One More Beach Day

February 20, 2009 We had to take advantage of the sun once more and go back to the beach. We had a lot of fun making sand "castles" and seeing which ones would still stand when the water came. The kids were talking about the foolish man building his house upon the sand. I was pleased to see that they remembered some of their past experiences as they named each "castle." BTW, the Colosseum made it the longest, with Timpanogos coming in next.

Afterwards, we went back to Manly Beach to get some more fish and chips. Mmmm, they were good! Ty and Rach fed leftover fries to the seagulls.



It was so weird to look up into the trees and see these parrot-type birds. Rach happened to be doing a report on the macaw, while on this trip, and learned that these birds have a mate for life. We always saw them in pairs.

Blue Mountains

February 19, 2009
Gary had been wanting to see the Blue mountains, so we took a 1 1/2 hour drive to spend the day there. It's really more of a canyon than big mountains, but they were spectacular. The famous "Three Sisters" was three rocks side by side that were explained by a legend of sisters that were turned to stone. We took a ride on a train that went down the mountain vertically, which was intense, but short. We walked around the rainforest and rode the tram back up. We actually saw some "Tarzan" vines in the forest.

Gary loves to take pictures of the scenery. Here are a few.

When we got back, we took the ferry out to Manly Beach for some out-of-this-world fish and chips!

Aquarium and Parametta

February 18, 2009

The day started out rainy, so we decided to see the Sydney Aquarium. It's amazing to see the colorful marine life that we'd probably never see otherwise. It was the wrong season for snorkeling, so the Great Barrier Reef was out.

The day cleared up beautifully, so we took an hour ferry ride up the river to a cute little town called Parametta. In learning about life there many years ago, it was interesting to learn that it used to take 3 days to make that trip to Sydney on the water. As their vessels improved, the time it took reduced. Of course we got a picture of the kids with the captain for Ty's class (the raccoon, remember?) Anyway, we were able to get some pictures of the famous Sydney Opera House and the bridge. On the trip back, the sky looked really smoggy from the smoke that had blown up from all of the terrible fires in Victoria.

Wild Animal Park and Koalas

February 17, 2009

Since the weather was kinda rainy, we decided to get over to Sydney's Wild Animal Adventure. Here we were able to see most of the wildlife found somewhere in Australia. Ty and Rach really enjoyed the whole museum. There was a room with butterflies flying in the open. They kept landing on us, so if you can tell, Rach has one on her arm and hat and Ty has one on his shoulder. You can see them up closer on the picture used as the background.

Near the end of the exhibit, they had a photo opportunity with the Koalas. We were able to pose with them and even pet them with the backs of our hands. They sure are sleepy little guys. Ty has his class "Traveling Raccoon" that his teacher asked him to include in some of the pictures, so you will see a lot of him. This definitely was the highlight of the day.

After the Wild Animal Park, we decided to split up so we could cover more of what was in the plan. Tyler really wanted to see the Star Wars Exhibit at the Powerhouse Museum, and Gary wanted to see the Maritime Museum, so I went with Ty and Rach went with Gary.
Ty was so excited to be able to try the Hovercraft. It was hard to control. They had other activities showing what kinds of things were getting closer to being possible and what things wouldn't really happen for a long, long time. It was quite interesting. We made a car out of Legos and magnets, sent it thru some more powerful magnets arching over a track, and sent our car down, pressing buttons to activate the bigger magnets to see if it would make it to the end. We were proud of ourselves for figuring it out.

When we were done with our museums, we met for ice cream at the Lindt Cafe' featuring hot fudge made from Lindt Chocolate! I will never be satisfied with Leatherby's again.

Bondi Beach

February 16, 2009
We had a sunny day, so we headed down to Bondi Beach. Oh the sun! Gary got in and did some body surfing while Ty jumped the waves. Rachael stayed close to shore and jumped waves while I took pictures. It was a fun day for us since we have been longing for the sun. Everyone got sunburned, but it was worth it!

Royal Botanic Gardens and Government House

February 15, 2009
Since we arrived on Sunday, and too late for church, we just took a walk around the Opera House and the Royal Botanic Gardens near there. There was a lot of variety in the vegetation, and many different kinds of birds that we don't have at home. There was an area where there were a ton of bats hanging from the trees. They sure are a noisy bunch. Also, we saw a spider as big as the palm of my hand. Creepy!

After we walked around the park, we happened upon a free tour of a Government House. This is where the current Governor would live up until 1996. The view from the large back porch was beautiful. Although we were extremely sleepy from jet lag, we learned a lot about their government and the way things work here in Australia. I learned that the Queen of England is still Head of State for Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and some of the Caribbean Islands. I love to talk to locals here to learn more about them. Maybe I should have known all of this, but I didn't...until now.

The worst thing about this whole experience is that my hair loses the curl the minute I walk out the door. The ocean air along with the cloudy weather kills the curl. Oh well, I guess I'll have to tolerate it until I return to our wonderful dry air in Utah.

The Airbus

February 13 and 15We flew to Australia on the Qantas Airbus. It was an experience. The plane has 2 levels, and we were put in the infant holder's row where there is plenty of leg room and little basinets on the wall in front of us. They totally treated us like 1st class, handing out food and drinks on a regular basis. The Cadbury hot chocolate was to die for. It was the smoothest plane ride I've ever experienced.

Since I wanted a picture with the captain for Ty's class (holding his class Raccoon mascot), they let us get one in the cockpit! It was massive! Afterward, we got a picture with our whole flight crew that flew our plane. I will fly Qantas again!