February 15, 2025

Charlie Rogers

Travel Blog, Travel, Blog

Travel Blog: Australia- Part Four: Wine-ding Down

February 15, 2025

Charlie Rogers

Travel Blog, Travel, Blog

Welcome back, welcome back!

Well… Unfortunately we have made it to the end of this travel series. I know, I know, I’m as utterly heartbroken as you are, but we will get through this. That being said, if you’re here & you’re reading this current paragraph with unfamiliarity to this series & its content, I would advise you to turn to the prior installments, give them a read, & report back here. This is the fourth & final installment of my Australia series. Yes, fourth. That means there are three other blog postings around this trip for you to go back & read before you read this one! Lucky you! I’ll do you a solid & will go ahead & link those other three blog postings below so you have easy access to all of them! If you’re an ace student & are here like, I got this, I’ve read everything, let’s go, then I hope you’re ready to wrap this whole shebang up! Let’s get rolling!

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

PART FOUR:

Day Thirteen

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

We return once again to a morning at Leena & Max’s. We had decided when planning out our week together that we wanted to try to go up to Barossa, to South Australian wine country for a brief overnight. Once there we would stay at Hart Of Barossa a vineyard that Max’s mother & step father had bought while Max was still in school. So much like we did with our live aboard on the reef, we packed up a small bag to take out & use just for the two days that we would be there.

First things first though, coffee.

If I’m remembering correctly, Leena & Max both had morning sessions at the studio, which means Evan & I took it upon ourselves to venture out & find coffee. Naturally we ended up back at Seven Grounds where I got a bangin’ Almond Croissant & a Dirty Pandan Matcha Latte (yes, it hits as hard as it sounds).

The Hurrells wrapped their session around noon. They had already packed in the morning so all we had to do was pack up the car & hit the road.

On our way out of town we stopped by a gas station to fill up & grab a rather large assortment of drinks to bring along with us for the road & for the house.

Barossa Valley, South Australia, Australia

The just over one hour trip out to Barossa is a beautiful one. It’s mostly a straight shot through salt flats, farms, & grasslands. Our first stop once we arrived was to a supermarket. The vineyard, had a pizza oven, & Michael, Max’s stepfather, had been working to perfect his pizza dough recipe. We gathered a bunch of pizza ingredients as well as some items for an evening charcuterie board.

After provisions it was time for more coffee. Sat in the middle of Barossa you’ll find Barossa Beans & Cream. Truth be told, not my favorite name for an establishment, but it does highlight back the location & the nature of the business in the name. Barossa Beans & Cream is a coffee shop, an ice cream shop, & a patisserie all rolled into one. We only went for coffee this day. The hazelnut latte once again made an appearance & off we went to Hart to start our adventure in wine country.

We formally arrived at Hart of Barossa around half past three in the afternoon, greeted by the Galahs in the tree out in the drive & the chittering whistlings of a Magpie. We met Michael & were given a tour of the lovely home that resides on the grounds. Additionally we were presented with several room options to choose from, Evan & I went with the one that seemed a little cooler.

Barossa in the summer time is hot & arid. It doesn’t get the sea breezes that Adelaide has to offer & is itself located in a valley which in turn makes it a bit of a cauldron of heat. This, of course, if perfect for the grapes.

Michael advised us to head over to the Tasting Shed for a flight with Alicia, the wonderful guide on duty, as it closed around 4:30.

The one hundred plus year old shed has had quite the life. At one point it was a stables, later it was a blacksmith shop before it finally came into its current configuration as a tasting room, complete with a long wooden table & the pews from the church where Max’s grandparents got married.

We all made our way in & sat at the end of the table near the bar that looked to be constructed from old grape vines & barn wood. There we met Alicia who lovingly walked us through the different wines.

We started out with the Frizzante, a lightly sparkling white wine that uses the Frontignac grape. It was light & aromatic while not being overly sweet & saccharine like a moscato or sweet riesling. Next came the Rosé. Typically I am not a huge fan of Rosé, I find it frequently too dry & my palette can’t decide if I want it to be something more savory like a dinner white or red, even though the tasting notes lean fruit forward. The Hart rosé threads the needle perfectly & lands as a really nice compliment to the heat of the summer day. Not overly sweet but also not unassumingly dry like I feel I normally find the blend. Next up was the Shiraz Noir.

It’s safe to say that Shiraz is the main Australian grape, pronounced here as “Sure-As.” With it being the primary grape so too does it end up lending itself to a number of blends, naturally the Rosé on the list being the first to feature it here. Here in lies the first of the bottles that is entirely the Shiraz grape, though offering a lighter, more delicate presentation. More headstrong than I would say a Pinot Noir, but still allowing itself the gentle fluidity of function to play well with others, especially where food is concerned. We then moved down the line of age to the flagship single grape bottle, the South Australian Shiraz.

I will be the first to admit to you that typically I am not here for a Shiraz, at least from the French. It’s often way too leathery, too earthy for my taste. However I would argue that the Australian varietal tends to almost lean into being a heavier, most spicy Malbec. An odd comparison I’m sure, but the Hart Shiraz packs a velvety, dark fruit softness almost like biting into the dark fruits you’ll note in it themself.

Here we find ourselves back to another blend; Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz. I loved this bottle. Loved it. It packed that dark fruit explosion on the front that then almost instantly retreats to unveil the deep tannins & almost herbal nature of the Cab. It’s like a wave crashing over your tongue. High marks on this one!

The last of the wines we tried was the Mataro. I actually very much enjoyed this one as well! Leaning into those spicier notes while not becoming overwhelming. It was a lovely, pleasant pallet.

Alright. I said we were done with the wines. That’s not entirely true. We still had the Fortified Shiraz VP!

I love me a fortified wine. Port, Madeira, etc., I’m here for it. This one was no exception. It had that raisin-y sweetness but also lent itself to tarter notes like blackberry & current. I was a fan to say the least which then led us finally into the Shiraz Gin.

Again, really here for this. It was unique in that it carried with it the sweetness of the grape while battling the intense dryness of a gin. Apparently Max’s mother makes a specialty cocktail using the gin, the frizzante, & a splash of sparkling water. It is dangerous because of how utterly drinkable it is.

Cheeks warmed & vision slightly blurred, we made our way from the shed back to the house. There we made more of the Hart cocktails which we took & sat in the pool with.

After about thirty minutes to an hour in the pool Michael came out to inform us that the pizzas were almost ready. So we got out, got dried off & changed, & headed in to dinner.

Michael needs a pizza shop. That’s all I’m saying. The man can cook a pizza. I was thoroughly blown away.

We sat at the table & he brought over the three pizzas he had crafted. One was entirely veggie, one entirely meat, & the other a mesh of both while still maintaining its own unique set of ingredients. I certainly ate too much, but it was so worth it.

After dinner we took a digestive walk. The sun was beginning to set & we walked the outskirts of the vines trying to taste the differences in the old vine grapes & the new. It got darker a little quicker than I think we all expected so we cut our tour short & headed back into the house for the night.

Even though it’d probably been an hour or so since we’d eaten, we decided to put together our charcuterie board. That didn’t take too long but once it was ready we sat around playing card games, drinking wine, & eating until we all fell out from exhaustion & hauled ourselves off to bed.

End Of Day Thirteen

Day Fourteen

First things first, coffee. We started off our morning back at Barossa Bean & Cream. I got my Hazelnut Latte, but also got one of their homemade Caramel Banana Muffins. They warmed it for me & it was sinfully divine.

After coffee we popped around some of the shops in Barossa before heading off to tour the valley a little more.

Our first stop was Chateau Tanunda. It’s a vineyard that dates back to the late 1800s that was erected at the site of where some of the first grapes planted in Barossa grew. WE walked around the Chateau & its grounds, complete with a cricket pitch, before we ventured inside to take a peak at their wine cellar/tasting room.

We didn’t stay at Tanunda for long before we continued on up to Mengler’s Hill.

Mengler’s Hill or Mengler’s Hill Lookout & Barossa Sculpture Park as is its government name, is exactly what the full name implies. It is an outlook that sits about halfway up one of the larger hills that overlooks Barossa below. There are a series of concrete sculptures scattered around as well as a monument to the colonizers who moved into the area & set up Barossa. We meandered about here for a bit, taking pictures & enjoying the view in the early afternoon heat before we went back down to Hart.

We stayed at Hart of Barossa until the early hours of the evening. We all worked a bit in the Glass House on the property doing our respective tasks, taking a break every now & then to dip in the pool or go into the house for a bite of food or something to drink. We ended up leaving at around 6pm to head back to Adelaide. We packed up, thanked Michael for the stay, were gifted a couple of bottle of wine, then we were on our way.

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

We got back just after 7 PM. Upon arrival we were greeted with some fairly nice leather chairs that someone had set out for anyone to take. Max & I loaded them up into their car & took them down the street to the studio for use there. While we were loading up the car I had the privilege of meeting Max & Leena’s neighbors.

Once we’d gotten the chairs settled & everything put back that we packed we began to think about dinner. On the Hurrell list was a Japanese inspired fusion restaurant called Koyo. As the hours were getting a bit late we made sure they would be open & still serving food upon our arrival, we were basically assured their last table of the night.

Koyo is a darling little restaurant. It features a very unique winding booth that ‘s’ curves back & forth through the center of the restaurant, nestling tables in the crux of each of the bends. We sat on the end & once again ordered family style.

We ordered the Spam, Pork, & Cabbage Gyoza with Black Rice Wine Vinegar & Szechuan Chilli Oil, Beetroot with Whipped Feta & Parmesan, Korean Garlic Bread, Burnt End Chashu Pork Fried Rice, the Ebony Angus Striploin Steak with Soy Jus & Korean Garlic Butter, & the Roasted Bulgogi Half Chicken with Crispy Leeks, Garlic Oil, Charred Lemon, & Senbei Rice Cracker. I think we all decided that our favorite things were the chicken, the beets, & the steak!

After dinner the Hurrells took us down the street to get dessert.

Dessert was a local, authentic Italian gelateria, Bottega Gelateria. It’s one of those places with a line down the block in the summer evenings, but the line moves quick. I got two scoops, Hazelnut & Pistachio. Honestly, it was some of the best gelato I’ve ever had! We sat on a bench down the street, finishing off our treats before heading back to the apartment.

Our evening concluded on the couch, only this time instead of VIP we were introduced to the early 00s sitcom that took Australia by storm, Kath & Kim. Staring two best friend comedians that play mother & daughter in the show, Kath & Kim is a parody of suburban life in Melbourne. It looks like it was shot for a middle school film project using your dad’s camcorder, but is way ahead of its time in terms of humor. Ev & I have continued watching it, even post Australia…though we have to do so with the subtitles on…

End Of Day Fourteen

Day Fifteen

In the state of South Australia there is a cartoned iced coffee brand with a cult following, Farmer’s Union. Farmer’s Union Iced Coffee contains three ingredients: coffee, glucose, & reduced fat milk, & for whatever reason, it is phenomenal. Max had bought us some cartons to try & in addition to it being a really solid iced coffee, it also lights you up caffeine wise.

While we sipped our FUIC Max filled us in on the details of his presentation that he’d been selected for to do at the Adelaide Fringe Festival! He walked us through his thought process, what the displays would look like, the coding behind it, how it would function, etc. All in all a really cool, interactive piece & Fringe Fest is a massive event, so happy for him!

Leena & Max had asked us if we there was anything specific that we wanted to do on our last full non-travel day in Australia. I said that I would never turn down another trip to the beach. So that became our afternoon plan.

We made our way back to Henley, this time driving ourselves. We parked near the Jetty so that we could get lunch in Henley Square.

Lunch was Fish & Chips from Henley Takeaway otherwise known as Estia Greek Restaurant. We each got our own which came served on newspaper with a heaping pile of fries. We sat & ate & watched the seagulls fight before heading back up the beach to the same spot we’d claimed a few days prior.

Naturally Max & I immediately headed out into the ocean after the ground cover had been tacked down & all of our belongings were spread appropriately & secured. We were greeted by slightly clearer water & once again the innumerable crabs. Max had found a brand new pair of goggles on the beach so he & I both got to enjoy the wildlife this time around.

At one point a plane passed over head. It was flying fairly low & looked to be only capable of holding about two or so passengers. Max pointed to it & explained that it’s the Shark Patrol. Shark Patrol is a branch of the police that go up & down the coast looking for sharks in the water that may pose a threat to beach goers. If they see a shark in the water they let out a siren to tell people in the water that then need to get out for their safety. We watched it fly over, then continued on pestering the crabs.

This is the chain of events here. Max points out & explains the plane, we talk & chuckle about it as the plane flies towards the Henley Jetty, we go back down to look at crabs, we come back up to the plane circling near the jetty with its alarm going off. The comedic timing of it all way spot on.

So we casually got out of the water.

When we got back to Evan & Leena we had an additional party member, River Lane.

She had just gotten back to Adelaide from holiday with her family. We sat & chatted throughout the afternoon, mostly about diving, travel, & music. She apparently doesn’t live far from the spot we’d plopped & it was nice to formally meet her before we left Australia.

Our dinner/evening plans had been solidified earlier in the week, Elle Holiday & her partner James were set to come over for a game night. They came around 6 PM. We then went through the Uber Eats list of food near by to see what was available & we ended up ordering from Pellegrini Cafe, a local Schnitzel & Pizza place. During our wait for our food we sat, we joked, & told stories. Once our food was arrived we ate, we sat, we joked & told stories. Then once we’d eaten we sat, joked, & told stories. We were so wrapped up in conversation & life that we never got around to playing a single game & before we knew it, the night had crept on & become quite late. We bid them both goodnight & took ourselves to bed as well.

End Of Day Fifteen

Day Sixteen

As with most days, this one starts with coffee. One last trip to Seven Grounds to be exact. I got a Dirty Pandan Matcha Latte & another round of their take on a Full English Breakfast, only this time we took it to go. We spent our morning reassembling, repacking, & getting everything in order. Clean clothing, of which there was a lot thanks to the Hurrell’s wash, went on top with the dirty clothes or clothes we knew we wouldn’t need the rest of the trip stored away. The hallway by the door became our baggage hold as items were restored & sealed for the journey ahead.

Lunch was back at the Adelaide Central Market. We’d opted for that because Max was meeting up with his adoptive mother, Sunset, the market had a plethora of options, & I wanted to grab the Etikette candles that I liked so much from part three. We even ended up back at Zuma Caffe because three of us had ben there a few days prior & the food was solid with a varied selection. Evan & I ordered two different burgers which we split down the middle & gave a half to each of us, as well as a darling little Yuzu Curd Tart.

The burgers we got were the Old School “Zuma Version” Aussie Burger with Two Beef/Pork Patties, Double Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato, Red Onion, Beetroot, Relish, & Mayo, & the Zuma’s Real Deal Double Cheeseburger with Two Beef/Pork Patties, Double American Cheese, Pickles, Red Onion, Mustard, Ketchup, & Mayonnaise. To be honest, the Aussie burger beat the other by a long shot!

After a very pleasant lunch we headed back to the apartment one last time to gather our belongings, Tetris them in the car, & head out to the airport.

We completed a round of hugs & goodbyes outside of the Adelaide Airport, even snapping a picture or two before we left.

I think it’s at this point that the dread really started to creep in for me. We had spent around two & a half weeks in a warm, welcoming place that, as I mentioned before, felt like an alternate universe to the one we are living in within the US. I think in a lot of ways Australia looks, at least to us, like what The US would have if it hadn’t given into the corporations, to the greed & subjugation. It was a lot like what I imagine The US would be like if it cared for its people, & the earth, & communities instead of trying to leverage everything it can out of us. I know Australia isn’t perfect, but it feels leagues ahead of The US in terms of living a healthy, balanced, happy life where you don’t have to worry about whether your accident is going to bankrupt you or whether your government will prioritize trying to save a dying earth over oil & gas revenues. Again, it has its drawbacks but both Evan & I knew the storm we were returning to arriving on January 17th, 2025 & we desperately didn’t want to return.

It’s not even that we spent two+ weeks on vacation & now we were like ‘vacation for life’ because for the last week of our trip, yes we did activities, but we also did a lot of work & got a sense of normalcy built around that. It was nice to go places & feel safe & cared for & like you as a person mattered to something or someone larger than yourself or your ability to be a monetary outlet.

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

We had a late afternoon flight out of Adelaide, it got us into Sydney around 7:15 PM. From there we hopped into an uber & went downtown to the Hilton Sydney.

The hotel was both stunning & massive. We were placed in a king room about twenty-five floors up with views overlooking the lower part of the city. The room was cozy & modern & we quickly used it to change into nicer apparel & ditch our luggage.

For dinner I’d found us an Italian spot called Ragazzi. Ragazzi Wine & Pasta to be exact. We arrived with the sheer hope that even though we didn’t have a reservation we’d be able to get in. They were kind enough to start us out at an outdoor table which they informed us would have to be moved inside at a certain point, as they were only allowed to have outdoor tables til a certain time for noise ordinance.

We started our meal off with Cantabrian Anchovies with Butter on Sourdough, Lonza (Cured Pork Loin) with Pear Mostarda, Melon, & Pickled Mustard Seeds, & Sugarloaf “Caesar” with Smoked Pancetta, Reggiano, & Cured Egg Yolk. All was exceptional.

At this point Evan could tell that the anxiety of returning to The United States was weighing on me. He asked me what was wrong & I explained to him my feelings & my fears. We both admitted that we’d really hoped in part that we wouldn’t enjoy Australia as much as we did, because it made going back to the regression of America that much harder. I think, unfortunately, that my fears & predictions began to weigh on him as well & it turned his emotions fairly quickly.

We were moved inside, now definitely a mopier lot, but still very much enjoying the food & the restaurant. Our pasta courses then came. We had Cacio E Pepe, Cavatelli with Buffalo Mozzarella, Heirloom Tomatoes, & Basil, & Conchiglie with Prawn, & Smoked Tomato XO Sauce. We were torn on a favorite between the Cav & the Conch.

For dessert we ordered a Mango Royale with Macadamia, Lime, Coconut, & Chantilly as well as two scoops of Sorbetti.

We paid the tab, thanked the staff for an excellent dinner, & made our way up farther into the city towards the harbour.

I am nothing if not well researched when it comes to food or drink at a destination I’m traveling to. In addition to sifting through blogs, different food awards, recommendation site, etc., I always ask locals to give us their own takes on the ‘must hit’ spots while we’re somewhere. I had found a bar through The World’s 50 Best Bars Of 2024 list called Maybe Sammy.

Maybe Sammy currently holds down the #26 spot on this list of the top 50 bars in the world. Of which I am sure there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions. The bar themes itself variably but it always meant to replicate that of a hotel bar. The current menu being so themed around The Grand Budapest Hotel & Monopoly. I got a High Tea (Benraich 10 Year, Fino Sherry, Mastic Tears, Tonic Syrup, Matcha, & Coconut Syrup, Garnished with a sheet of Nori) & a Wake Up Call (Bacardi Ocho 8 Year Rum, Mr Black Coffee Liqueur, De Bortoli Black Noble 10 Year, Espresso, Toffee, & Marscapone) the latter of the two being my definitive favorite.

We made our way back towards the hotel pleasantly buzzed, we’d also had a cocktail with appetizers at dinner. Our night wasn’t quite over yet though, I had one more stop in mind. Back again to Cantina Ok!, a bar that also finds itself on the Top Bars list (#96)!

As I mentioned in part one, upon our initial trip to Cantina Ok!, they do a weekly special. This week’s sounded bomb AF & it was bomb AF, truly one of the top 5 cocktails I had the whole trip! The drink in question was Jax’s Special. Tequila (obviously), Garden Wine, Shaved Frozen Nectarine, & Lychee Ice. It was refreshing with a bit of zippy tartness & subtle sweetness. Wish it was a menu staple, but I get that something isn’t beautiful because it lasts.

Pleasantly inebriated we went back to the hotel to pull out the morning’s clothing, repack, & drift off to sleep.

End Of Day Sixteen

Day Seventeen

I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog series. I’ll be entirely honest & say that I had a deep sense of melancholy while writing it. I loved Australia more than I could have ever imagined I would & this two+ weeks was really just the tip of the iceberg, the continent has so much more to offer, so many more cities to see & places to adventure. Being there filled me with a deep sense of calm that I haven’t felt in a very long time & unfortunately, given the state of the States, doubt I will for a while more. I have a bit more before we head out & put the final ‘period’ in this series. Though it is brief.

We awoke around 7 AM with the obvious intent on hitting The Grumpy Baker one more time before we left town. Part of it was that I wanted one more Hazelnut Latte & a pastry, the other part being that we wanted to get a friend of ours a bag of Single O coffee as a ‘thank you’ for doing some winter prep around our house while we were gone.

The Grumpy Baker locale that we went to was in Hyde Park located inside of an old bus stop. I got my latte, a potato & leek pastry, & I’m sure something sweet. We then walked & ate back to the Hilton to get our belongings & head to the airport for our flight back to the USA.

End Of Day Seventeen

END OF PART FOUR & END OF BLOG SERIES

February 8, 2025

Charlie Rogers

Travel Blog, Travel, Blog

Travel Blog: Australia- Part Three: Adelaide Back

February 8, 2025

Charlie Rogers

Travel Blog, Travel, Blog

Hiyas!

Welcome back to the Australian travel blog. If you’re just now joining us, this is the third part to this four part blog series. That means if you managed to make it here without giving part one &/or two a read, then it’s time to turn that little tuchus around & give those other bits a gander before you continue on. That is, unless you WANT to continue on without the knowledge of the previous works, in which case live your life I guess. If you would so like to give them a proper read first, I have taken the liberty of linking the two lovely blogs that came before this below. Enjoy them. Relish them. Comeback here when you’re all caught up & ready to continue on & we’ll keep trekking! Sound good? Perfect! Let’s get to going then!

PArt One

PART TWO

PART THREE:

Day Nine (Continued)

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

We landed in Adelaide around noon. I had downloaded a few new LUT (Look Up Tables, prefixed color filters that you apply to a picture or video) packs & had started digging through the dive footage I had while on the flight & Evan had worked a bit.

We were met at the Adelaide Airport by Leena & Max, who were kind enough to pick us up & allow us to stay with them.

Two things before we go forward. The first is a bit of history. The second is a bit about what this portion of the blog will be going forward.

I met Leena Regan in 2010 at Belmont University where we both found ourselves in the Commercial Voice program. We became fast friends & have been ever since. In 2013 she moved to Los Angeles where she eventually ended up taking up a job at Musicians Institute (MI), where she taught voice, songwriting, & performance. She herself being an outstanding vocalist, accomplished songwriter, & having performed as an artist since her youth. At MI Leena met Max Hurrell, an Adelaide native, who was in the states as a student but would later become a teacher himself specifically in the realm of production. Max would later go on to produce Obliterated for Hektor Mass & me! The two of them got married around 2019 & in 2020 moved to Australia due to the US’s lackluster at best response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Once they got to Australia, Max’s mentor unfortunately passed & his widow offered the Hurrells the studio which they purchased & turned it into Songbird Society, a musical community center seeking to to transform the music industry and create a thriving environment where the well-being of artists is supported and prioritized.

The second note that I have is that this part of the blog series is going to be a little more pedestrian. This is by design. Max & Leena are close friends whose home we are staying in, who were kind enough to inject us into their day to day lives & give us a taste of what normal life looks like for those living in Adelaide. That is not to say that it will not feature incredible meals, fun stories, & adventures. It is chockablock full, I just feel that each day may have a little less to share then the previous two installments as the four of us were also working while we were there to varying degrees & a lot of what we end up doing is sitting around, basking in camaraderie, socializing, & simply enjoying each others company. You know, pedestrian things.

So yes, Leena & Max picked us up & we played a lovely little round of car Tetris to get all of our ‘too much, too large’ luggage into their car.

Our first stop was their flat on the Northwest side of the city, in an area called Bowden. I would say this is the area that they habitat with the majority of their lives. Their apartment is here as is the studio that houses Songbird Society. They had prepared for us their spare room & were kind enough to buy an air mattress, complete with an inflatable headboard so your pillow doesn’t roll off, for us to use! After we dropped our stuff, we made our way down & out to do a bit of looking about & to grab some lunch/coffee.

We walked along in the glorious 77° day for about five minutes until we got to the studio. We were shown in by the duo, brought from the vibrant, arid seaside of Adelaide, into a space of tranquil darkness accented by vibrant strikes of color.

The interior of Songbird is entirely black. You walk through the foyer to an almost living room set up complete with vintage gaming consoles, funky furniture, an upright piano, a shelf of vivacious knick knacks, & a stage. Off to the right you have the studio; double sided with an isolation book sandwiched in the middle. Straight on from the main room you find River Lane’s office (more on her in part four!) & to the right, Leena’s studio which sits on the opposite side of the isolation booth from Max’s.

After we wrapped the studio tour it was time for food. Down the street we went to Seven Grounds.

Seven Grounds is a lovely little cafe with some really solid drinks & some really solid food. We sat outside in the glorious day & began our orders. The first drink that I got was a Coconut Vietnamese Iced Coffee with Ube Whipped Cream. Yes, you read that correctly. It was absolute heaven. For lunch we all attempted to order the same thing, the Burger. However, there ended up being only one burger left for the day (we were there about an hour before closing) & we opted to let Leena have it. Instead I got the Hong Kong Full Brekkie complete with Taiwanese Sausage, Grilled Mushrooms & Tomatoes, Two Fried Eggs, Rasher Bacon, Sourdough Toast, Potatoes, & the best Chilli Oil I think I’ve ever had. Evan got a Chicken sandwich that was also pretty phenomenal. I ordered a second latte, though I can’t recall what specifically it was. I do remember it also being immaculate though!

After lunch we opted for a walk. Adelaide has a very unique set up where the original city is bisected by the River Torrens & then surrounded by a series of parks. This series of parks is then further surrounded by more city that stretches out in all directions until they run into the mountains to the east or the ocean to the west. Bowden boarders an area of park on its southeastern ridge. This is where we walked, along the Bunyip Trail.

I cannot reiterate how much of a lovely day it was. The sun was shining, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, the light breeze carried with it the smell of the salt from the ocean which picked up the oil from the groves of Eucalyptus & other Gum Trees. The four of us walked & chatted before we made our way back towards their flat.

Along the way we stopped at the IGA (Independent Grocers Of Australia) for some more drinks. Feeling pretty parched from the walk we stocked up on an assortment of mostly Australian beverages then continued walking on to the apartment. At this point I think it was approaching early evening & we sat around their living room chatting for several more hours before the need for food once again set in.

Leena & Max came prepared. They know & appreciate how much of food people Ev & I are & they came ready to encourage that behavior with a full on list or prepared restaurants that either they love or their friends love. That’s right, they’d gone above & beyond & asked around in advance for recommendations on restaurants to take us to. Let’s stop here & give them some proper snaps. One such listed place was Busan Baby (or Bussin’ Baby as it became known to us).

Busan Baby is a modern korean restaurant located in the central part of Adelaide. It is served family style & we ate the menu.

The Hurrells had gone a few times previously, mostly for special occasions, & since our coming to visit was seen as a special occasion by them (& of course us) we went!

We ordered Bibimbap w/ Spicy Pork, Kimchi & Ban Chan, Soy Garlic & Sweet Spicy Korean Fried Chicken, Japchae Noodles w/ Bulgogi, Giant Chicken Katsu w/ Melted Cheese & Fried Kimchi, & I’m honestly not sure what else. The meal was a blur of joy & excellence. Nothing we had was anything short of exceptional. I’m pretty sure the wait staff hated us by the end of the night as we had so much fun that at times we were crying laughing. Oh well.

We wrapped the evening back on the couch where Max & Leena introduced us to a Dropout show called Very Important People in which comedians are done up in full make up, prompted to come up with a character, & give a full on sit down 20-30 minute interview entirely improvised. I highly recommend you give it a watch!

With full hearts & bellies we made our way to bed & drifted off into the night.

End Of Day Nine

Day Ten

The next day we had a quiet morning. We slept in a bit, Max & Leena had some work to get done at Songbird, Evan & I had some work to get done at the flat as well as some laundry that we’d accumulated over the previous nine days & so it was until the early afternoon. (I told you all, some of this would be pedestrian, you didn’t believe me did you?) I do think at some point Evan & I walked to Seven Grounds for a latte & a pastry, but I think that was fairly early on. At around 1 in the afternoon Leena came home from the studio & we went about making a plan for the day.

She had a few benchmark items that she wanted us to hit while we were there, a lot of it was just up in the air & came down to us deciding kind of ‘when & where.’ One such item was the Central Market, which we opted to make our afternoon excursion.

The central market, located smack dab in the center of Adelaide (shocker I know, who’d have thought with a name like central market it’d be in the center & also a market?!) is a large building that houses around 70 different stalls. From grocery to restaurants, bakeries to clothing, there’s a lot to see & a lot to explore amongst the purveyors. We meandered through them until we stumbled upon Sustainable Co. where I was drawn in by the assortment of smells radiating from the booth.

As I mentioned towards the end of part two, Evan & I are lovers of fragrances. This naturally extends to candles as is apparent by the fact that I also make & sell them.

Shameless Plug

The shop had a quant selection of candles themselves, most notably from a company called etikette. I love me a marine scent & they have two that I instantly became enamored with; Tallow in Salt Bush & Sea Kelp & Freycinet in Coastal Moss & Sea Salt. Additionally I really enjoyed their Otways in Bush Botanicals & Evan liked the Wilpena in Cactus Flower, which is subsequently the fragrance used all over Songbird Society & Leena & Max’s flat!

We found lunch at a restaurant that sits half in the market & half outside, Zuma Caffe. I got a Chinotto soda (which Leena found appalling) & their Fish & Chips which were excellent! We sat around enjoying our lunch in the sun for around an hour before I made my way back in to one of the fruit stalls to buy a beautiful looking bunch of green grapes & a couple of local mangos.

After lunch Leena took us around the bend to Breadtop, a Singaporean bakery, where we all got an assortment of different Southeast Asian buns, cakes, tarts, breads, & snacks before making our way back to the apartment.

We worked back at the flat a bit longer before it was time to go eat once again.

Another restaurant on the list from Leena & Max was Africola. Though they themselves had never been, they had a lot of friends who recommended it & apparently it was also nationally renown.

Our reservation was a bit on the late side, we ended up being the last table at the restaurant, but on the way we got to witness the bats migrating from one end of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens to the other. There were thousands of them & it was an incredible site to see!

We sat outside at Africola in the balmy evening air starting our meal off with cocktails then ordering family style with our meal once again.

We had Peri Peri Chicken with Mpumalunga Fire & Boom Chakalaka, Goolwa Pipis with Fermented Chili & White Pea, Crispy Chicken Tea Sandwiches with Peri Peri Dripping, Cabbage with Whey & Prawns, & Boston Bay Pork Loin with Mustard Leaf Gremoulata. I think the group favorite of the items was either the Tea Sandwiches or the Pipis! We also got dessert; Tahini Ice Cream & Chocolate Mousse! Both were amazing!

After dinner we made our way back home, watched more Very Important People, & went out like a light.

End Of Day Ten

Day Eleven

We once again spent the morning doing our respective works. Max had a session for the greater part of the day so it ended up being Evan, Leena, & me again.

Around noon, when we’d exhausted our intake of items we’d pilfered from Breadtop the day prior, we went in search of food. Opting for something a little different from the options that were in our immediate vicinity, we ended up taking about a fifteen minute walk down the road to Pony & Cole.

It was a sunny, if not outright hot day in Adelaide as we walked to Pony & Cole, to the point where I wondered if the t-shirt I was wearing was too much & I should’ve swapped it out for a tank. We were unfortunately a little sweaty upon arrival at the cafe but I guess that’s what air conditioning is for.

At Pony & Cole I got an Iced Hazelnut Latte. It seemed no matter where we went in Australia our three coffee flavor options were always the same; vanilla, hazelnut, or caramel. I don’t know what is different there, but each of these flavor options actually smack. Three is enough when they’re strangely exceptional despite their casual nature.

I was feeling rather hungry so I ended up getting a smaller menu item as well as a ‘main’ plate. I got the Bircher Muesli with Blueberry Compote & Hazelnut, along with the Scrambled Chilli Eggs with Seeded Brioche, Housemade Chilli Crisp, & Pickles. I think my favorite out of the two was actually the Bircher, which was surprising to me! I just have such an affinity for the dish, even though it is just basically oatmeal.

We hung out at Pony & Cole for a while before walking back in the heat. We then used that opportunity to do further work & finish up some personal chores.

Late in the afternoon, around 3:30-ish, Max came back having finished up his session. We then took to planning our evening. In a bit of a flash of inspiration I suggested we pack a charcuterie board & take it to the beach for a sunset picnic as I wanted to see a west coast facing sunset while we were in Australia. The rest of the gang loved the idea so we went about making it a reality.

First we went to IGA, we bought cheese & sliced meats, fruits & veggies, crackers, chips, nuts, dips, & a bag of candy or two. We rationed out the gatherings evenly to split the cost as such & then went around the corner of Plant 4 to Bowden Cellars to grab a few canned, boozy beverages for the beach. It is here we meet “Yeet Juice.”

Yeet Juice is a product of Bowden Brewing, located just down the street from the flat. It is a hella tart hard lemonade with a cult South Australian cult following. We did not opt for the normal Yeet that day, though I would try it at some point later, instead we went for their summer seasonal Guava flavor, which was the correct option to choose. We also picked up a seller that Leena swore tasted like Watermelon Sour Patch Kids. It absolutely did.

A quick side bar here about guava.

I love guava, absolutely adore it. Unfortunately, this country where I live, The United States, has not, other than it seems the Latin-x & Southeast Asian communities, embraced the lovely fruit & flavor that is the guava. I find that to be disheartening. I find that choice blasé because we so often don’t embrace the things that are best for us here in the US of A. Anyway. All of this to say, more guava please. More guava flavors. More guava fruit. Etc.

Thank you for attending my TED Talk.

We went back to the Apt, packed up all of our goodies into a cooler, grabbed beach towels & swimming suits, & off we went to the beach!

The Hurrell’s beach of choice is Henley Beach & I understand why! It’s a stunner for starters! Additionally it’s almost a perfect twenty minute straight shot from their home to the beach with next to no turns. Additionally, the part that we went to, sits almost smack dab in the middle between the Henley Beach Jetty & the Grange Beach Jetty to the north, so people are more likely at either of those places. We took an uber as to be able to partake in the beverages we’d bought, so we didn’t have to worry about parking. Not that it would be an issue when we came back a few days later.

We claimed a spot on the beach at around 6:30. The sun wasn’t due to set for another hour & a half to two, so we decided to start out our dinner with a swim.

The water temperature was a good deal warmer than that of Sydney, at least that’s how it seemed to me. Subsequently, despite my numerous global travels, this was the first time I had ever been in what is technically the Indian Ocean!

Evan & Leena stuck to pretty close to the shoreline where they picked through the sand for shells, of which there was an abundance. Max & I went out to about the point where we could no longer touch & mulled about the shallows. I had brought my dive mask with me, so I got a kick out of all the Sand Crabs that would spring up from the sand & throw a fit anytime you got even within a foot & a half of them. There were hundreds of them.

The visibility was a bit low for the day, but we didn’t mind. We spent about thirty minutes out in the waves before hunger began to set back in & we made our way to shore to dry off & dine on our provisions.

Leena had received this sick ground cover for her birthday. It was basically a seven foot by seven foot mat that came with tent stakes. It can be washed & is very easy to get dirt & sand off of. It fit all four of us on it perfectly fine & there we sat & drank & ate & laughed & waited for the sun to dip below the strait.

The sunset was stellar (lol), a wash of pale yellow fading into fiery orange that washed the entire coastline in a warm marigold. It lasted a while too, I would say around 45 minutes! It was truly magical. Evan even decided it beat out the ones in the Philippines which I’m not entirely sure I can get on board with, but I don’t think that one is necessarily better than the other. They’re different, the hue of the sky is different.

From there we packed up before the sun was completely gone, leaving us in darkness, changed back into dry clothing, called an uber, & went back to the flat to sleep the night away.

End Of Day Eleven

Day Twelve

We started our day off with a plan to go out to Mount Lofty & do a small bit of a hike around the Botanic Gardens up there. However, first we needed coffee & sustenance.

Down the road from the flat, in an old clothing store, a bakery has taken up residence. It’s called Against The Grain Bakery & they feature an assortment of different sweet & savory bakery options. From cookie to hand pies, croissants to breads, they’ve got it covered, as well as offering a full coffee bar. I once again got a Hazelnut Latte & I believe the baked good I purchased was something S’mores-y. Not entirely sure. All I can remember is that I ate it quickly because of how good it was!

Carbed & Caffeinated we made our way out of Adelaide up to the Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens.

There were two main reasons why the Hurrells wanted to take us up to Mt Lofty. First was because Ev & I are plant lovers & it being summer in Australia, a lot of the foliage was in bloom. The second reason is that Mt Lofty is a great place for wild life sitings; mostly Eastern Grey Kangaroos & Koalas, though the latter can be hard to spot.

We arrived up top & immediately began our search for animals, Leena quickly spotted a mob of Kangaroos grazing in the valley below the parking pavilion, so down we went to see the roos.

In total there were four of them. There was a large male tucked in the shade of a low hanging tree, lounging about, waiting on the heat of the day to pass. Then there was a family; mother, father, & joey. We did our best to keep our distance but still tried to get close enough to observe them. The fella under the tree couldn’t have cared less about us being there, the family of roos wanted to graze & to have nothing to do with us, so we let them all be. From there we made our way up the hill along the paths that wind in & out of the different cultured gardens.

I find it really interesting with how strict customs is when it comes to plants entering Australia that the Botanic Gardens feature so many plants from around the world. It seems counterintuitive to me. I understand that part of the strictness is to prevent foreign pests & invasive species from entering the country, but fining people for lettuce on their sandwich then having gardens of plants from around the world seems a touch hypocritical to me.

Anyway. Around the top of the hill there is a large grove of gum trees, this is where we went searching for koalas.

Max had informed us prior to departure that we would most likely hear koalas before we saw them, if we saw them, especially since it was mating season. He equated the sound they make to a bellowing pig & honestly, I don’t think that’s far off. I’ll link you a sample to that sound below. They actually used the koala mating call as part of the sound effects for the T-Rex in Jurassic Park!

Koala Mating Call

We did not end up seeing (or hearing) any koalas, but that didn’t prevent the walk from still being lovely! We loaded up in the car & down the mountain we went.

Evan & I noticed something interesting about Adelaide. It reminds us a lot of a shrunken down Los Angeles. When you’re coming down from the mountains, through the twists & turns, you often end up with almost an overlook view where you can see the city below & then the ocean beyond. The climate, the foliage, the building designs & layouts are all very similar to certain parts of LA, particularly the Valley or down in Midcity. Naturally there are about 1/5th of the amount of people & Adelaide is markedly cleaner & more put together, but the similarities are bizarre. It just further added to feeling like we were in an alternate reality, especially since the day we went up to Lofty was the day the Palisades fires broke out.

Leena dipped when we got back to go teach a voice lesson or two, so Max, Evan, & I went in search of lunch.

Max ended up taking us to Real Rolls in Regency Park for Báhn Mìs. All three of us got the Mega Meat Combo (Crackling Pork Belly & Lemongrass Chicken) & in all honesty, it was one of the best Báhn Mìs I’ve had in my life!

After lunch he took us back into the city center to go by the Haigh’s Chocolate Factory.

Alfred Haigh was a chocolatier who studied under the Lind family (Lindor Chocolates). He took their recipes & what he learned & brought them back to South Australia to make his own chocolate company based around the tastes of Australia. I ended up getting a variety pack of Australian flavored truffles called the Australian Selection, a pack of Milk Chocolate Covered Hazelnuts, a pack of Dark Chocolate Scorched Almonds, & some Milk Chocolate Mango Truffle Bars. The clear favorites being the truffle bars & the hazelnuts. Then we headed back to the flat to do a bit of work & to prepare for our evening.

Leena had invited several of their friends to join us out on the lawn by Plant 4. On Fridays Plant 4 does a food hall type event where a bunch of venters either open up or come in to offer a variety of food & drinks. Additionally the bar in the plant is open & slinging cocktails, beer, & wine.

Alex & Sophie were the first of Leena & Max’s friends to arrive & when they did we once again spread out Leena’s massive ground cover blanket which was more than large enough to fit all of us on. Once we’d all settled we decided to take turns going into the plant to get food.

Evan & I went first & ended up at an Afghani Curry pop up that was, & I cannot understate this, completely & utterly mind-blowing. The dish came with two or three curry options & a side & I loved every second of it. The pickled veggies that topped each of them were *chef’s kiss.

On our way back we stopped & grabbed drinks from the bar as well. I went with a canned alcoholic ginger beer (if you read part one, you know!) & Ev, I honestly don’t recall what he did.

When we got back to the cover Oli had joined the party. After everyone had gone & gotten food we all sat around drinking, chatting, laughing, & enjoying basic merriment until the sun went down.

As we were drawing the outdoor portion of our evening to a close the power went out. Like the whole area of Bowden went pitch black. Evan had gone inside to use the restroom & this happened while he was in Plant 4…which had magnetic fire doors that sealed upon the power going out. I think he was in a bit of a panic trying to get out, by he eventually found some people who worked there who showed him how to get out through the side doors.

Alex & Sophie departed & the four of us, with the addition of Oli made our way back to the apartment where we sat around by candle light & continued to chat & drink.

At some point the power came back on & we ventured over to the living room for a few rounds of Jackbox before we all called it a night.

End Of Day Twelve

END OF PART THREE

February 2, 2025

Charlie Rogers

Travel Blog, Travel, Blog

Travel Blog: Australia- Part Two: Three Days of Rain on The Great Barrier Reef

February 2, 2025

Charlie Rogers

Travel Blog, Travel, Blog

Hiya! Welcome back to my blog series on Australia! If you are just now joining us, this is part two of the series, part one (naturally) comes before. So, if you find yourself here & you haven’t given part one a read, I recommend doing so first! Don’t worry, part two will still be here when you come back! If you have read part one &/or don’t care to read part one (rude) then welcome back to the continuation of our little adventure. Some of you may have noticed that I never finished our ‘day five’ in part one of this series. That is because the natural split, our time in Sydney & its suburbs to our times in Cairns. happened midday & I felt it more appropriate to split parts one & two at the divide of the flight, not at the break of a day. Cool? Alright, again, if you haven’t read part one, I recommend you do so first. There will be a link to it right under this introductory paragraph. If you’re all caught up & ready to go, then let’s get into it!!! Deflate that BCD, let’s dive in!!!

Part One

PART TWO:

Day Five (Continued)

Cairns, Queensland, Australia

Upon booking our trip to Australia I knew I wanted to try my utmost to dive The Great Barrier Reef while we were there. I know for a lot of divers & ocean enthusiasts it’s a bucket list location & with the reef experiencing an estimated 30% bleaching, I knew my time to do so was unfortunately running thin.

I didn’t know how or what that looked like. For some reason, I pictured in my mind that the reef was just like a little ways off the coast line like when you dive in Maui & Molokini & Lanai are like a 45 minute boat ride. That’s not the case. Yes, you can go see the reef on a day trip, but majority of it is a ways out, like several hours. I also knew that I wanted to do more than just one day of diving on the reef which is what lead us to Liveaboard.com.

The live aboard options for the reef are limited to about eight options on their site. The one that ended up working for us both timing & budget wise was Pro Dive Cairns which is a three day/two night trip for around $660 USD. With boats going out almost every day, it made scheduling the trip fairly easy & flexible as well.

Evan & I arrived at the Cairns Airport around 4:40 PM. We taxied in, gathered up our bags, & got in an uber immediately headed to Pro Dive Cairns.

On the itinerary it listed out an optional check-in the evening prior to departure to help ease the process in the morning. That optional check-in ended at 5:30 PM…

I will have you know that we made it from the tarmac at 4:40, to the terminal, to baggage claim, to our pick-up, down the 20 minute ride from the airport, & to the store by 5:15. We made the check-in!

The only real thing that needed to be handled was sizing for Evan’s BCD & his regulator rental. I didn't read the fine print of the live aboard to see that all of our gear was covered, but I probably would have brought my own anyway just because it’s what I’m comfortable & familiar with.

While at PDC we asked one of the gents working the desk his recommendation for food, he told us that he doesn’t really go out to eat much but when he does he always goes to this local Thai restaurant down the street called Lanna Thai.

We still had all of our luggage & were only about a fifteen minute walk from our hotel, the Doubletree by Hilton Cairns, so we opted to walk instead of trying to call another Uber XL for all of our gear & baggage.

Once we’d checked into our hotel & had gotten our things situated we decided that food needed to be our next priority. We went with the staff suggestion of Lanna Thai & walked the fifteen minutes back by the dive shop to the restaurant just a block down the street. Spotting a massive flying fox overhead along the way!

Lanna Thai sits in the middle of a row of shops. It has about ten to twelve tables indoors & a line of them outside as well. You walk in & are greeted at the host stand before being shown to a table, pretty standard. The difference is that once you are sat, you then return to the host stand to give your entire order. It’s an interesting mix of traditional style dining & takeout.

Evan & I ordered Panang Curry, Pad See Ew, Curry Puffs, & Chicken Satay to share. I think our favorite amongst the set was the Pad See Ew & the Curry Puffs though all of what we had was excellent. After dinner my sweet tooth kicked in & my dessert stomach needed filling so off we went in search of desserts.

I am a dessert person. Truly. I want dessert after dinner. Usually I’m pretty good with just ice cream, but the need is great following my savory courses. All of the ice cream places that we found, that said they were open, were back by towards water.

As we got closer & closer to the water the noise & the people grew exponentially. We had found all of the tourists & man, what a tourist trap it all was. I equated the area we had wandered into to a Florida beach town or like Venice Beach in LA. There were kitschy souvenir shops, soulless eateries, trinkets, the same six $5 t-shirts or beach towels & swarms of people, all whom were a little too comfortable in other people’s personal space for my liking.

We ended up at a Night Market, why we thought there’d be a reprieve from the amount of people within, I’m not sure, but in we went. Right near the entrance to the night market was a stall selling all things mango aptly called, The Mango Bar. When I say it was everything mango, I mean it was everything mango; mango sorbet, mango smoothies, mango cake, dried mango, etc., etc., etc., etc. We made a stressful lap around the market before deciding upon The Mango Bar & getting a fresh Mango Sundae!

I’m glad we found The Mango Bar because the gelatoria around the corner we were planning to walk to was a mad house.

We took our mango sundaes & walked along the boardwalk back towards the hotel, pausing only to have our ears accosted by one of the most prehistoric looking birds I’ve ever seen; the Bush Stone-Curlew, whose cry sounds like a woman wailing. I’ll link a video of the sound below.

Bush Stone-Curlew Call

We did manage to find our way back to the hotel, despite the terror in the night, & once we were back we started putting together day bags to take onto the boat.

Pro Dive had advised us that our bags would be too big, but they offered storage for them while we were away. They recommended about a backpack side bag with enough clothing & towels to last you the three days out on the reef. So from our massive four suitcases we complied them & then drifted off to sleep.

End Of Day Five

Day Six

Our pick up from the Doubletree was early, I think around 5:30 AM. We were the last to be picked up from the group of us & had to do a bit of finagling to get our suitcases to fit in with everyone else’s & everyone else.

Our first stop of the morning was back to the dive shop, there we payed our national park fees, stowed our bags, & made any last minute dive purchases we may have needed. Then we were ushered back into the passenger van & driven a short ways from the shop down to the marina. We made our way around the Cairns Marlin Marina until we got to the boat, the Pro Dive 1.

Pro Dive Cairns has a fleet of these vessels, all the same design, all put into commission around the same time. The Pro Dive ships are three stories in all. The lower levels houses the engine room as well as the majority of the double bunk cabins & several of the boats bathrooms. The main deck has the dive platform, the galley, the recreational quarters, & the two double bed cabins as well as four of the restrooms. The top floor contains the lookout deck, the wheelhouse, & the remainder of the bunk rooms & restrooms.

We were all shown into the galley where breakfast awaited us. There we met the dive master, the ship’s chef, the captain, & the rest of the dive crew. All in all it was about seven crew members & thirty-two divers. There we watched the safety briefing, got room assignments, were run through the ship’s protocols, & were given our safety number.

A safety number on a ship is meant to keep anyone from being left behind. When you have individuals going in & out of the water & a "‘home base’ that actively moves between sites, it is important to insure that everyone has made it back from their dives & back on board. This is carried out by two crew members who go around with forms asking each of the divers their safety numbers to insure that they have returned. The safety number is given before you depart a site & once you arrive at a site. It also must only be given by the person whose safety number it is & has to be given to two separate crew members who check the number off as they go around the vessel. Additionally we were being checked in & out before & after getting into the water for any dive.

Evan & my room assignment was under the galley on the lower level at the very end of the hall. We claimed bunks, sorted out of minimal belongings, returned upstairs to set up our gear in our respective stations on the dive deck, then returned to the galley to lounge about & read on the couple hours out to the reef.

The captain had instructed all of us to take sea sickness medication just in case as the ride out could be tumultuous & they were expecting some light storms to be rolling in. I took one & was fine. Evan, who had never been on a seafaring boat without stabilizers took one as well, just in case…more on that later…

Our first dive site was at Milln Reef at a the Petaj Mooring site. We were all corralled up to the top deck for our dive briefing, this is where the vast majority of them would take place.

As an Eagle Scout & a Master Diver, I’m no stranger to a compass. What I am weirdly a stranger to is receiving dive instruction in compass headings. Typically you get information on a dive site & it says “go out here til you hit the wall, descend down the wall to ‘X’ amount of feet/meters, then go along with it on your left side til you reach ‘X’ amount of air in your tank, turn back around & slowly make your ascent as you head back towards the boat.” This was “go out to the mooring block, set your heading to 30°, go that direction until you hit the reef. Look around, see the sights, when your tank reaches ‘X’ amount, set your compass heading to 210° & come back to the boat.” This was possibly the simplest of them that we got. Some of them were three or four different headings to keep track of.

By the time we got in the water, it was already overcast which took visibility of anywhere from 50-100 feet down to about 30-40. Evan & I went off as a pair with the exact briefing as listed above in mind…we got lost.

Yes, it was my bad, but also, despite the precision, neither of us feel the briefing was overly clear. You see, the briefing said “go out to this reef that you’ll see & it looks like this.” What he & I both anticipated from past diving experiences was that when we were looking for something overly specific that it would be that. We were expecting a structure! Like big ole reef, like a cathedral (large reef usually around 30-40 minimum in height). So off we went in search of this nonexistent cathedral…& off we went…& off we went, all while maintaining our 30° heading.

We never did find that reef. Well, in hindsight, I think we did, we just went right on past it because it wasn’t the mammoth we were anticipating.

At a certain point I started to get a little anxious. We were both going through that ‘first dive back’ burn through where you run through air faster than normal because you’re excited, or still feeling the act of diving out again, or recalibrating to all of it. So, Evan gives me the ‘half a tank’ indication & I start taking us back the 210° to where the mooring site should be.

I guess neither of us realized how far we’d gone out because we kicked for a good ten minutes in the direction we’d come & still weren’t seeing anything familiar, so with about a third of a tank left I made the executive decision to call the dive, surface, & kick back in once we made visual contact with the boat. I deployed my SMB, as you are meant to do in open water as a diver surfacing to indicate to boats not to run you over, & after completing our safety stop, we went up to the surface.

Y’all. We were so far away from the boat. Okay, not sooooo far, but still pretty far.

The boat had a little ‘rescue’ dingy that the dive master, Eddie, came out to meet us with. He asked if we were okay, I told him that we were but we’d just gotten a little lost & opted to surface & kick back instead of trying to navigate our way back underwater. He asked if we wanted a ride which I thought meant that he was going to have us get in the boat with him. Nope. He meant a ride that he would give us by towing us back using a rope that hung from the back of the dingy. We both grabbed onto the line & off he went.

When I say ‘off he went,” I mean off. he. went. I was struggling to hold on to the line the entirety of the time, to the point where I contemplated giving up & being like “we good, we’ll kick back.” The only problem was that if I let go I would go barreling into Evan, full tank, gear, & all, & risked injuring him. So I held on to the detriment of my hands.

After our first dive it was lunch time. We munched away our surface interval before returning back to the observation deck for another briefing.

Dive two was meant to be at the same spot only this time, instead of just Evan & me, I also got requested to guide a gent by the name of Lao whose family was staying behind to work on school work. I thought it humorous that they had bunched him in with the duo that had gotten lost (apparently we weren’t the only ones), but after clarifying some details about the reef I felt more confident in my ability to navigate the site. Down we descended back into Miiln Reef with Lao in tow.

The second dive went much, much smoother. We went around some of the shallower reefs & even saw a Clown Triggerfish which one of the training guides later said he hadn’t seen on the east end of Australia in a while! While under we gained two additional divers, two English guys who had just graduated Uni & were doing a tour of Southeast Asia, Australia, & New Zealand; Charlie & James. I actually managed to guide us all with little to no difficulty which is always comforting & overall it made for a much more pleasant dive than the somewhat panic filled first one.

At this point it was time to move moorings.

We stayed on Milln Reef but made or way a little farther Northeast to a site called “The Whale,” where we would be for the next three dives of our trip.

The first dive at the whale was off the starboard side of the ship around a cathedral known as “little tracy.” I once again got to play guide this time with Evan, Charlie, James, & a new addition, Amani. We all go in & descended & off we went.

One of the defining feature of little tracy is a massive mushroom shaped coral. I’m not sure the exact type of coral, but it looked to be some type of crusting or shelving coral. When I tell you this coral was big enough to fit three dives head to toe underneath it & still have room, that is not an exaggeration. It may have been one of the largest single coral colonies I have ever seen. Truly a marvel to witness.

We meandered around the site seeing the usual things until I was given the ‘half tank’ signal & we started making our way back. It was at this point I rounded a bommie & ran smack into a Titan Triggerfish feeding on something in the sand.

For reference, titan triggers are the largest species of triggerfish, they can grow up to 30 inches in length. Most divers will tell you that they aren’t afraid of sharks in the water, it’s the titan triggers you have to look out for. Most of the time they’re not too aggressive, but the closer you get to their mating cycle, which is linked to the moon, the meaner they get & they will attack you.

I slowly backfinned away from the fish which actually didn’t seem to care too much about us fortunately. It actually swam off away from us, which typically I’ve only ever seen them kind of hang about.

Around another broomie we came upon a stingray burying itself in the sand which made for a lovely ending to our dive.

With the day’s dives done, it was now time to eat & rest up as we waited for the sun to go down.

One thing that cannot be understated, divers are a hungry lot. The average dive ends up burning anywhere from 400-800 calories so we usually breach the surface ready to eat our arms off. Especially if we’ve spent the morning with a light breakfast to help prevent sea sickness. Each of the meals was usually full on ‘clean plate’ club. After dinner it was time for the night dive.

Now here is where I get to throw Evan under the bus…but I guess also attempt to applaud him for his efforts. I am an advocate for a night dive. I think they’re a lot like a roller coaster where there’s a lot of nervous anxiety leading up, but once you’re under the water & exploring the ‘coolness’ outweighs the anxiety. Evan is someone who definitely still holds residual fear of water but also a slight fear of the dark. Night dives take place in the water after dark. Additionally, his brand of neurodiversity makes him very susceptible to overstimulation & panic, especially when he feels crowded or constricted. All of that to say, he was very anxious about attempting a night dive, but wanted to at least attempt it because I rave about them.

So we get briefed. We get told that since it’s so many people’s first time night diving that they require us to take a guide. We are given Eduardo as our guide. Our group consists of Eduardo, Evan, Charlie, James, Lao, Amani, & me. We suit up. We each take turns getting in the water. At this point it’s also worth noting that the storm that had been covering the sun all day was starting to pick up & add to the waves. So the plan was for each of us to get into the water, then for all of us to meet out at the mooring line, then descend as a group. We get in, get a lot of the way to the mooring line & everybody is already doing the ‘I’m actually afraid to do this’ cluster together which ends up with diver on top of diver on top of diver, all of us bobbing on the surface in the pitch dark, battling the waves. Charlie gleefully screams out “GUYS THERE’S A SHARK BELOW US!” Because there was about a three foot Blacktip Reef Shark about fifteen feet below us. It is at this point that Evan throws his regulator out of his mouth & exclaims to the group “I’M OUT, I CAN’T DO THIS, I CAN’T DO THIS, I’M OUT!” & proceeds to swim the fastest I have ever seen him swim in my life back to the stern of the boat & out of the water. I kid not, it took him maximum 10-15 seconds to make his “I’M OUT, I CAN’T DO THIS, I CAN’T DO THIS, I’M OUT!” exclamation, swim to the back of the boat, & get out of the water entirely. Eduardo just looked at me & goes “…is he coming back?” To which I gave a slight laugh, turned to look him in the eye & chuckling to myself said “no.” & down we sank into the inky black.

There were quite a few sharks on the dive, Blacktip & small Grey Reef Sharks. We did also manage to see a singular Whitetip Reef Shark! We made our way back around little tracy flanked by Great Travoly & the occasional snapper. At one point one of the blacktips even came through the group, bumping into Lao & Charlie, who were fourth & fifth in line, along the way.

All in all it was a lovely night dive! We wrapped & rejoined the rest of the boat for an evening batch of cake & Evan joined us post ‘almost night dive’ panic attack & before too long we were showered, rest for bed, & drifting away in our bunks as the rain began to pour.

End Of Day Six

Day Seven

Our call time for our morning dive was quite early but fortunately the weather had cleared for the time being. The dive was to be at big tracy, otherwise known as “The Whale,” the cathedral for which the mooring site was named.

The Whale was straight off the aft deck of the ship. I was once again leading this time with Charlie, James, & Evan in tow, I got us slightly lost…again.

The instructions we were given in the briefing were to go out to The Whale & head around it with the reef to our left shoulder. At the point in which you’re most likely just over half a tank you should see a very large Sea Fan, this is the point in which you should turn around. So that’s the plan we followed. Only…we never found the sea fan.

I promise you all, this is atypical for me. Normally I am a much more well versed diver. I just don’t necessarily think the landmarks in question were often as easy to spot as they made it seem. That being said, I was paying attention in the briefing & took “halfway around” to mean that the other half of the reef was close to, if not equidistant from where we were supposed to end up with the fan. So I just had us continue on.

At a certain point you start to get a little leery & start thinking “maybe we’re lost again, I feel like we should be back around by now.” It was also at this point that James seemed to be around a third of a tank, which made me anxious to get back as well. We pressed on, slowly ascending as we did, to the point where we were about 15-20 feet below there surface. We kept going around at this depth for about five more minutes before I decided just to once again call it & surface to see how far we were from the boat. Turns out we weren't far at all! I hadn’t actually gotten us lost & if we’d continued on for another 30 seconds to a minute we’d have seen it off to the right as we continued around. Totally meant to do that. Nailed it. Got us all the way around with absolutely no worry that we’d gone around more than once or hadn’t gone around all the way at all……

Remember the previous day when I made Evan take a seasick pill to prevent seasickness? Well he decided that since he hadn’t been sick the previous day that he would be perfectly fine to not take one. He hadn’t calculated in three things; he traditionally gets kind of car sick, we were moving to a different reef for the next dive, & the captain had opted to let the ten & twelve year old boys on board drive the boat for a bit…which resulted in them swerving all over the place & doing donuts… So Evan’s theory of him being someone who didn’t get seasick quickly came crashing down around him & he spent the rest of the day making friends with the many toilets around the ship.

We transferred, in a very squiggly, spirally line from Milln Reef to Flynn Reef. It is here that the remainder of our dives would take place. Our first stop was the Tennis Court, so named because of the massive sand arena surrounded by reef at the mooring site.

Since Evan was down for the count my dive group became Charlie & James, but also added back in Lao.

When you enter the Tennis Court you are instructed to got down over the edge of the reef wall & go along it with the reef on your left side until you reach half a tank at which point you are meant to come back up to the top of the reef & continue back until you hit the namesake which you are meant to noodle around in until it is time to come up. The dive was planned, we dove the plan.

Nothing too interesting happened here, at least for us, with the exception of finding a cute little Leopard Blenny & an Orange Spotted Filefish! The clouds had rolled back in so the visibility was once again greatly diminished, but one of the groups saw something incredibly special.

Many divers have what is called “the big three.” These are three animals that are illusive or can be considered rare & seeing one is a treat. The big three typically include: Whale Sharks, Eagle Rays, & Manta Rays. The goal with each of these is to see them wild, without feeding influence, though I think a lot of people still count the latter encounter as marking the box. I have seen two of the three; Whale Sharks & a singular Eagle Ray that popped up during my check out dive for my Stress & Rescue certification in Bonaire, so I didn’t have a camera to capture it. My great want had been to see a wild, up influenced Manta Ray…which one group doing a skill checkout dive saw.

Jen & her instructor, George, were working on skills in the tennis court, knelt near the edge, doing river rescue when all of the sudden a massive Manta Ray came over the edge of the wall, swam around the court, & left. They, much like we did in Bonaire, stopped the skill test to watch the magnificent animal before continuing on. I was incredibly jealous, though I guess it seems fated for one of the big three to grace a diver during their stress & rescue course. Jen also saw another Manta at the following site…we are in a fight.

Our next dive site was Gordon’s Mooring. Having gotten sick of my guiding Charlie & James decided to go off & dive together & Lao returned to his family so I was once again buddy-less. This lovely Finnish couple; Aino & Paavo, offered to take me under their fin & off we went into Gordon’s Mooring.

The site is broken up into three distinct sections a part they call “Mickey Mouse” because from above, it looks like a Mickey Mouse…allegedly, a big brain coral, & an area of sand called the ‘fish bowl’ because it’s entirely clear with the exception of a rock that houses a massive anemone on its crest. This is one of the sites where we were given three or four different headings to keep track of.

I followed the duo into the blue, originally setting off in the direction of Mickey Mouse, which apparently we made it to…I never saw the mouse but again, everything looks different from the side verses overhead. From there we turned & headed towards the brain coral, which we saw & then went looking for the fish bowl…which we didn’t find.

At one point Paavo turns to me & gives me a hand signal that I interpreted as “where is the boat,” which he meant as “where is the fish bowl.” Truly my fault, he did to a big round shape instead of a cupped hand ‘V.” Either way I directed us right back to the boat which was probably for the best as the air was starting to run low. Not as useless at navigating as it seems I guess.

We did find a pretty large, lovely Green Moray Eel near the mooring site. It was about halfway extended out of the rock working its way between the sand bed & the rock itself. He sat & watched it for a minute or so before it was time to enact our safety stop.

From there our day dives were over. Dinner was served & the rain began to pour sideways. Perfect timing & weather for a night dive.

Given the circumstances of the night before & his reaction to simply being in the water after day, I don’t think Evan would have night dove even if he were feeling physically up to it, which is a shame because it was a banger of the night dive.

I had let it slip to Paavo & Aino that I was a master diver which then prompted them to declare me the dive guide going forward. As I had basically been playing guide all weekend & the newly certified divers who were onboard wanted to try out a night dive, I got to be the leader of the dive for everyone who had previously been on a night dive before. My group included Charlie, James, Amari, & Lao. Since they would only let us go with groups of six the Finns opted to join another group, which I felt so bad about seeing as they were the first to ask if they could join me before everyone else jumped in.

The main focus of the dive was a turtle named Hermon. Now, Hermon is no ordinary turtle. Hermon is a massive, & I mean massive turtle. Like think shell size about five to six feet. Massive. The lovely think about Hermon is they are predictable & they tuck themselves up under the same rock every night to sleep, it is just shy of the ‘Mickey Mouse.’ Another offering of the site was that at night the Bumperhead Parrotfish tend to congregate & sleep just around the mooring site. So those were the two main things we were all searching for.

I started to get really nervous when at around 15 minutes into the dive I still hadn’t found Hermon, I felt like I failed the group. Then I got an intuitive pull to turn right into a small cove & there it was! The largest turtle I have ever seen in my life. No joke, I was floored by the size of the reptile! With shielded light I hovered allowing each of the divers in my group to pass through & see the turtle, doing my best not to wake it up. I felt instant relief, but also dread. I was very concerned that Paavo & Aino would finish the dive without seeing it, fortunately they did!

Feeling like an accomplished guide we continued around the reef til it was time to go back, at which point we ran smack into the school of parrotfish! They were massive too, but unlike the turtle, they were very much awake & wanted nothing to do with us.

After the dive Amani had planned a birthday celebration for her 38th. She brought candles & party hats & decorations & had the chef make her a cake. It was an interesting endeavor. Caked up & with Evan finally starting to feel better we went to sleep amidst the driving rain.

End Of Day Seven

Day Eight

One more partial day of diving kicked off with one more rainy dive at Gordon’s Mooring. Our call to dive was early, early as the crew was trying to get three dives in for us before heading back to Cairns. According to my dive log we were in the water by 6:45 AM. This was post breakfast & we were also the last group off of the boat.

I’m not going to list members of the dive party here, with the exception of Evan who was finally well enough to return diving after spending a day deep in the trenches of sea sickness, & that is because there is drama. Oo y’all, there is tea! I’m excited to share it. All I will say is there were four of us total & it wasn’t a configuration listed in any of the previous dives sooooo keeping you guessing here. We will refer to the divers involved as Diver A & Diver B. Okay? Okay.

So. We start out the dive pretty standard, with the exception of Diver A making us the last into the water. They slept through the briefing, came down late, & would get half suited up then have to leave because they’d forgotten something or because they had to use the restroom or whatever else. Since they were a solo diver & I was the unofficial impromptu dive guide of the trip, we got to wait around for them… Finally we told them we weren’t waiting any longer, either they get suited up & ready to go or they’re getting left behind. They joined.

In we went & down we went.

Though he were still at Gordon’s we were actually diving a site off the stern referred to as Little Tracy. Lot’s of Little Tracys on the reef it seems. The site was a short swim over to this massive reef where the Sheepshead Parrotfish school. They were one of the first things that we ran into when we hit the reef.

So the dive plan, that Diver A clearly slept through but insisted they hadn’t but whom I was still guilted into taking, was to go around the edge of Little Tracy with it on the right shoulder at around 60-ish feet, hit just above half a tank, turn around & do the reef on our left side at around 30-40 feet. At about the halfway point we ran into our first Whitetip Reef Shark of the day. It quickly dipped when we rolled up. Diver A tried to follow it…by themselves…out into the open ocean. We all rattled & banged tanks til they turn around & back we all went.

Anemone, Clownfish, & Chromis at the Fish Bowl

Remember in the previous paragraph when I said “go around at 60, then come up to about 30-40 & come back?” Yeah, Diver A didn’t join us at that 30-40 range, they stayed down at the 60…

We went back around Little Tracy & since we all still had ample air, instead of cutting back to the boat, I took up back up the slope towards the shallow end of the site. It was there that we FOUND THE FISH BOWL!!! The spot on the site that many of us didn’t think existed because no one had found it the previous day, we found it & the anemone there within! With everyone finally in the 30-ish feet range we started to make our way back to the boat.

Here is where the drama starts kicking off.

On our way back we ran into another Whitetip Reef Shark. This one was about ten feet below us & didn’t seem to mind us as much as the previous one. That was until Diver A took off after it once again, urging one of us to get their picture with it, but the shark couldn’t be bothered & chuckin’ up the deuces, swam off into deeper water…which the diver continued to follow it into.

At this point I had just decided that my consistent insistence for them to come join the rest of our group at the depth we were gradually ascending from was going to go unanswered. We got back to the boat where a drop bar sat in the water at fifteen feet for people to hold onto during their safety stop. The three of us who are not down at 40-50 feet are making any noise we can to get the other diver’s attention who is now just chillin’ a good 25-35 feet below us. We keep giving the signal to ‘come up’ the signal for ‘safety stop’ nothing is happening. I start to worry that Diver A may be experiencing Narcosis at which point & I am preparing to have to initiate a rescue, which could have been avoided if they’d have stayed with the group… It is at this point that Diver A just calls it. They kick up from 40-50 feet all the way to the surface, not a safety stop or a slow ascent in sight. Up & back into the boat they go. We are all stunned.

Diver B wraps their safety stop & goes up. I, as someone guiding & as a master diver, will typically try to be first in & last out just to make sure everyone else got along okay. What I surface to is a screaming match happening between Diver A & Diver B on the aft dive deck with Eduardo, one of the instructors & crew, in the middle trying to mediate & break it up.

Evan had surfaced around the time that Diver B started getting out of the water so he saw the entirety. That was not who I got the story from first.

I first got the story from Diver A when I got back onto the ship. At this point Diver B had gone off to take off gear & I guess Diver A was waiting around for me to have someone to rat them out to. They came up to me, literally as I’m climbing out of the water & start complaining to me about how Diver B has no business telling them what to do, how they think Diver B must be a novice because they don’t know anything about diving (I know Diver B had a much higher cert than A,) how they, Diver A, are an instructor, so they know what you’re doing & talking about (they aren’t), & how I, as the guide & as a master diver should be so upset with Diver B & report them to PADI. They didn't let me get a word in but before I knew it they had stormed off, leaving a trail of gear for everyone else to pick up in their wake.

After I set my gear down I walked over to Diver B, asked if they were okay, got the story from them, then also from Evan, & also from anyone else who was around to see it. This is what they say happened:

-Diver A gets out of the water all pissed, cursing Diver B out, ranting to Eduardo about them.

-Diver B gets out, is immediately verbally assaulted by Diver A who is going on about how incompetent they are, how they know more than Diver B.

-They argue over all of the points I listed above; skipping the briefing, making us wait, not diving safely or sticking to the plan, not ascending slowly, not doing a safety stop at all. Diver B drives home how Diver A’s actions put all of us at risk, endanger not only themselves but the other divers, & talk about how their actions had the potential to damage the reputation or livelihood not only of me but also the dive company at large. All valid points.

That was the last we heard of it other than me talking to Eddie the dive master on board to report the incident & filling in anyone who was around & overheard everything on what happened. Naturally Diver A was not assigned to me for the last dive.

At this point we had shifted away from Gordon’s & had moved on to a site called Coral Gardens. Evan decided following the drama of the previous dive that he was done, he’d had enough, even though he actually greatly enjoyed the morning dive all things considered. So I once again extended myself back to the Finns, Paavo & Aino, who became my dive buddies again. In addition to the duo, Jen extended interest in diving with us. She had just finished out her Stress & Rescue course & was now free to wrap up the rest of her dives as she saw fit, so she became the fourth member of our party.

The dive plan for Coral Gardens was kind of the opposite of the Tennis Court the day prior, the sites were similar in design as well. Instead of descending & diving with the wall on our left we were to do the wall on the right, crest the top, & return to the sand beds to swim around & look at things. All in all I think it may have been the most pleasant dive of the trip. All parties involved were very relaxed & enjoying the dive. The sun even came out about halfway through it!

I think I was much more relaxed too because it allowed me to actually take the time to look for things hidden in the rocks & not worry about what a million people were doing or if we were lost. We saw a number of stunning Maxima Clams, a number of different pufferfish, a Flower Cod, some Blue-spotted Rabbitfish, & even a Semicircled Angelfish fighting with a Damselfish over the Damsel’s eggs. Unfortunately about the point where we returned to the sand beds my Oceanic+ Dive Housing decided to glitch, but it allowed me just to enjoy the dive even further without the pressure of taking content. Coral Gardens was a really solid site with some really competent & enjoyable divers to end the trip on.

The boat had one more dive planned at the same site but I was encroaching on the 18-24 hour ‘no-fly’ time if I went on it so I opted just to end our trip on a higher note & not try to jeopardize that.

The rain also didn’t hold off for long. By the time the last dive had started it was once again pouring sideways which it would do the whole way back right up until about the last hour of our trek.

On our way back we were asked to do a few things, clean up & repack our rooms, wash & repack our gear, & assemble everything on the deck. Lunch was also served during this time. At one point while I was packing up my gear on the dive deck I heard Charlie call from the upper deck about a Dolphin. Sure enough, in the wake of the boat, jumping in & out of the water, was a dolphin! It didn’t stay long, but it was worth standing out in the rain to catch.

We made it back to Cairns around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. From there we departed via passenger van & were taken back to the Dive Shop to settle up any costs we may have accrued along the way, before we all bid each other farewell & were driven to our respective hotels.

Evan & I were staying at the Hilton Cairns, right on off of the marina. Since we paid with points they actually ended up upgrading us to one of the King Executive Suites with a balcony overlooking Trinity Inlet & Grey Peaks National Park. We rewashed out gear once again & hung it out to dry as best we could from our covered balcony using the railing & the furniture to drape over.

For dinner I had found us a restaurant called Ochre that offered a modern spin on Aboriginal foods native to Australia, or as the locals call it, Bush Tucker. Aside from being an incredible name for an Australian Drag Queen, bush tucker consists of the fruits, proteins, nuts, & vegetation native to all the different regions of Australia & Ochre offers a prefix menu that showcases all of them! Which is what Evan & I ordered.

The dinner came with the following: a Wattle Seed Damper with Native Dukka & Olive Oil, the Australian Antipasto Plate with Lemon Aspen & Beetroot Gravlax, Emu Wontons with Davidson Plum, Wild Spice Kangaroo with Rosella Relish, & Smoked Crocodile with Finger Lime. The menu also included Salt & Pepper Leaf Crocodile & Prawns with Vietnamese Pickles & Lemon Aspen Sambal, Char Grilled Kangaroo Sirloin with Sweet Potato Dauphinoise, Bok Choy, Quandong, & Chilli Sauce, & Local Tablelands Beef Tenderloin. We also added an order of Roasted New Potatoes with Duck Fat, Rosemary, & Sea Salt & an order of their Secret Spice Fries with Garlic Mayo. Finally for dessert we were given a Wattleseed Pavlova with Davidson Plum & Macadamia Nut Biscotti & Quandong Sorbet.

I know, I just threw a lot at you. There’s a lot there that I am sure a non-Australia audience has no idea about, which to be fair, neither did we, nor do I fully understand the extent of all we ate. Luckily Ochre offers a companion guide with can be found at the link below!

Bush Tucker Guide

Forward To Back: Beef Tenderloin, Bok Choy, Kangaroo Sirloin

Out of all the things that we ate I think that our favorites were the Spice Kangaroo, the Tenderloin, the Wattle Damper, & the New Potato. I quite liked the smoked Crocodile, but Evan was less inclined towards it. Additionally we both got two cocktails, each of which was exceptional! I got the Tropical Fruits Daiquiri which had about five or six different tropical fruits in it & a frozen Lychee/Gin drink.

I unfortunately missed the most exciting part of dinner while I was in the restroom. I got a text about the time I was washing my hands that said “get back here asap, you’re missing it.” What was I missing? Well, it seems that in my absence the Danish family behind us had begun to order dinner; father, mother, two children under 10. When the parents ordered kangaroo the children proceeded to stand up on their chairs & scream, full volume, at their parents expressing their distain & distaste for the order place. This continued apparently for a minute or so. I missed the entirety of it.

We paid our tab & made our short walk back through the rain to our hotel where it wasn’t long before we were both down for the count & had drifted off to sleep.

End Of Day Eight

Day Nine

We had another early wake up call. Our flight to Adelaide was to leave Cairns at 8 AM, so I think we left our hotel around 6 AM. Which was fine because it allowed us to experience a stellar sunrise! Evan had scheduled us an Uber initially but upon leaving the hotel lobby to stand outside & wait, he realized he’d accidentally booked it for 6 PM. So we frantically searched for another, getting a ride about twenty minutes later. This made us both go into a little bit of a frenzy as we’d run into the stickler-ish nature of the transit authority in Sydney which had almost late for our flight out to Cairns. It turned out to be fine & the Cairns Airport was a breeze.

Evan & I are both neurodivergent, though in different ways & different capacities, however we are both into fragrance. One of the things we’d decided on was the need for unique souvenirs, if we were to get any at all. So we wanted to find a fragrance from the location we visit, if possible, & a bit of dishware to have a mismatch set of plates, bowls, & cups from around the world. We checked off both of those boxes at the duty free stores in the Cairns Airport.

I stumbled upon an Aussie fragrance brand while here in the states called Goldfield & Banks. I actually already had a love for their fragrance Pacific Rock Moss. Fortunately for me the shop in the airport was having an after Christmas sale on the brand & I ended up getting a full 100ml bottle with a free 10ml travel size for around $100 USD, typically $205 USD for just the 100ml. Additionally, since I’d spent a certain amount, I was gifted a 10ml of Bohemian Lime, another excellent fragrance of theirs, & a sample pack which contained Pacific Rock Moss, Bohemian Lime, & Sunset Hour. I made out like a bandit.

On the other side of the store Evan had found a local pottery brand called Pottery For The Planet. They are an Australian/Southeast Asian based company who strived to create dishware that helps to reduce our impact on the planet. Instead of buying them in the shop he ordered a few pieces from their site, that way we’d be safe to travel without the fear of the ceramics breaking. The site lets you pick the origin of your pottery so since we were looking for Australian pieces that’s naturally what we went with! We ended up with two mugs & two travel bowls that came with silicone toppers!

We found ourselves some coffee, grabbed a bite of food, & shortly boarded our flight from Cairns to Adelaide, leaving behind The Great Barrier Reef & the rain it decided to dump on us the whole weekend long.

Day Nine To Be Continued…

END OF PART TWO

Part Three

January 25, 2025

Charlie Rogers

Blog, Travel, Travel Blog

Travel Blog: Australia- Part One: New Year, New Continent

January 25, 2025

Charlie Rogers

Blog, Travel, Travel Blog

PART ONE:

Day One

Maroubra, New South Wales, Australia

Of late I’ve decided I’m going to spare you all the boring details where the flight portion of my trips have been concerned. I hope that is alright with you all. Here’s all I’ll say in that regard. Evan & I departed Nashville on Saturday, December 28th around 4 PM, we had a three hour layover in LAX before departing there at 10:40 PM aboard a Sydney bound American Airlines flight. As per usual, we treated our flight attendants to a care package as a thank you for the time they were about to put in on our behalf. The flight was around fourteen hours & in fact we ended up landing an hour earlier than expected which resulted in us getting to sit on the jetway while we waited for a gate to open up. The local time of our arrival was around 8 AM on Monday December the 30th. After breezing through customs & immigration we met our friends Isabella & Logan & off we went to Bella’s mother’s house in Maroubra where we were to stay for the next two nights.

Before we venture farther I want to tell you a bit on the above mentioned pair & their importance to the story here within, especially in this first part. Isabella is an incredibly talented singer/songwriter who is originally a Sydney native, but now lives in Nashville, where we met. We met through our friend Blake & immediately hit it off. I think it’s because we share a lot of the same interests, but back in the summer when we all went camping, Isabella invited Evan & me to spend Christmas & New Year’s Eve in Sydney at her mother’s. I told her that my own mother would kill me if I didn’t come home for Christmas, but we took her up on transitioning into the new year abroad. Logan, Isabella’s boyfriend & a ludicrously talented fashion designer, came into the picture back at the end of the summer & he too took Bella up on her invitation, only he also ventured over for the Christmas holiday.

Isabella’s mother, Barbara, retired to an apartment on the East Coast of Australia, in a suburb of Sydney called Maroubra. Her two bedroom sits literally across the street from the ocean & the very famous Maroubra pool, Mahon Pool. We dropped our bags at hers before we went off in search of coffee, the local time now being around 9 AM. The plan was to dress for the pool, grab coffee & pastries from down the hill, then go to the pool to swim, sun, & eat.

The spot we ended up was a local Sydney chain called The Grumpy Baker. We each got a couple of pastries from them; I got a Lamington (an Australian dessert made of spongecake that is dusted in cocoa & coconut) & a Seafood Meat Pie (Salmon, whitefish, & prawns in a white wine creams sauce packed in a flaky pasty crust), as well as an Affogato (espresso poured over vanilla gelato). The roaster for TGB is called Single O, & in all honesty, it was the best coffee we found during our time in Sydney! With all of our baked goods & caffeinated beverages secured we walked back up the hill to the pool.

The Australian coast has its fair share of “natural pools,” especially around Sydney. They’re man made structures that are built right into the side of the coast & sit below the waves during high tide being fed & cleared by the ocean. In addition to the concrete incasing, the pools feature built in steps with hand rails & an additional drainage system but still maintain the natural rock work & often the natural flora & fauna as well. They’re honesty lovely. So we sat about in the sun, eating our selected delicacies, sipping our espresso, & catching up, eventually venturing into the cool ocean once the sun got too intense.

After our morning in the salt & sun we made our way back up to the house where Evan & I formally met Barbara. We then sat around in her garden chatting & getting to know one another truly enjoying the 70 degree weather & the company.

Around mid afternoon Isabella proposed a hike. She said we’d take the bus up to Coogee & hike the coastal trail from there to Bondi. Logan had scouted a restaurant for us to dine at once we arrived there & had booked us a reservation, so off we went.

The bus from Maroubra to Coogee was a short one & we instantly found Coogee to be far less ‘sleepy’ a town from neighboring Maroubra, where unlike the casual neighborhood vibe we found Coogee abuzz with tourists & locals enjoying the holiday. We set about the Bondi to Coogee trail, in reverse, weaving up the coast line making our way through the coves, parks, cliff sides, & beaches. The walk was stunningly beautiful & the weather was sheer perfection. All in all it took us between an hour to an hour & a half before eventually we landed at the famous Icebergs of Bondi Beach, another natural seaside rock pool. We had about forty-five minutes until our reservation but, unlike the Maroubra Pool, the Bondi Iceberg is privately owned & has a cover of $10 AUD per person. We opted just to go down to the beach & take a dip.

Spaghetti With Swimmer Crabs & Cuttlefish

Our 5 PM reservation was at an Italian restaurant called Bondi Trattoria. We were greeted by one of the owners who sat us, explained their specials, & got us situated. I ordered a drink called a “Boom Boom” which was a gin/limoncello/prosecco/lemon spritz & Evan & I split an order of Focaccia, ‘Bugs’ in Garlic Butter, Truffled Four Cheese Pizza, & a citrusy Spaghetti with Swimmer Crab & Cuttlefish.

I’m sure for my Americans the term ‘bugs’ was a jarring one to read. Believe you me, I was a touch put off when I saw it listed on the menu. However, bugs are a local crustacean known as al Balmain Bug. It’s like a smaller, flatter lobster. They’re quite good eating!

After dinner we hopped an uber back to Maroubra where we each took turns showering before we settled into the couch to watch a show the three of them had been watching over the holidays called Head. I didn’t make it very far into the episode though before the day in the sunshine & the lack of sleep started to catch up to me & before I ended up falling asleep on the couch I got myself up & took myself to bed.

End Of Day One

Day Two

I’d like to say we slept in, we didn’t. I have this obnoxious thing happen when I’m abroad where I wake up naturally fairly early. Australia seems to have been no exception. We awoke to a bright, shining New Year’s Eve & as was meant to become routine we once again started it off with The Grumpy Baker & a dip in Mahon Pool.

My bevy of choice was once again an affogato, only this time I opted for something smaller to snack on as Barbara had expressed interest in the five of us all going out to brunch at a cafe down in Little Bay where she knew one of the owners.

The restaurant in question is called Piccola Baia. It’s an Italian bakery that sits at the end of a strip a little inland from the beach. As per expected, we were greeted by the owner, who sat us & showed us around the menu & talked their specialties. Most of the group went for full on breakfast spreads but I opted for the Muesli with a Hazelnut Macchiato. Many coffees & conversations later I snuck off to grab the bill, a small thank you for allowing us to stay, & we went about making our plans for the rest of the day.

Barbara opted to not join us for the rest of the afternoon’s escapades so Evan, Logan, & I sat at the restaurant for about twenty minutes while Isabella returned her mother home. We talked life & travel while sipping bitter Chinotto Sodas & Mango Smoothies before Bella returned & we continued on farther south.

Isabella took us down to Botany Bay for a peak at the fort & a potential swim. Botany Bay is where Captain Cook first landed in Australia & is currently the home to the Bare Island Fort as well as a number of stunning beaches & reefs. Isabella bought us all ice cream from one of the trucks parked there & we went down the promenade to peek around the fort, which was closed for the holiday. We followed this up by walking back to the car where we changed into swimwear before making our way down to Congwong Beach.

We didn’t stay at Congwong long, mostly just long enough to dip in the ocean & go poking around the rocks & tide pools for small critters. The beach was stunning though; clear blue water, minimal waves, soft white sands. Stunning.

The plan for the evening was to have a charcuterie dinner complete with Aperol spritzes but for all of that we needed a few things from the shops. That’s where the mall comes in.

Once again, for my American audience, that last sentence may seem a bit confusing. I didn’t realize that is where we were headed until we got there, but before groceries we had to make a throwback of a stop at Kmart.

Yes. Kmart. No, not the same Kmart as is in the US, but also not not the same. I would say this Kmart situation was about halfway between a Walmart & an American Target, because yes, there is Australian Target, & no it is not the same…it was bought & is not operated by…kmart.

Side bar. This will come up a lot in this blog series. This ‘x’ thing exists, just like in the states, except ‘x’ thing is entirely different here. There’s also the inverse where you have something like Burger King in the US which is Hungry Jack’s in Australia. Same restaurant, different name. There are even brands that are the same item with different names or items with the same name but an entirely different product there within. It’s like being in an alternate universe where the seasons are switched, the healthcare is universal, & a lot of the animals can kill you.

Back to Kmart.

Bella had a few things she wanted to pick up there but we had all decided that we wanted to get this matching pair of pajama pants that Logan had bought a few days prior for hanging around the house in the evening with. Did I mention the Kmart was in the mall? I may have said it but glazed over the specifics. From Kmart we then went to the chemist for sunscreen, Aldi for cheese & other charcuterie offerings, & the liquor store for Prosecco & Aperol, all of which were within the mall. Yes, the mall also had your clothing stores, your shoe stores, your what have you, but it also had a full on grocer, liquor store, smoke shop, etc, etc, etc. Truly an all-in-one experience. With all of the bags secured we headed back to Maroubra to prepare for the evening’s festivities.

I suppose it’s worth noting, as I’ve had people ask, why we didn’t do Sydney Harbour for New Year’s Eve. Well it was proposed, but the options surrounding it were basically camp out all day to try & get a good view of the bridge & the fireworks, pay around $500 a person to get into somewhere with a good view, or have a lowkey ringing in of the new year & watch the fireworks down the coast from Maroubra. We all opted for the latter.

We all got into our matching pjs & Bella & Logan made the boards & the spritzes. We all enjoyed them in the garden, conversing & watching the people gather in the park in preparation for the 9 PM fireworks they did for the kids. It wasn’t too far into the evening that Isabella’s friend Barbara (not to be confused with her mother) joined us. A lovely, beaming light of a human, we got to know Barbara & hear of her many adventures before darkness fell & we wandered down into the park with the rest of the folks to watch the festivities unfold.

From Mistral Point, the park at the top of Maroubra, you can see all the way down the coast to Bondi. Coogee, which is about halfway between the two, does their fireworks at 9 PM so that people can get their children off to bed. It apparently used to be that Bondi would also do theirs then & you would get two shows for one simply by being at Mistral Point, we only saw Coogee’s.

Following the fireworks we went back to Barbara’s & continued to lounge, eat, drink, & enjoy each other’s company.

About an hour later we were joined by another friend of Isabella’s who had just come from a singing engagement in the city. Felicity, she told us stories of her singing gig mishaps & we all continued along laughing, eating, & drinking until Midnight rolled around.

We weren’t really sure if anyone along the beach was planning to do a midnight launch of fireworks, but we went back out to the point anyway. We were pleasantly surprised when we were able to see almost the entirety of Sydney Harbour’s show sans the bridge bit, just from where we were sat! There were an additional two or three shows going on as well but none of us could decide where they were based out of.

With the second set of fireworks finished out we went back to the apartment once again where we packed up the board, finished off our drinks, wished each other a happy new year, & drifted off to sleep.

End Of Day Two

Day Three

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2025!

We DID actually sleep in on the morning of the first of January 2025, all of us. I think until at least around noon. We all groggily emerged from our respective sleeping chambers & stations & began the day as the newly minted ritual insisted, with The Grumpy Baker & a dip in Mahon Pool, finding a rather large Huntsman Spider hunkered in the gutter along the way.

Evan & I were set to depart Maroubra on this day so after about thirty minutes to an hour at the pool we returned to the house, showered, cleaned up, repacked, & assembled all of our belongings in preparation for our turn in downtown Sydney.

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

It was fairly late in the afternoon when we made our way into Sydney proper. Isabella had offered to give us a ride in to our hotel so that we didn’t have to take an Uber. She also gave us a bit of a tour of the different districts as we drove through.

Our hotel, Aiden by Best Western Darling Harbour, was, as the name suggests located in Darling Harbour. I had found it while looking for post NYE accommodations in the city through a TikTok where an influencer had stayed there. Taking advantage of the exchange rate Ev & I booked the King “Influencer” Suite for what equated to us to be about $200 a night.

Bed with Custom Mural at Aiden Darling Harbour

The hotel was charming, featuring a bar & restaurant as you walk in & filtered still & sparkling water on tap on each floor.

We were given the corner room on the 6th floor. It had a wrap around balcony with views of the harbour & surrounding city & a number of darling (get it?) details including a hand painted mural by the bed, a seating nook, a ‘mud room’-esque entrance, an espresso machine, & amazingly, a fully enclosed shower!

This is where I go on a bit of a rant.

This one goes out to The UK, Australia, & Europe. Y’all. What is up with the half glass showers?! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, all over The UK, Australia, & Europe you will find a shower with a sheet of glass that only covers about two-three feet & then the rest of the shower is entirely open to the bathroom. So, no matter how hard you try, you end up getting water everywhere, all over the bathroom. It’s not like there’s a pane of glass, then a curtain, no. It’s just this sliver of glass right where the shower head falls & that’s it. Yes, there’s usually a drain in the middle of the bathroom floor as well. Yes, there’s sometimes a tub that accompanies this, but why is this the standard?! Just enclose your showers. You don’t even have to use a full pane of glass, just add a curtain.

-End of Rant-

Addendum: I’m sure Evan will want me to add in the fact that upon arriving at our room the couple in the room next to us was very clearly… *clears throat “engaged” in certain activities…very loudly. Like we’re talking loud enough that we could hear them from the balcony clear on the other side of the room from the shared wall. Other than that, we never heard a peep from our fellow hotel goers the remainder of our stay.

Isabella & Logan are not out of this story yet, btw. In fact the plan was for them to drop us off, allow us to get checked in & drop our bags in the room, then head over to the main part of the city for dinner. So that’s exactly what we did.

I had found a place in the city called King Clarence, a contemporary Asian fusion restaurant. We arrived right around the time that they opened & without having a reservation they told us that they were able to seat us for about an hour & some change but that was about it.

I don’t want to break off in another rant here, but I feel I must. Something I noticed about Australia is that restaurants & bars are not afraid to rush you the hell out of the door. They come around grabbing plates & empty cups as soon as they look even the slightest bit empty, to the point where I often had to stop the waiter & say “sorry, still working on that.” This is not an exclusively King Clarence issue, in fact I understand their rush, they told us we had limited time, but this is a phenomenon I noticed all over the island to the point where I often perceived it to be a little rude. Anyway, back to dinner.

At King Clarence they offer something that I found common amongst a lot of Aussie restaurants as well, where you can basically order an ‘I trust you’ for a set price per person & they bring you basically a prefix menu of their choosing. Kind of enjoyed that…even though that’s not what we ordered anywhere…

At King Clarence Evan & I ordered Fish Finger Bao with Mustard Greens, American Cheese, Pickled Chili, & Salmon Caviar, Duck Tsukune with Water Chestnuts, Hoisin Tare, Shokupan, & Onsen Tomago, Mapo Tofu with Red King Prawns, Smoked Marrow, & Baby Corn, & then the four of us split an order of the Rangers Valley Wagyu MB5 with Chickpea Miso, Horseradish Oroshi, & Sweet Soy, the Wood Roasted Pork Belly Ssam with Leaves, Pickles, & Condiments (think lettuce wraps), Wok Fried Greens with Strange Flavour, Typhoon Shelter, & Szechuan Peppers, & the Short Grain Claypot Rice with Char Siu Pork Jowl, Garlic Chive, & Egg Yolk. Additionally I got a bomb cocktail, though now I can’t recall the name or anything about it. My bad.

I think all in all our favorite things that we ordered were the Duck Tsukune, the Wagyu, & the Claypot Rice!

At dinner Logan informed us that he had surprised Bella with tickets to Nosferatu in the city & their showing was around 8:15 if we wanted to join. We opted in & made our way back across Darling Harbour to change into comfier clothes & hop in the parked car to head to the movie.

On our way to the Palace Norton St Cinema, the theater Isabella & her father used to go to, we passed their old home. Located off of Glebe Street, the townhome had a charming New Orleans-esque style to it. The area itself perpetuating that feeling.

We got to the theater fairly early, fortunately it had a bar & snack stand open. The theater is known for their “Choc Tops” an ice cream cone of varying flavors dipped in chocolate. I got a Macadamia Nut & Caramel one & woof, it was fire. In addition I got an Alcoholic Ginger Beer, something we must do more of in the states, & a bag of their famous Olive Oil Popcorn!

I deeply enjoyed Nosferatu…as an art piece. I don’t think that it’s a film I would see again, or seek out to see again, but I did still find it incredibly enjoyable & macabre. Most of the reactions of the people coming out of the theater were along the lines of “WTF did I just watch?!” Which I think is fair. Roberts Eggers (the director) is not for everyone I suppose.

With the day’s events wrapped & more than enough food to carry us into the night, Isabella took Evan & I back to our hotel & off we went our separate ways, capping off a truly wonderful New Year’s Day!

End Of Day Three

Day Four

Back in Nashville, & frequently in LA, Evan & I attend Barry’s Bootcamp classes. Barry’s is an international fitness brand that utilizes fifty minute HIIT classes, alternating rounds between lifting/HIIT & use of a treadmill or bike. You also have the option to “double floor” if cardio isn’t your vibe for whatever reason. Australia is home to several Barry’s locations, the majority of which are located in Sydney. We decided to make our way to one of these locations. The Barry’s we found our way to was located in Surry Hills.

Making our way from Darling Harbour to Surry Hills we made a pass through Thai Town. While in Thai Town we stopped at a coffee shop that I had found previously called Kingswood Coffee, where I got an Iced Hazelnut Latte.

Kingswood Recyclable Glass Iced Coffee Jar

Australia is famous for their coffee, truly. They revolutionized the industry a few years ago & since then they have been a hot spot for quality coffee the world over, so there is no shortness of incredible coffee to be found.

Kingswood is located on the outer edge of the World Center in Thai Town. Hidden amongst the collection of mostly restaurants with a few shops dotted throughout, Kingswood does something that drives me, as a consumer, nuts. They don’t have a menu, you just order what you want & hope they can make it. They do however give you your iced coffee in a reusable/recyclable glass jar which they instruct you to either wash & reuse yourself, or chuck it into the numerous recycling bin that dot the Sydney streets. I liked that aspect of it.

We got to Barry’s pretty early, but that allowed us to do a bit of shopping. I have Barry’s merch from all over the world; Singapore, London, LA, Nashville, etc, so I was excited to get some from Australia! I ended up getting a yellow “Barry’s Australia” Dry Fit Shirt & a hella comfortable, sky blue, “Barry’s Sydney” pullover.

After our class we had a little bit of time to burn. I had wanted to see about getting another pair of running shoes, the ones I came to Australia with had the rubber layer of the soles coming off. So we went up to Westfield Sydney, a mall at the center of the downtown area.

Initially we found Sydney to be a little sleepy as well, we were wondering, as we walked to Barry’s why all of the streets were so dead despite being in the city & where all of the people where. We found them, they were all at the mall.

I didn’t end up finding any shoes at the mall, but we did end up in Aesop. I needed some sunscreen & a post sun product as well as Evan needing a few things & the conversion rate, along with Aesop being an Australian brand, made it hard to pass up. Our sales associate there, Victoria, went above & beyond & even gave us a list of coffee shops, bars, & restaurants in Sydney to check out. The first of those was Edition Roasters, a Matcha/Coffee bar around the corner.

I didn’t necessarily want another coffee so I went with their signature Iced Matcha. It was heavenly, truly may have been one of the best matcha lattes I’ve ever had in my life.

We had an afternoon date set with Isabella & Logan at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. So we walked back to the hotel to change & freshen up before the museum.

We met the two of them on the steps of the museum after our Uber dropped us off. The Art Gallery is two separate buildings set in the middle of a park called The Domain. We only did the southern building on this day.

We walked around the gallery a bit with Bella & Logan, drifting in & out of the exhibit halls, before we nestled into the cafe for the duo to get a coffee. We sat there & chatted for a bit before making our way to the Aboriginal art section & then lastly venturing into the gift shop where Evan bought a few postcard sized prints to take home of pieces that we had seen around the gallery.

Here is where we, & our tales, say goodbye to Isabella & Logan. they had been our hosts & companions for the four days prior but it was time for the four of us to go our separate ways. Isabella & Logan had plans to go with her mother up to an Onsen in The Blue Mountains & we were departing the next day from Sydney to go up to Cairns (see part two for that). We hugged them both, exchanged wishes of great times & fortune, & off we went.

Ginger Blossoms in the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens

Isabella had suggested to us that we walk north from the gallery through the Royal Botanic Gardens & from there make our way up to the Sydney Opera House, just so we could say we’d seen it & the Harbour Bridge. Being a massive lover of botanics, you didn’t have to tell me twice.

Giant Fig Tree in the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens

Before making our way through the Botanic Gardens, we stopped at one of the stalls for a snack. Evan had become a bit hangry, so we split a sandwich, planning to have dinner on the early side.

The gardens were stunning! There was a whole section of all different kinds of Ginger, each blooming their own unique style & variations of the waxy, honeycomb like flowers they put out. There were tons of varietals of Bird-of-Paradise, a shaded Fern garden, & some of the largest Fig trees I have ever seen in my life. Some of the trees had to be hundreds of years old & were spread out in all directions in just as many feet. They were mesmerizing!

At the top of the Botanic Gardens sits the Sydney Opera House. What kind of ends up happening is that you’re walking along, walking along, looking at the trees, looking out into the harbour, then BAM! Opera House. They still had the barricades up from NYE & the parts of the Botanic Gardens that over look the are still had the remnants of what were clearly food & drink stands with white covered tents.

We didn’t go inside the Opera House at all, in fact we kind of skirted the edges. There weren’t too many people about but neither he or I really had a great deal of interest in being overly ‘touristy.’ We’d seen the thing that you’re meant to see while you’re there, we’d seen the thing we’d seen a million & a half pictures & references to & I think that was enough. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful building, it’s just that neither of us needed that full on selfied photoshoot in front of it.

From just up the road from the Opera House we grabbed an uber back to our hotel. We had gotten the recommendation to go to a restaurant called Ante from Isabella, Victoria, the internet, TikTok, etc. So we said “enough” & made it a priority.

Ante brands themselves as a “sake & sounds” bar & to their credit, that is almost exactly what they are. Located in Newtown, Ante offers sake, yes, but also a wide range of incredible Japanese inspired dishes, all set to the backdrop of a moody space that still has a vintage flare thanks to the vinyl racks & the duel turn tables that line the bar.

We got there just before their opening at 5 PM. Ante, does not take reservations & for all intents & purposes, they seem very popular, as the line of people outside the door prior to opening would insinuate & certify.

I really have got to start writing down my cocktails because Evan & I both had two incredible ones. For dinner we ordered a bit of the menu. We got the AP Bakery Sesame + Fenugreek Bread with Kasu Cultured Butter, the Plate of Pickles (mostly Carrots & Beets), the Fried Potato Mochi with Everything Bagel Sprinkles, the Torched Bonito with Calamansi, Makrut, & Urfa Pepper, the Grilled Baby Corn with Nori Butter (I’m a sucker for baby corn), the Beef Tongue Katsu Sandwich with Cabbage & Curry Mustard, the Tagliatelle with Fermented Shiitake Mushrooms, the Casarecce with Prawns, Kanzuri, & Clementine, & the Moonacres Lettuce with Burnt Honey. I told you, we ordered the menu. Additionally, lol, we also had the Panna Cotta with Black Splendor Plum & the Warm Madelaines with Yuzu Curd for dessert. Or.Dered.The.Menu.

Our favorite things, of the many we ordered, were the Bonito, the Baby Corn, the Beef Tongue, & the Casarecce, though none of the items listed about where anywhere short of entirely delicious. I preferred the Panna Cotta dessert, while Evan preferred the Madelaines.

After our amazing dinner it was time for more drinks. I do think we ended up spending about two & a half hours at Ante, so by the time we left, it was starting to get dark out.

Our next stop was Cantina OK!

I am a frequent follower of food & drink lists. I love me a good accolade, James Beard, Top 50, Michelin, etc., though the hidden gems are also not to be out done. Cantina OK! is one such place that I found through their accolades as they are currently rated the 41st best bar in the world. Yes, you read that correctly, the 41st. best bar. in the world.

Cantina OK! is a literal hole in the wall. I am not hyperbolizing here, it is probably a five foot by twelve foot (if that) space located in an alley. There’s a single bar, no chairs or stools, & standing room for I would say around 15-ish guests at a time. Cantina OK! is a mezcal bar. They are a group of tequila fanatics that fly to Mexico every year, going around to tequila distillers, trying & buying product. The bar menu has six items total, not counting their extensive top shelf tequila selection. Those cocktails include two constants; the Margarita OK! (regular margarita) & the Spicy OK! (Spicy Marg), three seasonal drinks currently themed around the zoo; the Argo OK! (Tequila, Crocodile Pechuga, Pine, Apple, Pineapple), the Jumbo OK! (Tequila, Peanut Sorbet, Palm Sugar, Lime Leaf, Salsa Matcha), & the Bongo Ok! (Mezcal, Montenegro, Umeshu, Whites, Watermelon). The last menu item changes week to week, this time it was the Christmas Special (Tequila, Mezcal, Lime, Fresh Cherries, Orange Oil.)

We initially had to wait in line for a spot to open up, but it truly didn’t take longer than about five-ish minutes. Ev & I worked our way through the menu. We started out basic with the Marg. Truly might be the best margarita I’ve ever had. They finish off the drink by pouring it over a bed of shaved ice that they manually shave. After that Evan got the Spicy, I got the Argo. Then I pulled ahead by ordering a tasting of Fortaleza Añejo neat (if you know, you know). Then we closed out the night with Evan ordering the special & me getting the Jumbo. Truly not a bad drink in the bunch & the staff were super friendly & knowledgeable!

End Of Day Four

Day Five

The next day it was a struggle to get Evan up & out of bed. I asked him around an hour ago & a half prior to the scheduled time if he wanted to go do Barry’s again. He had grumbled me off & told me no. An hour later that tune changed. So we scrambled to get dressed & went down to the corner market to get a quick snack so that we would at least have something in our stomachs to work out on.

We ended up at the locale in the downtown part of the city, Martin Place. The class was once again death but the lack of food & heavy amount of drink from the night before made it even more so.

After death by trainer we ended up wanting coffee. I had pointed out Gumption the day prior while we were in The Strand Arcade, as it was one of the coffee shops on my list. Since it was only about a ten minute walk from us & was on the way back to our hotel we made it our heading. At Gumption we got Chinotto Espresso Tonics, which were bomb AF, & continued about our morning.

We had asked for a late checkout from Aiden, but there was still a lot of time between noon & our flight at 3-ish, so we went back to the hotel, packed up, asked the desk to hold our bags (which they lovingly did), & went in search of food.

Earlier when Evan had decided we weren’t working out I had started looking for Brunch spots. I had actually stumbled upon one just down the street from our hotel called the Quick Brown Fox.

The Quick Brown Fox is located in a sandstone corner cottage from the 1840s. It’s a breakfast/lunch spot that is apparently famous for their XO Congee, which is exactly what I got & let me tell you, it lived up to the hype! Ev got a burger & we both ordered non-alcoholic spritzes & we sat in the gorgeous afternoon sun & passed away the minutes until it was time to return for our bags & head off to the airport destined for Cairns.

Day Five To Be Continued…

END OF PART ONE

Part Two