Category: Pacific

June 6, 2018

It was pretty sad waking up today knowing that we were headed straight to the airport to fly home. After such amazing trip, we didn’t want it to end. Lots of great memories and friendships made, plus so many new Aussie contacts for my clients vacations Down Under.

One of the highlights of the day was finally tasting Australian meat pies. During the course of the whole trip, I wanted to have an authentic meat pie, but we never had the opportunity. So Chris got up early and ordered a whole bunch of meat pies to have delivered to the hotel. They were really good and Andrew taught us how to properly eat them. Yum!

Kangaroo balls seem to be the most popular souvenir!

Love the different flavors around the world.

Love having 3 open seats, looks like I’m sleeping four hours to Auckland!

Must eat my lamb curry first.

I don’t like sweets but this was amazing!

Thankfully I had three empty seats on the flight from Adelaide to Auckland so I ate then slept most of the way there.

We had a 4 1/2 hour layover in Auckland so we went to the lounge. We found a big area for all 12 of us and relaxed, ate, drank, talked, ate, drank, etc! It was fun until we went to the gate and were waiting and waiting and then it was past boarding time and they finally announced a delay….

Two hours later we were off and headed to LAX, just twelve hours to go!

I had to do the calculations and figure out how to get a good nights sleep when I got back. If I can sleep through my first night home, it’s minimal jet lag if any. Since we lost a night on the way home I couldn’t sleep too much, just enough to make it to bed at home. So I slept about 7 hours and had a very hard time getting up. I kept trying and falling back asleep. Finally I got up and walked around a lot, stretched, did some jumping jacks and had a cup of coffee. I watched a movie to pass the last few hours and breakfast arrived, even though it was 3pm in LA.

I always love seeing the American flag when going into Customs and Border Protection.

We all said our goodbyes in the airport and headed home. Back to work at a desk tomorrow…just love working in the field much better!

June 5, 2018

Waking up this morning, after all the fun last night was not easy. And what was even harder was knowing that we had to go winetasting at 9:30 in the morning……

I was originally very excited to check out the McLaren Vale wine tasting area outside of Adelaide. I knew once I got myself going I would be excited again, now if I could only eat breakfast.

We had a really nice Sprinter and a great driver and guide. Our first stop was d’Arenberg, place that everyone seems to know about because of quirky cute. It was founded in 1912 and now four generations of wine makers, currently Chester Osborn is in charge. Their wines are made using traditional methods, they specialize in Rhône varieties and all have quirky names.

The Cube is bizarre! But it is something you need to experience. It was built in 2003 and inspired by the complexities and puzzles of winemaking. There are 5 levels and it’s like going into a fun house! Each level is made to excite the senses with features such as a wine sensory room, a virtual fermenter, a 360degree video room, and many other tactile experiences. I could hear White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane playing in my head and felt like I fell down the rabbit hole! There is no way to explain it, you have to experience it.

We took our places at the bar On the top floor with amazing views of the Vineyards. I looked at all of the classes and our list of wines and saw that we were tasting 9 different wines, I got dizzy all over again! I made it through the first two but couldn’t do anymore. Had to sit on one of the crazy couches and close my eyes for a little while. Towards the end I was ready to try more, especially the Peppermint Paddock sparkling red!! It was yummy and a great way to end our tasting here.

On the way down we explored the Alternate Realities Museum, and the many art installations on display-even the crazy bathrooms!

Stop number two was Wirra Wirra Vineyards, established in 1894 by an eccentric Australian cricketer. The winery prospered in its early days, producing many wines including a much acclaimed Shiraz. After his death in 1926, the winery ran into disrepair and was eventually abandoned. In 1969 the winery was rebuilt from the remnants of two walls and some slate fermenting tanks. It is a beautiful vineyard with rolling green hills. One of its most famous wines is Church Block.

By number three we were so ready to eat!! Lots of wine after breakfast really builds an appetite. Longview Vineyard is a family-owned winery in Adelaide Hills set on rolling slopes reminiscent of old world estates but with distinct Australian accents.

The tasting room and restaurant were beautiful and the food was delicious.

Besides all of this, they also have four-star accommodations with gorgeous views of the vineyards.

By the time we got to the Lane Vineyard, we were getting tired. Again, another beautiful vineyard and we had a great tour with one of the winemakers and were able to sample a few of the wines right from the barrel.

I think most of us slept on the way back to the hotel, it was about 45 minutes away but we hit some traffic. Thankfully we had time to nap before our dinner tonight which was hosted by Tasmania.

After the Tasmania event, we all tried to rally and have a drink in the hotel bar. We did go to an interesting bar around the corner that was non descriptive from the outside, had a winding staircase down, dark lighting, narrow and atmospheric. There were some great whiskey and scotch choices and we all sat around talking and having fun but only lasted one drink! It was a fun but tiring day.

June 4, 2018

Waking up this morning it was nice to know that we did not have to run around for once. Today was a “regular” workday!

I loved waking up to see room service with fresh coffee and breakfast waiting for me. I didn’t even have to get out of bed.

It was a long day though, we had speed meetings with 40 of the top suppliers, attractions, activities, adventure, tourist boards, wineries, hotels, etc., etc. We moved around the room and each one had a table and we sat down and spoke with each of them between 10am and 4pm. Many of them we had already met and experienced their services in Western Australia. The others were very interesting and now I have the contacts and companies with the best reputations to book for my clients!

Thankfully we had some time to relax before the big Gala tonight. We are going to Adelaide Botanical Gardens for a really fun event with all of the agents and suppliers!

Everyone met up in the lobby and looked so nice all dressed up. We had some cocktails and waited for the bus to bring us to the gardens. The cocktail reception was held outside in a beautiful courtyard framed with huge trees. Because it is fall the colors were gorgeous and there were rustling leaves on the ground.

We had local wines and passed hors d’oeuvres while we all chatted excitedly about our adventures all over Australia. Remember, there were 4 groups total and each one explored a different area of Australia.

Dinner was delicious and a very good atmosphere, but the venue and the mood of the guests. Everyone was in a great and excited party mood.

After dinner, the bus took us back to the hotel but most of us went across the street to have another drink. It was a fun night, lots of laughs and too many drinks!

June 3, 2018

Woke up on our last morning in Exmouth excited to go sea kayaking. We chose our groups for the double kayaks and headed out to the breakers. It was a little scary at first but they told us to just paddle really quickly to get past them. Well of course as we were paddling a huge wave came and I thought it was going to crash over us but we managed to just get up and over it, it was crazy!

Once past the breakers, it was easy we went out a bit and then kept parallel to the shore. There was beautiful coral that we could see underneath us with sea turtles and colorful fish. At one point we saw dolphins a little bit farther out in the distance. We kayaked out but still a safe distance from them and all lined up and stopped to observe. There were so many, jumping, playing, breaching, amazing to see so close! A few times they would disappear for a few minutes then surface closer to us like they were checking us out. Pretty cool to watch them so close.

When it was time to head back, we all went in one at a time to get through the breakers and have someone on the shore to help us. Again Andrew and I did it perfectly and made it in without capsizing.

They had snacks and drinks set up at a picnic table on the beach, and we just talked about what we saw and enjoy the scenery. Some of us went swimming some just talked.

When we got back to Mantaray’s, we didn’t have much time to eat, shower and check out to make it to our afternoon flight to Perth and then on to Adelaide. But, we did manage to get about a half hour in the pool, something we haven’t done since we got there. We all ordered a cocktail and just sat in the pool trying to enjoy the resort for the first time. I knew we were going into colder weather and I didn’t want to leave this beautiful resort and climate.

Flights weren’t that bad, it was about 90 minutes back to Perth, about a 45 minute layover until we boarded our flight to Adelaide. That flight was about 2 1/2 hours but with the time change again, it was about 10:15pm when we landed and 11pm by the time we made it to the next hotel, the Playford. Of course we had to go out, so we went across the street to the casino and they have a big bar there so we all had a drink or two, interacted with some locals and had some laughs, then headed back to bed, long day.

June 2, 2018

Today is the day we have all been looking forward to, swimming with whale sharks!! Exmouth Dive & Whalesharks Ningaloo picked us up bright and early for a full day of fun.

The dive boat we were on was very nice, larger than what I expected and very comfortable. We started out with a snorkel just to get everyone comfortable in their gear and getting on and off the boat. Then we spent some time going over how the swimming will work. Which group we are in, how they alternate groups and how to swim alongside them. They have strict rules as to how many people can be in the water with them at once (10), how long you can be with them and how close you can get to them.

The first time we jumped in was exhilarating! The adrenaline starts pumping, then you actually see it and you lose your breath. It’s enormous and graceful at the same time. You just can’t believe you are a few feet away from this majestic beast. These pictures were from my iPhone.

The one above is from a GoPro.

By the end of the day we swam about 10 times with 5 different whale sharks, about 27-30 feet in length. But never got tired of it!

These pics are from the professional photographer who was with us.

Our last swim was with a Manta Ray! It was about 9 feet across its graceful wingspan. Another experience that can’t be described!

After we were done swimming, we went looking for whales. We saw Humpbacks and even saw one breach. There were a lot of dolphins cavorting all over and jumping out of the water. We also saw a Dugong and her pup, which is kind of like a Manatee.

The day could not have been any better!!

We had dinner at Whaler’s Village, an excellent restaurant less than 5 minutes away from our resort. We were all tired but hungry from our adventures. All the local seafood was excellent, I learned about and tasted bugs! They are tasty little crustaceans like slipper lobsters that are very popular here.

Another night of sleeping well…..