31
October
2009
Before I get into telling you all about my exciting trip to Cairns, let me just start by letting you all know that I am running in the Foxtel Lap as part of the ‘BCG Bolts’ on November 13th. It’s in support of the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, so please donate if you can by clicking here.
The Murdoch Childrens Research Institute discovers ways to prevent and treat conditions affecting babies, children and adolescents, helping them lead happy, healthy lives.
Now that I’ve said that, back to my trip. I got back yesterday (just in time for a work Oktoberfest party 
) from 2 weeks up in Cairns. The trip was to do with my work with Indigenous Enterprise Partnerships, but there was a lot of fun involved – right from the start since I was upgraded to business class at the airport 
. My first week there involved taking part in the induction week for secondees from Westpac, IBM and KPMG going to Indigenous Organisations in Cape York and Cairns for a month. This included a full day of four wheel drive training, cultural induction, and some free time exploring Cairns. We had a few fun nights out, although my favourite night was at a little backpacker restaurant/bar called the Green Ant Cantina where we had some drinks and Mexican food.
For my first night there, only a few secondees had arrived, so we headed up with Rose (the Cairns IEP director) to Djarragun College’s (a local Indigenous School) new wilderness centre where we had a BBQ and stayed the night in the dorms by the river. It was a fun night and a good way to get to know the people who had already arrived and start getting used to the big Land Cruisers that we would be driving up to the Cape.
On Thursday afternoon we set off North for our camping weekend on Cape York with a 3 hour drive to Cape Tribulation in the Daintree rainforest. It was a beautiful drive, although since the region has been quite dry, the river crossings mostly involved driving across dry river banks. At Cape Trib we spent the night in dorms at a little place by the beach called PK’s jungle village. It was a gorgeous spot because the rainforest goes right to the beach, but unfortunately the food in the restaurant there was disappointing and cold – I guess they weren’t used to dealing with a group of 25 people in 9 cars!
We woke up bright and early Friday morning and drove a little way along the rd for breakfast on the beach right at Cape Tribulation which was very beautiful, before continuing our drive to a community called Wujal-Wujal. At Wujal-Wujal, some local Aborigal ladies, Frances and Gloria, took us for a walk to a waterfall called Bloomfield Falls and told us a little bit about there culture which was interesting. We then continued on to lunch in Cooktown where we had some delicious grilled Spanish Mackerel and Chips. Cooktown was beautiful and on the water, but like everywhere else in the region, there was no swimming due to Crocodiles and Stingers! Cooktown is named after Captain Cook who stopped there for a few weeks to repair his ship in 1770. A lot of English words for Australian animals come from the local language there (Guugu Yimithirr) from the interactions during this time – for example Kangaroo which is how the word gangurru was written.
From Cooktown we continued our drive further up the Cape to Lakefield National Park where we camped at the Kennedy River. The afternoon drive took us over some quite treacherous roads – it was serious 4wding! The camp site by the river was stunning (Despite not being able to swim!). We spent the evening sitting on our swags (little camping mattresses) chatting, and having a delicious camp dinner of steaks, sausages and vegetable stew all cooked on the fire by Vit, the Westpac Cape York Secondee Program Manager. Vit was a real bushman – despite his Albanian heritage! After dinner we cooked some Marshmallows on the fire and played a game of celebrity heads which was surprisingly fun! It was beautiful sleeping under the stars and I had a surprisingly good nights rest!
Saturday morning we had a huge breakfast of bacon and eggs before packing up camp – we weren’t having lunch that day because of our schedule so I made sure to eat heaps Once we were all ready to go we headed to Lama Lama country where we were fortunate to be getting shown around the Aboriginal land by some of the locals! It was beautiful and varied land – almost desert like, to rain forest, to beach! We even got a chance to freshen up in the ocean near Port Stewart since the beach had a large shallow area so crocs weren’t an issue! We did have a funny thing happen though. All the cars had UHF radios so we could communicate on the rd, and coincidentally we had been tuned to the channel that Lama lama used to re-broadcast over a wide area. On the long drives our radios tended to end up being used for games like I Spy and other silly conversations, so when we arrived at the Lama-lama station they had a chuckle since they had been listening to all our conversations!
That night we camped at a site that they called ’safari camp’ that they were planning on doing up so that tourists could pay to camp there. We had a great evening there with another big camp dinner (including heaps of prawns) where we were joined by a lot of the locals. We then sat around the camp fire having more marshmallows before settling in to our swags. Unfortunately that night I barely slept because of mosquitos!!
Sunday morning we were up really early to get on the road for the long drive back to Cairns. Unfortunately my car had been the one carrying the prawns and ended up stinking of prawns, but the trip had to go on!! An hour in to the drive, the secondees going to Coen headed there separate way but there were still 8 cars that continued on to a little town called Musgrave for breakfast. The car of secondees going to Pormpuraaw, as well as Vit, then headed their separate way leaving 6 cars to continue.
About an hour after leaving breakfast however there was some unexpected excitement. One of the cars hit some soft sand and rolled! Luckily no-one was hurt (a miracle if you look at the photos), but it still left everyone very shocked. We got the 3 secondees who had been in the car to a nearby road station where they waited for an ambulance to check them out as well as the police. In the mean time I got everyone water and suncream and we got all of the bags out of the rolled car – apparently it often takes a few weeks to get a tow truck and by that stage everything including tires is usually gone! Having heard that, I also took the initiative to take the spare tyre from the crashed car and switch it with a flat tyre that my car was carrying since we’d got a flat on the second day
Once the police had seen the car and recorded the GPS co-ordinates, we got back on the road. 2 more cars headed to Cooktown, which left only 3 cars of Cairns secondees, Rose, and I to head back to Cairns. The accident had delayed us a few hours so we didn’t get to Cairns until 8, and still had to unload the cars and return them so it was a tiring evening. Overall however it was an amazing and eye-opening trip!
This week I’ve been working with Rose in Cairns on IEP’s Indigenous Employment strategy for the region. The CEO (Ralph) and Chairman (Ian) of a West Australian Indigenous Affairs Foundation called Wunan were also staying so I helped Rose with hosting them. It involved sitting in on lots of interesting meetings, such as with the Principal of Djarragun College, Jean Illingworth, and some local Aboriginal leaders. Rose and I also met with local Government representatives and the Djarragun transition to work manager. The Cairns secondees all started work, but we still caught up for dinner every night which was good fun! All in all a very productive trip – and I even managed to get a tan!
Last night I got back just in time to put on a silly outfit for the BCG Oktoberfest party at the Lowenbrau in the Rocks where I had a few Steins of beer and caught up with friends from work. Now I’m looking forward to a quiet weekend with Jacks who I haven’t seen for 2 weeks!
Have a look at all the photos in the gallery!
Hope you’re all well.
Ben
Posted: Travel
10
October
2009
Over the long weekend, we ticked off yet another Australian state with a visit to South Australia’s capital of Adelaide. We barely made it to the airport in time Saturday morning due to an alarm clock mishap, but luckily Ben saved the day and woke up just in time!
Saturday we walked around the entire city, headed down to the beach at Glenelg for lunch and explored that area for the afternoon. That evening we dressed up for a night on the town with our first stop at Mesa Lunga – a trendy wine and tapas bar. We had a few glasses of Adelaide Hills/Barossa Valley wines and a bit of banter before dinner at Adelaide’s infamous Ying Chow (a cheap Chinese joint that is legendary with the locals) We then made our way to The Bar and finished the evening at Lotus Bar.
Sunday morning we picked up our rental car and made our way to the hills for a day exploring the famous wine region. We had a delicious breakfast at a tiny little providore cafe (the kind I dream about opening one day!) A couple of ks down the road was our first winery – Petaluma. The cellar door and fine dining restaurant are inside what’s known as the old Bridgewater Mill which is actually still in operation. Their extensive wine selection took nearly an hour to go through before we headed downstairs to check out their champagne room. Some of the bottles had been then for nearly 15 years (with the dust to prove it) and would be there for another twenty! The old German town of Hahndorf was our next stop. We strolled along the main street, had lunch and made our way to the next winery on our list – Shaw and Smith. Michael Hill-Smith is actually a friend of Ian and Siena’s and he’d helped with our initial planning of the trip and set up the special tour at Petaluma.
He met us at his winery to guide us through our tasting which as you can imagine added so much to the experience. Ben and I channelled our inner John Allen while he explained the intricacies of the wine, the history of the winery, his personal journey as a wine maker/businessman. After nearly two hours there Ben and I headed back to Adelaide with our 6 bottles from Shaw and Smith.
Monday was reserved for the Barossa Valley which is famous for its Shiraz so as you can imagine I’ve been dreaming about since we’d booked our vacay! The drive in itself was a treat. Our first stop was Yalumba which is actually owned by Michael’s cousin. They had a huge cellar door with a gorgeous fire place. We’d decided to take advantage of the sunlight and make ourselves a picnic for lunch so our next stop was the Barossa Valley Cheese Shop to pick up some freshly made Goat’s Brie before heading down the road to Penfolds. We purchased a delicious bottle of Bin 28 to add to our ‘cellar’.
Maggie Beer’s Farm was next on the list to pick up some more essential ingredients for our picnic before heading to the charming boutique winery – Hentley Farms. We’d tasted their Zinfindel at Mesa Lunga the first night and I fell in love with it. So we tracked it down and to our delight it was the perfect setting for our picnic. We purchased a bottle of the Zin and enjoyed a lunch of fresh cheese, wholegrain bread and vegetable pate overlooking the picturesque vineyards.
Our last stop was Jacob’s Creek which was a bit of a disappointment after our special experience at Hentley Farms. The cellar door was actually referred to as the ‘Visitors Centre’ which I’m sure paints the picture perfectly for you.
We flew back the next morning bright and early. Ben rushed straight back to work and I was off to my health retreat in the Hunter.
It was a fabulous trip and we had such a great time. Let us know if you want some tips for wine tasting in Adelaide!
There is much more to report on…but in the interest of keeping these as short as possible we’ll hold off on that…
Lots of love,
Jac and Ben
Posted: General, Travel
7
August
2009
It’s only been a little over a month since we got back from our wonderful holiday in the US, but last weekend Ben and I were off again for the weekend. We headed down with a few friends of ours – Marilia, Ryan, Byron and Ciersley – to the snow. The Station Resort in Jindabyne had a room for 6 people for $99/night which was an awesome deal, and we also put the BBQ in the car so we didn’t need to go out for dinner, which actually made it a rather affordable weekend. Also, with Ben still based in Canberra, it’s only a 2 hour drive to the snow which is very convenient.
The snow at Perisher was actually quite good all weekend, although it was pretty cold and blizzardy at the top of the mountain. It was Ciersley’s first time at the snow, and Marilia is a beginner too, so Byron, Ben and I did quite a lot of riding together. Ryan was being a gentleman and being patient with Marilia
Despite it being a year since we were last on the snow, we all got back into it pretty quickly and were flying down the slopes and hitting the terrain park in no time! I was even trying some little jumps, and got some good photos of Ben and Byron doing some jumps, rails, and drops. On the Sunday, Ben even landed a 360 which he was really excited about.
The weekend flew by, and on Sunday afternoon it was time to head off. We drove straight from the slopes back to Ben’s hotel in Canberra where we relaxed and showered before heading out for an early dinner. I then had to hit the road to head back to Sydney, and sadly had to leave Ben in Canberra!! 
We’re thinking of heading back down for another weekend soon, so we’ll see what happens.
Thanks so much to all of you that donated to us for the City2Surf. City2Surf is on Sunday so we’re both looking forward to that.
Hope you’re all well!
Jacqueline and Ben
Posted: General, Travel
28
June
2009
Jacqueline and I landed back in (cold) Sydney yesterday morning, and can’t believe that the wonderful holiday is over and we are both back to work tomorrow! It really has been so much fun!
Our last few days in LA were sunny and relaxing. We spent some time by the pool at the Altadena Country Club relaxing and working on our tans for a final few days before heading back to cold and wintery Sydney, as well as heading to Manhattan Beach which was beautiful.
On Tuesday night we had some friends over for a final ‘party’ before heading home to catch up with everyone once more. I even got a keg to make it feel like an American party to me and a friend of ours, Eddie, brought over some delicious home made Hummus.
On Wednesday night, we had our ‘last supper’ with the Fisher Fam at Mc Cormick and Schmick in Old Town where we had some delicious seafood and wine, before going for a stroll through Pasadena City Hall. Bonnie and Lou treated us to a delicious bottle of wine – one that Allee was even served but Jacqueline nearly missed out on by having her wine glass removed as we sat down!
To everyone that we caught up with on the trip, it was so great to see you! To everyone that we didn’t get a chance to see, hopefully we can catch up sometime soon – We’re going to be back in LA for Christmas.
I just want to say thanks one more time to Bonnie and Lou for taking us to Maui – it really exceeded my expectations and was heaps and heaps of fun!
Love to all
Ben and Jacqueline
Posted: Travel
24
June
2009
We’ve had quite an exciting couple of days here in Maui since our last update – we’ve snorkelled, went scuba diving on Molokini and Lanai, drove up to Haleakala crater and got stranded on the east side of the island for the night!
As Ben mentioned, we had a delightful day of fun in the sun at Honolua and snorkelling here in our cove with tons of turtles! The next day (Wednesday) we headed down to Maalea to catch the ‘Pride of Maui’ out to Molokini for our first two dives. About half way through our first dive, we spotted a giant manta ray swimming about ten feet above us! Honestly, its wing span was about 8 to 10 feet! It was giant! Mom and Vikkee were a little spooked but as you probably guessed Dad and Ben were off to get a look up close and personal. We swam with it for about 3 minutes before it unfortunately left us for other waters. The next dive was a bit uneventful after the manta spotting and the visibility was only about 20 feet and quite murky.
Thursday, Allee and I took Ben up to the top of the ‘active’ volcano here on the east side of Maui called Haleakala. Its last eruption was in 1790 which formed Makena beach on the south side of the island. The crater at the top (elevation 10,000 feet) looks like the surface of another planet! The temperature at the top was 40 degrees (Fahrenheit) colder and the winds were pretty intense, but we walked around for a while. I even got kicked out of the visitors centre for eating an apple…oops! We headed back home for the afternoon and snorkelled with the incredible turtles here in the cove.
That night we took Ben to his first original Hawaiian Luau where he and Allee were forced on stage to perform the Hula. Don’t worry – I took video! The food was delicious, the drinks were abundant and the dancing impressive.
The next day we were up to hit the surf just south of Lahaina. Allee was a natural and stood up on the very first wave she caught. We lasted two hours surfing the waves at the base of a gorgeous valley (unfortunately we can’t say the same for our sun block!). It was an extraordinary setting – the island of Molokai in the distance and the sharp cliffs and deep valley on the Maui shore. Check out the photos – words just don’t do it justice. We had a picnic on the beach and then strolled along Front Street in Lahaina for the afternoon. We also went to Mom’s favourite bar – the Mai Tai lounge for one of their famous Mai Tai’s on the water. it was a gorgeous afternoon. That night we headed up to a family friend, Mike’s, house which is just in the hills above Lahaina. We had a swim in the pool and took in the incredible views over a few drinks, and a dinner of absolutely delicious smoked ribs! We also kept their 2 kids busy because Bubba started a game of calling them ‘Smoochface’ which turned in to an all out battle of name calling! They were also impressed by Ben’s ability to eat anything, including 2 kinds of cheese on 1 cracker!!
Saturday morning was an early wake up call for a dive off the coast of Lanai – another island about a hour from Maui. The island is slowly being built up and currently only has a population of 2,500 and is owned by a member of the Murdoch family. The shore of Lanai is absolutely breathtaking. The black volcanic cliffs dramatically drop into the water to create a rough coastline where the powerful surf pounds into the rocks. Aside from the manta spotting, the diving at Lanai was a cut above that of Molokini and definitely made Hawaiian diving compete with that of Belize and Bali. Our first dive was gorgeous and you could see for miles! We checked out a new species of lobster that had only recently been spotted in Hawaii, and has only been seen at Lanai, living in this specific lava flow. For our second dive we dove what is known as ‘Cathedrals’ because the lava flow actually created a mini cathedral underwater – complete with an alter! It is essentially a cavern where the sunshine beamed in through a hole in the ‘roof’ like the sun shining in through stained glass windows in a cathedral. As we entered the cathedral, we were greeted by three friendly white tipped reef sharks who seemed to follow us throughout the dive. It was an incredible experience (thanks Dad for setting that up!). We’d worked up quite the appetite by the time we got back to shore so we headed to Cheeseburger in Paradise for some…ok a ton…of food.
Our last day we went to breakfast for father’s day in Napili Bay and then rented boards again and hit the somewhat non-existent surf at Puamana beach. After about an hour we decided to head to the north of the island to show Ben yet another beach and for a change of scenery. After a few hours there we started the journey back home but unfortunately for the island and for us, there was a huge brushfire (or bushfire for the aussies) engulfing the southern tip of West Maui (Maui is made up of two large mountains with an isthmus in between connecting east and west Maui) and all roads to Lahaina, Kaanapali, Napili and our place were blocked! This was about 3:30 in the afternoon and the authorities said to try again in 2-4 hours. So to kill some time we went to Iao canyon and hiked up to the lookout and back down to the waterfall. We then decided to head down to Kihei which is on the southern bit of East Maui for a sunset swim. With the roads still closed (it was 7:30 by now) we went to dinner at a local Japanese place. The fire at this stage was meant to be under control by 9PM. After a nice long dinner we called the information line and found out that the road would not be opening until morning! We jumped in the car and drove to the first hotel we could find with vacancy and luckily got two rooms for the seven of us. Our phone rang at 3:30 am and Dad was rallying the troops to get a head start on the drive back before the other stranded tourists hit the road to get back to West Maui. Without any traffic and the road freshly opened we made it back to our house.
That about sums it up – which is fitting as I’m sitting on the plane on our way back to LA. It was tough to leave the relaxing, stress free island lifestyle knowing that our tans and care free attitude will soon be replaced by the winter rain and office dwelling in Sydney. At least we have Spice Temple to look forward to upon our return!
We have a few more days in LA before we head back down under – throwing a small get together at my parent’s place and hitting the beach to soak in the summer sun just once more.
That’s all for now!
Aloha!
Jacqueline and Ben
Posted: Travel
