Our Queensland visit began inauspiciously with notices of a hotel change and rainforest tour cancellation due to weather, requiring us to rearrange our plans and drive instead of shuttle through treacherous rains from Cairns to Port Douglas, where we shared seafood pasta at Wrasse & Roe before retiring to our substitute apartment. Our new itinerary took us aboard the Sunlovers instead of Quiksilver cruise to the Great Barrier Reef, where our Dramamine staved off seasickness to let us enjoy the glass-bottom boat, semi-submersible, and guided snorkel tours of colorful corals, giant clams, friendly wrasses, a turtle, and moon jelly kisses for me and Westley. The buffet aboard was better than expected, although the Ganbaranba ramen at dinner was not. Sadly, our rescheduled rainforest tour of Mossman Gorge and Daintree river cruise was cut short by flooding, so we ate Dave’s fish & chips and returned to the apartment where I prepared my talk, Melody napped, and Westley built a crocodile. We trudged through rain for a peek at Four Mile Beach on the way to seafood and gelati for dinner. Our next stop at the Gold Coast began with more fish & chips at Burleigh Heads Fishmonger prior to checking into our beach-view AirBnb. After registering and uploading my talk at ISER, we hiked from Miami to Burleigh across squeaking sand and under rainbows to reach Goukai ramen for dinner. Next morning, I met my friend Sara for breakfast before my talk, then regrouped with family for pho on the way to Springbrook National Park for panoramic views at the Best of All Lookout, Twin Falls, and Purling Brook Falls. We camped in our car to NPR until nightfall, when we could gape at glow worms at Natural Bridge, then went for take-out before bedtime. On Wednesday, we shared pastries on the beach and stocked on banh mi for our visit to Lone Pine Sanctuary. Despite a near miss on tickets, we secured a koala hold and platypus encounter before entering the massive enclosure for kangaroo feeding, then headed to Brisbane for pasta from Enoteca 1889 and ice cream from Cowch. Our last stop to Melbourne was delayed by Uber’s multiple Collins St. listings, where our CBD condo was located. We enjoyed delicate fish dumplings from Shandong Mama then explored vibrant street art along Croft Alley, Coromandel Place, Meyers Place, Strachan Lane, AC/DC Lane, Duckboard Place, and Hosier Lane on the way to Federation Square. We found respite with AC at a Children’s pop-up library and lychee juice from Flinders Street Station before crossing Yarra River past the Arts Centre and NGV to the Children’s Garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens. Our proximity to Chinatown meant easy access to Supper Inn noodles and Instea boba for dinner. Tired of driving, we opted for a bus tour to the Great Ocean Road on Friday, with stops for morning tea in Torquay, scallop pies in Apollo Bay, and myrtle beech trees at Maits Rest on the way to iconic Twelve Apostles and Loch Ard Gorge. We awoke early Saturday for more street art at Union Lane and Presgrave Place, grabbed a “magic” coffee on Guildford Lane, then passed more graffiti on 436 Queen St to Queen Victoria Market, where we sampled cheese toasties, boreks, croissant, and hot chocolate before passing the picturesque Royal Arcade on our back for another Go West tour. Our bus to Philips Island stopped for colorful bathing boxes at Brighton Beach, a wildlife show at Moonlit Sanctuary, and seal and penguin viewing at the Point Grant Nobbies boardwalk, before we took our rainy front row seats to the penguin parade. I made a late-night run for hearty Master Lanzhou noodles afterwards, and returned to Chinatown again in the morning for Tim Ho Wan yum cha and Breadtop pastries for our flight home. Despite covering so much in 2 weeks, we felt that Australia had still more to offer and look forward to returning to this lush, beautiful continent.

Having canceled their last biennial meeting in Buenos Aires, ISER headed to Australia this year and gave us an opportunity for a family trip Down Under. Due to time zone changes, Westley spent his entire 7th birthday aboard our 15-hour direct flight from SFO, complete with party hats, cupcake, music video, and a loaded Kindle Kids. Our arrival in Sydney was traumatizing when the customs dog sniffed out apples and cheese that Melody had failed to declare. Fortunately, we adapted quickly to driving on the left side, despite struggling with the tight hotel garage. After unpacking, we marched to Happy Chef for seafood and laksa noodles, past Hyde Park to Flour & Stone for fig tart and panna cotta lamington, then through the Royal Botanic Gardens to Circular Quay. We cooled off with gelato on the ferry to Taronga Zoo over views of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge. The heat kept the zoo animals sluggish, so we hurried back for XLBs and called in early ourselves. We awoke early Saturday for oysters, sashimi, aburi scallops, and lobster noodles at the Sydney Fish Market, which fueled our visit with dugongs and shovelnose sharks at Sea Life, followed by souvenir shopping and lunch of egg tarts and seafood paella at the Rocks Market. Next, we drove south to hike Fitzroy Falls, then visited Kangaroo Valley for solid pub food and the wild wombats of Bandeela. On Sunday, we headed to the Blue Mountains for the Three Sisters and Katoomba Falls walks, followed by the railway, walkway, cableway, and skyway at Scenic World. For lunch, we ate 3 things at 8Things, with pork rolls, taro boba, and a shot of Josophan’s famous hot chocolate to put us in near-coma on our drive to Featherdale Wildlife Park. We perked up to koala petting and wallaby feeding before dining on the sushi train at Makoto. Still jet-lagged, we awoke early to stroll the Queen Victoria Building, then scurried to return our rental car. Our flight to Alice Springs was delayed, leaving bad lunch options and necessitating a grocery run prior to check-in. We cooled down at the pool, then sampled emu tartare, kangaroo rolls, and barramundi ceviche at Saltbush before a nocturnal tour at the Alice Springs Desert Park, where we spied golden bandicoots, malas, bilbies, bettongs, curlews, and swarming echidnas with our red headlamps. We returned to the park next morning for howling dingos, feeding birds, and more nocturnal animals. Westley could not stand the heat, so we left early for brunch at Page 27 and an iced latte to fuel our 5-hour drive on Red Centre Way. We stopped at Standley Chasm, Ellery Creek Big Hole, and Ochre Pits, then drove the unsealed Mereenie Loop, complete with wild horses, lizards, and piles of poop. We collapsed into our glamping tent at Kings Canyon Resort, briefly suffering a power outage and fly swarms before enjoying bar food and jukebox BTS at dinner. We began the South Wall walk at Kings Canyon before dawn on Wednesday, and was thankful to have forgone the full Rim Walk as temperatures climbed and Westley complained. We returned to raid the breakfast buffet, then drove to Yulara to share kangaroo skewers before settling into our hotel for Legos and AC. Our Field of Lights evening tour was otherworldly with a beautiful view of the Milky Way. We continued our pre-dawn routine with Kata Tjuja’s Valley of the Winds and Walpa Gorge walks, followed by a sexist didgeridoo workshop, and meat pies at the Kulata Academy Café. Our sunset camel tour was interrupted by rain, but showed us how lighting starts wildfires. Dinner at Arnguli was a unique but heavy sampling of kangaroo steak, emu kofta, and wallaby shanks. We could still see fires burning when we returned to Uluru before dawn, and chose the Mala Walk and Kuniya Walk in lieu of the entire base walk to make time for a visit to the Cultural Centre, a wooden animal painting workshop, and lunch. The first part of our Australia trip was action-packed, but definitely eye-opening for us all.

Powerful rainstorms led to a string of power outages last month, the longest of which lasted nearly 24 hours. Melody was away for an APGO conference at the time, so Westley and I spent that weekend mostly without electricity, playing board games, painting by numbers Seurat-style, and embarking on a Puyo Puyo Tetris adventure on the Switch, all while learning to cook with headlamps and shower with a flashlight. The experience prompted us to invest in more headlamps and a power station. With heavy rains flooding most of California, we spent most of our January weekends indoor, which gave me time to discover the mystery of the Prometheus in 1899, wrap up House of the Dragon and Umbrella Academy, and finally storm past Stormveil Castle in Elden Ring. For food, we smoked ribs and char siu, and made lots of congee, soups, and stews. Westley enjoyed partaking in song and dance at the DHS Jazz Choir workshop over MLK weekend, but felt sick after a Chinese New Year party at a CRNA Melanie’s home. For my birthday weekend, we drove to Stockton for a crab feast with my in-laws, and unexpectedly scored dinner reservations at SingleThread. Chef Kyle Connaughton’s Cal-Japanese-inspired menu drew on seasonal ingredients including Dungeoness crabs, duck, and lemons, with some dishes appearing more like works of art. Some 3-Michelin-star-level attention to details like clear cocktail ice cubes and butt-warming bidet seats were unfortunately offset by inconsistent timing between courses and accidentally pouring sparkling water into our cups of still water. Overall, we appreciated the lavish meal, but probably not worth the 2-hour drive to Headsburg and returning home at 1 am. We spent this weekend packing for our trip, fertilizing and herbiciding our back lawn, and cutting our hair. Westley also did his part to successfully reach level 5 at SwimAmerica, just in time for snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef. With just days before our trip, it’s a race to tuck away as much work as we can.