Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains were another stop on my Aussie adventure. They are part of the Great Dividing Range and begin about 65km west of Sydney. Eucalyptus trees (often called gum trees here) excrete small droplets of eucalyptus oil into the air, lending a haze to the air that makes the mountains appear blue. The tour operator said the blue tinge is most apparent on really hot days. It wasn't hot when I went (well, at least by their standards in the west!), so the mountains weren't at their bluest, but were still quite beautiful. (Side note - the tour operator was the most hyper 60 year old man I've ever met, he sputtered off random facts about the Blue Mountains/Sydney/Australia in general for the duration of the 10 hour day, and also taught me how to throw a boomerang. He asked why I was here and then insisted on calling me "doc" for the remainder of the trip. Ah, how I will miss these crazy Aussies!)
Before we arrived at the Blue Mountains, we made a stop at this lovely little zoo called Featherdale Wildlife Park, where I had one of my best Aussie experiences to date - I got to "cuddle a koala" and hand-feed wallabys and kangaroos!
It's illegal for anyone other than the zookeepers to actually hold a koala in New South Wales. A few years ago they realized it was way too stressful for them to be held by people all day long (duh?!), so now you can only touch their backs and put an arm around them for a photo op. Suffice to say this is the happiest I have ever been at 8AM on a Saturday:
Could this little guy be any cuter?!
What, no more treats?
I could go on all day with photos of this adorableness accompanied by my cheesy commentary, but I'll move on to the Blue Mountains now. From a lookout point in Katoomba:
We took the world's steepest cable car down into the valley to an area of temperate rainforest. There's a boardwalk with guided and marked tracks, plus many more options for bushwalking. I would have loved to spend a few days exploring, but I don't have the time, plus it's definitely not safe to do alone. A lot of people go bushwalking and get lost, or get caught in bushfires. The valley is filled with gum trees, which burn extremely fast.
We spent a little time walking around on the tracks and then took the scenic railway back up the mountain. The railway was built in 1880 to haul coal out of the mines that were located in the valley. It is the world's steepest incline railway, and goes 415m up and through a cliffside tunnel...very cool! Here's the Three Sisters through the rainforest:
The Three Sisters is the most well known part of the Blue Mountains. Again, a little further up the mountain this time:

The Most Magical Place on Earth!

I was lucky enough to get to go to Lord Howe Island for 7 days last week. It is an Australian island in the South Pacific, and is part of the state of New South Wales. It's about 750km northeast of Sydney. LHI is on UNESCO's World Heritage list and is easily the most beautiful place I have ever seen. There are about 300 people who reside on the island. The tourist industry is thriving but accomodation is limited to less than 400 tourists at a time in order to preserve the island. There isn't enough demand to employ a physical therapist, so my clinical instructor and a few colleagues each spend a few weeks each year on the island, so PT can be offered multiple times during the year. There is one doctor on the island. His salary is subsidized by the government because there's often very little for him to do, especially when peak season is over. Other health care professionals (including dentists) go to the island for a week or so at a time to offer their services, but only the physician is there full-time. Luckily for us, not many people needed physical therapy while we were there, so I only ended up working 1.5 days :)
We flew out of Port Macquarie in a tiny, tiny plane. I got to be the co-pilot! The landing was fun, we came in sideways and almost missed the runway due to windy conditions. Here I am with our plane, safe and sound after landing:
The snorkeling at LHI is incredible. It is home to the world's most southern coral reef. The closest beach was about a 3 minute walk from our house, and the reef was about a 3 minute swim from the shore. We went snorkeling every day and spent time exploring each beach, plus 7 different areas of reef on a glass bottom boat tour. I snorkeled with sharks (small ones), turtles, eels, stingrays, and heaps of different fish and coral. The fish were so bright and colorful, as was the reef. I saw hard and soft coral, plus lots of different formations of coral. The weather was amazing the whole trip, but especially perfect for snorkeling the first 4 days. The water was quite warm (about 26C, which is nearly 80 F). We had to wear spring suits for snorkeling, as the water is colder the deeper you go, plus after spending a few hours in the water it can get a bit chilly. Nina & I after our first day snorkeling at Ned's Beach:
Clearly this is a good look for me:
Middle Beach:
Bushwalking on Transit Hill:
Paradise!
I am so fortunate to have traveled here, and to have such beautiful weather the whole time. I will never forget this trip! Overlooking Blinky Beach (love the name!):

Hunter Valley

I recently went to the Hunter Valley to check out a winery and the Hunter Valley Gardens. The Hunter Valley area is huge, spanning over 9,000 miles. There are more than 120 wineries here. I went to a wine tasting at Lindemans, which was quite informative and fun. In addition to the wines sold exclusively in Australia, they export over 150 million bottles of wine per year. That's a lot of grapes!
From there I headed on to the Hunter Valley Gardens, which is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. There are more than 60 acres of gardens, including an incredible rose garden with more than 8,000 roses, and my favorite, the storybook garden.
Vineyards at Lindemans:
The rose garden...absolutely beautiful.
A cute little topiary bear in the storybook garden:
Me with Alice & co.:
Oriental gardens:

World's Best 5k

Having been a runner for more than 10 years, I have experienced all types of 5k journeys, covering trails, streets, treadmills, tracks and more. Some of these I've loved, others loathed. At times, I've ran 7 minute miles. Other days I've dragged and cursed under my breath for the duration of the distance. Suffice it to say, I have had all kinds of experiences with 5k, but none quite like the walk I went on last week.
Sydney is known for its beautiful beaches, and rightfully so. A great way to experience the Southern beaches is to walk from Coogee to Bondi. Here's the start of my walk, at Coogee. Please take note of the ocean pool at the bottom left of the first photo...such a cool idea!:



Dolphin Point:

Gordon's Bay:

Waverley Cemetery, on a cliff overlooking the ocean:
Bronte, home to some pretty fierce breakers:


Amazing!

Bondi, Sydney's most famous beach and the site of the beach volleyball competition during the Sydney Olympics:

Heaven!

Australia's Last Riverboat Postman

As much as I'd enjoy spending all my time here holidaying and sightseeing, I have to admit, I love working at the clinic. A lot. I have learned so many new things to add to my PT bag of tricks. I've also met so many helpful, friendly, interesting Australians. I get to spend the better portion of each weekday talking to Aussies about their country, which has led to lots of great travel tips. Last week, based on recommendations from two patients who have gotten to know me well, I went on a cruise on the Hawkesbury River. The cruise is that of Australia's only remaining riverboat postman. Some of the shores and small islands of the Hawkesbury River are accessible only by water (read: no roads!). The boat delivers mail, newspapers, and small groceries on the 40k trip from Brooklyn to Spencer.

Leaving from Brooklyn Wharf:
Heaps of dingys:
Little Wobby, the first delivery stop:
The goods:
I was joined by 2 busloads of senior citizens and happened to be the only person on the boat without white hair. Don't get me wrong, they were quite friendly and I really enjoyed talking to them. So friendly, in fact, that one gentleman insisted on taking a photo of me on his digital camera because I'm "an American girl." He offered to take a picture of me with my camera, then asked me to send it to him on a cd or dvd because he's currently having trouble with his email account. Adorable, and quite impressive! So here I am, enjoying the views, conversation, and of course representing GW while down under!