The Great Ocean Walk - Day 6 (April 13 and 14, 2013) - The End

On the last morning we were both spent after having had a terrible sleep and being pretty stiff and sore.  When we woke up it was raining a bit, so we just decided to pack up early, have some breakfast, and get on our way.  We were hiking by 8am because we wanted to finish as early as possible. 

We decided not to follow the trail and instead we took an old road inland.  We thought it might be a little less hilly since it wasn't along the cliff, and we thought it would be a smoother walk.  It probably was, but it was still sandy and pretty rough - I wouldn't have wanted to be driving on it, that's for sure!  Despite Ryan's knee, he motored along and basically dragged me along.  He was definitely a man on a mission.

We saw a few swamp wallabies and some nice birds, but overall it was pretty uneventful.  In the end we made it to the check point half an hour ahead of schedule.

We walked through a little town near the river and past a bit of a camping area.  There were some kids playing in the water, and one kid who was kind of hesitating getting in the water because I imagine it was pretty cold.  We all know I'm not great with kids, but I thought I'd make an effort and encourage him to get in the water.  I told him that if he didn't get in the water quickly he would get leeches on his feet (which of course probably wasn't true here, but definitely was true as a kid in northern Quebec lakes), but instead of encouraging him he totally freaked out and ran out of the water.  Oops!  Ryan's just keeping me away from children from now on I think…

As we left the town and hiked our final stretch, the houses we left behind reminded Ryan of his childhood spent in Newfoundland, so we were slightly distracted for the painful last few hours.

And then we hiked over dunes, boardwalks, and through scrub.  The bushes were just tall enough that we couldn't see over them, and just close enough to the path for us to be worried about snakes.  Nonetheless, I still managed to tease Ryan about hobbling like an old man.  Though again, he never complained.  If anything it was me that was doing that!

And finally, after 6 days of hiking, we got our first view of the landmark 12 Apostles!

We still had some hiking to do after that, but once we saw them our spirits lifted because we knew we were on the home stretch.  We rested briefly, but it was only brief because when we sat down we found tons more of the red inch ants!  Ryan definitely didn't want to get bitten again, so we continued on our way.

Then we reached the "fake" ending of the hike where we got a lovely photo op just before the rain started. 

After our final 10 minutes of hiking Ryan ceremoniously got rid of his walking stick, we found our trailer, and the driver took our picture.

Before leaving the Great Ocean Walk/Road for good, he took us to the official tourist site for the 12 Apostles.  We didn't realize we were in for a bit of a walk there, but at least we didn't have our packs and it was on a cement path.  We did our quick photo shoot with the hundreds of other people and then finally left for good.

I have to say, there really is something satisfying about completing a giant hike like that even though you don't feel it at the time.  Looking back I'm extremely proud of what we accomplished, and it's cool to have such a unique experience.  It wasn't until we were at the tourist centre that we realized how lucky we were to be away from the crowds and get such a different view of the Australian coast.  For once we actually took the time to have an experience, and it was definitely worth it.

The driver delivered us safely back to our car in Apollo Bay (the 1.25 hour drive took us 6 days to hike!), we got some lunch, and then started our drive back to Melbourne.  On the way we stopped at Bells Beach, which had recently been the site for one of the world surfing competitions.  They were taking the grandstands down, and still there were hundreds of cars in the parking lot which presumably belonged to the hundreds of surfers in the water.  There were of course some spectators, but it was really cool to see the best surfers in Australia messing around at one of the top surfing sites in the world.  It was especially funny to see all of the vans in the parking lot, and even older guys with long blonde hair in wet suits getting ready to surf.  It was so stereotypical, and definitely worth the stop!

As a reward for completing the hike, I had bought a cheap voucher for one of Melbourne's most posh hotels: the historic Hotel Windsor.  We knew we wouldn't want to tour around the city, so this was the next best thing.  Unfortunately, it took us awhile to get there.  For some reason Ryan had in the GPS that we were going to the Windsor suburb, so needless to say it took us a little longer than expected to get there!  But we got there in the end around 6:30pm, and it was seriously worth the wait.

We pulled up out front of the hotel, and a valet came and took our bags and parked our car.  Of course we had backpacks and duffle bags, so we looked extremely out of place walking into the lobby with chandeliers and an entire wedding party.  But Melbourne is a friendly city and the bride and groom joked with us saying they were glad they're not the only ones to travel with backpacks!  The staff made us feel very welcome despite our smell, but we were relieved when we were finally in the room.

The package included a bottle of sparkling wine, which was chilled for us upon arrival.  Our first priority was to shower, but I decided to have the best of both worlds and have some wine IN the shower.  Life's hard!

We ordered delicious room service (of course way too much food) and enjoyed it in our robes.

Now, one fun thing about the Hotel Windsor is that they have a pillow menu.  That means they have a list of pillows you can choose from, and then they bring it up to your room.  Yes, this is extravagant, but since it was included I of course wanted to make the most of it!  So Ryan ordered the "posture perfect" pillow and I ordered the "aromatherapy" pillow, not really sure what to expect.  Shortly thereafter our pillows were delivered, but I was a bit surprised that mine smelled like, well, pillow, not the lavender loveliness I was expecting.  I of course wanted to exchange it, because it was obviously a mistake, but Ryan tried to talk me out of it.  He was absolutely mortified when I called the front desk, but in the end it turns out they HAD sent me the wrong pillow and I got to enjoy the rest of the evening smelling glorious.

Once everything was sorted we rented the movie "Robot + Frank" on pay-per-view and ate our delicious desserts in bed.  Needless to say we were passed out in a food/hike coma by 9:30 pm.  What a wicked way to end the trip!

The next morning we went down to enjoy our complimentary breakfast, which was soooo lavish.  The tea was served on actual china with actual silverware!  There was every wonderful indulgence you could possibly imagine for breakfast, and I made the most of it.  I especially enjoyed the unlimited supply of strawberries and blue cheese!

And then, suddenly, everything was over and we were off to the airport to get back to reality.  I must say, if you want to just ignore the world for an entire week, do what we did!

The Gold Coast Wellness Summit - Feb. 28-March 4, 2013

Last month I went on my first ever "work" trip to The Gold Coast, for the very first Wellness Summit put on by The Wellness Couch (the network my podcast is on).  Ryan, Brett, and I went up on Thursday afternoon and had quite the time actually getting there!  First our flight left Adelaide late, then it had to circle for an extra half hour before landing in Sydney due to weather trouble.  Since our connection was only an hour, we were pretty sure that we were going to miss our second flight.  On airplanes now you're allowed to use your cell phone before and after landing, so as soon as we landed I quickly checked our second flight status and gate number just in case it hadn't actually left yet.  Lucky for us they hadn't left yet and we just made it in time to catch it!  Ryan and I didn't have any luggage, but Brett had all of the promo stuff for the Summit in checked baggage, so of course that didn't make the flight.  The airline couriered it to the hotel, though, so overall it was an exciting but successful flight!

That night Ryan decided he wanted to take Brett out for a really nice dinner to thank him for everything he's done for my career and our health so far.  We found an awesome steak restaurant called Moo Moo just around the corner from our hotel, and settled in for an awesome meal.  Of course at every steak restaurant they try and sell you the "best" steaks (600 day grain fed Waygu beef, or something) but the nice thing about Paleo is that the healthier, grass-fed steaks are always the cheapest!  It was neat how they did the menu actually; everyone picked their meat, then you could pick a bunch of sides to share as a table.  All of the food was delicious, and Ryan made friends with the waiter who kept filling up his wine extra big every time.  It was the perfect end to a stressful day.

The hotel we were staying at was the same one we stayed at the first time we were in the Gold Coast - the Meriton Serviced Apartments.  We're not convinced we didn't actually get the same room as the last time too.  We like that place because it's not expensive, has an awesome pool/hot tub, ocean view, and a fully functioning kitchen and spa tub.  Not to mention it is a 5 minute walk to the beach, conference centre, and tons of restaurants.  Friday morning we went to the grocery store, then made a massive breakfast in our room for the whole group (Ryan and I, Luke and Janah, and Brett).  It was very fitting for the hosts of That Paleo Show to be cooking an elaborate Paleo breakfast!

Friday was pretty low-key.  After breakfast we all just did our own thing, which meant that Ryan and I played cribbage, went in the hot tub, and just relaxed.  We were waiting for a delivery of whistles, so when they arrived Ryan, Brett, and I assembled 200 whistles/tags for the gift bag promos at the Summit.

Photo from https://www.facebook.com/TheBusinessOfWellnessCoaching

That night all of the speakers and helpers for the Summit were supposed to have dinner at Cyndi O'Meara's house (one of the speakers at the Summit) but we ended up having dinner and the planning meeting at the Jupitor Casino instead.  Man, that's a flashy place!  There was an escalator leading up to what looked like paradise, but I completely forgot to check it out at the end of the night.  I guess I'll never know…  Anyway, it was a really fun dinner and I got to meet a few of the others in the group, including Laurence Tham (Wellness Guys host, fellow Canadian, and U Waterloo grad).  I had other pictures that were more clear, but this one most authentically shows how excited I was!

And then all of a sudden it was Saturday - the day of the Summit!  We arrived bright and early to help with everything that needed to be done, including assembling the promo bags and setting up our booth.  I was officially the "Assistant Executive Producer" and Ryan was originally "Mic Runner" but turned into "Usher" and  "Testimonial Interviewer".  But in this picture before the Summit started he looks like he's running the show!

The Summit was awesome and a huge success.  I am so glad I was able to go, meet so many great people in the wellness world, and I guess kind of get inspiration as to where I can be in a few years.  I got to meet the girls from the show Up for a Chat (Kim Morrison, Carren Smith, and Cyndi O'Meara), of course The Wellness Guys, and a few other speakers like Dr. Ron Ehrlich and Dr. Peter Dingle.  The speakers were wonderful, and the participants were amazing.  It was so cool to meet so many people all at once who are as passionate about wellness as I am.  Also, at one point I was washing my hands in the bathroom and a woman said to me "Oh, are you one of the Paleo girls?"  How cool is that?!?!  I mean, fame won't go to my head at all…  To finish off the day there was a dinner for all of the VIP guests, so that was a great way to get to know some of the participants a little bit better and hear their amazing stories. 

Switching gears now, the rest of the group went home on Sunday morning, but Ryan and I decided to spend the day in Byron Bay.  The first time we went to the Gold Coast we spent a lot of time in the mountains.  We had planned on going to Byron Bay, and we could see it from the top of a mountain, but Ryan was really sick that day and we just didn't make it in the end.  Since then, whenever someone asks us where in Australia we've been, they always say "have you been to Byron Bay?  It's the best!"  Well, needless to say that was driving me crazy, so we booked a day trip to go sea kayaking and snorkelling at a marine reserve in Byron Bay on Sunday.  As it happens, there had been massive storms, a cyclone, and flooding for the 2 weeks leading up to our trip (with the worst beach erosion in history and life guard chairs had washed into the ocean) so it poured rain the entire weekend and our kayak trip was cancelled.  But storm or not, I HAD to get to Byron Bay!  So Sunday morning we picked up our rental car, braved the rain and drove the 1 hour trip to Byron Bay. 

I have to say, it was not worth the hype.  It's just a hippy town, so basically it's the same as Trent but just with more surfboards and tans.  I'm sure it's more fun on a sunny day, but despite the weather there were tons of people on the beach.

We preferred the food-related attractions though, so we waited for the restaurants to open for lunch, ate, then pretty much went back to our hotel to relax and enjoy our last day away.

mango smoothie and coconut water while we're waiting for lunch at The Balcony Bar

Well, that was the first of many "work" trips!  In a few days we're headed to Melbourne to do the Great Ocean Walk, then after that, more conferences!  Life's pretty darn good.

Gold Coast Day 3 and 4

Our third day on the Gold Coast was much like our first day, in that we checked out a few more nature parks and mountain views.  Although I didn't think it was possible, the drive was even more nail biting than the first day!  Our destination was Springbrook National Park, which was supposedly more rustic and less touristy than the neighbouring Lamington National Park.  There are so many little parks in the area that I would love to go back and explore even more.  Also on the map you can see where Tamborine National Park is, between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

We found 4 or 5 lookouts and short walks which provided all of these amazing views.

Once we got off the mountain we ended up driving through some really beautiful lowlands and fields, which was a completely different experience from everything else we had done that day.

On our last day, after we checked out of the hotel, we still had a few hours to explore before our flight that afternoon.  We decided to do another picnic lunch, but this time at Surfers Paradise.  The weather wasn't as good, which made for some massive waves and great pictures.

One of the hotels in Surfers Paradise (the Q1) is the second tallest building in the southern hemisphere (tallest is in Melbourne I believe) and they have an observation deck about 75 stories high.  Since we were kind of just wandering around we decided to check it out, but they wanted $21/person to go up!!!  We figured since our hotel room was already 25 stories high we had seen enough heights for one trip and opted out.  Oh well!

So as you can see, we had a great time.  We managed to do everything we wanted to do, but I'm sure there is still plenty more to see.  Stay tuned for a post about all of the cool birds we saw!

Gold Coast Day 1 and 2

This week Ryan and I took our first real trip in Australia, and boy am I excited for more!  We went to the Gold Coast which was absolutely beautiful and exactly the type of trip we were looking for.

We flew into Brisbane on Sunday morning and rented a car to drive to the Gold Coast.  On the way to our hotel we decided to stop at Tamborine National Park, where we were hoping to find some short walks and beautiful views from the mountain.  An added bonus that we weren't expecting was a very crazy, twisty drive up the mountain with many switchbacks and steep slopes.  The drive was a bit nerve-wracking, but completely worth it.  Unlike in Canada where you have to earn your beautiful views by doing long hikes, here it seems like they let you drive to them!  Luckily we had a tiny car or it would have been much harder. 

The main thing we did at Tamborine National Park was go on a short rainforest walk.  I was completely in awe because it was the first time I have ever really walked through a rainforest, and it was super cool!  The pictures do not do it justice, but it was very lush with all sorts of really neat trees.  The best part was the crazy bird sounds, which really set the mood.  It felt like I was in a Planet Earth video!  The best trees were these strangler figs, which climb up existing trees and completely suffocate them. 

On the way down the mountain we also passed this beautiful view.  Unfortunately by then it had started to rain so the pictures is a bit blah.

Instead of getting a typical hotel, we got a serviced apartment.  It was absolutely amazing with a huge balcony and beautiful ocean views.  It also had a fully equipped kitchen so we were able to cook a few meals ourselves which was a nice change.  For anyone coming to visit Australia, I would highly recommend going to the Gold Coast and staying where we stayed. 

The next day we  woke up (at 6:30am) to this spectacular sunrise.  Of course I got up to take the picture, but I could see this from my bed! 

Monday was dubbed "beach day".  We were staying on Broadbeach which was just south of Surfers Paradise, and consequently it was much less crowded (if you can even call it that).  We went and picked up stuff for a picnic lunch and spent the morning until 2pm just reading and lazing on the beach.  The water was still too cold to swim, but it was a beautiful day.  You can see Surfers Paradise where all of the high-rises are in the first picture.

Then, FINALLY, I got to try surfing!  Our instructor was a stereotypical Aussie surf bum who said things like "far out".  I'm going to admit, it was much harder than I had expected.  By the end of the lesson I was able to stand for a few seconds on a wave, but that was about it.  Lots of fun but I don't think I missed my calling!

And thus concludes this post.  Stay tuned for day 3 and 4 of our adventure!