Postcard: Australia

"The Outback"

One of my favorite travel locations of all time is Australia. Perhaps because this was our engagement celebration trip or because I had dreamed of visiting Australia since I was a young girl or because I had meticulously crafted every detail of our itinerary. I don't know what it was exactly, but I have fond, vivid memories of this trip.

My five musts - (1) Eat at the best restaurants in Sydney, (2) Snorkel/dive in Cairns, (3) Hike early AM in Uluru, (4) Admire the beautiful architecture of the Sydney Opera House, and (5) Visit the Melbourne Zoo.

Here's a glance at our day-by-day itinerary when we went in 2007. We flew with the Quantas Air Pass and booked hotels through Expedia.

NOV 20, Day 1: Arrive in Sydney @9:15 AM
Hotel: Amora Hotel Jamison Sydney - mid-priced, walkable to the wharf.
We took the ferry from Circular Quay to Manly Beach and had a beautiful view of the Sydney Harbour. I had horrible seasickness and wasn't able to eat lunch, so we took a cab back to Sydney.
Lunch: Whitewater.
Dinner: 8PM, Rockpool (awesome, rated one of the best in the world)

NOV 21 -22, Day 2/3: Sydney
Day 2: Visit the famed Bondi Beach.
Lunch: 1PM, Bondi Iceberg (stunning bar on southern end of Bondi Beach at end of the cliff walk, great for a cocktail and lunch)
Dinner: We were on the waitlist for Tetsuyas (best restaurant in Australia, need to book a long way in advance), but we overslept our reservation due to terrible jetlag. We went to Est instead, which served Mod-Oz cuisine and was excellent.
Bar close to hotel - Hemmesphere - very trendy and good drinks


Day 3: Take an early morning Harbour Bridge walk. (We didn't do the Bridge climb, though).
Brunch: harbourkitchen at Park Hyatt Sydney - very good
Good sites - Sydney Opera House tour, Royal Botanic Gardens, Queen Victoria Bldg. We attempted three times to go up the Sydney Tower, but there was fog all day. We did go to the Sydney Fish Market, but this was not a must see although we tasted Barramundi fish for the first time here and have since become addicted.
Drinks: Marble Bar in the Sydney Hilton Hotel. Excellent dirty martini.
Dinner: 8PM, Aria. The food was delicious and we had a view of the American Idol Australia finale. It was set up near the Opera House and quite a spectacle.


NOV 23, Day 4: Cairns, Arrive @11:25 AM

Hotel: Pacific Intl Hotel – Cairns (Esplanade and Spence St) - good location to walk to fleet terminal.
Not much to see in the city, but there's a massive saltwater crocodile at the Cairns Rainforest Dome, atop the Hotel Sofitel Reef Casino.
lunch: Magostin's. We loved it and went back 3 times.

NOV 24, Day 5: Day trip to the Reef
Day trips to the Great Barrier Reef leave from the Reef Fleet Terminal. We used Down Under Dive and snorkeled although they offered diving, too.


NOV 25, Day 6: Daintree Rainforest
Head to the World Heritage-listed Daintree rainforest, 2 hours drive north of Cairns using one of the many tour operators. We went with used Billy Tea's Safari Bus Tour and an hour into the trip our bus was stopped because it did not have up-to-date licensure. We then waited an hour for a new bus to pick us up. What luck! The tour guide and driver were still great and offered a very thourough knowledge of the flora and fauna. You get to feed kangaroos at one of the stops and lunch consisted of a picnic spread of tasty indigenous fruits. We went croc hunting on a river cruise.


NOV 26-27, Day 7/8: Alice Springs, Arrive @12:25 PM
Hotel: Aurora Alice Springs (11 leichardt Tce). Good location.
Attractions: Alice Springs Desert Park, the School of the Air, and the Royal Flying Doctor Service base. Visit the Alice Springs Telegraph Station historical reserve.
A lot of people skip Alice Springs and just go to Uluru. It's a dead town with no nightlife, but we bought our Aboriginal art here. And I enjoyed learning about the RFD Service. We also went to a Didgeridoo concert at night. After learning to play, my husband almost bought one of the instruments, but thought better of it.


NOV 28, Day 9: Uluru, Arrive @2:40PM
Hotel: The Lost Camel (Yulara Drive)
Take the shuttle from Ayers Rock Resort to the Rock to watch sunset over Uluru. We went to the Sounds of Silence dinner. Dinner's not great but sunset is beautiful and the Didgeridoo player added to the atmosphere.


NOV 29, Day 10: Exploring Uluru
Get up at 4AM to watch sunrise at Uluru and do the 6-mile Base Walk around Uluru, which takes 2 to 3 hours. It is exhausting and hot and the flies are extraordinarily annoying. Bring industrial strength bug spray or buy a face netting or both!


In the afternoon, we went to Kata Tjuta (also called The Olgas), about 30 miles west of Uluru.

NOV 30, Day 11: Arrive Melbourne @3:20PM
We arose at 4AM again the next day for a sunrise camel ride. All tours were booked through the Ayers Rock Resort.

Following the camel ride, we flew out to Melbourne for the last leg of our trip.
Hotel: Melbourne Marriott Hotel (marriott points), Exhibition & Lonsdale Streets
We visited the Federation Square and Queen Victoria Market.

DEC 1, Day 12: Day in Melbourne
Melbourne Zoo.
DEC 2, Day 13: Melbourne to Los Angeles, leave @12:40PM

From Brown to Green

Omnipresent recycling bins at Brown University

"No. Brown - the college."
I became an environmentalist in college. It wasn't difficult as Brown is slightly militant about the environment and may as well have been called Green University. And Rhode Island was a leader in state recycling regulation. However, environmentalism was not the trendy thing to do circa 1992. The majority of people did not recycle (without a money incentive) or conserve resources and many of those scoffed at the "earthy-crunchy" people who did.

Before first year began, we were introduced to the university via a series of outreaches. Recycling was one of those workshops, in addition to those on sex, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, international awareness and countless others. Brown is a politically charged environment. But, the Recycling outreach was a funny one...in the sense that we made fun of it. Well, we made fun of all the workshops, but Recycling would live in infamy. A very serious workshop leader explained to us the nuances of recycling. Most of what I knew was that I could collect 5 cents for every aluminum can and plastic or glass soda bottle that I brought back to the grocery store and I should toss used paper into the blue plastic bins at the law firm where I worked my senior year of high school. That was a naive understanding. Aluminum cans and plastic containers must be separated from bottles. Newspapers are separated from magazines and glossy inserts from the Sunday paper. And, let's not forget, mixed office paper. The outreach leader kept repeating this phrase so quickly that it seemed like one word. My roommate and I posted the Word of the Day (or WOTD) on our dorm room door and "MixtOfficePaper" would become one of those words.

But, that outreach was just the beginning of our learning. There were large recycling bins on every floor of every dorm, as well as, throughout the campus walk. At every napkin dispenser at the main dining halls were signs posted that said "Take only 1 or 2 napkins, please!!," with 1or 2 underlined several times. To this day, I cringe when I see people grab a handful of napkins. I can only take one...or two. The various snack bars sold reusable mugs designed by students that we could bring back for soda and drink refills at a discount. Of course, we would use our leftover dining credit to buy several mugs per semester and thus defeat the purpose of this, but we did take notice of the effort.

In my everyday life, I slowly and knowingly transformed into a environmentally conscientious being. I am very thankful for that.

View of Downtown San Francisco

"San Francisco is the new Brown"
I dutifully conserved energy and recycled at the office and at home after I learned to be an environmentalist at Brown. But, it wasn't until I lived in San Francisco from 1997-2001 that I appreciated the importance of being more environmentally aware of the world and our bodies.

San Francisco was like Brown except the real world. The Bay Area had always been at the forefront of the green movement - people shopped at Whole Foods (dubbed "Whole Paycheck" because of the premium prices), ate alfalfa sprouts for meals, slathered on Burt's Bees products, and worked 9-5 so that they could be outdoors every minute possible. Many of the hotspots in SF were eco-friendly, which made it easier to adapt to such a lifestyle.

When I lived there, I ate less meat, bought organic foods once in a while, used organic skincare products here and there, and tried to get into hiking/kayaking/fishing/sailing. Notice that I was half-hearted about everything, though. Eating less meat meant I ate more pasta, organic products were so expensive that I never converted completely, and outdoorsy activities weren't exactly my passion. But, like at Brown, I gained a new mindset and greater appreciation for a natural way of living.

Postcard: Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard

We went on our first family vacation to Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard during the week of the July 4th holiday. Then, I spent the two weeks post-vacation recovering from my exhaustion. Spending hours driving with an almost 5 month old was horrible. My son hates being cooped up in a car and he hates sitting in a car seat even more. Mere words cannot convey the horror of listening to your child screaming in a tiny, cramped car (Although National claims our Chevy Malibu is "full-size," that's not the case when you cram your Bugaboo stroller into the front seat).

My son did, however, adjust well to the many stops we made along the way to break up the drive. I am extremely happy that he enjoys meeting new people. We left Manhattan around 10 AM on June 27th and stopped first in CT an hour and a half away to visit friends. We arrived in the nick of time, as he was just about to lose it. He was able to eat, nap, play with my friend's two kids, and eat again before leaving. My friend's son is 9 days younger than my son and they had a blast looking at each other and laughing. The photos of them together are priceless. Next, we had the longest stretch of the trip (3 hours!) to just outside of Boston where we stayed overnight at my cousin's. This was a nightmare drive until he fell asleep for about 40 minutes. Once again, he was just about to lose it when we arrived at our destination. My cousin has two kids and a house full of baby gear, which made our night so easy. After three delicious home cooked meals here, we left on the hour and a half drive to Chatham. After a week on the Cape, we traveled two hours to Providence on July 3rd to visit friends and my alma mater before driving two more hours to our CT. We visited my husband's alma mater in New Haven the next day before driving another two hours NJ to visit my parents in the afternoon and spend the night at the house of my husband's Uncle and family in Princeton. We returned to my parents the next day and on our return to Manhattan, we stopped at my brother's in NJ. To recap the whole trip, that was four family visits, two friends visits, two college visits, two rest area stops, and two vacation spots. I am impressed at my son's flexibility and adaptability. I think he was disoriented by waking up in so many different locations.

Ahh, on to the vacation...

Chatham is a quaint New England town that lies in the elbow of the Cape and is a popular summer resort town. English settlers named the town after Chatham, England. "Quaint" is the word to describe a sort of trip back in time, I believe. It is the euphemism to describe why our hotel room had such an old feel to it. Quaint means "back to basics" or "lacking modern touches." That said, the Chatham Bars Inn was a lovely place to stay and I highly recommend the location and its restaurants. It is considered one of the nicest hotels on the Cape and this was where my husband's medical conference was held. I learned later that one of my high school friends whom I've reconnected with on Facebook was married here. Mostly we were hotel bound because (1) it was a rainy and foggy week and (2) there's not much else to see in Chatham. The hotel had a private beach and pool and was a 15 minute walk to Main Street, which is were all of the "quaint" shops and stores were.

We wandered to the hotel's beach the first day where we played Frisbee in front of the little one. The second day, we took him for his first swim. Thankfully, his bath time has taught him to love water and he took the pool quite easily. Aside from room service, my husband and I were only able to enjoy one meal together in the restaurants as one of us always had to take the little one for a stroll while the other ate. The little guy gets bored sitting in one place. He fell asleep during our last breakfast there and finally my husband and I ate together albeit without speaking a word for fear of awaking him up.

Little boo-boo's first swim.

In the middle of the week, we went to Martha's Vineyard for a quick visit. During our ferry ride, I learned that the land was first settled by the Wampanoag tribe. The island's name came from English explorer Bartholomew Gosnald who named it for his daughter and because the land was covered by wild grapes. We spent a night at the Harbor View Hotel & Resort, which was situated across from the Edgartown Lighthouse. While here, we had a great meal of oysters, lobster and clam chowder at the Seafood Shanty. We, also, shopped at one of the famed Black Dog stores and picked up the t-shirts I saw so much of during my high school years.
The easternmost town, Edgartown, is considered the nicest one to visit. Our shuttle driver told us was that Jaws was filmed here although Steven Spielberg called the town Amity in the movie. Apparently, this was an ideal place for filming because the waters are shallow and the film crew was able to stand knee-deep in the water to film many of the shots. Many landmarks and buildings in Edgartown that were filmed in the movie can still be seen today.

Summer residents enjoy a simple kind of life. Beautiful flowers, including these purple and blue tinted ones cover people's yards.

Happy 4th of July New England style. Houses have a distinct Victorian style on the Vineyard.

Milestone: 5 Months

Everything your child does is a milestone as a first time mom and I don't want to forget any of the monumental stages of development that my son is undergoing. While we were on vacation in Cape Cod, my son reached the 5 month mark and this is a good point for me to start recording what is happening in his life. When I think about it, I should have started sooner because there is so much to detail. I'd hate to look back when my son (hopefully) has kids and not remember anything.

• He loves people. He will go to anyone and enjoys studying people's faces. The other day he was on the brink of a breakdown because he doesn't like sitting in the stroller and not being able to look around. I took him out just as we entered the park and he went silent because he was excited to see the people everywhere. Even if his diaper is wet, he will not make a peep while we are outside because he is busy people watching.

• Since he turned one month, I've been giving him an oil massage every day before bath time. I think this has helped his legs grow strong and helped with his umbilical hernia. He enjoys his bath routine. If he's crying and I start his massage, he gets quiet immediately and then gets excited when I pick him up to carry him to the bathtub.

• He has the cutest little laugh. He started laughing - a true laugh, not the squeal he's had for the last few months - the week before we left for vacation. It's such a great joy figuring out new ways to make him laugh. The Superman hold works, as well as, games of peek-a-boo. It cracks him up when I look away from him, then turn back around and act shocked that he's there.

• He flipped over from his back to the stomach at 5 weeks and then took another few weeks before he did it again and consistently. It's adorable to watch him clasp his hands and throw his legs to one side to gain the momentum to flip over. It took a week or so for him to learn to pull out the left arm from underneath his body. At first, he always went to his left side so I when I needed to block him, I would put a soft toy to his left. At this point, he flips over every single time we place him on his back and he'll go in either direction. While we were on vacation, he learned to flip from back to front to the back again. This has become an adventure.

• He is crawling, mostly by propelling himself with his legs. This began at about 4 months, 2 weeks. He has very strong legs and uses them to power his way across the bed. He's now learning to swing his arms to help him move but has not completely put it all together. Now, I must watch him constantly because he immediately flips around and is on the move. There is a point where he falls from his knees into an almost sitting up position. He's trying to sit up andthat may be the next thing he does.
  

• He has been extremely verbal from the start. I think this is because my mom talks to him all day long. He squeals, babbles, talks to animal decals on his wall, chats on the phone with his grandfather, etc. Of course, there is also the spontaneous screaming for no reason that started at the 4 month mark. That was no so nice but has now subsided.

• He had started playing with his toes and he got his toes into his mouth while we were on the Cape. That is a site to see.

• He is a ridiculously light sleeper. He hears every little noise and has not been a good napper because of this. We're slowly training him to take good afternoon naps in his cribs and just this week we had noise reduction windows installed to cut out the loud street noise. We're happy if he makes it an hour. Sometimes, he wakes up crying and in great distress. I think he has bad dreams or hears a noise that disturbs his slumber. He sleeps okay at night though he still wakes up to eat a a couple of times. He will have one 4-5 hour stretch and then a 3 hour stretch. Sometimes he wakes up at 6AM and stays awake, which is rough. We're trying to get him on a 7AM schedule. At night, we'd like him to fall asleep between 7-7:30PM, but he's more toward 8:30PM for now.

• At 4 and a half months, I introduced him to water in a sippy cup. My mom has gotten him to drink out of a glass and a spoon, too. He grips the cup (or glass or bottle) with both hands and pulls toward his mouth when he wants to drink and pushes away when he's had enough. The week after vacation, I started him on rice cereal mixed with breast milk.
  

• This week he's begun using his hands more and reaches out with an open hand toward my face. He likes to feel my face and grab my mouth as I'm talking. This is adorable.

There are so many more things now that I think about it. I should be keeping track more regularly.