Blue Mountains, Wildlife with Bob

Started out early across the Sydney Habour Bridge at 7:30 for a personalized tour of waterfalls,wildlife park, Blue Mountains, and sites outside of city.

 Bob our tour guide was informative, adventurous and awesome!

We started at a Featherdale wildlife park and saw Koalas, kangaroos, birds, reptiles, in their natural habitat. It initially look like they were going to a person's home and we found this wonderful wild life park.  Bob was so patient and he described every animal that we countered, we then took our time and played with kangaroos and koalas.

Our new baby

Neil with his new friends

Off to the Blue Mountains

 Last supper and stroll down George street and Habour...discovered a great Thai restaurant

At the museum of contemporary art.

Kurt Cobain and Michael Jackson vase Grayson Perry.

Fri. 26th

 Sydney Opera house by day

 Harbor bridge and Opera house view from the ferry we took to Darling harbor which had fun bars, restaurants and street shows.  Sat night they have fireworks at 9pm. Lots of beautiful, tall and blonde couples were present.  We stuck out like a black sheeps!  Reminds me of a joke I can't post...ask me later. :)

Inside the opera house.  Tonight we are seeing Winton Marsalis and the Sydney Orchestra play here.

Zoo, Opera and Jazz

Today we took the ferry to Toranga Zoo!  This amazing zoo is situated  across the harbor from city.  Transportation in Sydney is predominantly by ferry and it is on time easy and accessible.

 

 

 

                                                                    Animals in the zoo:

Next stop the Opera house tour... We went on the guided talk with Luis.  He showed the architectural spendor and the design history of Jorn Utzon.

Amazing architecture and design, took almost 20 years to build...

The evening was spent in the grand hall at Sydney Opera House.  We listened to the jazz music of Wyton Marsales jazz musician..  Wonderful concert and sounds from the Sydney Opera House!

Sydney on our own

We headed out for a morning run to see the Rocks- nice jog to take in the Harbour, bridges, opera house, people and morning rush.

Waited for our city tour guide and after an hour of not showing, we cancelled the tour and became our own self guided tourists.

 
We walked an exhausting time around town in 90 degrees and tried a sweet little restaurant, "Fish at the rocks"

  Yummy! After a good meal we cooled off in an air conditioned contemporary art museum to see the Grayson Perry exhibit...

  Crazy, Transvestite artist - odd designs  using Japanese vase influence, phallic symbols, tapestries and metal.

Evening spent with s ferry ride to Darling Harbour and dinner at Nicks seafood!  

Note to self: need to go on diet when we get home!
 

Sydney time!

We landed in Sydney overlooking a vibrant harbor with historical buildings and architecture.  We headed out on a stroll through the Rocks area and stumbled into a delightful cafe.  Neil had the best trout salad!

 

We then met up with our Train buddies, Seana and Tara for karaoke singing.  Loads of fun!

 

Singing koalas!
 
 

Mex, our dive master aboard silverswift catamaran.  3 ft. Swells getting  to barrier reef.

Diving down under with my mates.

Auzzie currency is as colorful as the people here. 

 Skies parting after a downpour lastnight. View from Pullman international hotel in cairns.

Vegemite sandwich. Yummy if you are into extracted brewers yeast from the local pub. Cheers mate.

our Aussie buddies

Train friends and soon to-be-karaoke singers

I love mizuya...karaoke!

 

Great Barrier Reef

Set sail out on a very rainy day with rough seas to see the Great Barrier Reef. Neil prepared for his scuba adventure  hile I watch the waves crashed over the decks.

 The sea was choppy and waves were high, when we arrived At the dive spot... Thanks to Simon, I made it through the storm abd saw beautiful sea life!

The katsura koalas are now official scuba/snorkel mates!

Australian adventures

After a long travel day from Queenstown, New Zealand, to Cairns, Australia, we woke up the next day to learn about the Aussie culture, rainforest and adorable wild and amazing creatures....

We started at the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park. We were greeted by an aboriginal, face painted, thong wearing tour guide.  

 We learned  the many things of Aussies history and culture... Didgeridoo (special long root instrument), boomerangs , spear throwing , bush medicine therapies and Aborginal dances.   We had lunch and sampled the food of Australia (kangaroo and pork cooked in the groud).

We then rode the skyrail through the rain forest (6 kilometers). The Ride went over the high jungle and ending in an old aboriginal village.

 We arrived at the Kuranda village... A bit touristy but we made our way up to the Koala  Gardens and I was so excited to cuddle a koala, pat wallabies and kangaroos.  We also saw crocodiles and wombals!

Ending our journey travelling an hour train ride back to Cairns through beautiful terrain.

All aboard!