Month: May 2009 (Page 1 of 2)

Bryan and I recently celebrated our 5 year anniversary. Since Bryan had the day off we went to the beach near our house and hung out. There isn’t much else to say about the beach except that we enjoyed our time together!

Bryan and I just got back from a two week stay in Australia. We had many adventures and thoroughly enjoyed our time there. I will slowly be posting pictures from our trip and adding our pictures from the Great Barrier Reef once they get developed. On the map below, I highlighted all the places we went with the colored stars. *A special thanks to all of our friends in Australia for giving us the time of our life and all the wonderful adventures that we will never forget!

We met up with Nick in Double bay and while the men worked I went to the beach and wrote in my journal.

After that we had snacks then walked around a bit. For dinner we ate at Maya Da Dhaba. It was the most fabulous Indian restaurant. We all shared chooza chicken, saag paneer, chicken tikka masala, naan, and rice. It was the best tasting Indian food that Bryan and I have ever had.

The next day was our travel day. Zeph picked us up and we had a farewell coffee along the water. When we got to the airport we didn’t say goodbye, but rather, until next time. We had an amazing time in Australia. We met amazing people, created life-long friendships, and made memories that will last a lifetime. Thank you to all the people who made our time in Australia so wonderful, we cannot wait until we see you again. 

We started off our day by walking to Hyde Park. Next to the park is the beautiful St. Marys Cathedral. We looked around the inside and watched some old lady yell at all the tourist for taking pictures inside the cathedral. We then met up with Zephyr at the pool of reflection in Hyde Park. We then quickly made our way down to Chinatown for some Yum Cha with Dietmar and Liz. (Yum Cha is the same as Dim Sum in the states.) That was a fun experience but we ate way too much so it was a good thing that Zeph had a lot of walking planned for that afternoon.

After lunch we went to Paddy’s market where we bought some souvenirs. Then we made our way down to the QVB (Queen Victoria Building) and bought some tasty chocolate that we enjoyed later on in the park. After that we walked down to the Australian Museum and enjoyed looking at a lot of art.

Next, we made our way down to the Royal Botanical Gardens. There were tons of bats in many of the trees in the gardens. Bryan really liked looking at the bats. We came across two cockatoos and stopped to get some pictures, when all of a sudden Bryan and Zeph were surrounded by like 5 or 6 more birds. It was like they all of a sudden became bird charmers and attracted them all to us. So, we had some fun seeing how close we could get to the birds without them flying away. Then we went and rested near the water and enjoyed a few pieces of the chocolate we had bought earlier.

Finally, we walked along the water to the Sydney Opera House and took some pictures in front of the Harbour Bridge. On the walk back to the hotel we stopped at the Lindt Cafe and had a mocha, hot chocolate and chocolate cake. It was absolutely sinful but was worth every calorie. Bryan just told me that there are only two Lindt cafe’s in the world; and both are in Sydney. A small tear was just shed.

This was the big day of hotel changing. Bryan and I didn’t like the hotel we were staying in so we walked into town, found another hotel, checked out, and then dragged our bags to the new hotel. We ended up at the hotel Zeph originally recommended to us so I should have listened to him in the first place. Yes Zeph, you were right.

We met Zeph down at the harbour and took a short ferry ride to Manly. When we got there we walked through town and stumbled upon a beautiful Aboriginal art gallery. The woman in the gallery explained to us that Aboriginal art is very practical. They have a few different uses for their style of art. For one type they use shapes and patterns to map an area or region.

We walked closer to the beach and bought fish and chips for lunch then walked down and ate lunch at the beach. When we were sitting there a seagull swooped down and stole a “chip” right out of Zypher’s hand. At first I thought he was quite a cheeky little guy until another one stole a “chip” from my hand and came so close that he brushed my hair! (Cheeky is a word the Australians use. It has a couple meanings but it can be used to mean being bold.) After lunch we walked along the beach and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

Zeph secured a ride to Sydney with Dietmar and Elizabeth. Unfortunately, he forgot to mention to Dietmar how much luggage Bryan and I had.  When they pulled up at the house in the car with the trunk already half full I had little hope that all of our stuff was going to make it to Sydney. Oh me of little faith. We managed to fit most of the stuff in the trunk except . . . Liz had a box of wine at her feet and a canvas bag on her lap, Bryan had a computer bag at his feet and a backpack on his lap, Zephyr had a [heavy] carryon suitcase on his lap, and I had a backpack on my lap. It doesn’t sound like much but it was quite the sight to see. I really wish I would have gotten a picture of the whole thing but we were in the car just perfectly so I didn’t want to upset the balance and ask someone to take a picture. I was glad that it only took us around 2 hours to get to Sydney, but I will be forever grateful to Liz and Dietmar for giving us a ride to Sydney.

Before dinner we met up with Jeremy at the Sheaf. We talked for a bit and then went to the FW dinner party. A wonderful woman, named Voula, hosted the FW team for a wonderful dinner.  We each had a turn to give a speech; some people took a more heartfelt approach and some of the speeches were funny. We all had a very good time and had a lot of laughs. Bryan and I had an absolutely wonderful time getting to know the team as well as getting to know Voula. (Thank you Voula for the delicious food and wonderful company. I will never forget the fun we all had!)

I woke up early and decided to read so that I wouldn’t disturb the boy’s beauty sleep. All of a sudden I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and noticed a wallaby sitting at the base of a tree near the house. Not caring who I woke at this point I ran down the hall and woke Bryan to see the Wallaby. I think the wallaby spotted me through the window when I tore down the hall to get Bryan because it didn’t stop watching us for the longest time. Fortunately, I was able to get a pretty good picture of it before it hopped away.

After breakfast we drove across Kangaroo Valley to Dietmar and Elizabeth’s house. We had coffee and tea on their back patio before we left for our hike. We also spotted a wedge tail eagle.

Dietmar took us on a 1.8 km trail through the bush, that lead to a high point on some rocks, overlooking a dam. The sites were absolutely beautiful.

Since we missed seeing Fitzroy Falls on our first go around Zeph took us back there to view the magnificent falls. The waterfall is 81m (266 ft) high. They have many platforms along a path where you can view the falls. The first platform we went to was about 30 feet from the falls and at the very top. This made me very nervous so I only went out on the platform long enough to take a picture then went back to the safety of solid ground. Then we walked along the path to two other platforms to get different views of the falls. Along the way they had informational native animal signs. We learned about a Lyre bird. It’s a sort of Australian mocking bird that is amazing at mocking different animals and sounds. They are known to make a loud chainsaw noise.

After dinner we went looking for wombats. We were very lucky and saw several. Zephyr even got us so close to one we could almost touch it. They were so cute I wanted to take one home with me but I couldn’t figure out how to get it through customs if I was actually able to catch one.

After a morning of leisure we set off to see some of Kangaroo Valley. We drove through a lush area of trees and ferns to get to a place called flat rock. We explored the area a bit and I asked if anyone wanted to hang on a shaky looking limb so I could take a picture but I had no takers. Then we walked along a beautiful country road and enjoyed the amazing scenery. When we got back from our walk we had lunch and David and Isobel had to leave.

Before dinner we went to a river near the house to look for Platypuses but we had no luck. The two of Zypher’s friends came over for dinner and we had a lovely time getting to know them.

After a delicious breakfast (Isobel’s food was AMAZING!) we packed up the cars and headed for Kangaroo Valley. On our way we stopped at Fitzroy Falls, but unfortunately it was so foggy we couldn’t see anything. So, we made another stop for coffee in a small town called Borrowang. When we got to Kangaroo Valley I was blown away. It has to be one of the most stunning places I have ever been. The house we stayed in had the most amazing and picturesque views.

When we got to the valley we relaxed and read. Zeph made duck for dinner. My contribution was the mashed potatoes. The meal was delicious.

When we landed at the Sydney airport we were greeted at the end of the jet way by Zephyr. A strange occurrence since only ticketed passengers are allowed past security, but Australia is a whole other amazing place where not only can non ticketed passengers get past security, but you also don’t have to take off your shoes to go through security. (I told Bryan I may move there for the shoe reason alone!) So, it was a pleasant surprise to see a familiar face so far away from home. Once we collected our bags we met David outside and we were off to Bowral. Bowral is a quaint town in the Southern Highlands where Babe was filmed. David and Isobel were actually extras in the film, as they lived in Bowral when it was filmed.

When we got to the house we met Isobel. She prepared a snack of cheese, bread, and the most yummy peppers. Before dinner the guys and I went for a walk around beautiful Bowral. Since it was fall in Australia when we were there the leaves on the trees were beginning to change and it was gorgeous. We saw most of the town on our walk and we even smelled some eucalyptus leaves.

Isobel served us a wonderful dinner of eye steak, potatoes, brussel sprouts, and sauce. It was so delicious and nice to have a home cooked meal after eating out for 7 days. She also served a delicious apple pie.