The Beginning

No, your eyes are not deceiving you, Erin Malone has finally begun blogging. Oh god, the pressure of a good blog.

Hello everyone! Bamford and I have just finished our first week in Australia. To give you a quick idea of how it is going thus far, Paddy has dubbed this trip "Erin's World Sleeping Tour".

We started the adventure on a very very long journey to Singapore (12 and a half hours). Watched a few movies, enjoyed a good cottage pie and then slept for about 8 hours. I don't think I have ever slept that well on a flight. We hung out in Singapore for just a couple of hours where I spent way to much money in duty free and then off we were again for another long hull to Brisbane. Watched Australia on the flight (appropriate and very good, highly recommend!) and got more sleep.

When we got to Brisbane we headed to Paddy's friend Grants flat who was kind enough to take us in for two days. Once in the flat....we slept again. Until 2 in the afternoon. haha. Once Paddy finally dragged me out of bed we went out an explored the city. We really enjoyed Brisbane. It's a very laid back city with a man made beach in the middle of it. Gotta love going to a beach for a quick dip on your lunch break. We strolled around the streets for a few hours checking out the sites and the stores. Then the craziest thing happened. At about 5:03 the streets were swarmed with young professionals. Literally every building in the city was spilling out workers. No one seemed to work past 5 o'clock. I need to adopt this lifestyle.

We went out on the town the two nights we were there, led by Grant and his Aussie chick, Elissa. Enjoyed some fantastic Chinese food and explored a new bar that had just opened in the Valley called CouldLand. The last night we were there we were out until 2 am. Our first late night! wohoo. But as the jet-lag finally starting kicking in, I was wide awake at 6 and couldn't fall back asleep. Not so cool.

Elissa, Grant, Paddy, Erin on the lash in Brisbane.

That morning we caught a flight to Airlie Beach where we would catch a ferry to Hamilton Island. This was going to be our one spoiled night..... we went from sleeping on a plane to barely sleeping on a futon and then finally treated ourselves to a 4* star hotel on a gorgeous island in the Whitsundays. We walked in the room to find that it had the most breathtaking view we have ever seen. My attention however was immediately turned to the two incredibly comfortable king size beds that took up the room. I contemplated Paddy and I having one each to maximize the sleeping experience. (See Dad, of course we are sleeping in separate beds.) ;-)

View from our hotel room.

Feeling the temptation of the awaiting beds, we immediately left the room to explore the island. It was like a mini-Disneyland. Oddly creepy in the fact that the island is in its own little self contained world. People drive around in golf carts and they all seem to know each other. The island has everything you would need: one grocery store, one doctor, one fish and chip shop, one post office, one Italian restaurant, one seafood restaurant, one put-put-golf course. It was entertaining to say the least. We opted for pizza on the harbor that evening and watched the sun set over the sail boats rocking in the bay. After strolling around the harbor, we headed back to enjoy our luxury hotel room a bit more. Now, I have to say what happened next has not happened to me since I was about 8 years old...... so, no, this is not routine and I promise I am sometimes a cool person. We walked into the room chilled out for a little bit and then I passed out cold at 8 pm. Yes, 8pm. And did not wake up again until 7 the next morning. It was awesome. This is where Paddy dubbed the trip "Erin's World Sleeping Tour".

That morning we decided to hike up to the second highest point of the island. I took some convincing to get up there as signs at the beginning of the trail said beware of wildlife. I was not planning on meeting a poisonous snake so early on our trip. We made it safely up the hill though and the views were well worth it. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and you could clearly make out the reef beneath the tourqoise water. We could see a handful of the other Whitsunday Islands including the one that has been converted into a golf course. Man's dream come true, an island where the only thing to do is golf.

View from the second highest point on Hamilton Island.

We finished our adventure on Hamilton Island by relaxing a few hours on the beach and getting our first sunburn! Naturally. Then took the last ferry out to head back to Airlie Beach.