Australia

Aaron and I had the privilege of traveling to Australia in Mid-April. Aaron was going down there for a business trip and I arranged things at home so I could tag along. Thank heavens for family who helped watch the girls, clean up throw-up, get the kids to school, feed them and snuggle them while we were gone. I wanted to throw up a few photos of our trip. I have a bunch more, but I'm sure anyone reading this would get bored looking at them all. :-)

The photo above was taken from the ferry that took us from a few hundred yards outside our hotel over to Manly Beach. I have a few photos below of that. But these are the most commonly recognized icons from Sydney. (Yes I looked for P Sherman on 42 Wallabee Way and couldn't find him)

Yes those blobs of black are really bats, or as Aaron corrects me, flying foxes. Close to the hotel was a park named Hyde Park. At night, as Aaron and I were walking back from dinner at a really yummy Malaysian restaurant, he took me through the park to see the huge bats and 20+ possums that roam there at night. During the day I couldn't find any bats in the park, but on my 5th day there I stumbled across tree upon tree filled with these bats in the Royal Botanical Gardens. It was quite a sight. From the signs posted, the bats are killing the trees and the gardeners are trying non-violent ways of preventing them from roosting in the trees.

At night on Wednesday, we watched the bats fly out of gardens and between a few buildings to swarm the skies above our heads. I have some very grainy video of it from my cell phone, so I didn't post it.

This is an official Aussie meat pie. I walked about 5 miles to get this one day for lunch. It is similar to a pot pie (without veggies on the inside - just meat and peppery gravy). Piled on top is a large scoop of mashed potatoes, smashed peas and more gravy. This is called The Tiger. It was heaven in a pastry shell! I am going to attempt to make these things sometime in the next few weeks.

The first day we arrived, we walked around an open air market and worked our way over to the Opera House. It was really less than a mile from the hotel and I spent a lot of time around in this area through the week.

As we were walking over to the opera house, we noticed we were in the minority as most of the people walking with us looked to be of Arab or Indian descent. They were dressed in really bright colors, mostly neon orange. This photo is from the steps of the opera house as the procession of people walks past. Come to find out, they are Sikhs (seeks) and were at a peaceful gathering / march.

This is a photo of more Sikhs. Can't read the sign though.

This is looking back at the harbor from the opera house. Our hotel is behind one of the buildings in the middle of the photo. The boats in the picture are the ferries that take people over to the zoo or Manly Beach.

This is Manly Beach. After the opera house, we took the ferry here and spent a few hours watching surfers and a beach volleyball game. It is surprising to see the number of people that run in this country. You don't see very many people that are over weight. They also seem to smoke more than most cities in the US I've been to. Kind of an interesting contrast to each other.

Here is the volleyball game we were watching. They weren't professionals, but still fun to watch.

Surprisingly, this is a shopping mall. It is Queen Victoria Mall. It mostly houses high end designer stores and is 4 stories tall. I spent a morning browsing here.

I spent an afternoon in the Sydney Wildlife Reserve. It houses a lot of Australian animals. Some of which we were able to get very close. I loved the butterfly room in this place and have some cool pictures of the very colorful butterflies there.

Yes, I did see a kangaroo. No, it didn't try to box with me. These seemed pretty use to having people around.

I spent a day at another beach called Bondi Beach. I loved all the buildings along the coastline and was amazed at how many people lived in this city. The beach was perfect - soft, shell-free sand. The weather was around 72 degrees but with a light breeze so it wasn't too hot. I ate lunch along the beachfront and then spent the rest of the afternoon walking in the water and along a coastal walkway to a few other less-popular beaches. An older man fishing on Bondi showed me how to get to the walkway.

This is a surfer on Bondi. The water was so pretty and filled with surfers. You have to wonder how that many people could be off work during the middle of the week. Hmmmmmm........

This is taken from one of the less-popular beaches on my coastal walk. I loved the sea grass growing in the surf and had to take a photo. Beaches are my favorite things and this was one of my favorite days.

One other quick story. I bought a 2-day pass on a tour bus that stops at various places in the city and lets people get off to see the sights and then hop back on a later bus. (buses ran every 20 min or so) I stopped off at the wildlife reserve to see the kangaroos and decided to grab some lunch before I hopped back on the bus. I found a little place that sold mini-cheeseburgers and bought one with some "chips" (fries) and a drink. I walked over to some wooden steps that ran along the length of the harbor and were there for people sit and look out at the ships. I sat on the steps and grabbed my mini-cheeseburger. I un-wrapped it and took a bite. I think re-positioned it in my hands to get a second bite when a seagull flew over my right shoulder and grabbed the cheeseburger out of my hands and flew off with the top bun. The rest of it landed face down on the step in front of me. I was so mad I gathered up the scraps and put them in my bag so none of the screaming birds around me could get any more. I could swear they were all screaming "Mine!" "Mine!" "Mine!"