Opera House Interior

During our tour of the Opera House, they didn't allow pictures inside the theatre, but it was spectacular so we bought the CD and have downloaded the picture below.  There are 5 theatres, but this is the one used for the symphonies. 

Home Sweet Home

We had an uneventful return trip to Las Vegas where Greg continued doing well and I'm still on a losing streak.  We had difficulty adjusting to the time change and were awake all night our entire time there.  We celebrated our return to the States with awesome martinis atop The Hotel at Mix.

Our niece Jena and her kids Brody and J'Lyn surprised us at the airport in Pittsburgh which was a tearful event.  When we got home, our niece Betsy had cooked a big meal for all of us.  What a great homecoming!

Everyone brought their PJs and spent the night.  Brody is obsessed with Wii and J'Lyn with drawing.  Home sweet home for a month and then we're off on our next trip.

Merry Christmas to all, which means we have to shop and decorate yet!

Sydney - End of Trip

We flew back to Sydney with Sonje and KK and then drove 2 hours north to her parents house where she would show KK off to everyone.  It was the first time in 6 years that all her siblings were together, and there were also plenty of other relatives.  And we thought the BBQ was for us!!!  We also got to catch up with Sonje's friend Michelle, who Greg met many years ago on  a trip they made to the States.  Sonje's parents have a great house on a huge salt water lake, so the setting was wonderful and we had fun with everyone.  Sonje took us for a tour of the city, which is where she grew up, and once again, beautiful beaches and a wonderful place.



Sonje's Family and then Michelle, Sonje and KK

 




Sunset from the deck


We left Sonje and KK  in Sydney and we spent the  last of our time seeing the high spots we wanted to re-visit and find new places that would complete our trip.  We spent hours wandering around and then took a ferry out to Manly Beach, which is most know for its surfers.  Beautiful beach and not overly crowded.

Here are a few more things of interest that we learned:
1)  Aussie's put red beets and fried eggs on many sandwiches (hamburgers, club sandwiches)
2)  They offer maple ice cream on pancakes and waffles - very yummy!
3)  On sidewalks they walk like they drive, on the opposite side
4)  The lifeguards at all the beaches are volunteers
5)  There are as many Asians living in Sydney as there are Australians
6)  And lastly, there aren't as many hot men as commercials and movies lead you to believe!

Sonje had told us about a revolving bar/restaurant on top of one of the buildings in the Circular Quay (pronounced Key) area. We went there for drinks one night and it was great.  We were on the 48th floor and it took approximately an hour to make a full rotation of the City.  The sites were beautiful and worth the visit. 

Our last night was spent at a Harborside Cafe, where it was a beautiful night and a wonderful ending to this trip.  We leave for Las Vegas where we will spend 4 nights at The Hotel at Mandalay Bay, with the hope we will win enough to pay for this trip!

Celebration

Awww!

Perth/Freemantle/Margaret River

We arrived in Perth, which is on the westerern coast of Australia and met with Sonje who is one of Greg's former exchange students who he has kept in touch with for the past 20 years.  Sonje had visited us in the States 6 years ago and had just then married Kwasi, but he was not able to join her on her visit so this was our first opportunity to spend time with them.  They have a 4 month old son named KK and they live in a suburb of Perth called Freemantle.

Sonje & KK

Kwasi and KK

 

Sonje and KK took us to the beach for view of a sunset on our first night.  We got to watch all the kite surfers which was pretty fascinating.  The next day we took a river cruise from Freemantle to Perth, which was really nice.  Perth is a fairly large city with 2.5 million residents.  Just like all the other larger towns here, there is an esplanade and plenty of parks in the City.  Their train system is great and we enjoyed wandering around. 

Sonje has been a wonderful host and has spent lots of time showing us all the great sites in Perth and Freemantle.  She suggested we head to Margaret River, which is the wine country here so we went for 2 days and loved it.  We've been to Napa and Sonoma several times, but this area is more beautiful and the wines were fantastic.  We tasted many, maybe too many, but it was great.  We finally found one winery that actually ships to a distributor in California, who in turrn could ship to us, so we will have a nice case of Australian wine waiting for us upon return.  The wineries had  beautiful gardens as seen below.

Down in the Margaret River area there were more great beaches and we got to wade in the Indian Ocean.

 So here's what we have learned thus far:

1)  Aussie's don't know how to make martinis.
2)  They aren't friendly and don't want to give you directions when your're lost.
3)  The country is beautiful and they truly appreciate what they have.
4)  They love to party and also drink plenty of coffee.
5)  Their airlines are great
6)  No tipping is expected, but for that reason you get fairly poor service everywhere.


We're getting near the end of the trip and in some ways are sad to see it end, but I am getting homesick.  Texts are great, but they don't match phone calls and visits.  Our 4 month trip  next year will prove to be interesting.

Ayers Rock

We left Cairns and flew to Ayers Rock, which was a 3 hour flight and we lost another ½ hour in our time zone change.  Ayers Rock is located in the central part of the country and is called the Red Centre and is a very arid area, and very uninhabited other than the Aboriginines.   The natives, called Anangu (part of the Aborigines), believe the rock is a sacred place.  Our first night there we took a camel ride to see the sunset, which is something everyone flocks to see.  The ride was fun and we learned a lot about camels and the local fauna.  The sunset was pretty and we had a fun time.    Afterwards we had drinks and “nibbles” as they call them.

The next day we awoke at 4:00 for a sunrise viewing of Uluru (Ayers Rock) .  It was amazing to me that it was Greg’s idea!   Unfortunately the sunrise wasn’t anything spectacular, but still fun to see.   We then took a guided tour around the rock learning the traditional stories followed by the Aboriginines.    The Rock is over 200MM years old, but has only been open to the public since the 1970’s.  The stories were interesting and the markings in the rock followed the stories.    There were areas where people had lived and actually writings on the wall.  The Rock is enormous and red and getting bigger as time goes on as sediment gathers on it and is making it bigger.  It is easy to geologically understand canyons, but to see something of this size up on top of the earth is amazing.

There is an area for climbers (pictures shows the chain you can follow), although the Anangu don’t like you to do this as it is a sacred area for them.  Unfortunately for them, when the Aussies re-signed the land back to them, the contract insisted that climbers be able to climb.  It is often closed due to severe weather conditions at the top.  It takes 2 hours to climb all the way, and the railing was designed by a guy who was 5’2”, so for those taller it is harder as they have to bend over. 


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rock formation that looked like an elephant



We did a sunset walk to one of the sand dunes the second night, but it turned out to be a cloudless day, so the sunset wasn’t pretty.  Both mornings we were able to see the Southern Cross constellation and the planet Jupiter.  The skies out here are amazing and looking at a different set of stars than we see at home was the best.

The next day we did another sunrise viewing (amazing!) but this time of Kata TJuta, a neighboring rock formation meaning “many heads”.  Again, it is a sacred area, but only to the men of the Anangu and Tjukurpa tribes.  We walked through the gorge area around the base of one of the “heads” and were lucky enough to see 2 rock kangaroos.  This area was almost as pretty as Uluru, although the locals have not shared any of the traditional stories for this rock.  We had breakfast provided by the guide nearby the rock and then headed back for our plane trip to Perth, our next stop in this trip.

We feel like we’ve been gone forever and have been keeping in touch with family through texts, although we found out we doubled the amount our plan allows us so we will be in for a shock of a bill when we get home.

Final Day in Cairns

Our last day in the Great Barrier Reef area was in Cairns.  We found a great rainforest and I’ve attached a few pictures, but we’ve decided the rainforests are so dark that you just can’t photograph them really well.  They are beautiful, lush and green and host a variety of plants.  This one actually had waterfalls and a stream.  There were dangerous stinger plants that you shouldn’t touch or they could cause major problems.  I had to get close enough just to push that button.

Cairns also boasts a long esplanade which is located around their wharf area.  People walk up and down and there is a huge public swimming pool right along its edge.  There are loads of shops and restaurant and we tried our luck at their casino, but didn’t win.   We stayed at a bed and breakfast there for one night as it was close to the airport and was our only disappointing accommodations thus far.  We felt like we were in our great grandmother’s house.  Ugh!

Townsville, Cairns, Port Douglas (Great Barrier Reef Area)

We flew from Sydney to Cairns and lost another hour, but gained a totally different area of Australia.  It has rained in the area lately so everything is lush and green.  We rented a car and it's very different at first driving on the opposite side of the road, but we've finally mastered it and have had no problems.  The drive to Townsville was about 4 hours and just beautiful mountains and forests.  Stopped in a little town called Tully and they are called the Green Town, thus the frog.

Spent a day on Magnetic Island, where we relaxed at the beach and wandered on hiking trails.  It is jelly fish season so they have to partition off swimming spots.  Townsville is fairly small, but has nice beaches and a great little center town area with nice restaurants. 

After a few days in Townsville, we headed to Port Douglas for our trip to the Great Barrier Reef.  We had made reservations for a tour, but when we arrived, the waters were so rough that their little boat couldn't take us so we scheduled on a bigger boat.  The waves were rough and we had to ride out 1 1/2 hours before we could start snorkeling.  Not a pleasant ride for me as I have a weak stomach.  We stopped at 3 different sites to snorkel, each one having a different kind of reef and fish.  We had divers on board our ship as well and one of the reefs had a really friendly enormous fish that went up to the divers.  I took an underwater camera and hope that I got it on film.    Since the jellies are out, we had to wear lycra suits to avoid being stung.




Greg having fun



Greg ready to dive in

This was one of the more shallow reefs and you can see the coral splotches as well as the blueness of the water.  This was on a somewhat cloudy day and it was still really blue.  We managed to get sunburned even after lathering up and wearing the suits.

A day in the Daintree Rainforest was next and really beautful although it rained off and on and I didn't take pictures for fear of ruining the camera.  We're here for a few more days and then off to Ayers Rock.

Sydney Opera House and Bondi Beach

We spent our last day in Sydney touring the Opera House which is amazing.  There are 2 large theaters, one used for ballet/opera and the other for symphony.  The symphony stage is absolutely amazing.  Huge pipe organ and wood everywhere.  You weren't allowed to take pictures in the theatres, but we had one taken of us so that we would remember what it looked like.  Once home we will be able to post it from the CD we bought.

We then took a bus to Bondi Beach, and had a great day of sunshine.   The beach was beautiful and obviously well liked by everyone.