Tuesday, May 11, 2010

H-moon Recap: How rain affected our plans

Our honeymoon was pretty amazing.  Though I have to admit, I felt guilty about traveling halfway around the world just to lay around and be lazy.  We didn't really do any 'touristy' type things.  I really wanted to see the Australia Zoo while we there and we considered it, but we just decided to hang around and not do too much.  Our h-moon was mostly about laying out at the beach and surfing.  Unfortunately, we didn't do as much of that in Australia as we hoped since it rained a little much.

If you remember, the honeymoon was all Mr Fix It.  And he did not believe in making reservations.  We booked our airline flights through his credit card air miles and we did book a one night stay at a resort in Australia as well as 3 nights at a resort in Bali, but the rest of the time we were there, we had no plans and no reservations!  So once we landed in Brisbane, Australia, we got a rental car (of course one big enough to fit Mr Fix It's surfboards and we were surprised to fit them into a regular mid-sized car) and headed straight out of Brisbane towards the Gold Coast and Surfer's Paradise.

For whatever reason, Mr Fix It didn't want to stay in Surfer's Paradise.  He had been talking about it a lot but I guess he felt it was too expensive.  So we went a little further south to a surf spot called Burleigh Beach. 

I'll share more about our hotels and such soon, but for now, I'll just share some pics of the weather and surf.  The first three days we were in Burleigh, it rained off and on was cloudy.  That didn't stop Mr Fix It from still making sure he got out in the surf for at least a couple hours.  As soon as we rented our hotel, we headed across the street to Burleigh Beach and he jumped in.

This is a pic of the beach where he would surf.  The waves prevent you from seeing that there are actually about 60+ guys out in the water.  It was like that almost every day, even on the rainy days.  It was not this nice on the first afternoon we were there (this was taken a few days later), so I just laid on a towel in my pants and a sweater and took a little nap while Mr Fix It surfed :)



Here's another pic of the same beach spot where we would go when the weather was nice.  That little building on the right was a little place with several different restaurants.  We thought about going there to eat one day but ended up deciding to head somewhere else as we thought it was a little pricey and not very enticing:


In the coming days, we drove down the coast even further south out of Queensland and into New South Wales to look for more surf spots and beaches.  Here are some pics from a few places we stopped.  As you can see, the weather was not great and there weren't a whole lot of surfers or surf.  But they were still very pretty spots and beaches.


This spot was one of the more popular places called Kirra Beach.  It is a popular place and had about 100+ guys running around trying to catch waves right up until the sunset!  I didn't even get a picture of the chaos of the surfers just to the right of where this shot was taken.



The clouds in these shots (in Austalia) are just simply amazing!


This was a shot we took while driving down to NSW. It shows how ridiculously rainy it was. I took it through the car window because Mr Fix It thought it was cool how they carved a tunnel out of this mountainside:




Even with the rain, Mr Fix It did have a few fun days of surf in Australia.  And I had one or two good days laying out on the beach, too. 

In Bali, it was a totally different story.  There was a brief shower the first night we arrived in Bali while we were out shopping and checking out the town.  But the entire rest of the week we were there, we had beautifully sunny and WARM weather.  Humid, too, but it wasn't that bad.  Here is one shot of the sunset in Bali from the last resort we stayed at in Uluwatu. 


More to come with video and such - overall, the weather and surf was pretty good in both places. We didn't mind a little rain. The trip was still relaxing. Funny thing was, we both admitted that we totally overpacked! Since we were gone for two weeks we thought we'd need several outfits, but ended up not wearing probably half of what we each brought! :)

10 comments:

Heather said...

Wow - absolultely gorgeous, even with the rain! Australia and Bali are two places me and my fiance would LOVE to travel to someday. Can't wait for more of your recaps!

Heather said...

It looks beautiful, and Australia is definitely high on my list of places to visit. And I love the spontaneity of not making a lot of reservations beforehand! Of course, I am way too much of a planner to give that a try, but I bet it would be fun.

Kim said...

Gorgeous! The rainy photos remind me of our trip to Costa Rica in January 2008 - it would pour on and off, but the weather was still warm and great for swimming and even hiking through the rainforest :)

My fiance loves to be spontaneous about making reservations. I love to plan. I planned our entire trip to Egypt including inner-country flights, hotels and restaurants before we left. We are going to Belize next month, and I think I'm going to be spontaneous this time. I'm a little freaked out by it, but it has worked for him before so I'm going to trust him!

Morgan said...

So beautiful, even with the rain clouds! And wow, Bali, that last pic is amazing! I could never do a trip with no reservations though, since travel planning is a hobby of mine!

Chocolate Lover said...

What beautiful pics! Would love to go to that pat of the world! I think everyone overpacks for such trips :)

little luxury list said...

Love your Australia pictures! Ooh and I just booked a trip to Bali - working on the hotel now!

sandy+bails said...

you didnt miss out on much not staying in surfers paradise.

the beaches where you were are alot nicer and not as busy.

your photos are amazing

Nishant said...

Wow - absolultely gorgeous

free classified india

Discovery Street said...

I studied abroad in Australia and truly miss that place. it was one of the most beautiful places ive ever been...surfers paradise is really touristy and expensive...and not the "real australia" in my opinion...looks like you found some amazing beaches!!

Mrs T said...

I ALWAYS over pack.

Sorry it rained so much! Wish you had been closer to us so we could have hung out while the Mr surfed!

wedding tickers