Our trip to Australia

Our trip to Australia.

Our latest adventure brought us to Australia in late December 2005 and early January 2006.

We spent 5 days along the Gold Coast just south of Brisbane mid way up the east coast of Australia. The sandy beaches spread literally for miles around here. While we were there, we went to SeaWorld for a day. We found it interesting that SeaWorld and the other theme parks are only open from 10AM to 5PM--hardly enough time to take it all in.

One day we got up early and went up to Moreton Island. It was a 45 minute boat ride from the mainland to the island. This is a sand island with high hills made totally of sand. Some people go sand boarding on the steep dunes. This is very similar to snow boarding, only done on the sand hills. Our day was mainly spent on the boat, with time for snorkeling and swimming and boom netting.

We have pictures of the Gold Coast area at the Yahoo Photos site: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bloom2511/album?.dir=e9ff&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bloom2511/my_photos

The snorkeling was done in an artificial reef created by sinking obsolete ships and barges. The day we were there, the tide range was very high (about 8 feet), so the tidal currents were very strong. This made the snorkeling very difficult as you were pulled along the ships very fast. We all got cut and scrapped up a little. Mariah got a deep cut in her knee which hobbled her for much of the trip. Because of the high current, the water was pretty mucky, so we could not see a whole lot of the fish and coral.

The boat then went into the grasslands area to look for dolphins, sea turtles and dugongs (a manatee type animal), and we got to see all 3. They do whale watching on these cruises, but it was the wrong time of the year.

Our last adventure on the boat ride was something called boomnetting. A cargo net is dropped off the back of the boat and you crawl on this with about 4-5 other people. You lay with your back down and head towards the front of the boat while it starts to speed up. You are then lifted up on the wake and froth behind the boat. It is quite the experience as your feet dig into the cargo net and your hang on with your arms behind you.

On New Year's Eve, there were fireworks on the beach area at 8Pm, 10PM and Midnight. Australia does up their fireworks with great passion. Sydney (and all of Australia) is world renown for being one of the first to ring in the New Year with great fanfare down on the waterfront

One of the highlights of the trip was our day at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. This was a walk through Sanctuary full of Australian animals such as crocodiles, kangaroos, emus, and koalas. The kids got to hold a koala, which are very clingy animals. When we first arrived, it was feeding time for the Lorikeets, which are colorful green parakeet type birds. If you wanted to be swarmed by them, you could hold a plate of sugar water, and they would swarm you and the plate.

After 5 days of relaxation and mainly beach and water time, we went to Sydney. Sydney is a city of about 4 million people on the southeast corner of Australia. We used the public transportation system to get around the city with ease. From the airport, we got on an airport link train to take us to the central station, where we caught another train to the Kings Cross area and Potts Point, where our hotel was.

Here is a link to some of our other photos of the Sydney area: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bloom2511/album?.dir=1e70&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bloom2511/my_photos

When we got to the hotel, we went up and down multiple flights of stairs to get to our room, which was on the ground floor in another area of the hotel. This was an older hotel that had appeared to have been multiple other entities in the past. It was interesting that that evening, when we went out to dinner, we chose a restaurant call the Pig and the Olive, and it was run by Filipinos! They had been residents of Sydney for about 18 years.

The next day we got on the Sydney Explorer, which is a tour bus that runs every 20 minutes on a 2 hour loop through the city with about 30 different stops at popular tourist locations. You can get off and back on at any of the stops. It gives you a good overview of the city along with easy access to the places you want to see. Our first stop was the Circular Quay, which is the main ferry terminal. It is also where the Opera House, the Rocks area and the Harbor bridge are located. We had a good time exploring and taking pictures of the many landmarks that Sydney is known for.

Our one trip outside of Sydney was to the Blue Mountains and the 3 Sisters area, which is considered the Grand Canyon of Australia. Unfortunately, we had the only poor weather of our trip that day, and it was totally clouded over and fogged in, so we really saw nothing.

Another day of exploring brought us to the Darling Harbor area, and visit to the Sydney Aquarium. The tanks of the large aquarium taking are actually floating in the harbor. Their displays were wonderful and included a walk-through aquarium full of sharks and rays that would glide right over your head.

From there we went to Paddy's Market, which is a Thursday through Sunday market specializing in clothes, accessories, souvenirs, and food at discount prices and set up for bartering. It was set up in a former parking garage. Regular stores are still occupying the areas above the market area.

Our last full day was spent on another hop-on, hop-off tour bus called the Bondi Explorer which looped around the eastern side of the city and the beaches and coastal area. Most of the day was spent on Bondi Beach, one of the most famous beaches in the city. The waves were huge and many people were out surfing. Being from the midwest, we have such a good time playing in the waves at the ocean.

Happy New Year