Welcome to Berlin Family Travels!

Ending our trip with a bang!

The last few days in Shoreham on the Peninsula were filled with hikes, wineries, rock pools and capped off with a bbq overlooking the ocean while the kids surfed and kayaked until dinner.

So, in order…we did a hike into the rock pools at Bushman’s Bay:

Next up we chilled at home and the next morning Stella and I walked to the beach for another Nippers with the kids…while we relaxed afterwards at the Kiosk for shakes and burgers

Followed by some beach time

The next morning we did more small hikes and threw in a winery! (there are 50 wineries within a 20 minutes drive

Back at the house for a relaxing and clear blue night

Our last day in Shoreham was spent searching for kangaroos in the wild (we didn’t find any), and jumping off a pier. It was 10 meters high and she was terrified. When she finally got up the courage to do it, her reaction was a huge smile. Adam: “So Stella, how was it??”, Wide eyed and happy “So scary! and SO AMAZING!!”

Then we spent the late afternoon and evening at Crunchie Beach, a small cove packed with young families surfing, kayaking and lazily swimming until 8pm

The night was capped off with a family BBQ dinner overlooking the ocean at a casual beach club (with aunts, uncles and lots of cousins)

These Aussies really know how to appreciate their natural surroundings and be chill with their kids.  It’s refreshing and inspires me.

In Melbourne we checked out the Botanical gardens and those awesome laneways everyone raves about!

Then, for our final night, we got a babysitter and enjoyed a few wine bars and a great meal.

I could not have picked a better way to end this trip with a week with great friends, and really experiencing the local Aussie way of life.

This trip was better than I expected and certainly much more than I could have hoped. I plan to ask the kids to document their top 10 (when they aren’t exhausted and cranky as we sit in LAX airport right now waiting for our final flight home)…so hopefully stay tuned to a final blog post with their top 10.

Here are Adam’s final thoughts: “At the end of 5 weeks, this trip has far exceeded my expectations. From seeing amazing things, to spending time with great friends and spending time with the family at a much slower pace (no rushing off to go to school or activities) it’s been the best 5 weeks I could have asked for.”

There you have it – See you back in the real world

We arrived in Melbourne and were greeted by our friend Rob at the airport who took us to his beautiful home where our kids became insta-friends. They have 3 kids (Amelia 9, Eddison 7 and Oliver 5). This week will be spent with our friends between their place in Melbourne and their place in Shoreham.

The boys immediately went to catch the last bit of a cricket game, and then we all met up for ice cream and some pool time (it’s hot here!!)

That night we went out for an adults only dinner in Melbourne and the next morning we headed out to Shoreham on Mornington Peninsula.

Shoreham is a small town on the Peninsula where many Melbourne people have summer farms (kind of like our muskoka but with ocean and beaches and way more laid back and casual)

We rented an airbnb a few minutes walk from Sara and Rob’s parents place but mostly hang out with them at their place.

Our cute airbnb:

The next morning we went down to a windy/chilly beach for a very Aussie tradition of watching 100’s of kids ages 6-15 do Nippers. Basically they have to swim a certain length in the ocean, then come and do some running races on the beach, then get back in the ocean and paddle out and around some pylons on surfboards, then kayak…it’s like mini ocean lifeguard training. It was AWESOME…and makes you realize why these Aussie kids are so tough. It looked pretty brutal but there was a very – suck it up and do it attitude and the kids enjoyed it!

On our way back to the airbnb we got to see a koala just napping in the wild

For a little activity post Nippers, we did an ocean cliffside walk with the kids. Stunning barely covers it.

Then it was time for our New Year’s eve festivities. We went to a friend of Sara and Rob’s who were renting out a house with 4 other couples and had a huge Aussie feast and celebration with so many friends. It was such an amazing way to spend New Years!

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Today is the first day of 2020!! More days here, then Melbourne, then home. Can’t believe only 4 more sleeps over here!

We started the day with the ferry to Manly which did in fact allow for some beautiful pictures

But the day was really made exciting by the surprise we had planned for our kids. For Leo and Adam…you guessed it – a Sydney Kings basketball game!

Leo’s perspective: I was super excited to go to the game. Outside Qudos Bank Arena there were basketball nets that you could play basketball at. Once we got inside we went to get a jersey..I chose the jersey ‘Andrew Bogut’ and it was a really cool style jersey. My favourite part of the game was the commentating because it was really funny, there was this one foul that they called a ‘wrestling foul’. In the end Sydney lost by 13 points, but if they had replayed the last 2 minutes of the 4th quarter they could have easily won. They were playing against the first place Perth Wildcats and Bryce Cotton and Terrico White carried them.

And for Stella and me….a “Cirque de Soleil – Aussie version” show at the Opera House

Stella’s perspective: At the show it was really fun and I ate popcorn and at the end of the show there was a cool trick, like a long thin thing with 2 wheels at each end and there was this guy that was outside of the wheel, and it was spinning and he was skipping rope, while it was spinning and he almost fell off. It was really intense. It was really crazy to be in the Opera House because it’s really kinda rare to be in the Opera House…I looooved it.

It was actually the first time on this trip that we have actually separated for more than an hour at a time..which is strange because it’s something we do almost every weekend in Toronto….but it’s really just been the 4 of us full time this whole trip. So Stella and I followed the show by dinner and ice cream (I have had this gelato EVERY day in Sydney…it’s Gelato Messina, and it’s incredible)

We are now waiting to board our last flight of the trip to Melbourne where we spend the last week with our friends Sara and Rob…and then we’re home!

I will finish off this post with an image of the Opera House at 6:30am that I took during my early morning run…

Can’t believe the trip is almost over…

We drove to the airport in Byron Bay (only 40 minutes) and unknowingly crossed time zones…arriving at the airport 3 hrs before our flight instead of 2. I was pretty annoyed until I was able to get us on an earlier flight that landed us in Sydney at 9am…meaning we get 3 full days there! The kids were great considering the early morning departure.

So we got to Sydney and immediately climbed the famous Harbour bridge (luckily, only steps from our airbnb). Sydney is beautiful as you can see…

Then in our infinite wisdom we decided to walk our kids all around town..in the blazing heat. We started at the Opera House (which Leo says: it was a great architectural building and I was very excited to see it because it’s one of the most famous buildings in the world…and I was impressed!)

Through a huge park containing the Botanical Gardens…

They were troopers…but they were DONE!

Adam found us a nice outdoor spot for dinner and while we sat calmly and ate the kids roamed around a makeshift play structure in a very ‘Lord of Flies’ kind of way..

Today I got up early and went for a run around the harbour bridge and opera house…kind of amazing to see it at 7am empty!

Then we went for breakfast at the famous Bill’s in Bondi Beach and did the infamous Bondi to Bronte beach walk…which was in fact spectacular.

We also went for dip in the Iceberg Bondi Pools (one of many pools that are salt-water and hug the ocean so that ocean waves crash over you as you do your laps!).

Tonight we ended up at a great Asian Fusion place (Ms. G’s) where Stella got to try out her DJ moves 🙂 (for like a second while the DJ humoured her).

Tomorrow we head off to Manly park…and then we surprised both kids with some exciting night activities for our last night in Sydney (that are just as much for us and for them…stay tuned!)

En route from Noosa from Byron Bay we stopped at the famous Australian Zoo (Steve Irwin Crocodile’s Hunter’s Zoo). I HATE Zoo’s but as far as they go this one was the best (with animals roaming around, shows etc… The pictures tell the whole story.

We arrived in Byron and it’s basically a bigger, busier version of Noosa with equal parts backpacker and rich yuppy. In Leo’s words – Noosa is way better 🙂

Our Airbnb is a small beach house that you enter from this view…pretty cute.

Our first morning we signed both kids up for a 3 hr surf lesson (I heard they were only in the water for about 30 minutes…but it gave Adam and me some time to walk around town!). They both got up…so WIN!

I had my morning Acai breakfast with granola and berries (this has become my daily ritual)

Then we went for a small hike through yet another national park to Wategos Beach…

Dec 25th in Byron…very little is open

And today – because it’s Christmas…we do what’s 1000’s of Jews are doing around the world….

Happy Holidays!! We are off to Sydney!

After leaving Lady Elliott, being in civilization in Noosa was a bit of a culture shock. But our first night there we had a lovely dinner with our friends from Munich

Then it was time to explore Noosa. Our first morning we went to Eumundi (a small village 20 minutes away for their weekly artisan market)

It was pretty hot…

We stayed in an Airbnb that was an 8 minute walk from Hastings street which gave us a nice chance to walk this boardwalk through the forest every morning…

It’s a small beautiful beach town so we rented boogie boards and played in the ocean, got the kids a 1.5hr sandcastle making lesson

During which we got us a chance to go for a beach walk and part of a national park on the edges

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And I did manage to get a babysitter for a night so Adam and I could explore the town, go in and out of shops and have a nice dinner at the beach

Our last day was hot so we went on a ferry ride along the river…

During which Stella stole my phone…

For sunset, I did manage to convince the kids to go on a beautiful hike into the national park. Can you imagine having this right on your doorstep??

In general a super relaxing and lovely 3 days. Tomorrow we head to Byron Bay for 3 nights…

Imagine going to a teeny tiny airport in Hervey Bay (on the Sunshine Coast of Australia) and being the ONLY ones in the airport:

Then imagine getting on the tiniest airplane EVER

So small in fact that the seats are like fluffy couches

The trip over is so bumpy it terrifies me…but thrills Stella

And it’s so tiny that one of the passenger seats is shotgun with the pilot!

Then after a 30 minute flight you approach an island SO SMALL that it only takes 6 minutes to walk across and 30 minutes to walk the perimeter!

And the airstrip is not really an airstrip but just a flat area of land they have cleared of trees and rocks

Now imagine this island can only hold 150 people at a time in small ‘camp-like’ eco cabins

Now imagine only 150 people…but 40,000 BIRDS! (and yes, of course a bird shat on me..it’s impossible for that not to happen!)

So I was worried. We were going to this ECO island…full of birds, with mainly snorkelling, and I assumed there would be no kids. I should really get used to being wrong…EVERYONE THERE HAD KIDS!!!

Leo made a best friend (from Munich who spoke no English) and Stella took care of Fluffy, a baby bird who kept getting trapped in the play area so Stella needed to watch over her

This place was a DREAM. Zero wifi which meant everywhere you looked people were reading or talking, but no one had their phones because there was no point.

Because the island was so small…we barely saw our kids..Stella was either in the playground

Or reading and eating from the breakfast and dinner buffet. (While as mentioned above Leo was playing sports with Paul)

But the biggest news really was the wildlife. We went on TWO glass bottomed boat trips where we snorkelled..and…wait for it…LEO SNORKELLED. The first time he was quite scared and I had to leave him with the instructor because as I have learned many many times, leaving your children with other adults actually makes them take more risks. But the 2nd time…he snorkelled with Adam along side Green Turtles and Loggerhead turtles…

And just as awesome? Adam and I got to dive the Great Barrier Reef (we left the kids on the island with strict instructions not to go near water and to ask Paul’s parents for any help…they graciously took care of the kids (they had 9 yr old twins, a boy and a girl, and the boy (Paul) was Leo’s best friend the entire trip, while the girl (Anna) didn’t speak any English but our kids learned some phrases in German and we even met up with them again today in Noosa!!

Ok back to Lady Elliott Island. So Adam and I went on an INCREDIBLE dive on the Great Barrier Reef…we saw too many huge turtles to count (when I say huge, I mean 3/4 of the size of me), 10’s of Eagle Rays, Garden Eels, thousands of Sea Cucumbers and a reef that is so gorgeous that it makes sense that it’s one of the most famous in the world. It was really incredible.

We happened to be on the island during Turtle nesting season which means that at high tide (2am when we were there), Green and Logerhead Turtles make their way up the beach…take about 2 hrs to dig a nest…then either lay eggs or abandon the nest they dig because it isn’t good enough. Leo and I got up at 5:30am to go see if we could go find any turtles making their way back to sea after making the nests

And we got LUCKY. This green turtle did decide to abandon its nest but we got pretty up close and personal for this awesome process!

He spent about 15 minutes making his way back into the water

When the turtles do lay eggs, the staff make markers that look like this:

Leo’s comments: Seeing this was one of the craziest things we saw on this trip. It was amazing seeing these animals and it’s just an awesome experience to be so close to all these animals. I was really proud of myself for overcoming my fear of going snorkelling in the ocean.

For 3 days it was really like being on Gilligan’s island. The kids all ran around unsupervised, we walked around, went snorkelling in various parts of the island and got amazing nature lessons. We even went on a night nature walk spotting hermit crabs, and nocturnal birds that wail like crying babies only at night.

Coming back into society was a real culture shock and I am so happy we got to have this experience. Similar to the Doubtful Sound Overnight cruise…it was one of those really special places that are so off the beaten track (and so basic without any typical luxuries) that only real nature enthusiasts go and the attention paid to the environment and wildlife is unlike anything we are exposed to on our side of the world.

It is one of the most stark differences I have noticed while being in Australasia (NZ and Australia). EVERYONE cares about the environment here. It doesn’t matter where we have been, all you see are signs asking people not to have disposable cups, there are stations almost everywhere you go to fill up water bottles. It’s like it’s in the DNA of the people here to be eco-conscious. It’s become very obvious how non-eco conscious N. America is as a comparison.

For the next 3 days – Noosa…a beautiful beach town 🙂

I’m gonna be real with you…I probably shouldn’t be writing this blog in the state that I am in. To say I am exhausted, frustrated, and angry is an understatement. But all you hear about are the good parts so I figure why not show the tantrums of the trip…the not so great parts.

Ok – so I’ll go back a couple of days. We left Queenstown and embarked on a 6.5 hr journey through the country back to Christchurch. Somehow the gods blessed us again and it poured the whole day (which…who cares if you are driving right??). We did manage to stop in Lake Tekapo and take a few requisite pictures by the Church of Good Shepard and show how insanely blue the water is. But essentially, it was freezing, we rushed through a disgusting meal and got back in the car so there you have it.

Then we got to Christchurch. And I gotta say, thank goodness we were barely there 48 hours. In Sept 2010 and then in February 2011 Christchurch was ROCKED by 2 crazy earthquakes which devastated the city and it’s clear they haven’t had the money to rebuild but I have NEVER been in a city that felt like such a ghost town before.

Imagine walking down a MAJOR street (big stores like H&M, restaurants, malls etc…) and it’s DESERTED. It was so weird that I stopped someone and asked where everyone is…like was it because it was Sunday and everyone is Catholic (kinda like what I experienced in South America on Sundays?) but no…it’s just no one comes into the CBD. But then how do these stores stay in business? Even on Monday during the day it was empty. We did have a whole day and half though so:

We hit up a crazy playground:

Then we hit up an indoor food market (Riverside Market)

Took a bunch of random pictures with various statues around the city

And then we did the best thing and spent almost 3 hours at Quake City (the museum) learning about the earthquake and Leo and I sat and watched 90 minutes of personal stories from people who survived the quakes (and many who’s loved ones didn’t). I cried..and he kept holding my hand to re-assure me :). Stella left after about 10 minutes and played with Leo for the next hour while Adam sat and kept her company.

I knew today would be a hard day with a 4:30am wake-up…a 3.5 hr flight to Brisbane, stop over, then another flight to Hervey Bay, and a 3 hour time difference. What I wasn’t prepared for was for myself and Leo to only sleep for about 3 hours of the night (no major reason…kids, they can’t sleep, they keep you up, vicious circle). So needless to say, I was prepared for a very exhausting day with lots of meltdowns (from myself included…) and the day did not disappoint. But just because you can’t take pictures of meltdowns…doesn’t it look like we are having the best time ever?

It’s all a lie…mere hrs before these pictures were taken everyone was screaming and hitting each other. But I still had to get documentation that we were here in Hervey Bay so there you have it.

Tomorrow morning we are getting on an 8am teeny tiny airplane to a teeny tiny island (apparently you can walk around it in 1 hr!) that is the southernmost tip of the Great Barrier Reef.

There is zero wifi, zero phones, all birds, turtles and snorkelling and very very basic accommodation (only 1 eco lodge on the island that allows only 70 people at a time). So needless to say it’s heaven for Adam and myself, like with the boat, I’m not sure how the kids will do (especially since Leo is terrified of snorkelling and that’s basically all there is to do on this island). We are there for 2 nights, you won’t hear from us. Wish me luck. (I know I sound like Debby downer, it’s 7pm here (10pm my body clock time) so I am going to bed and will hopefully wake up in a better space tomorrow.

Looking back on NZ…it was so full of activities every day, and Australia is much more of a lazy beach town vacation for 3 weeks that this is likely to feel like 2 completely different trips. I’ll get some sleep and re-orient. When you hear from me next I will be back to my grateful, happy self. For now…sleep.

First we start with last night’s sunset view….

Yesterday was our first day without a ‘planned’ activity. So we decided to take a tour of Arrowtown. Arrowtown is an old gold mining town, with relics and huts that date back to the 1800’s when Chinese migrants came to mine for gold to bring back home to their families.

But first…we stopped at a bagel/donut place for some good jewish bagel lox and cream cheese!

While in Arrowtown, Adam took the opportunity for some acupuncture and physio on his back, while the kids played in the local park

Then we explored the old Chinese settlement.

After Arrowtown, the kids were needing more of a kid friendly activity so we took them mini golfing back in Queenstown. Leo is going to insist on me posting the scores so here we go: Adam: 61, Leo: 62, Stella: 65, Erica: 75. (have I mentioned I HATE mini golfing?)

This morning was our last day in Queenstown, so of course we started back at the bagel place…

and then I wanted to get in a hike so we found a great 1.5hr hike near Queenstown that followed a beautiful river, up a mountain to a place called Sam Summers Hut (another dude who came to this area in the early 1900’s to mine for gold)

The halfway point – Sam Summer’s Hut!

Our afternoon activity – RAFTING!

We picked a ‘family friendly’ rafting company that was the only company that allowed <13 year olds down the river. The drive along the road was 45min of harrowing narrow steep cliffs on one side…

We were able to get out along the route to take a nice family pic of the surrounding mountains

I was impressed actually because they outfitted us with fleeces, full body wet suits, booties, a wind/rain breaker and then a lifejacket…so even though it was freezing, we were thankfully pretty warm (which was of course my major concern as I am ALWAYS cold)

I never normally say something like this about my kid…but honestly she was a ham. The entire bus group was cracking up the whole time by her antics both on and off the river.

The day is complete. Tomorrow we have a 6.5 hour drive up to Christchurch where we spend the next 2 nights before we head to sunny (and HOT) Australia!

Due to the flooding in the Fjordlands on the west coast of the south island…we had to cancel our 2 nights in Franz Josef glacier (as well as the train across the island back to Christchurch), so we decided to simply add a night in Queenstown and Christchurch.

I’m glad we did because Queenstown is gorgeous! Here is the view from the kitchen/living room of our Airbnb:

When we got here – we went right to a park whereupon Stella immediately found some friends to build ‘pirate hut’ out of sticks and trees that have made their way to shore (yup…Queenstown is also flooded!)

We took it easy for the rest of the night. Ok I’ll be real here, basically the kids both had a total meltdown in Madame Woo’s restaurant (if you are ever in Queenstown, this is a MUST) and we needed to get home quick to get them in bed. If we’re really being honest…that translated into Leo going right to sleep, and Stella staying up until about 11:30pm. 😦

The next morning (today) was way more eventful. I woke up pretty early and had some time to myself:

This morning was our scheduled helicopter ride up the mountain. Stella has been looking forward to this part of the trip for months.

Stella’s take: It was very comfortable in the helicopter. I was a little nervous at first because I have never been on a helicopter before and we went on a mountain and I threw at snowball at my mom’s face, it was so funny, and then we got back on the helicopter. There was a headset and we could talk to each other through the headset.

This was by far our most ‘indulgent’ experience of the trip but I figured if we were gonna do this anywhere, it should be here and Stella’s initial trepidation and then excitement was pretty epic.

From the mountain, we then did the next big adventure in Queenstown and took a gondola up the mountain followed by FIVE (5) luge rides down the mountain!

Then..we returned home…to….wait for it….a BABYSITTER! Yup, I scheduled a babysitter for 5 hours so that Adam and I could walk around town…

Go for an overpriced dinner…and then have THREEE bourbons! Yup…I like bourbon now. Can you tell?

And now we are home and the kids are going to bed after another eventful day in NZ!