G'day Mate

For the third (and final) leg of our honeymoon, we headed to Sydney for a week of exploring. We stayed right at circular quay with a spectacular view.

Thanks to Alex's connections as Secretary of the Board at Beach Point Yacht Club, we spent an afternoon at the Royal Squadron Yacht Club.

Alex also planned our dinners meticulously with delectable bites at every meal. We ate at:
Est. - memorable bite: steak with beets (this was my favorite dinner!)
Quay - memorable bite: tie between sea cucumber cracklin and snow egg dessert full of stone fruit
Bennelong Restaurant - memorable bite: mango five ways
Automata - memorable bite: chocolate cherry dessert
Ester - memorable bite: blood sausage and a shout out to the delicious Australian wine
Saint Peter - memorable bite: tie between squid ink pasta and sea bugs

Summer in Sydney is no joke. Luckily, there were so many places to visit to escape the heat. We visited great museums including the Hyde Park Barracks Museum, the Police and Justice Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, the Public Library, and the Galleries of New South Wales.

During times when it wasn't scorching hot, we walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and strolled around the botanic gardens (and grabbed a snack at their amazing bistro while we were there). We took a morning and hiked from Coogee beach to Bondi beach and grabbed lunch at a casual beach cafe. One morning we walked to Darling Harbour to check out their fish market and ate some freshly shucked oysters on the water. Side note: the oysters in Australia taste nothing like the ones here and they're delicious! We spent one afternoon sailing around Sydney Harbour on an America's Cup Boat - a thrilling experience all around!

We took a day trip to the blue mountains and got to meet a koala at Featherdale Wildlife Preserve. Alex fed a wallaby and we saw tons of crazy wildlife right up close. A highlight was seeing an echidna (Alex and I searched for them in Queensland but they were very well hidden!).

My favorite evening was spent at the Sydney Opera House where we took a tour and had delicious dinner at Bennelong Restaurant, and saw The Merry Widow.

It was a magical week. The 24 hours of travel back to the freezing cold NYC didn't seem so brutal with a new set of incredible memories.

Under the Sea

For the second leg of our honeymoon, Alex swept me away to paradise. We traveled to Queensland for a stay at a luxurious resort right on the Great Barrier Reef on Orpheus Island.

Only 28 guests max stay at the resort at a time so it felt extremely private. The only way to get to the island from the airport is by chartered helicopter. There are no cars and no locks on the door. It was like living in a dream.

Breakfast included a board of deliciousness, a main course, and as many beverages as you'd like. Lunch was served with a bunch of plates brought out at once around a regional theme (we were lucky enough to have Mediterranean, Filipino, Peruvian, and Thai lunches during our stay). Dinner was a four course tasting menu with the exception of a special night that Alex planned where we dined on a private terrace and dinner consisted of a six course tasting menu paired with wine.

The highlight of the trip for me was snorkeling on the reef. It was just me and Alex with a snorkel guide and the captain of the boat who drove us around and also served us food between each snorkel. We ran into a pod of dolphins, swam with tropical fish of all colors, and encountered sharks, eels, and a humphead wrasse. It was magical.

We did so much during our stay. We hiked the island's stunning trails to Picnic Bay and Hazard Bay during the early morning hours before the sun got hot. We got massages in a hut by the ocean. We swam in an infinity pool and sipped wine. We sailed around a small portion of the island on a hobie cat. We kayaked in the mangroves. We snorkeled twice more - once with most of the guests on the island off of a beautiful beach and once when we took a dingy out by ourselves to a jetty where we jumped off the dock and snorkeled on our own. We'd never been so carefree and adventurous and happy!

It was unforgettable. I'll treasure these memories forever.

Clang Clang Clang Went The Trolley

We took our Australian honeymoon in 3 legs. The first stop was Melbourne.

After landing, we caught some much needed sleep at our beautiful hotel, the Park Hyatt. 28 hours of travel is no joke!

My favorite part about Melbourne was traveling around the on free trams you can hop on and off of that run in a big loop around the city!

Here I am on a tram car!

We started out our first day at the Queen Victoria Market which was a fun experience full of food and wares. We sat down for a meat pie (typical Australian street food) and set about our day.

To overcome our jet lag, we spent most of the day exploring the historic laneways and arcades of Melbourne. Some were covered in graffiti. Some were painted with huge murals. All of them were interesting and had a ton of character.

After walking by the most spectacular sunset, Alex planned a special dinner to celebrate New Year's Eve at Estelle by Scott Pickett. We sat bar-side and watched course after delicious course be prepared. We finished just in time to get back to our hotel to watch the fireworks display from our hotel room. Our view was perfection with windows overlooking the city skyline.

We visited the National Galleries of Victoria and saw Contemporary Australian Art, historical pieces, and the NGV Trienial. We ate most of our lunches at the historic Degraves Street.

We visited the race village for the Volvo Ocean Race - an around-the-world sailing race that we've been following. It was cool to see the boats we've been watching online in person. Alex was over the moon.

We had a crazy dining experience at Dinner by Heston (think bloody marys that look like glasses of wine and meat in the shape of a fruit) with a gorgeous view of the Yarra River.

Right by our hotel were the lovely Fitzroy Gardens. On our last day in Melbourne we went for a stroll exploring the beautifully maintained gardens and decided that the US most certainly does not have enough gardens to stroll around.

We capped off this part of the trip with a tour to see a penguin parade. Our amazing tour guide stopped along the way to point out kangaroos and wallabies. We walked along the rocky coastline of Phillip Island before settling in at the beach. It was dark and we were quiet. All of a sudden, "rafts" of penguins (they all bunch together to try to appear like a large animal and scare off predators) emerged from the ocean and made their way to their nests. Little nestlings wandered around looking for their parents. Penguin couples greeted each other with a little song and dance. These little blue penguins are only about a foot tall and are fast swimmers and quick but clumsy waddlers.

It was awe inspiring to observe their behavior. A truly unforgettable experience.