Down Under Part One

News Flash: I went to Australia in March.

Ok, so that's way old news. But I am just now getting around to telling about it so that's kind of a blog-flash, right?

It seems like ages ago. It was the best Christmas, Birthday, Mother's Day, whatever-else-you-can-think-of-day present for me.

If you read this and don't know. . . my parents are serving a mission in Sydney. I didn't just pick Australia for a random vacation; though it would be a good choice for a vacation. When my parents were serving in Germany, Jason and I wanted to go but couldn't. All my siblings/spouses went but us. We love Europe and my parents so that was a bummer. This time we talked about how much we would love to go but we still couldn't. Jason is so busy with work. He has a hard time being unreachable for more than a day or two, let alone a week or more. The airfare for two people is outrageous. Add to that paying for a babysitter and there was just no way. My sister and her husband wanted to go too. But they also couldn't make it work. Then brilliance kicked in and Michelle and I cooked up a way to go together. No husbands (though you know we really, really love you), no kids, no responsibility, great location=super fun trip!

When I asked my mom what she will miss the most about Sydney when they come home she said she will miss riding the ferry to Circular Quay. I would have to agree! It is a beautiful and relaxing ride from their suburb of Rydalmere on ferry to downtown Sydney. That was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I also loved going to an opera at the Sydney Opera House, seeing all kinds of animals at two zoos and the aquarium, sight seeing, and shopping! Ok, so everything was my favorite. I couldn't be luckier.

Be prepared for a bunch of boring pictures from here on out.

Sea Cliffs Bridge

The coastal road had a problem with falling rock, so this bridge was built well away from the rock face so the piers and bridge deck avoid rock fall hazards. There is a pedestrian sidewalk that we walked down before walking down onto the rocks near the ocean.

A Tide Pool, literally

This pool is near the Sea Cliff Bridge, and you can see it's right on the ocean. It's literally a tide pool, being filled when the tide comes in and available for swimming in when the tide goes out. There were three muscley Aussie teens swimming and throwing a football while we were there.

Michelle, Dad and me on a golf course out in the country where the kangaroos roam free. They eat the grass and occasionally get hit by a golf ball. We saw one whose pouch was a little bloated so we wondered if there was a joey inside, but we never found out for sure.

The kangaroo with a heavy looking pouch.

Sorry about the red eye, but for me to get this post done I am not editing any of the pictures I post.

A Kookaburra at the golf course (sitting in an old gum tree. . .)

Me with an aboriginal artist and friend of my parents.

Now a bunch of Aussie animals from the Reptile Park and the Koala Park. . .

Tasmanian Devil- these guys have a frightening set of jaws

Giant Galapagos Tortoise

This thing was the size of about five Nathanaels, maybe more. He was huge.

A Wallaby

Tree frogs having a tea party

Feeding the kangaroos something that looked remarkably like cereal.

Michelle was a little flipped out. In case you don't know, she's not exactly an animal enthusiast.

This little guy was getting rather friendly with Mom.

Dang Cute Koalas (great photo Michelle!)

We saw quite a few other animals including alligators, a huge salt water crocodile, lizards galore, cockatoos (talking ones too), lorikeets, dingos, snakes and lots more cool stuff at the aquarium (sea horses, Nemo and friends, all manner of other tropical fish, turtles, a couple of ginorm dugongs--don't ask about this one, just look it up--sharks, rays and blue fairy penguins to name a bunch).

Now I am tired and ready to retire but I'm not done. I mean, I did more than see a cool bridge and a bunch of animals. But until next time. . .

PS- A note about the song on the playlist. . . The second grade classes at our school did a whole unit on Australia (cool that I got to go right when they were in the middle of it). Their second grade performace included all Australian songs and little plays. It was so fun to see! One of the songs they sang is Waltzing Matilda; I would describe it as an old folk song. It's quite popular over there, we heard it on the radio several times.