9/14/07 Friday- to California

So this is it.  We're at the airport now.  We didn't do much this morning other than pack.  Our flight is a bit delayed so I'm here using the free internet- amazing huh!  We should be back in CA before we actually leave Sydney!  So the next 15-16hrs will be spent on an airplane.  When I get home and have a chance I will 
add pictures to the entries where
I wasn't able to before. 

9/13/07 Thur.- Sydney

Our last day as a tourist in Australia:( We had some shopping to do. So we took a bus to Manly Beach- did some shopping, then boarded the ferry to the city center. We immediately hopped on the ferry to Darling Harbour- good timing. Spectacular views of the city! It seems like everywhere you go we run into a beautiful beach with gorgeous sand and stunning blue water- and this is just the end of winter- I can only imagine what summer's like. We had lunch, walked around, shopped, took in one of the markets. We visited the Cultural Center where we watched a show on the didgeridoo and the aboriginal culture. Marc has become obsessed with learning to play the didgeridoo and yes, we are bringing one home. If he randomly starts puckering his lips, does weird things with his cheeks or spits on you, don't worry he's "just practicing". Sarah picked us up from the city and we went back to Dee Why beach for our last night in Sydney. We had a sausage sizzle with Sarah, Jim, and their neighbors. What a great place! And we couldn't have spent our time in Sydney with better people- to Sarah and 'Jeem'!!!!! (-who taught us all about Australian slang- and believe me when I say there's a lot! - fair dinkum, I reckon, D'reckon, chockablock, chockers, a bit, bloody oath, swimmers, barbie, I can't be bothered, etc. etc.etc. -never mind the things we just don't have at home like dingos, brumbies, Vegemite, cassowaries, kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, lorakeets--- to name just a few.) We also spent some time trying to immitate the faces on the beer koozies- now that was funny!!!

9/12/07 Wed.- Sydney

Unfortunately today Sarah & Jim had to go back to work. We were quite fortunate that we had them all to ourselves as our tour guides for as long as we did. They are awesome! Anyway, Marc & I took a bus, then a ferry to get to the city center of Sydney. We had wonderful views of the harbour bridge and the opera house. We walked around a bit in some other areas and then met up with 2 women we met in Uluru- the Louises. They work downtown so we met up for lunch. Strangely one of them is very similar to Marc. I don't ever think I've ever met a female so much like Marc- very weird! Anyway we had a good time. Alcohol always seems to seep in when we're hanging out with
them! Afterwards we visited a museum.
Then walked around a bit before taking a bus to the infamous "Bondi Beach".
Here we walked on the beach and became spectators at the skate boarding park. Jim is a big skate boarder so we had to see what his buddies could do. A little later Jim met us down there and showed us his stuff!! We couldn't stay there long though because we were meeting Sarah and some of her friends for dinner- tapas. We had a blast.

9/11/07 Tues.- Blue Mountains

We went to the Blue Mountains today- about 1.5 hrs from Sydney. We had lunch at a cute cafe in a small town- ?Laurel?. And then we took a sky rail across a gorge viewing "the 3 sisters"- a rock formation with an aboriginal story. Afterwards we took a very steep rail car down into the gorge and then hiked around a bit. We took in some info about the mining industry in the area. Then we took another cable car back up. Of course we got caught up in some rain again. But because of that we saw the most amazing rainbow I've ever seen. We headed back and took it easy for the rest of the evening at Sarah & Jim's.

8/10/07 Mon.- Port Stephens -> Sydney

This morning Sarah and I went for a walk on the beach nearby where we were staying and then the 4 of us left for hike to an amazing look out point- beautiful blue water, islands, beaches, towns, ocean, etc. We had a nice lunch at the marina and then went back to Anna Bay- Stockton Beach to go quad-biking on the sand dunes. Wow- that was fun! We were catching air, doing doughnuts, driving down really steep dunes! Again, I 'reckon' Marc & Jim had perma-smiles. We stopped at one winery as we headed back to Sydney- yes of course I had to fit a bit of wine tasting in. And it was pretty good too! On the drive back unfortunately we got stuck in some bad traffic thanks to an accident, so we didn't make it to Sarah's parents until 8:30pm. But they were still happy to have us and to feed us a fantastic BBQ. We had a really good time there. Her parents were great!

8/9/07 Sun.- to Port Stephens

Today we were a bit slow to get going but finally left for Port Stephens (a beach area about 2 hrs north of Sydney) around noon. We tried the infamous Australian meat pies for lunch along the way- quite tasty. That afternoon we decided to go 4 wheel driving on Stanton? Beach- huge sand dunes- in Jim's truck. We had a blast. Marc & Jim had perma-smiles the entire time. And we saw a magnificent sunset over the dunes with the ocean as the back drop.

8/8/07 Sat.- Sydney

Today we took it easy, got up when we felt like it, relaxed and just enjoyed hanging out with Sarah and Jim. It was cloudy and a bit rainy too so we weren't too ambitious. We did go for a drive, so we saw some of the northern beach suburbs. And we went for a hike to a look out/light house. There were very beautiful views of ocean, bays, boats, land, etc. They only problem was we got caught in a down pour. Marc and Jim ran back down and then used the rain as an excuse to drive on the beach to come back to pick Sarah & I up. Anyway, we had a cooked up some burgers on the "barbie" for dinner at Sarah & Jim's. One of their friends came over too and then we went out to a bar and hung our with some more of their friends- What great people!

8/7/07 Friday- Uluru to Sydney

Today we got up early again. We went on a base walk of Uluru that started before sunrise. It was excellent. The colors of the rock really did change! The walk was 11km, but was very easy and the guide told us dream time stories of the Aboriginal people and about the animals and plants in the area. We really enjoyed it- though the guide was a bit dull. Yesterday we met 2 women from Sydney, the 2 Louises, who were with us all afternoon and evening and then again today for the morning tour. They were a blast! The entire time was definitely more entertaining with them there and Marc had somebody to tell his stories to!

Early afternoon we left on a flight to Sydney. Our friend Jim picked us up from the airport and although it was a bit rainy he did a short tour prior to going back to their place to show us the harbour and opera house- very beautiful. We went to their place where we saw Sarah too- sooo good to see them!!! We had a fabulous home cooked dinner and talked and talked.

9/6/07 Thur.- to Uluru

We got up early today to catch a flight to Uluru from Cairns at 7am. We arrived at 9:30 and had a bit of time to hang out. One good thing about the desert is that you're very likely to have clear, sunny skies. By 10:45 it was warm enough to hang out by the pool, which Marc was very happy about. That afternoon we went to see Kata Tjuta- or the 5 olgas. It's a large bunch of huge rocks in the desert that has aboriginal importance. We did a little walk and learned more about it. At 5:45 we left for a dinner called "sounds of silence". It was really good and a bit of a splurge! It started off with champagne, appetizers, sunset over Uluru (an enormous rock in the desert that changes colors during sunset and sunrise), and a didgeridoo player (an aboriginal instrument that Marc thinks he's going to learn to play)- very nice! Then we had a full dinner in the middle of the desert under all the stars. We ate kangaroo, crocodile, baramundi, etc- all Aussie things, though they don't really even eat them much. After dinner there was an astronomer who talked about the southern sky and pointed out all sorts of things- it was great! The stars are amazing especially since there are no other lights around. And of course beer and wine were included too.

Unfortunately I'm having trouble loading pictures right now so later when I get home I'll have to add them in.

9/5/07 Wed. - to Cairns

Today was a road trip day. We drove 8 hours to Cairns. No problems. We just had dinner and are now doing this blog. We'll head to bed early because we have an early flight tomorrow to Uluru!

9/4/07 Tuesday- Back to Arlie Beach

Today we were up again at 7am for breakfast. We did one last dive in the morning which was very nice- there was more fish here and there were mazes of coral reefs- very good dive. It was again very cloudy and rainy the entire day. Marc watched a couple movies in the afternoon on board. I hung out outside chatting with the captain and watching the islands go by. It was fairly calm day. After returning to Arlie Beach we checked back in to our hostel, had a shower, and went out with some of the people from the boat- had a good time!

9/3/07 Monday- Great Barrier Reef

Up again at 7am for breakfast. Today was all about the diving. We did 3 dives- 2 before lunch and one night dive. The first 2 dives were at the great barrier reef (one of the pictures is of the reef as seen from above water). The dives were very nice- a lot of coral, but not as many fish as I expected. I think there are other much better dive sites for that. Today the weather was a bit better too- on and off clouds, but more sun than not. We all were a bit more red by the end of the day. After lunch we left to go back to the Whitsundays again. We saw a lot of whales all along throughout the trip- humpbacks. We saw dolphins and turtles too.

As we were pulling into our final destination for the evening we witnessed an absolutely magnificant sunset.

Just before dinner we did the night dive. It too was good. There was a big potato cod following us around the entire dive. Unfortunately just as I was getting on the boat I dropped my flashlight back into the water. The dive master went back down to find it with out luck- though the light was still on. None the less because of this I had to endure a veggiemite fine (this is the threatened punishment for anything you weren't supposed to do on the boat)! Basically I had to eat a spoonful of veggiemite- yuck!!!!!!!!!! The rest of the evening was great- we hung out, drank, watched the stars!

9/2/07 Sunday- Whitsunday Islands

We woke up at 7am promptly for breakfast. Our first stop was Whitehaven Beach- absolutely gorgeous, except for one small problem- it was pouring and we all got soaked and were very cold! We then headed to Luncheon Bay (part of the Whitsundays) and did our first SCUBA dive

after lunch. The dive was nice- a lot of really pretty corals. Strangely at this point, because of the bad weather 8 of the 18 passengers left to go back to the main land. So we were left with a very small group which was great. We all got along very well and had a fabulous time together! The rest of the evening we just hung out and star gazed.

9/2/07 Sunday-

oops!

9/1/07 Sat. - Arlie Beach

Today was not all that exciting. We did laundry and hung out most of the day waiting to board the Pacific Star- a sailing catamaran. We left on a 3 night, 3 day cruise of the Whitsunday Islands and to the outer great barrier reef at around 7pm. There were rough seas so we took it easy and went to bed early in our very tiny room- not really a room- the tiny bed takes up the entire room and the bathroom also functions as the shower- so when you shower the toilet and everything gets wet. It was alright though, just a bit damp. Happily, neither one of us got sick either!

8/31/07 Not so elusive after all

So after checking email that afternoon we went back up the mountain to Broken River in Eungella National Park to look for the platypuses. We were in luck!!! We saw lots of them. It was really cool! They're really cute too! We sat and watched them for

about 75 minutes. After that we drove to Arlie Beach where we spent the night.