Whitehaven Beach and Ron's birthday!

Happy birthday, Ron! No birthday cake this year, instead your present was a trip to Whitehaven Beach.

Whitehaven Beach is voted one of the top 10 beaches in the world. It has amazing white silica sand that is so fine it squeaks. It is pretty cool because it doesn't even stick to you.

I was a bit hesitant to get back on a boat but thankfully, it was a short 45 minute trip and sheltered within the islands. No open ocean water for me!

Ron of course, could not just lay on the beach and enjoy the sun. Instead, he had to run all the way down the 7K long beach to check out the river. I do have to admit, I was a bit jealous when he got back and described all the cool things he saw: giant sea lion, sting rays and endless fish. I decided to stretch out, read my book and search for sea turtles. There was a turtle that was about 20 feet off the beach swimming back and forth. That kept me occupied for a while. :)



Caught making out in Hamilton Island... is that really Ron and Cat Kahler? Call US Weekly!

Our private plane that we hired for Ron's birthday. Haha, yeah right. Maybe next time if Adam is around.

Around the Island

The boat for Whitehaven Beach did not leave until 11.30am so Ron decided to explore the island. I decided to lay out on the beach instead. The parents had a nice leisurely breakfast and strolled the beach.

Mangrove Beach

The other side of the island

Catseye Beach from the other side


Photos from Kevin's camera:
The catamarans for the use of hotel guests.

View of the beach from the hotel pool.

The hotel pool.

Great Barrier Reef

Fantasea! We really wanted to take the smaller boat out to the reef and go diving but unfortunately, not enough people booked so it was canceled. Instead, we booked on the Fantasea and decided to go snorkeling instead (just a bit too expensive to dive with this provider).

We took the big 250 person Fantasea boat out to the floating pontoon located in the Great Barrier Reef. Lucky for us, the boat only held about 50 people so we didn't have to fight for seats or the good views.

It was a full but great day. We started off at 9am, made the 2 hour boat ride to the pontoon, saw amazing fish, turtles, coral, took a submarine ride and had a buffet lunch on the boat. The only down side was the really rough waters on the ride home and the total sea sickness that I felt. :( Luckily, that did not last long and the delicious watermelon they had as part of afternoon tea really helped. Actually, it was the only thing that made me feel better so I had Ron go back and get me seconds.

The parents bought an under water camera and Ron dove down and took some great photos. Can't wait to see them!



All I wanted to do was see a turtle!


Ron wanting to say hello.


Snorkeling around.


Looking good in the suits!

Hamilton Island: Great Barrier Reef

Hamilton Island is part of the Whitsundays, a group of 74 islands among the Great Barrier Reef in Northern Australia. We decided to take a holiday with the parents and explore the warm waters of Hamilton Island.

We took off Monday, 8 June for three nights and four days. It worked out really well since we had Monday off for the Queen's birthday. She may be not our Queen, but we'll take the extra day off!

After a quick 2 hour flight, we landed on the little island. It was Kevin and Tina's first tropical island vacation so we were excited to show them a good time. The weather was really great, low 20s (high 60's- mid 70's), sunny and the water still warm from summer. Basically anything sun would have been great considering it was raining all week in Sydney.

We quickly checked in to the Reef View Hotel and changed into our swimmers. Ron and I immediately made our way to the Catseye Beach (60 second walk from our room) and checked out some complimentary snorkel gear. The tide was out and we walked through 5 minutes of warm ankle deep water before we were able to dive in and swim among the fishes. There is a pretty cool reef right there and we saw a lot of wild life. Some of the cooler things were a huge puffer fish, swimming in the middle of a school of fish and skimming across the reef.

After taking a nice hot shower with good pressure and not having to worry about the hot water running out (yes, our shower at home pretty much sucks) we made our way down to the marina for dinner. We ended up taking an outside table at the bar and enjoyed some Beez Neez and fajitas.

Crazy birds that broke into our room and ate our snacks. Left a total mess.


View from our balcony at 6am.


View from the balcony at dusk.

Hello Mom and Dad Kahler!

Welcome to Sydney!

It was Mom and Dad's first international trip and we were happy it was to visit us in Australia. They arrived early Friday morning with Ron meeting them at the airport and escorting them back to Edgecliff. It sounded like they had a nice flight, as best you can for 12-14 hours! Thanks Qantas for looking after the parents. Unfortunately, I had to work but it worked out well because it gave us the chance to meet in the City for lunch and for them to check out the views from my 43rd floor office.

We had so much planned and nothing planned at the same time. It rained a couple days but that didn't stop them from exploring the town. They were great with taking the train and the bus and literally walking everywhere. I think this was the most Kevin had walked in a long time.

Just a few things they did while in town:

Botanical Gardens/The Rocks/Circular Quay



The Blue Mountains. We stopped by the Three Sisters and stopped by Leura for coffee and a trip to the old fashion lollie shop


We took the ferry over to Manly to check out the Food and Wine Festival


The also went to Watson's Bay, Hyde Park, Chinatown, Max Brenner, Bondi Beach and Taronga Zoo.

Our first visitor

Jason will forever be known as our first visitor.

Once he bought his ticket for April, our list of visitors kept getting longer and longer. Mom and Dad Kahler already had their trip planned a while back for end of May/June, and Lauren and Lacey bought their tickets for July. We just found out that Cullan is coming out in November, Robin and Chris in early December and Scott and Crystal in mid December. Then we are off ourselves for a week home to CA and then a week to Japan! Definitely getting busy here in Sydney.

Anyways, just a few things Jason did while in town:

Out at The Loft for drinks with some of our new friends


The Blue Mountains, up on a crazy ledge off an unmarked path


Watson's Bay for some sightseeing and fish and chips from Doyles


Chilling with the Boo Matee


Just some cool shots around Sydney

Day 5: Back to Hobart

We made our way back to Hobart the long way. This way, we were able to cover all of Tasmania, from the South to the East, up the coast to the North, across to the West and back down. We passed through these tiny towns that were no larger than 1 main street. It was baffling that people live out there, I mean, what do they do all day? There aren't that many jobs considering there is 1 cafe, 1 petrol station, 1 tiny grocery store and thats about it.

Anyways, on our way back to Hobart, we stopped at the cutest town called Richmond. It was a historic town with old buildings and wineries all around. This was one of my favorite places in Tasmania.




We stopped at Pooley's boutique winery and had a great time with the owner. He was a little old man with the coolest cat. He let us walk through the vines and even taste a grape or two. I've always wanted to eat one of the big juicy grapes.

Day 4: Cradle Mt and the middle of no where

Dove Lake

We made our way through the winding countryside and into the forest heading towards Cradle Mountain. It is practically in the middle of no where. Well... in reality, it was in the middle of Tasmania. ;)

Ron REALLY wanted to climb to the top of Cradle Mt. BUT it is a 6-8 hour return hike and through crazy paths and over huge rocks. Not the easiest climb that's for sure. Thankfully for me, we didn't get to Cradle Mt. until midday and the last bus back to the parking lot was at 5pm. We ended up taking the trail starting from Dove Lake, around to Wombat Lake and down to the rain forest and waterfall and all the way to Ronny Creek. The total trip took about 3 hours and ended with a nice picnic of roast chicken and brie sandwiches and fruit. It was freezing so we didn't take long to eat! Plus, the birds were eying us down.



We were really lucky to finish up around 3.30pm and didn't gamble for the last bus. As it was, we waited a while in the cold as full bus after bus passed us by. Finally, a bus going the opposite direction stopped and took us aboard. We went down to the last stop before heading back and there were literally hundreds of people waiting in line. Good luck to the people who waited to take the last bus, I'm pretty sure they had to walk in the dark the 5 miles back to the parking lot.

After the hike, we grabbed our takeaway coffee and headed to Cradle Mt. Cozy Cabins where we were staying the night. We ended up having a little cozy cabin to ourselves with shared bathrooms and kitchen. It was literally in the middle of no where. Since it was a tiny cozy cabin, we played many many hands of gin.

Almost forgot, we saw a wombat!