Our baby moon!

First thing first it was amazing! Not the flight but you can read about that in my previous blog, that flight was torture for me and my poor hubby. I LOVED everything about our trip to Australia it was literally a fairy tale trip. We would have never taken this extravagant of a trip if we didn’t win it on Amazing Race(I’m frugal). We also wouldn’t have made it out to the Great Barrier Reef if we didn’t win that as part of the trip. I feel so blessed we actually got to enjoy this.

It had always been a dream of mine to go to Australia, to travel to the great barrier reef to see the amazing fish and the amazing coral, I just didn’t know when that would happen. Well we did it for our over the top baby moon! 🙂

We flew from LA to Sydney (a long 14+hour flight) and upon arrival it was a totally different everything. Yes the people were amazing and nice and the weather was hot and humid but it just felt like we were on a different continent even with everyone speaking english and all the familiarities and comforts we were used to it still felt different.

We rented a car and since we had no GPS we old school maped our way out to the hotel and Sydney harbor. We were warned about some crazy toll highway so I had to pull my amazing race skills out of hiding and find our way on the local roads. This was actually nice it was a fun way to see Sydney and give ourselves a tour of the city. Originally we were going to take the subway its so easy in Sydney or take a cab, but we decided to get a car and give it our best shot. Sydney is a beautiful city and pretty easy to navigate, especially with Brendon driving. We took our pic at the opera house and headed to the hotel on the water 🙂 Thanks bookie for booking! It was fun but we did dinner for room service and feel asleep! haha #pregnancy #gettingolder #jetlag #sleepygirl haha

We hoped on the flight the next day to Hayman Island. I had read online to BUY OR BRING FOOD before you get to the islands so we went shopping in Sydney for snacks and food. You have a mini fridge in your room so you can get keep some things in there but not much. SO BRING FOOD FOR YOUR MINI FRIDGE! 🙂

So we arrive at our room at the Hayman Island: THIS WAS OUR VIEW NO LIE!

So basically we were spoiled, not only was this a trip of a lifetime but lets be real my hubby is in grad school right now like we would have spent the money to do this… haha

So first thing first we head to our personal trip concierge, yes that fancy, to get some info on what we can do on our trip. I was NOT about to waste a minute of the day so we set off on our first excursion to the beautiful and amazing blue pearl bay 2. There are stingers in the water this time of year so I went a little crazy on my stinger gear, I even asked for an extra face mask. I will NOT let an irukandji jellyfish ruin my trip. Side note there were 3 stings the past week in the islands by where we were staying. Not at our island and not at blue pearl 2. However we did see 3 stingers right when we got to blue pearl and I’m not lying I think one was irukandji. YIKES!

Seriously the best snorkel we took on the island trip was at blue pearl. We were told by the locals that this was the best place for coral and fish outside of the actual “outer REEF”. It was amazing I can’t even express the colors and vibrance and variety of fish we saw. Not to mention the amount of fish. It was a living food buffet for all the fish in the ocean I think and we saw so many.

The photos really don’t do the beauty of the reef justice. It was so incredible I can’t really put into words what we experienced, but to say that God is truly a creator of amazing art, and that this was one of his masterpieces. It was breathtaking.

The snorkel was fun and Brendon and I had a romantic swim and enjoyed our first adventure but this was just day 1. In the evening I talked Brendon into a night hike. They take you to the top of mountain for a sunset hike, and its free! Of course we had to take that. Just remember to bring your hikers because it is rocky on the way up but so worth it. We had the best guide, Sophie she was an zoologist so she could tell us everything about the island and everything about the critters we were going to see.

WE SAW A WALLABY which were brought to the island for a project to save the species, then they over populated but still have about 400 on the island.

Brendon tasted the butt of a citrus ant which is actually a thing down here! Go figure I didn’t do it but I watched hahah

After a long day of hiking and snorkeling we were beat, we actually went to bed at like 8pm every night. I wonder if it was because I was so pregnant or because we were so busy?

This was our view EVERY morning from our complimentary breakfast buffet, which was amazing by the way. It had EVERYTHING you could want on it. I couldn’t eat everything but what I could was amazing. I had a made fresh omelet every morning and various other diabetes friendly dishes, while Brendon had well everything on the menu.

The buffet seating was on the ocean daily and it was a breathtaking view to wake up to we looked forward to it every morning.

Without boring you since this post is long we tired every snorkel tour you could do on the island. Blue Pearl Bay 1 & 2 and the one where the turtles live. We saw a turtle but the snorkeling wasn’t as good as my blue pearl tours. Blue Pearl 1 is also a must do but its a hike to the beach so just remember to bring your hiking shoes and expect to be tired. Oh and you have to carry your own gear so it may not be the best hike if your not feeling up to a challenge.

We then had the most amazing helicopter tour of my life! I mean we’ve done helicopters in Hawaii, and LA but this was over the GREAT BARRIER REEF OVER HEART SHAPED REEF!

WOW!

Talk about first class luxury tour. We got the full package. We had a private helicopter tour over the reef and a landing on white sands beach a private landing with a private beach we could enjoy for 90minutes with champagne, snacks, and OJ. The beach sand was the most pure most beautiful sand I’ve ever felt in my life Brendon and I snatched some to take back to the states.

The entire trip was once in a lifetime and honestly worth every minute and penny! It was so incredible that we could enjoy this adventure, as part of our baby adventure. One day we hope to take lil’ BRENCHEL BABY back to the islands! 🙂

#BABYMOON

How often do we see this #babymoon, by all the pregnant couples on instagram or twitter? WELL Brendon and I are no exception we totally took one too! We had won a trip on the amazing race back in 2014. The trip was to Australia great barrier reef staying at the amazingly beautiful Hayman Island so we had to take it. We planed on taking it for a graduation trip when Brendon was done with school, but it was going to expire so here I am over 7months pregnant and half dreading traveling across the ocean for 18hours (Cue monkey with eyes covered emoji) or miss out on the trip of a life time.

Well you know how adventurous we are so WE WENT! Thank you Travel O City!

Travel across the ocean for 16hours straight flight was NOT FUN I won’t lie to you. Delta was amazing but completely full from the way LA to Sydney, how many people travel that in January? Apparently ALOT because they were sold out 100% how crazy right. So Brendon and I had an isle and middle seat. Pregnant ladies do yourself a favor and if you can afford it just upgrade to the seats that are sleepers you will be doing yourself, your baby, and your hubby a favor. We had done long flights on the amazing race in coach and I honestly would have a glass of wine watch a movie and pass out but this time was different.

One big difference was my food because of my diabetes I couldn’t really eat the airplane food and I couldn’t have the snacks they offer (cookies, chocolates, really depressing for me). So I packed a pop-it container full of raw nuts, I brought nugo slim diabetes friendly protein bars, and some cuties(the little oranges), tuna packets, and lots of water! I went through over 4liters of water … YES 4 LITERS of water on the plane I was nervous for the baby to not have enough water. I also got up throughout the ride to have more water, thank goodness they provide bottles and cups. I literally got up every hour to walk around stretch and just stand up. I also wore these amazing pants from Victorias Secret they are the high rise so they fit over the bump and they are SUPER fitted and more comfortable then compression socks because they go all the way up. I also bought the maternity compression panty hose from motherhood maternity, but to be honest they were AWFUL they ripped just by me pulling them up and they didn’t really hold up under wear. I actually wore them just on the way up there before they were split. I really like the pants tho they fit all the way over my bump and they were tight and made me feel more comfortable on the plane, I worry about DVT! (deep vain thrombus)

Long story short the baby moved around a lot I don’t think baby liked the flight it was long, but I MADE it out alive! haha I wouldn’t really recommend it if you can avoid it, but if you really want to go on a super long flight over 28 weeks then bring water the essentials and prepare to not sleep the whole flight. I actually slept for the rest of the day when we arrived in Sydney until the next day we were so tired. Without being super long winded the flight home was about the same as the flight to Australia, long, and I had on the compression socks to be safe since my panty hose had ripped. They didn’t do anything for me so I wouldn’t recommend them either, just the VS pants they were tight enough.

Essentials for travel on long flights over 28 weeks:

some sort of compression gear (I picked the VS pants and wore maternity hose)

bottles of water (LOTS you will get thirsty and you don’t want to have to run out)

Snacks (especially if your on a special diet-but even if not you will get hungry)

something to take your mind off the plane (I brought my kindle)

ear buds and belly buds (i felt like the baby could listen to peaceful music to soothe)

of course your neck pillow/blanket/and wedge for comfort esp. in economy

Stretch every 2/3 hours & try to get up and walk around a lot (I did every hour)

oh and if you have anxiety (like me ugh) then just breathe and practice relaxation techniques.

You WONT sleep maybe an hour but not much more so be prepared for downtime when you arrive

You Will feel baby move a lot so be prepared for that

You will feel pressure on your belly but all the Drs say this is ok and normal/ Also that it doesn’t hurt baby

Don’t worry b.c that gets you no where and you’ve already decided to go, just sit back and enjoy!