Yesterday, we landed back in Houston after 13 fun days in Australia. It’s always bittersweet to end a fun vacation – sad to leave the sunny beaches and sweet friends, but happy to return to your own house and hug your loved ones nearby. We missed our connection in LAX, which wasn’t fun, but managed to get on a plane five hours later after being on the standby list. My parents scooped us up from the airport and dropped us at the house, where we unpacked, ate a quick dinner, bathed Isla (she said, “Love you, Mama” during the bath for the first time and I died!!), and then fell asleep. That is, until 10:15pm, when Isla decided she wanted to get up, eat some oatmeal and have a party until around 2:50am. So yeah, jet lag. It’ll be another early bedtime for us all tonight!

Recapping our last few days:

On Wednesday, we ate breakfast at our favorite spot – The Roast Office, then went to the wharf to get the ferry to Taronga Zoo. We ate lunch at a restaurant there called The View (great food and amazing view of the harbour). After we went home and showered, we took the ferry into the CBD (downtown) for dinner at The Malaya in Darling Harbour. Isla was in some sort of mood, so it probably wasn’t the best day to take her to a fancy restaurant, but we survived and the food was absolutely incredible. Afterwards, we walked for about 20 minutes back to the Circular Quay, hopped on the ferry back to Manly and went to bed soon after we got home.

The following day, we were back at The Roast Office for breakfast (on Friday too!), then took the ferry into the CBD for coffee at York Lane with two good friends, Tim and Tom. Afterwards, Tom toured us around the Royal Botanical Gardens before we parted ways at the quarf. We ate lunch at DeVita on the walk back to the apartment then all took a nap. Afterwards, we went down to Manly Beach, then walked to dinner at 4 Pines Brewery (covered in sand and salt water!). We had to leave early in order to watch the Djokovic-Federer (house divided!) match on TV. It was funny to hear hoots of excitement ringing outdoors during the game – not something you ever hear in the states during tennis.

On Friday, we had a slow morning, then spent the morning at nearby Shelly Beach. Isla and Sasha splashed about in the water, all the while yelling “FISH!” that sounded a bit more like “FEEEESH!” We had a delicious lunch at The Boathouse (and pomegranate mojitos!), then returned to the house for a nap, stroll through corso, run, Hugo’s then home

On our last day, we ate breakfast at The Bower with my friend, Gus, and his sweet fiance, Alyce, before walking over to Shelly Beach. After a few hours in the sun, we decided to go to eat lunch at The Boathouse again (it’s a beachy version of Tiny Boxwoods!). Afterwards, we went home for Isla’s nap and packed while she slept. Once she was up, we went for a delicious dinner at our friends’ absolutely stunning house (with private beach access – it’s a dream!). We faced a minor tropical storm (lots of hail!) on the drive home, then packed, hopped into bed and woke up early to head to the airport.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip. We have lots of amazing memories, and I definitely think that the 20+ hours of travel is worth it. I’ll do a travel with toddler post soon, as we had some key lessons learned on the journey! 

Hope you had a great week and that your Monday is starting off well! xo

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2 Comments

  1. Your pictures are always so amazing! Looks like you guys are having an incredible trip! Thanks so much for sharing! Little isla is so precious. And those curls!

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