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Healesville and the White Night – Is that full or what?

Our adventures were just beginning at Healesville Sanctuary, we are excited to see what we will encounter. Marissa is hoping for some cuddling Koala time (Dale is secretly thinking the same thing).

There isn’t any Koala holding going on but Marissa still seems happy to see them.

If we were that kangaroo, we would want the entire treat too. Why would you want to share it?

We could play this over and over – it just makes us smile! Marissa was really excited to meet him but see what happens…

Don’t miss out on the fabulous bird show, ‘Spirits of the Sky’.

Who knew that birds are so smart… actually the rumor has been out there for a while but this black breasted buzzard has an edge on smarts.

We don’t see signs like this in too many places! We hope to see them crossing our pathway here.

The other show they offer at Healesville is, ‘Tales from Platypus Creek’. This is the only Platypus show in the world, so sit back, relax and enjoy a bit of the show.

Look closely as the Platypus keeps swimming up to cuddle her arm.

Melbourne city is a buzz of noise, lights, entertainment, food and an endless amount of people coming to see the ‘White Night’ extraordinaire.

The theme we noticed over and over at ‘White Night’ was ‘Alice in Wonderland’. Every few minutes the projections on this building would change to a different photo. There were different buildings throughout Melbourne that were being highlighted for this night. The city (which was closed to everything but foot traffic) was bustling with so much activity and adventures to be seen around every corner…many were there until it ended at 7am the next morning. As their Premier pointed out, ‘This 12 hour celebration of art, music, film, and dance will light up Melbourne’s city streets, laneways, gardens, and buildings, showcasing performers and works from Victoria and around the world.”

Not us, we had had a fun filled but exhausting day although we made it 10:30 pm.

Here is a moving projection on the Flinders St. Train Station…. grab a quick snack and a seat. Enjoy!

Crocodile, Emu, and Kangaroo….but not to pet.

Find local Markets to buy many of the items you would regularly buy at the store. Many of them have interesting food to try, to boot.

This is one of the many streets in the Queen Victoria Market.

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Dale decided to taste a few crazy meat selections: Crocodile, Emu, and Kangaroo….. Marissa and I opted to pass!

This was a little bit more up our ally as far as food goes but by the time we saw it, we had already eaten. It is a must for our next visit. Grilled peaches, vanilla ice cream, with a drizzle of reduced balsamic vinaigrette. Doesn’t that wet your appetite? It does that for us in just writing this!

Move over Harry Potter! Marissa found a magical hat made of some sort of seed pods, it was unusually strong. Or was it just magic?

What a way to decorate up the town by covering the trees. Now we know what to do with all the crocheting lessons Michelle’s grandmother taught her. Keep an eye out for our trees when we return home:)

Getting there is half the fun unless….

We stopped at our daughters for dinner and one last moment with our little grandson but as we tried to start our car…. the optimum word, tried, it would not. We found a tow company and car shop as our son-in-law whisked us away to the airport. We took a deep breath and realized we had made it in time.

We have been so busy making sure we have everything we needed for our extended stay in Australia that we didn’t really sit to relax until we were at the airport and couldn’t do anything but wait for our plane. It actually was refreshing…. Yep! The airport was refreshing and relaxing.

Delta actually handed out treats and water while we waited as a thank you for flying the “Friendly Skies”.

The first leg of our trip… L.A. here we come!

We just got the bad news in L.A. that the inflight entertainment system was not going to be working for our flight to Australia… no problem, it’s only a 15+ hr. flight. Yikes! I know, what great adventurers we would have been.

While boarding the plane one of the attendants said that it looked like they got it fixed. Do we look a little excited?
That was until the captain came on and reported that there was MORE bad news, not only would the inflight entertainment not work, it also included the reading lights, charging stations, etc…. Now we really needed to think deep for entertainment!

We safely arrived in Sydney…. that is the most important part, right? Just in time to board our 3rd and last flight to Melbourne. We love the service on Virgin Australia (and they have entertainment, if you download their APP beforehand, which Dale had).

The ride to Melbourne was smooth flying …. until we reached the ground and found that we were the only passengers standing there wondering where our luggage was and everyone else was gone. Oops, somehow they didn’t make it on our flight. It was about this time that Marissa started wondering about our ‘blessed’ day of flying when the wonderful people at Virgin Australia felt our pain and offered us food vouchers while we waited. This wasn’t all bad as we checked in for our rental car, got a bite to eat and PUFF the luggage was there – that was rather quick. Now off to our new ‘pad’ for the first month of our Australian stay.

We put a lot of thought and searching into finding the apartments (and areas) that we would be staying in. It was great to have Marissa so excited about the art deco decor!

Here is the outside of our back veranda. So hiply fun!

The first night in Melbourne we took a Tram to the city to enjoy some street performances after all that sitting on the plane and most importantly…. we needed to stay awake, we had to keep walking!

Where was this guy when we needed entertainment on the flight?

On the way home from our Valentine’s Dinner we found a secret little walkway to our new house. What a way to end a ‘romantic’ dinner and walk……with Marissa:)

Actually we are really thrilled to have this time with Marissa before she spreads her wings (as she is turning 18 in a few weeks). This is a last for us and we want to cherish all the time we have together. We feel blessed!

Travel Saving Tips:

We talk a lot about using frequent flyer programs to help with the cost of airline tickets. Last year Delta announced their new and improved for 2015 frequent flyer program. Here is a side by side comparison for the same flight last year and this year:

2014 – SLC to LAX – Base Miles ; 590 MQD (now needed for medallion) $75
LAX to SYD – Base Miles – 7487; MQD – $946

2015 – SLC to LAX – Base Miles 200 MQD – $40
LAX to SYD, Base Miles – 2535 MQM – $507

They have not only made it more difficult to become a Medallion member by adding MQD and then only counting less than half the dollars spent, but they also give you less than half the miles flown. Right now we would say that Delta has the worst Frequent Flyer program in the industry.

AAdvantage seems to be leading the pack right now with the most customer friendly program. ‪#‎delta‬ ‪#‎skymiles‬ ‪#‎americanairlines‬‪#‎aadvantage‬

She is back after 12 years!!

We just returned on Sunday and had visitors coming the next day….. we could hardly stand waiting to see them! Axelle was our first exchange student over the 16+ years we have hosted (check out: Nacelopendoor.org).

Our family has also been to France to see her and Bri stayed there a few times on subsequent summers. She brought her friend Is Ma En which we enjoyed getting to know…..we hope Axelle warned her about the crazy Bartlett’s!

Michelle, Marissa, Bri and Nate, Is Ma En, Axelle

Nate really loves Marissa… who wouldn’t?

We ventured out to see a few sites in downtown Salt Lake City… but mostly have time to spend together.

Park City here we come! The Olympic venues are always interesting to see and perhaps we will participate in a few. You will have to wait and see…….

Do you think they won? It is a good thing they don’t look scared!

Where were these two when Marissa called the police while we were in Australia because she thought someone was in our house. So brave!

A close family friend, Lizzy Lambert, who has been studying French and LOVES to cook … did we mention that she loves to cook, was invited to come practice her French and cook with these two lovely French ladies. There was definitely some cooking magic going on in the kitchen and lots of laughs.

On the weekend we headed up to Cache Valley which is where we lived the two summers Axelle spent with us. On the way we stopped for some ‘wholesome’ American food from “Wingers”. Fried chicken wings and fries – no calories there!

We ended up with a fantastic waiter (with a mullet) who talked a lot with us that evening. The ‘girls’ had never heard the term for mullets as: Business in the Front, Party in the Back

They could not stop laughing, even for this photo. Although it didn’t help that he took his mullet and flipped it over his shoulder just to take the photo with them.

If you want to get up-close and personal with a few hundred elk, Hardware Ranch in Hyrum, Utah is a great place to explore. They take you out in their sleighs for a small fee. We were hoping to do a lot of snow sledding but unfortunately this year has been too warm. There was a bit of snow mixed with lots of rocks….not a fabulous combination for sledding.

After sledding our family and many guests came over for some treats and hot cocoa (for the ‘suppose to be COLD day’). Michelle is showing off the French pastries made by Axelle and Is Ma En.

We know…. you wish you could try them…. delectable!

For their last night at our home they planned a French Fondue dinner. Before heading off on their world wind USA tour (they were in NYC for a week, a week in Utah, then a week in LA) they sent us the Raclette machine with some french cheese for the gourmet meal. We actually received it the day they arrived at our home.

They worked all day (after attending church together) cooking for us, including an apple tart for dinner. Everyone left feeling happily full from their delicious French dishes. We wished that they would stay longer so that we could get fed like this all the time! Actually we really would have loved to have them stay longer because we had such a wonderful time visiting with them!!

Check out Axelle and Is Ma En’s blog… which tells the real story of their visit with us:)

http://onvaoudeja.over-blog.com/2015/01/le-lac-sale.html

‘Oh Really’ down the Gold Coast!?!

While enjoying a scrumptious lunch out with Helen and Peter we spotted these ladies sporting these uncommonly unique hats, so of course Michelle’s curiosity got the better of her. She went over and introduced herself as a travel writer and asked about their story. They were more then excited to share. These women travel the world attending horse races (especially Anna on the right) but mostly participating in the fashion part. Racing Fashion is taken to a whole new level. Check out Anna’s website:

www.racingfashion.com.au

The Gold Coast is insanely beautiful and serene…. here is some of the waterways around homes where you can park your boat at your backdoor, if you wish to.

Helen and Peter were sweet to offer us a ride on their magnificent and classy boat…OF COURSE! Here a few of the waterways leaving their condo.

Here we are after our ride on Helen and Peter’s boat ‘Oh Really’. A wonderful end to a day!

**Don’t forget to join us on Instagram for even more photos and updates!

travelinguadventures

To Brisbane we go!

We enjoyed a pretty uneventful flight from Melbourne to Brisbane which is always a good thing!

We decided to spend the day exploring Brisbane starting with a drive up the coast to check out the apartment we were going to rent on our return. Luckily the family we are renting from live next door to this condo on Brighton Beach so they invited us in for a drink and a visit. We have found Aussie’s to be very down to earth and fun to talk with….always an adventure wherever you travel here. We also know that Marissa will not be upset about ‘having’ to be across the street from the beach for our month stay here!

We decided to take the FREE water bus (of course) and because of a little rain we had the entire upper level to ourselves….. and the view.

We headed to the ‘South Bank’ to see what travel adventures we could find. As many of you know Michelle is in love with her garden, anything green and healthy… so now you will know why she acted like a kid at Disneyland when she found the Epicurious Garden. This is a garden planted for all visitors to see what can be planted here and for all to enjoy. ‘Epicurious’ refers to someone who is in constant pursuit of great food, drink and adventure. That seems to fit us very well… if you count Green Smoothies as our hard drinks!

Don’t let these cute little purple peppers fool you. Michelle thought they looked so fun she wanted to try one…. HOT! And her middle name is HOT…. she loves anything spicy or hot but this was beyond her limit. She begged for water from a local restaurant before they were even open. Yes, she lived but it was a close call!

Beyond the ‘Epicurious’ Garden was an incredible man-made beach area with waterways and pools for all ages. A great inner city tropical area to bring your kids and make a day of it. Surrounding the beach are many restaurants and shops….anything your family would want for a day of fun. There are also bikes you can rent for a nominal fee (around $7) to see more as it stretches for miles.

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This beautiful walkway wound around much of the beach area. The flowers were incredible but the smell was even more intoxicating!

Dale has discovered how to make tropical bird sounds with just a piece of grass and LOVES to make the sounds when we are somewhere exotic where there just might be birds that sound that way. Here he is showing a little boy how to make the sounds himself. Sharing his magic!

Brisbane at night really lights up especially their unique Brisbane letters artwork… the lights and colors are constantly changing every so many seconds. It is a bit mesmerizing to stand and watch.

On the way back to the hotel we debated on dinner… bugs or….. no bugs? Later we found out that is just the term they use for a certain sea creature. It was a relief to know it was not really a ‘bug’!

Travel Saving Tips:

1- Find out if there is FREE transportation where you are visiting.

We found a Free water bus which came a little less often as the regular water bus but it worked just fine for us (they came about every 1/2 hr.).

2- We did not spend anything walking around the ‘South Bank’ area of Brisbane but we were happily entertained by all that we found. If we would have known we could have brought our swim suits to enjoy the beautiful waterways as we walked around. Even still rolling up your pants and taking off your shoes is a close second.

3- Keep your eye open for ‘Specials’ at restaurants (even on those bugs:).

When evening hits Melbourne lights up like something magical.

The historic and beautiful Melbourne Train Station.

What does this remind you of?

Our last night in Melbourne we spent a wonderful relaxing evening at the LDS temple….. after quite a long trek to get there. Quit a bit of walking to the tram, then train, and taxi. Thankfully someone we met there gave us a ride back to the city afterwards, what a relief.

If you are interested in knowing more, check out: lds.org

The beautiful lake at the Botanical Gardens

We were able take a walk the next morning to see a few more tourist spots before heading off to Brisbane. First the Botanical Gardens (again), you could literally spend days exploring because there is so much to see. Some evenings they have an outdoor movie night and very often venues in many different areas of the park. You have to really check weekly to see what is being offered.

It is a great place to relax, take a picnic, read a book or just people watch (what? Did we just say that:)

They also have art shared at the Melbourne Museum from Aboriginals. There are many creative works but Dale and I concluded that they really like DOTS. Most of their paintings are done with a series of dots. Take a look..

A couple of different art forms displayed at the Melbourne Museum from local aboriginals. The artwork on the wall was made up of tiny little dots and the dolls were made of some kind of yarn or string.

We shared this yummy salmon salad because neither of us were extremely hungry. It had wonderful flavors although we may have enjoyed cooked salmon a bit more… just preference.

Travel Saving Tips:

1- In Melbourne we decided NOT to rent a car because Sydney was so expensive (about $645 for 5 days). We saved $ by using a taxi sparingly but we mostly walked, took the tram or train.

2-We shared a lot of meals.

3- Buy the weekly or monthly pass (depending on how long you are here) for the tram and train, it saves you $.

Another FREE Tour?

We enjoyed the Free walking tour so much in Sydney and learned so much…. why not do the same in Melbourne?

Anyone up for some exercise?

Melbourne prides themselves in their Graffiti Artwork amongst
many of the alleyways through out the downtown area. Some
are so intricate and detailed it seems a shame that they are not

perhaps in a gallery waiting to be

shared with the world.

More of downtown Melbourne’s artwork.

This is not only a trolley but a moving restaurant. No need for additional entertainment!

Who doesn’t like cute little penguins? Apparently in the evening they come up on the rocks in the St. Kilda Marina where our friend, Andrew keeps his boat. Although we accompanied him there before lunch, we were hopeful that we would see something. No luck! Hopefully when we return to Melbourne.

The wind in St. Kilda was so strong the birds in the video where almost standing still in the air. Entertaining….

How would you enjoy a little time in the hot tub about 15 -20 stories up …..hanging over the ledge?

We met a couple on the pier in Sydney that ended up at the same hotel in Melbourne with us, we enjoyed a great conversation that night on the pier so while Renee’s husband was working she joined us sightseeing for a few days. She braved the wild wind of St. Kilda then enjoyed a beautiful walk through the Botanical Gardens with us to the quint Tea Garden Restaurant.

Our ‘Clean Up-Crew’ was a few local birds that must of been a bit hungry.

Travel Saving Tips:

1- Find FREE or inexpensive tours where ever you are going by googling the area and ideas for your destination. The FREE tours that we found were incredible and of course, we left a tip.

2- Take the opportunity to find out places that are free to visit in the area such as museums, botanical gardens, etc… In Melbourne the Botanical Garden is free.

We spent the morning out for a walk and look what we found….

We spent the morning out for a walk and we found the cutest little girl out feeding the birds with her Dad.

A perfect morning…. just out feeding the birds.

Through the recommendation of someone we met at the Wildlife Park we joined a Free Walking Tour of Sydney….. did we just say FREE? Yes, we did! This is our most favorite way to vacation. This is a 3 hour walking tour, so not for ‘Tired Feet’.

Our walking group by ‘Free Tour’ (imfree.com.au)

There is a story behind why she is rubbing the nose…. that might be a story for later!

(possibly fertility… but maybe you needed to rub another area for that one:)

And who does this look like…. Queen “WHO”?

This is their ‘Bird Cage Walkway’ representing
the many different birds found in Australia.

We learned a lot about
Sydney’s culture and history
along with the experience
of meeting others in our
group from many faraway
places.

Here is the talking dog head of one of their adoring Queens.
It actually talks… a little disconcerting but entertaining!

Aborigine playing his ‘Didgeridoo’

After the walking tour, we did even more walking around the city where we ran across an Aborigine who WOW’d us with his musical abilities on his Didgeridoo. Just making a digeridoo is a talent all it’s own!

We couldn’t leave Sydney without a night shot of this amazing icon.

Amongst some the tasty tidbits we learned about Sydney, we understand that the man responsible for designing the Sydney Opera House was not invited to the premiere (we are sure there is much more to that story).

Did we mention all the walking that day? Why not a bit more walking that evening just to get the evening shots of Sydney. Though it was worth the extra blisters, heat, and long day we were ready to do a little less the next day…thankfully we were flying to Melbourne, so sit back and relax.

Check out the kangaroo hanging out with us!

Following some advice from friend who lived in Australia we headed to ‘Featherdale Wildlife Park’. We got there in the heat of the afternoon so many animals were sleeping (next time we would come in the morning)……but that did not stop a kangaroo from taking an afternoon stroll up to Dale. Dale took the opportunity to talk to his new friend, try to feed him and enlisted him for a photo shoot. The cute Kangaroo seemed just as interested in Dale as Dale was in him (I captured some proof…Check out the video below).

With the right kind of food they will do anything for you!
Apple and carrots are one of their favorite treats.

We were able to take photos with a few fuzzy friends but most slept through our brief meeting. I was a little worried the Koalas would wake up, see us, and have a melt down…. no such thing happened but if you look closely I was leaning away from them (just in case) as we took photos.

Dale hanging with the Kanga…

We enjoyed dinner by the ocean on Bronte Beach, a little beach walk and…..a little people watching (this can almost be as interesting as your favorite TV show)! Dinner and a Free show.

And dinner is served……

Our Free entertainment

Travel saving tips:

1- When visiting any attraction, check on-line or coupon book discounts (Groupon, Living Social, discount booklets at hotels, etc…). We received 20% off our tickets for Featherdale from a discount book we found at our hotel.

Bondi Beach

2- Save money by buying or making your dinner to take on a picnic instead of eating at a restaurant.

3- Instead of buying lots of trinkets wherever you travel, take lots of photos. These are better treasures that can’t get lost, nor do you need to dust it or find a place for it to go.

Category: blog