Leaving Manly a 1/2 hour late + getting lost on the way to the airport + + stopping for fuel and food at 7/11 due to gas tank and bellies below empty + stuck in traffic due to accident + rental car return + digging through bags to repack things in carry-ons or pay $500 for 23 kg over weight limit = arriving at gate with 5 minutes to spare. You would think that we would have this down by now?!
Five minutes to spare.
Headed to Bali.
Boarding.
Welcome to Bali. We made it!
After three weeks of traveling down the coast of Australia, we made it to Sydney. It felt a bit surreal, standing under the shadows of the iconic Sydney Opera House. For so many years I have seen photos of this architectural masterpiece but never imagined I would be there in person. The sun just barely below the arched roof shells gave it a cathedral type appearance.
The harbor bridge to Sydney.
The opera house.
Harbor bridge from behind the Opera House.
The water front.
Reflections looking up at the back of the Opera House. Can you find Willie, Wylie and Aimee?
The Botanical Gardens just outside of the Opera House.
View from the Botanical Gardens.
The Art Museum.
Sydney at night.
Wylie and spent a long time feeding our corn to the wallabies.
I kissed one while it was eating. I bet the wallabies get kissed very often.
This wallaby had a very funny looking joey in its pouch, it wasn’t very fluffy but still very cute.
Dad filling up the wallabies hungry bellies.
Giving the last of our food away. It was hard saying goodbye to them. I think we will see them again though, hopefully in our house 🙂 – Aimee
On May 13th we decieded to go stop by the Billabong Koala Park hoping to see all the animals on our check list for Australia and pet some koalas. Little did we know we would get to feed wallabies, wallaroos, and kangaroos and also pet dingos. – Aimee
Me petting a super fluffy koala. This was was one of the only ones that was lazy enough to let the zoo keeper pull him off his tree.
We love the koalas…
And the dingos
We even got to pet them.
Excerpt from my journal, May 12th
We celebrated Aimee’s Birthday in today in Crescent Head, Australia. My “baby” turned 13 years old. Over the past week I have not been able to take my eyes off of her. I just stare in awe at her beauty and maturity. She has grown into an amazing young lady. I feel spoiled to have had her all to myself these past months. Her social intelligence far exceeds her years. She sees the world through creative eyes and has brought more color into my world than I could have ever imagined. She makes me laugh with her insight and one-liners. She lightens the serious side of me. She is adventurous and easy going. She is beauty.
Crescent Head is a pretty sleepy town with not much to do. We did our best at making the day special. Aimee woke to a birthday donut.
We had a picnic on the beach.
She got the fluffy mutton that she fell in love with in New Zealand.
We played pin the nose on the koala,
and limbo.
We shared a yummy chocolate birthday cake. This time I had matches to light the candles!
On May 4th we celebrated Willie’s Birthday in Noosaville, Australia. Surfing, presents, cake, Thai food, and a movie.
Aimee and I decorated the apartment.
We couldn’t light the candles on the birthday cake because our matches were confiscated at the airport in Fiji.
A new t-shirt and visor.
All along the coastal walkway out of Noosaville, there are different surf breaks. We would grab our boards, walk out our front door, cross the street and stroll along the shore until we found the break that looked the best.
Surfing First Break at sunset.
The bush along the walkway.
Checking out Granite’s.
Big spiders!
Big birds!
Big waves!
We stayed at the Ocean Breeze Resort. It was right in town and a 1 minute walk to the beach.
The little town of Noosa.
The main beach in town.
Our cute little apartment.
Harper is the town Koala. You can spot him in different eucalyptus trees around town.
The beginning of the coastal walkway out of Noosa.
Yellow Fin Tuna and Skipjack. After a few photos, these fish go right to the kitchen. Some of the staff bring home the skipjacks to their village and some our cooked that day. The tuna is served a day later as sashimi. They say that waiting a day softens the meat. It all tasted good to me.
Surfing Swimming Pools
Playing on the beach.
Finding amazing shells.
The beautiful people we met.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get pictures of everone.