The Land of Oz: Australia

   Alex and I finally made it to Australia!  One day late, but made it nonetheless.  It was an absolutely amazing trip.  After being in Sydney only a few hours, it began to rain and continued to rain almost our entire trip.  It was not exactly what we had planned and caused us to change our plans a little, but after what we went through just getting to Australia, the rain was okay by us.  We had the time of our lives exploring Sydney, hanging out with Sarah, Elise and their furry marsupial neighbors, and snorkeling along the Great Barrier Reef.  We definitely recommend Australia for any adventure loving, animal cuddling, once in a lifetime moment seeking soul.  Just don't forget your rain jacket!  Here are a few of our favorite pictures... okay a bunch of our favorite pictures.  We are missing the ninety degree weather in Cairns as it has been snowing nonstop since we landed in Philly.

 

Our hotel room in Sydney!  We rode the train downtown and got off right in front of the Sydney Opera House.  Our hotel was only a stones throw away.

  

 The view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge from our hotel room!

  

 We went right out to explore.  Little did we know that these first few hours were going to be the only few hours with the sun for a week!

  

 The Sydney Opera House!!  Literally a three minute walk from our hotel.  We had a tour of the Opera House planned for the morning we arrived.  We had originally planned to tour it the day before, but the Opera House staff were nice and understanding and moved our reservation since we couldn't make it.  We ended up having to cancel our tours of the Blue Mountains and the Jenolan Caves we had previously booked.  These events were a day trip a few hours outside of Sydney where we were going to explore "rainforest" like environments and then go cave diving.  It is a bummer that we had to cancel, but we were definitely more interested in seeing Sydney, especially on our tight schedule.

  

 An architectural masterpiece!

 

The Sydney Harbour Bridge

 

We loved walking around the Opera House and seeing it from different angles.

  

 Just hanging out in front of Australia's most famous icon!

  

 Our tour was amazing.  We walked through a few of the two hundred different rooms.  They have operas, theatrical performances, ballets, and symphonies here.  Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside the rooms.

  

 We learned a lot about the history of the Opera House.  The actual design was chosen from a pile of reject designs during a competition among architects from over thirty-two countries.  The winner was a Danish architect, Jorn Utzon.  The original plan was projected to take only three years to complete and to cost only seven million.  It ended up taking fourteen years to complete and cost one hundred and two million!  There was major difficulty trying to determine the mathematical formula for building the structure, as Utzon didn't provide any dimensions in his original plan.  They finally figured out that the shape was a series of shells, each composed of sections of a sphere.  The building took so long and was met with such financial strain that the designer actually resigned before the Opera House was completed.  He left the country and never returned, although he did end up providing many of the designs for the interior.

 

 Alex with the ceramic tiles.  They only look white in sunlight!

 

After the Opera House tour, we went to the Museum of Sydney.  It had explanations of how the country was discovered and has progressed to the nation it is today.  There was also a lot of information on the aborigines of Australia.  Pretty much a similar story to the destruction and displacement of our Native Americans.  Opposite ends of the world, same sad tale.

   

  The Prommersbergers had recommended the Australian Hotel as a place with good food, so of course we had to check it out.

  

 Alex got a kangaroo meat pizza, ew.  I got a chicken curry pizza... so yummy!  The cost of everything, especially food in Australia was outrageous!  Around double of what food costs here.  You cannot find even a plain caesar salad for under twenty dollars. 

 

We took a million pictures of the Opera House.  This view is from the Harbour Bridge.

 

We did the Pylon Lookout Climb to get a better view of the city.  The pylons are the towers on either side of the bridge.  The climb had information about the construction and history of the bridge.

  

 Looking over the bridge!

 

 Boo on the rain :(

  

 The area with the Harbour Bridge and the Australian Hotel pub is called The Rocks.  We had an amazing dessert snack near this street at a great little French place.

  

 The Museum of Contemporary Art!

  

My favorite piece of art.

  

 Very contemporary... and strange.

  

 This is the sculpture garden outside the museum.  Do you recognize this sculpture?  I spy a hammer, an anvil and a stirrup.

 

 We had wine in the sculpture garden with a great view of the bridge.

  

We had tickets to ride up the Sydney Tower Eye.  It is the tallest building in Sydney with amazing views.  The rain definitely spoiled this one for us.  Great view of rain clouds, though...

  

 There was a small break in the clouds so we could see part of the city.

 

Our second day in Sydney we spent visiting the wild life!  We had tickets for a morning at the Sydney Aquarium.

 

 Jellyfish

  

 This fish had an ugly mug.  He was camouflaged as a rock.

 

 Sting ray tank!

 

 These are fairy penguins!  One of the aquarium workers was giving talks on the different species throughout the building and we happened to catch quite a few of them.  Learned a lot of facts :)  These fairies are the smallest penguins in the world.  Their blue backs are for camouflage to the ocean and their white tummies are for camouflage to the sky.  They really do a happy dance with their little flippers to attract a mate and when they attract one, they will sing a little song.  They then stay with their partner for life.

 

 Crabby

 

We got to walk through tanks full of sharks and fish!  It was really creepy!

 

 Hungry for Americans

   

 

 This is a dugong.  She is similar to a manatee.  Dugongs have a gestation period of fifteen months and then nurse their calf for eighteen months.  The calf then stays by the mom for another four years, so the dugongs really only have time for a new baby once every seven years!  They eat lettuce and require so much that the aquarium workers have to add more to the bottom of their tanks every fifteen minutes!!

  

 Sticking her tongue out at me.

   

Shark attack!

  

 This little guy was sleeping on the glass.

 

 Big fish

  

 The lionfish is the second most venomous fish in the ocean!

 

Sawtooth shark

  

 It was fun walking through the tanks!

  

 There was a boat feeding chum to the fish and we could watch from below.

 

 The rain spoiled some of our plans, so we went to the Sydney Wildlife Zoo instead.  This was our first koala encounter.  We were ecstatic and little did we know, it wasn't our last!  Koalas have a thirty-five day gestation period.  When they are born, they look like a hairless pink jelly bean and only have forearms and a head with a nose.  They have only nubs for hind legs.  They spend the next three months nursing and then an additional six months just hanging out in their momma's pouch.

 

This guy climbed down from his tree and wanted to get on another branch.  Poor guy couldn't climb the fence to get to the other tree, though.  These koalas hadn't been trained to interact with humans so when the zoo keepers saw him walking around with us, they freaked out!

 

Gross mouse eating

 

 We were not sure if this was a kangaroo or a wallaby.  Whatever she was, I was too scared to get close.  I was sure I was going to get kicked or punched.  Luckily, by the time we got to Coolangatta, I was over this fear.

  

 Alex got a little closer! 

 

 Huge crocodile!!  We got to watch them feed him a big dead chicken.

 

 Big bug... I wouldn't touch it.

 

 We had booked a sunset cruise around the Sydney harbour for our last night.  Because of the rain, there was no sunset, but the cruise was awesome and the food was fantastic.

  

 Cruising by the bridge!

  

 Coffee on a boat under the bridge.

 

 Our next stop was Coolangatta to see Sarah and Elise.  I took these sunny pictures on our last day there when the sun actually decided to make an appearance.  Their house was beautiful.

   

View of the back!  I see a doggy in the window.

 The house looks onto the canal.  Apparently this water is full of bull sharks.

  

 Nico the puppy!

  

Sarah took us for lunch in Cooly on our first day.  There was a huge surfing contest going on as Coolangatta has some of the best surfing waves in the world.  It is nicknamed Surfer's Paradise.  The competition was the Quiksilver Pro.

  

 Our room

 

 Breakfast on the coast.  I had the best eggs benedict and cafe latte here.

  

Exploring the beach

  

 Sarah and Alex

  

Rainy

 

 Sarah and Elise were preparing a barbie for us and some of their friends, so Alex and I went out on the bull shark infested water.

 

 We survived.  The barbie was fantastic and it was fun meeting their friends.

 

 And then came the best day of my life.  The sun decided to come out for a little and we decided to go to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary.  We certainly got our fill of marsupials. 

  

Making a big yawn.  These guys sleep between twenty and twenty-two hours a day!  They are also very picky about what type of eucalyptus they eat.  The zoo keepers have to cater to each koala!

  

So sleepy!

  

I have been waiting my whole life to hold this little girl!  She liked it so much that she peed on my shirt right after this picture.  It was still cute, but I looked a little freaked out in my alone picture with her :)  You better believe we have three eight by ten pictures of us with this koala.

  

 Alex and koala baby girl!

  

 I spy the sun!

  

 Thank goodness I got over my fear of getting too close to the kangaroos!  Feeding these guys was amazing!  They were all over the place and you could feed whoever you wanted!  I started off with one at a safe arms distance.

  

And then I was totally into it and bribing kangaroos all around with my snacks.

  

 Alex was feeding three at once!

  

 This baby roo was precious!  She put her hands around my fingers while she ate.  I think we have a million pictures of this girl.

  

 Feeding the baby with all the adults lounging in the background.  Very lazy.

 

 Feeding a mommy with a joey in the pouch!

 

 Such a cute joey!

    
Look at the joey coming out to eat!

 

 Just chillin

  

More crocs

  

Red kangaroos in their trees.  My camera died after this picture :(  We got to see tons of awesome wildlife including dingos!  They just look like regular dogs, except for the fact that they want to eat you.  We went over to the sanctuary hospital and saw a kangaroo who had just had surgery.  The OR was nicer than the ones I've worked in!  We also got to see a baby koala have his first check up.  After the sanctuary, Elise, Alex and I went to Cooly and had meat pies for lunch.  Literally pies with meat in them, similar to chicken pot pies but with many more options.  I had a chicken curry pie and Alex had beef curry.  Elise had a pepper beef pie.  Then we watched part of the surfing contest.  It was beautiful watching from the hillside in the awesome sunlight, but I had no camera :(

 

 We went out for dinner at one of the local surf life saving clubs.  This whole concept still confuses me, but from what I gather, surf life saving clubs are like sports teams.  There are surf clubs up and down the beaches and you are not allowed to go to them if you live within five kilometers and are not a member.  If you live outside five kilometers or are a member, you are welcome.  Seems backwards.  Each club has a crew of people, starting around six years old and going up to adults.  They train twice a day in life guarding exercises and then compete against other clubs.  Being a lifeguard in Australia is a big deal.  They make seventy thousand a year!

   

View from the club

  

 Sarah and Elise!  We had chicken "schnitty" for dinner... basically chicken schnitzel with gravy.

  

 Surf Life Saving Club

  

Elise is a surfing instructor and has competed in competitions in the past.  She was great and agreed to teach Alex to surf.

  

Going out to catch some waves!

   

Alex was a pro from the start.

  

 He did great!

  

 Cooly

  

 The last part of our trip was in Cairns (pronounced Cans).

 

Our view of the water.  It was ninety degrees outside and humid and we loved it.

  

 Walking to dinner

  

 It was sprinkling, but by this time, we were used to it.

  

Public swimming pool

  

 The skies were clearing up!  We loved looking over the beautiful mountains!  If we had one more day in Cairns, we would have gone up to Kuranda and rode the skyrail through the mountains.

  

 At dusk, the biggest bats we have ever seen came out!  The picture does not do their size justice.  Their bodies are just larger than Alex's head!

 

 We took a day cruise out to the Great Barrier Reef to go snorkeling.  We rode a bus to Port Douglas for the cruise on the most windy road ever.  I thought I was going to be car sick before we even got on the boat!

   

 Alex waiting to get his snorkel stuff.

  

 It took two hours to cruise out to the reef.  We went to the outer reef which is right next to the continental shelf drop off!

  

We had to wear suits to avoid getting stung by the jellyfish.

  

 All suited up!

  

  

 The reef was beautiful and full of aquatic life.  We saw a huge shark swimming on the ocean floor and, of course, Alex took off swimming after it.  I freaked out and hid behind other people in the water.  We had a fun time swimming up to clams, scaring them, and watching them close their shells.  It was a blast.  The lighter part in the picture is the reef.  It was about two or three feet from the surface of the water and then dropped off forty feet to the floor.  We snorkeled around this chunk of reef a few times.  In perhaps our only example of good timing, we could not have picked a better day to go snorkeling.  There was a large cyclone coming for Cairns and the Gold Coast the day after we left!

  

Exploring Cairns!  We got a little sun burn snorkeling, but only getting one sun burn while in Australia isn't that bad.

   
Can't wait for our next adventure!