The Great Barrier Reef

The next stop on my Australian adventure was Cairns in the state of Queensland.  It was so interesting to go from the desert to the tropics in just one day!  While in Cairns, we had a full day excursion to the Great Barrier Reef in the Coral Sea and it was seriously cool.  We took a catamaran out to the reef and then we were based on a large pontoon boat.  You could scuba dive, go snorkeling, take a ride in a glass-bottomed boat, or see the reef in a submersible.  It was amazing!

It was one of the most spectacular places I’ve ever been.  My favorite moment was when a school of barracuda swam by!

Uluru

After our sunrise balloon ride, we spent most of the day driving though the outback to get to Uluru National Park (formerly known as Ayers Rock).  I have always felt that this place must be incredibly mystical and seeing it for the first time exceeded my expectations!  We were able to see it at sunset and the resort where we were staying provided champagne and snacks for our viewing party (yes, more champagne!).  It was absolutely magical!

Early the next morning we drove back into the park and had a chance to see Kata Tjuta, another impressive rock formation.  We saw it from a viewing platform because, apparently, it would take several hours to get up close to it.  The vastness of the outback is mind-boggling!

Then we had the opportunity to hike around Uluru.  Our guide told us lots of stories about the rock formations which are the basis of many aboriginal creation myths.  It felt very sacred to me (in fact, there were a few places along the rock where photos were forbidden).

The red rocks reminded me so much of Southern Utah!

Note:  The aborigines who administer the national park are very cautious about letting people climb the rock.  Unfortunately, the day I was there it was deemed too windy to climb but it was incredible to hike around it!

The Light Between Oceans

Saturday night I went to see the movie The Light Between Oceans.  My book club read the bestselling novel by M.L. Stedman several years ago so I have been eagerly anticipating the movie adaptation and it did not disappoint.  Tom Sherbourne (Michael Fassbender), traumatized by the events of World War I, takes a position as a lighthouse keeper on a remote island off the coast of Western Australia.  On a trip to the mainland, he meets the fiery Isabel (Alicia Vikander) and their courtship and marriage slowly brings Tom back to life.  After a series of miscarriages, Isabel begins to lose her vitality and Tom despairs because he doesn't know what to do to help her.  Then a boat containing a dead man and a baby washes up on shore.  Isabel begins to care for the baby and, when Tom explains that he will have to report the discovery, she begs him not to so they can raise the baby themselves.  Tom is torn between his duty as a lighthouse keeper and his love for Isabel but he ultimately decides to keep silent.  Years later, on a visit to the mainland, Tom encounters a woman (Rachel Weisz) who lost her husband and baby daughter at sea.  He is tormented by this woman, knowing that his daughter belongs to her.  He breaks his vow to Isabel and reveals the truth with devastating consequences for all involved.  The action develops very slowly so this movie might not appeal to everyone but I found it to be incredibly beautiful and atmospheric.  The scenery is breathtaking (it was filmed in Australia and New Zealand) and Alexandre Desplat's score is lush and evocative.  Both Fassbender and Vikander give highly nuanced performances and their chemistry is undeniable (they became a real-life couple after filming this movie).  My only complaint is that, while all of the secondary characters have Australian accents (the film is set in Australia), Fassbender, Vikander (who is Swedish), and Weisz have very British accents.  It became a bit distracting after a while.  However, I highly recommend this movie to fans of the book!

A Big Win!

Sean was all smiles after his game against the Hunter Wolverines!

Yesterday Sean's team played the Hunter Wolverines and it was a great game!  He was really down after his game last week so his parents talked to him about being positive.  When he came off the field after his first play he had a big smile on his face and said that he thought he had done his best!  Sean, and the whole team, played so well and as the game went on they fed off of the energy and kept getting better and better!  It was so much fun to watch!  In the first half, the Braves scored two touchdowns and Sean had his first tackle (and his first personal foul!).  In the second half, they got an interception and eventually scored two more touchdowns to win the game 26-0.  Sean earned the nickname "Sean the Bomb" in this game and we love it!  As much fun as watching Sean was, I think my favorite moment was when the Bountiful coaches all got in trouble.  The referee (who was kind of a jerk) started yelling at one of the coaches and then dramatically threw a flag on the field after the fact.  The head coach had to have a conference with the ref and came back and told the other coaches to tone it down.  We thought it was so funny!  I also really enjoyed the community around the team.  All of parents and families are so friendly and have started talking to us.  When Sean got his big tackle, all of the parents around us cheered and congratulated us and when he made another big play the Mom sitting next to me asked me if I got a picture.  Now that the team has gelled a little bit, I am really looking forward to watching the Braves every week (even though I have to get up early on a Saturday!).  The whole family took the star out to breakfast to celebrate his win and he grinned from ear to ear the whole time!  Here are some pictures from the game.

Note:  It was a little hard for me not to cheer for the Wolverines, especially since I had spent Friday night cheering for the HHS Wolverines!  I had to make sure I wasn't wearing any Hunter apparel because I have so much of it! (I just ordered a Bountiful Braves shirt).

Cold Play at the Vivint Arena

I think that I spent almost all of 2001 listening to Coldplay's album Parachutes after my friend introduced me to it on a trip to Ireland.  I loved the song "Yellow."  I tend to get really obsessed with things and I would usually fixate on one song from each new Coldplay album, playing it over and over:  "In My Place" from A Rush of Blood to the Head, "Fix You" from X&Y, "Viva La Vida" from the album of the same name, "Paradise" from Mylo Xyloto, "A Sky Full of Stars" from Ghost Stories, and "Adventure of a Lifetime" from A Head Full of Dreams.  I guess you could say that the music of Coldplay has had a significant place in the soundtrack of my life.  Every one of these songs can take me back to a particular point in my life with just a few notes.  I have always wanted to see them play live but I've never had the opportunity until last night.  The show was simply amazing!  Every audience member was given an LED wristband which would light up in various colors in syncopation with the music.  My favorite moments during the concert were when all of the wristbands would flash different colors.  The arena looked so cool whenever that happened.  In addition to the colorful wristbands, the arena was dumped with multi-colored confetti several times (not just during the encore) and I loved it when Chris Martin would jump on the secondary stage and cause the confetti to rise all around him.  Then there were the multi-colored lasers and images on the giant screens and, at one point, the audience was inundated with colorful balloons bouncing all over the place.  The arena was literally a kaleidoscope of color which, when combined with the music, was almost overwhelming to the senses!  It was one of the best concerts I've ever seen despite the terrible sound in the Vivint Arena.  The band played all of my favorites (except "In My Place") and I loved each rendition, especially "Paradise" and "Fix You" (with Chris Martin rolling around in the confetti).  I also really enjoyed the acoustic version of "Trouble" played by the band on a small platform in the crowd and the passionate rendition of "The Scientist" which had everyone in the audience singing.  The show ended, appropriately, with a spirited version of "Up & Up," a lovely message for these troubling times we are living through (always believe in love).  I'm still on a bit of a high from this show, even though it was really difficult to wake up this morning.

Note:  The opening acts were Bishop Briggs and Alessia Cara.  I wasn't familiar with Bishop Briggs but I really enjoyed her set.  She sang her heart out to an almost empty arena which was really unfortunate because her voice gave me goosebumps, it was so incredibly sultry and soulful.  I wasn't very familiar with Alessia Cara, either (I don't get out much), but she is from Ontario, Canada so I automatically loved her.  I really appreciated the positive messages in her music.