Guest Post: Top 5 Things to Do in Australia

Kinds Canyon. Australia.

As mentioned yesterday, I am heading to Australia tonight! To get into the traveling spirit, I feel very privileged to feature a travel writing piece from Mackenzie of Frock. Paper. Scissors. Enjoy!

Since Australia is such a vast country (6^th largest in the world), it’s often hard to pick a favorite area or place to visit. From the Red Centre to the Blue Mountains, Australia has varying terrain  (and people!), all just as breathtaking and friendly as the next. The following are my favorite places to visit while in the Land Down Under.

1.     The frothy waters of the Whitsunday Islands 

About half way between Byron Bay and Cairns on the east coast, you’ll find a string of islands unlike anywhere in the world. From the small backpackers town of Airlie Beach, you board your sailboat from the Abel Point Marina.

Then be prepared to be in awe for the next three days.

Our boast was named the SV Whitehaven, but locals knew it as the SV Misbehavin. I met my “best mate” of my Aussie trip on this boat. His name was Elliot and he was the deckhand. The 14 people on our boat learned to sail, visited a barefoot bar, snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef (I saw Dori and Nemo!), sea kayaked and saw numerous sea turtles, and ate delicious Australian fare. This is an absolute must-see experience if going to Australia.

2.      The Red Centre

Although hard to get to in comparison with other Australian must-sees, the Red Centre is the true Australia and a trip here wouldn’t be complete without seeing the marvelous rock formations, 70 thousand-year-old cave drawings, and Aboriginal culture first-hand.

Although Uluru is the star of the show, Kings Canyon was my favorite experience. A grueling hike to the top, especially the first bit nicknamed “heart attack hill”, leads to a plateau overlooking hundred of miles of red earth.

 Took a 14-day tour from Darwin in the Top End to Adelaide in South Australia through OZexperience. The guiding company has amazing leaders, who teach you all about the nerdy science stuff during the day, and show you a “full on, flat out” night at pubs, etc. I met my best friends on the tour from Ireland and Denmark, and even some local Aussies. If you want to spend a substantial amount of time anywhere in OZ, book with them.

Link: www.ozexperience.com

3.      Melbourne Laneways

Melbourne is a city unlike any other. Americans make comparisons to it with that of San Francisco, but I have to disagree.  Although brimming with an exuberant art and café scene, there is really something for every season, and everyone. One minute you can be musing over fashion at an art gallery, and the next visiting Rod Laver tennis arena, then hit St. Kilda for a hippie beach vibe. I instantly fell in love with this city and you will too.

My favorite Melbourne (Mel-bun) feature is its small laneways, tucked back and hidden from the busy downtown streets perpendicular to them.  Easy to miss if you don’t know what you are looking for, walk down the cobblestone streets with cafés spilling out into them and you’ll know you’ve found it. Be sure to check out Flinders Street and Centre Place for the best coffee. And order a short flat white. They’ll know.

4.      Sydney’s Taronga Zoo

When you think Sydney, you don’t usually think wild animals, but you should. To get to the zoo, take a ferry from Circular Quay. Get perfect views of the Opera House on your left and a close up shot of the bridge while taking the breezy ferry to the Northeastern suburbs.

The zoo is not only packed with cuddly koalas, kangaroos, deadly snakes, and the like, the views of the Sydney harbor are divine. Visiting here was the best day I spent in Sydney. It’s also just a short trip to popular Manly beach when you are done with your zoo fix. Be sure to bring a student ID if you have one (you get $15 off zoo admission!)

5.      Byron Bay

Known for having the best and most “rippable” surfing waves in Australia, Byron was a small beach bum and hippie town in the 1960s. Because of it’s four beached each facing a different direction, no matter what the wind is doing, there’s always a beach to surf.

So, the hippies never left, and backpackers started coming, and today it’s a hub for beach life and cold brews. The nightlife starts around 7 pm and doesn’t stop until the sun comes up. Often times nights end with skinny dips in the ocean.

It’s not too difficult to escape the party scene though, as there are many hikes and action sports to keep you busy. We also saw a humpback whale breaching on our trek to the famous lighthouse.

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No matter where you go in Australia, you will find friendly locals and beautiful scenery. It's a place all it's own, and visitors and locals like it that way.

Guest Blogger Bio:

Mackenzie is a freelance travel writer and blogger from Portland, Oregon. She sees the world through rose trimmed glasses, loves nothing more than to take her golden retriever on walks in the snow, and has no problem with wearing white past Labor Day. Learn more about Mackenzie and her personal adventures on her blog Frock. Paper. Scissors.

My Next Adventure!

It's that time again. I am packing my bags and leaving my beloved city behind.  I'm heading west across the Pacific to see new sights and learn more about this amazing world we live in. I leave on a early evening flight on Wednesday to visit my friend Ali in Melbourne for twenty-six days!

Don't worry... updates from down under to come. 

And be sure to visit Underlined and Bold tomorrow to get a sneak peak into what it's like to backpack around the sixth largest country (by total area) in the world. Guest blogger Mackenzie will be sharing her insights on her top five favorite experiences while visiting Australia.

Cheers!

Abigail

Image.

Guest Post: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Travel

Photo Credit: Elizabeth Hudson
Ireland, 2011

As many of you know, I LOVE traveling! If you're in need of inspiration to purchase your next plane ticket, look no further. Today I am proud to feature a guest post by Elizabeth Hudson.  Elizabeth offers witty wonderful insights on travel through her latest trip to Ireland. 

Three weeks ago, I boarded a plane and landed on the west coast of Ireland, 6:25am local time. In the dark and rain of early morning, my companions and I managed to maneuver a little black Skoda along back country roads, hearts in our throats and white knuckles on the wheel as we stayed to the left of the center line.

There is nothing more unnatural than driving on what you have always thought of as the wrong side of the road.

We could have chosen safe and sound and less stressful alternatives: train, tour bus, an entire vacation in the city and its suburbs. But I didn’t want that. And I argued until both my companions agreed to a rental car [with full insurance, of course]. Even if it meant shifting gears with the left hand, learning to navigate sign posts in Irish, and driving on two-way roads scarcely wide enough for one car.

But it paid off.

Travel is nothing without risk. It’s about throwing off your own habits to embrace a culture vastly different from your own. It’s about learning to go about life differently.

The truest travel is not spent poolside at resorts but on the side streets, in the open markets, shoulder to shoulder with the locals.

And it changes you – for better and worse.

Let me explain . . .

The Good

Whether you find yourself in an advanced English-speaking city or the middle of nowhere in a developing country, sooner or later, you will be pushed from your comfort zone.

That’s the beauty of travel.

Though, it may hardly seem beautiful at the time.

In Blarney, we took a wrong turn out of the pub (too many pints, perhaps?) and found ourselves lost in a maze of dead ends and dark streets, with only the moon to light our way.

The beauty? That night we met the sweetest two women in the world. They refused to point us in the right direction, instead seeing us all the way back to our accommodation, lively stories and conversation along the way.

While waiting outside of a Galway store, an older gentleman, who spoke no English, only Irish, cornered me for half an hour, a conversation played out in hand gestures and an awkward moment where he wanted to touch my hair.

The jewel in this story? At the end of the half hour, the man’s [insanely] attractive [ginger] grandson met us on the street, blushing as he admitted his grandfather’s intentions: he thought his grandson needed an American girlfriend. I couldn’t have agreed more.

In Clifden, after checking into what seemed a pleasant B&B [on a poorly lit road], we realized too late that we had, in fact, checked into the Bates Motel, Norman Bates’ Irish doppelganger included. After a restless night and a few quick showers later, we moved on. Only then did one of my companions admit to waking up as someone had tried to get into the room around 3am. What she had sleepily attributed to a tipsy tourist at the wrong room, we suspected Norman of later.

The bright side? We checked out.

An adventure is never complete without a night of worrying whether you’ll make it to daylight. As I said, the best parts of travel are rarely planned.

The Bad

Traveling abroad helped me to realize one thing ever so clearly: as an American, you can never outrun the stereotype of the American.

As soon as we opened our mouths, our reputation preceded us.

We apologized for allowing both the Kennedy family and George W. Bush into politics.

We apologized for our extravagance, driving large cars and trucks and vans.

We apologized for our brash manner of living.

In every stereotype, there is a bit of truth, sometimes a great deal of truth. And when traveling to foreign locales, it’s important to remember the stereotypes of your culture, and it’s essential to travel with awareness. After all, we want to be the ones who prove the negative stereotypes wrong.

The Ugly

There is nothing uglier, nothing I tell you, than the post-travel blues.

Since I’ve been back on home soil, I’ve been unbearable, family and friends only too happy to point this out. And I know it.

Blame it on my personality, blame it on my age, but settling back into routine after the excitement of travel is akin to death. I assure you, there is no melodrama here.

Too often travelers are prepared only for the trip and not for the period that begins once the plane touches town and bags are unpacked. The period when you realize that your next vacation is a year [or more] off. 

The period when you realize you don’t know when the next trip will be.

I’ve spent the last few days in denial of being completely home, dreaming of another trip, a longer one, while my lap is full of MFA applications and my desk stained with coffee rings.

But there’s always the hope of plans going awry. And so far, 2012 is an awfully empty year.

Perfect for a little [or a lot] of travel.

Guest Blogger Bio:

Elizabeth Hudson is a freelance writer 

and professional dreamer in pursuit of 

professional author status. She speaks

with a slight twang, has no problem 

incorporating chocolate into breakfast,

 and will argue to the death that U2 is 

the single greatest band since the dawn

of creation. 

Learn more about Elizabeth by visiting her blog!

http://storywrought.wordpress.com/

Summer and Lemon Meringue Pie!

by guest blogger Emma

Every August my family piled into the car to make the 7 hour drive to upstate NY to visit my Grandparents . I loved that week, heading to the old farm where the air I always thought smelled fresher than my Connecticut hometown. So crisp and clean.  I loved wandering through the endless fields, bonfires next to the old barn, sitting on the front porch at night looking up at the sky that appeared to go on forever, and eating my Grandfather's corn hand picked from the fields.  

One thing in particular though that I always remember is my Grandma's pies, her Lemon Meringue Pie to be exact.  Yes there were lots of other baked goods. A chocolate cake that forever goes down in history, blueberry pies each Thanksgiving, and chocolate chip cookies that my Grandmother seemed to have strategically waiting for me when I arrived, as if she knew just what would hit the spot.  But for some reason, her Lemon Meringue always stood out to me. 

Sneaking out onto the porch I would peer into the little refrigerator, where all the pies seemed to magically end up, hidden from my touch.  And there it would be, the Lemon Meringue Pie that forever stole my heart.  Waiting every night after dinner I would hope that tonight would be the night when I could dig my fork into the bright yellow pie savoring every lemony flavor.  And eventually it would happen, as I finished off every last crumb, sadly knowing it would be another year before my Grandmother's Lemon Meringue Pie crossed my taste buds.

Over the past month as the summer weather has been creeping into Chicago, I've found myself craving the pie that my Grandmother made for us each summer.  The other day I decided to channel my inner Grandma and made my very own Lemon Meringue Pie.  While it'll never be the same, if I sit with the windows open and close my eyes, feeling the breeze run through the kitchen I like to imagine that I'm 10 again, sitting in my Grandmother's kitchen with a fresh piece a pie in front of me. 

Here's my own version of the recipe if you find yourself needing a lemony treat!

For the Lemon Curd:

3 Eggs 3 Egg Yolk (save the egg whites for the meringue

1 3/4 c. Sugar

12 T. Butter

3/4 C. Lemon Juice (fresh squeezed tastes better, the equivalent of 4 lemons)

2 T. Lemon Zest

1. In a saucepan, combine 3 eggs with 3 egg yolk, saving the egg whites for later.  Add the sugar, butter, and lemon juice into the pan cooking over medium-low.  

2. Cook the lemon curd, trying to not let it boil so that the eggs do not curdle, until it thickens.  You know it's done when the curd can coat the back of a spoon.  This should take about 15 minutes, make sure you stir consistently. 

3. Let the lemon curd cool in the fridge for about an hour before baking.  

For the Crust:

1 3/4 C. Crushed Graham Crackers

1/3 C. Melted Butter

1/4 C. Sugar

1. Crush the graham crackers (can be done by putting them in a ziploc bag and smooshing it with your hands).

2. In a bowl add the melted butter and sugar to the crushed graham crackers and mix. 

3. In a pie pan push the graham cracker mix into the pan to form a crust, going about an inch up the sides. 

4. Cook the crust for 8 min. at 375 F. Let the crust cool. 

For the Meringue:

3 Egg Whites

1/2 C. Sugar

1. In a glass bowl mix the egg whites with a hand mixer gradually adding the sugar in a little bit at a time as you mix the egg whites.  

2. Mix the egg whites until soft peaks form.

And to put it all together...

1. Once the crust has cooled pour the lemon curd into the crust.  

2. Put the meringue on top of the lemon curd, using the back of a spoon or fork to form soft peaks.

3. Bake in the over at 400 F for about 10 min, or until the meringue is slightly brown.

4. Enjoy!

Emma's Chicago Top 5

by guest blogger Emma


Having lived in Chicago for 6 years now, I've discovered many things that make me happy about living here.  I've compiled a list of a few things that I not only enjoy doing in the city, but various places to check out yourself!

1. The Chicago Lakefront

One of the things I miss the most about the east coast is being around nature.  I miss being able to hike on the weekends, ski in the winter, and run the trails in the summer.  While, yes, the midwest is known for it's corn fields and flat landscape, I really wish there was more nature around the city.  One of the reasons I love Lakeview so much is how close it is to the water and the parks.  I've always found it to be the best place to go to get away from the noise of the city and just relax with a book.  If you walk down to the Belmont Harbor and all the way to the end of the harbor, you get an awesome view of the Chicago skyline looking south.  While it gets pretty crowded in the summer, the best time to enjoy these views is before a lot of the boats start to dock in the harbor around Memorial Day.  

2. Cooking

Having just finished the first year of my master's program, I have a glorious month off before summer school starts, to do basically nothing.  While doing nothing is only fun for so long, one thing I have begun to once again enjoy is cooking.  One of my favorite little stores to go to in Lakeview for food is called Milk and More located on Diversey, just west of Clark.  Despite the new Trader Joes that was just put in across the street, Milk and More is the perfect corner store to find organic ingredients to cook healthy dinners and top it off with a beer from their wide selection. They also have a deli with sandwiches in the back.  Despite being a vegetarian, it hasn't stopped me from enjoying one of their pretzel bread veggie sandwiches!

3. Movies in the park

Once June hits and the beautiful warm weather nights come upon us, the Chicago Parks District sets up Movies in the Park all over the city.  I've attended these the past few summers that I've lived here and the movies have ranged from oldies, to more recent releases.  I usually go to the park with a couple friends, a picnic blanket, and a homemade dinner to enjoy the movie with hundreds of others in the grass.  Best of all, it's free!

4. Running

I love running, plain and simple.  Sure I have my days where it feels like 3 miles has turned into 30, but as a whole I love the feeling of being outside in the city, enjoying some music, while bouncing along the pavement.  Living in Lakeview, I'm a bit biased, but I think there's no other place to run in the city than along the lakeshore path.  Three years ago I ran the Chicago Marathon with my sister and used the lakeshore path for the majority of our training runs.  It's not only beautiful, but I've always found it to be motivating seeing all the other runners/walkers/bikers, and the ever questionable rollerblader along the way.  The ever constant view of the city as you run along the beaches, snaking past Navy Pier, through the boat harbors, around the beautiful Shedd Aquarium, and over to Soldier field always reminds me of not only my love of running, but my love of the city.  

5. And then there's Oscar....
If you know me, you know my dog Oscar.  Or at least my obsession with him.  Oscar, who hates the rain, has an aversion to being brushed, is afraid of the el, loves treats, and drags me through the city on our runs, always makes me smile.  I rescued him two years ago from the Animal Care League in Oak Park through the PAWS Angels with Tails event held a few times in the city each year.  Chicago is a perfect place to own a dog. After I adopted my mild mannered dog, who turned out to be anything but mild mannered, I realized that the dog park was a great place for him to get out his energy.  One of our favorites is the Montrose dog beach, just off of Montrose Ave. and Lakeshore.  The gated in beach is always full of friendly humans and happy dogs.  Even though we quickly discovered that Oscar is a terrible swimmer, it doesn't stop him from enjoying a good run around the beach.   If you ever hear a high screeched barking when passing the Montrose dog beach, you just know that Oscar is having a good time. 

Guest Blogger!!

Over the next month or so, my good friend Emma will be my first guest blogger on Underlined and Bold. Emma's blog posts will provide insight into the life of a twentysomething gal living in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago. Enjoy!

I'm Emma, former dog walker turned social work student living in the windy city.  As an east coast
transplant, I have lived in the city for 6 years now and have learned to love it here despite
the somewhat (ok very) cold winters. I can be found running along the lake front with my four-legged
furry friend Oscar,cooking vegetarian meals with friends, or sitting on a porch
with a cold New Belgium beer!