Route Back through the Outback — HaffsWay Around The World

Back on June 4th, with lovely little Cardrona in the rear view, we began our three month return journey with all of our possessions and three bonus Haffield ladies all packed into Big Red on her final NZ voyage with us. I'll leave it to Casey, Nicole and Sue (sister, sister, and mom) to describe the long and adventurous road up to Auckland in their forthcoming post- which means I'm skipping ahead to our brief but mesmerizing foray into Australia.

Breaking news: Australia is quite large- and thus difficult to properly tackle over the span of a week. You could say we knowingly learned this the hard way. Limitations considered, then, it would be a tad unfair to give any sort of synopsis on life and culture of an entire continent based on a mere glimpse. But what we did manage to cram in was a satisfying appetizer, and left us with a bounty of reasons for a return visit someday.

It's weird:

The rigorous farewell driving tour of NZ was remarkably more nostalgic than exhausting, and luckily the sale of Big Red went more smoothly than we could've imagined it. Better to be lucky than good I suppose. But also lots of credit to Laura for really making it happen
After not really being prone to homesickness, the day we left New Zealand I was in full-on separation anxiety mode. We miss our little home and community quite a bit!
Sydney reignited my passing interest in unique architecture. Perhaps it does that by sheer force to anyone, but felt amplified since we spent so little time in big cities over the past nine months
All this time I had this image of Australia as just populated coastline and kangaroo-infested outback. But there's like, mountains and rainforests and stuff. Who knew?

Despite taking in the relative grandeur of Auckland once more on our final day in New Zealand, the real big city jolt brought on by our arrival in Sydney was palpable amongst our crew. Okay, so part of that may have been the 5:30 wake-up call too. And another part may have been the Airbnb miscommunication that had us eating sushi outside of an apartment building with all our bags for about an hour. But also... So many buildings. So much beach. Too much to do and see for just a few days' visit. Our highlight had to be taking the ferry out to Manly beach, which provided an up-close panorama of the famed Opera House and Harbor Bridge en route and some of the best beer I've had in this corner of the world at 4 Pines Brewery (thanks for the tip Jim!). Plus there's the added joy of inherent masculinity jokes.

After we finally said goodbye to our three longest-tenured visitors, Laura and I took the long train ride from central Sydney up to the aptly named Blue Mountains. The geography seemed like a collision of Utah's rocky plateaus and NZ's subtropical rainforest- but with the added mystique of the blue tinge given off by miles of eucalyptus trees. This in itself would make the park one of a kind. Add in a treetop gondola across the top, awkwardly steep rocket train up from the bottom, and you've got a tourist trap for the ages! In spite of that, I will say it did further the developing theme of being overwhelmed- via uniqueness of the scenery and people's ability to capitalize on it by building a carnival-style train up and through the side of a mountain. And the slew of tourists (which I suppose we must call ourselves now too. Hmmf).

The next day we set off for Cairns (cay-uhns to the locals) for our big date with the Great Barrier Reef. That, of course, is the city's biggest hook- as the best gateway to the reef via boat- but the city itself was actually pretty cool on its own merits: great public gardens, a seaside boardwalk equipped with free public pool, and ubiquitous fresh seafood. Oh, and one night there just happened to be a food cart festival two blocks from where we were staying. Like, did y'all know we were coming? Because that's a heckuva welcome mat. As cool as Sydney's cosmopolitan vibe was, sign me up for the tropical North!

On top of that, there was the reef. It almost seems pointless to describe what it's like actually being there, especially when you can just type in Great Barrier Reef on whatever device and see it for yourself- but let me just say this: not as advertised. Should be called the Tremendous Barrier Reef. Outstanding Barrier Reef. UNFATHOMABLE... well, you get the picture. The wildest part was after snorkeling around for an hour in what seemed like a wide circle only to get back in the boat and, as it cruises away, see the broad expanse of teal water and breaking waves that marks the reef's edges- understanding how little of it you even saw. And it was still incredible. And that was just one small section of many. I saw firsthand why this reef is a natural wonder of the world, and I would really like to hold out hope that we can find a way to keep it from dying.

And here's one from SCUBA! Lol at trying to smile with a mouth piece in your mouth

Gushing aside, doing our first ever SCUBA dive only added to the surreal nature of it all. Gliding along next to what seemed like an endless, undulating wall of bright color while breathing underwater (and sounding like Vader) was hard to wrap my head around- and may help explain why a certain someone threw up as we resurfaced (or, you know, standard seasickness). We're not quite on board for instantly getting SCUBA certified, but it's definitely something I'd like to do again. 5 stars.

Maybe the best part about it is that out there, with all the neon and technicolor fishes (and even a reef shark!), there was so much life in natural harmony, with no need for quarrel. Out there it was just friends- I never did sea anemone. Ok, I think that's all I'm allowed- Laura has been sternly urchin' me to stop.

On our last day in Australia, we found a cheap deal for a daylong rental car and took the gorgeous coastal drive up to Daintree National park, a croc-infested ancient rainforest (and another world heritage site!) Along the way, we stopped at the idyllic seaside town Port Douglas- which provided a great spot for lunch, pictures, and an opportunity to load up on sunscreen before the chaos and heat of Indonesia.

Our other major stop of the day was at a wildlife sanctuary- which seemed more or less a zoo to me, but where at least some population of the animals were rescues. If you ask me what my favorite bit of time in Australia was, it's clearly the reef. If you asked someone else, though, it might be something like...

And with at least the main stereotypical Aussie experiences under our belt (minus an encounter with some unheard of poisonous creature), we made our way to the airport. Our scouting report on this lovely continent is... that we need to come back and experience more of it. But leg one of our return journey proved to be outstanding. We crammed just enough in to not feel exhausted, but still felt that we made the most of our time. I can only hope Indonesia can provide us with another set of fun, wild, and memorable experiences.

Spoiler alert: YEP! Very much yep.

Until next time!