies were horrendous, leading to this awesome photo.  Alex was trying to avoid them by closing his hoodie as far as he could and Mr. Styche was ninja swatting the flies out of the air.  The Styche craziness was just beginning (and little did I know, it was contagious!). 

The next day, after an awesome night at the most quaint, out of the way cottage that Mrs. Styche found, we set out to see sea lions at Seal Bay.  The sea lions that live on this beach can only be found on KI and are incredibly protected.  We were able to walk onto the beach, with our guide, and get very close to the hundreds of them that were sunning themselves that day.  We learned that they spend three straight days at sea diving repeatedly for food then come back to the beach for three days to feed their pups and save energy before setting out and doing it all over again.  During our hour on the beach, several mama sea lions came in from sea and were greeted by their pups.  And one little pup, who was adorable and reminded me of a puppy, kept going to the water’s edge every time a new sea lion came in only to be disappointed over and over again then decided to follow our group back up to the boardwalk.  It was an amazing experience, and one that we’ll get to do again with my Mom and cousin while they’re here!

We were all pretty busted from our Great Ocean Road drive and Kangaroo Island excursions by the time we reached Adelaide so we didn’t get up to too much the day and half we had there.  But we did take the Styche parents to the Rundle Street Mall, for a photo with the pig statues that I love, and the Botanic Garden for Mr. Styche to enjoy their beautiful rose garden, which was in full bloom.

Clare and Barossa Valleys were next up and we had a wonderful time in both.  In Clare we visited many of the same vineyards that Alex and I found on our first trip to town and Mrs. Styche booked us to stay at the Skillogalee winery, which was a treat as it had the most beautiful gardens and terrace. 

In Barossa we visited Seppeltsfield, Penfolds (Ron we were thinking of you!), Wolf Blass, Peter Lehmann and Rockford wineries.  All of them were interesting in their own way but Rockford was my favorite – it was housed in a gorgeous old stone building and they produce wine the way they would have back in the 1800s.  All hand-picked, hand pressed grapes and you could taste the care that was put into the wine.  It was amazing but they don’t distribute in the US yet so you guys are going to have to wait before you’ll get the chance to sample it (or travel over and visit us sometime before this trip is done). 

After Barossa we drove back to Adelaide to catch our flight to Brisbane.  Brisbane wasn’t to be our final stop that day though, we picked up a car at the airport and drove four hours to catch the ferry to Fraser Island (yeah, Mrs. Styche planned an awesome, but hectic, itinerary).  Fraser Island in the largest sand island in the world and you can only get around it in four wheel drive SUVs on craaaazzzyyy one lane sand roads.  Inland the speed limit is 30km/hr (though you rarely go that fast because you’re bouncing around hoping the car doesn’t fall apart) but on the beach you can go 80km/hr (it is more like a highway than a beach because no one swims off Fraser Island due to the rip currents, jellyfish and sharks that all pose serious risks – there were even planes taking off and landing on the beach). 

 

The first few kms of the ride were the roughest and had us wondering how badly we really wanted to explore the island…

But Alex was a rockstar behind the wheel and he chauffeured us to all the sites; Lake McKenzie, with its beautiful clear water, Eli Creek & the Mahenko wreck (where the Styche craziness rubbed off on me a bit).

Besides sand, the island is also famous for its dingoes.  They were everywhere and weren’t afraid of people.  One even followed our car from the lake 10kms before giving up on us losing any food from the car for it to scavenge. 

 

By the time we reached Brisbane, Alex & I needed a day to catch up on emails and outside life (though I totally failed to get any new post up on my blog after spending more than four hours responding to a backlog of emails) so we chilled at the hotel while Mama & Papa (M&P) Styche explored the city.  The next morning, on our way to Surfers Paradise, we went and visited Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where the Styche parents both got to hold a koala and pet kangaroos.  It was really cool for them, and us, to be so up close and personal with Aussie ‘wild’life. 

 

 

Surfers Paradise was a brief, relaxing stop on our way to Sydney.  We didn’t do too much there besides enjoy the beach so a highlight was definitely when Mr. Styche met the Gold Coast Meter Maids.  The Meter Maids are famous in Surfers because they are city-sponsored girls who walk around and feed any empty parking meters so people don’t get tickets.  I would try and describe them to you but I think this photo is worth a thousand words ;)

Last, but certainly not least, was Sydney.  We had five days in the city and everybody made the most of it.  We walked around the Opera House and saw a live performance, M&P Styche went on a sunset harbor cruise, we explored Darling Harbour, The Rocks, Bondi Beach & the Botanic Gardens plus we ate a number of amazing meals (the last Alex & I will probably have for a while). 

Mr. & Mrs. Styche took great care of us and didn’t let us want for anything while they were here; we were well fed, given tons of hugs and spoiled with nice hotels.  So we figured the least we could do is provide them with one nice surprise during their visit, and it came in the form of dinner with the Blakes.  As you may recall, Mr. Styche & Mr. Blake were roommates back in London back in the waning days of their bachelorhood, and we met the Blakes while we were in Perth, where they live.  Unfortunately, the Styches’ didn’t have time to get all the way to Perth while they were in Australia so the Blakes flew to Sydney to join us an evening – which was incredibly awesome of them.  Despite being terrible with secrets, Alex & I both managed not to keep dinner with the Blakes under wraps until we ‘casually’ bumped into them outside of Starbucks in Darling Harbour.  I think Mr. & Mrs. Styche were genuinely surprised and had a wonderful time catching up with their old friends.  Here’s a photo of them at dinner in Darling Harbour.    

Like all good things, our fun with the Styches’ had to come to an end.  It is crazy how fast three weeks flew by but we had a great time and can only hope they had as much fun as we did (and that we didn’t scare them too much with our weirdness, remember we haven’t been around other people for like seven months!!).  …Mom & Becca, consider that your warning ;)