Australia Trip

We had a fantastic time "Down Under". We arrived on St Patrick's Day (3/17) and left the following Sunday. We spent 4 days on the Gold Coast (southeast Queensland on the Pacific) and 4 days in Sydney.

Flights were good. Our two long flights (Singapore to Brisbane, Sydney to Singapore) each had 2 meals. We each also had our own TV with on-demand viewing, which was so cool. We could start, pause, rewind, etc all of the movies and TV shows that were available. I watched Borat (didn't find it too funny), The Devil Wears Prada (different than the book, but still quite good), Stranger than Fiction (Will Ferrell not being funny took some getting used to, but I enjoyed it), and Bobby (decent). Derek watched Borat, Blood Diamond, and Babel. Delaney saw Open Season (again!) and High School Musical (again!). She lit up when HSM came on. We ended up missing our flight from Brisbane to Sydney...not our fault, of course! We used a service (called Air Train, I think) to get from the airport in Brisbane to the Gold Coast. From the train station at the GC, a limo (yeah, Delaney wasn't quite sure what to make of the car that had wine glasses in it) took us to our hotel. We got the same service on the way back...Air Train organized everything for us. Air Train said that the limo would be at the hotel at 9 am to pick us up. We didn't think too much of it; we just went down at 9, were picked up (by a driver who loves America...he kept asking tons of questions about it!), and caught the train. Around 11 (and still on the train), I had the strange feeling that our flight was supposed to take off at 11:15. I pulled out the itinerary and sure enough, it said 11:15. I showed Derek (who was enjoying quiet, Delaney-free time at the front of the train). As soon as we were off the train (at 11:25) he found an Air Train worker. Long story short, she was able to get us on the next flight out, which left about 1:oo.

The four days on the Gold Coast were quite relaxing:
Saturday:
We got there around 10 am and weren't able to check into the hotel. We were hungry so we set off in search of food. First thing we discovered about Australia...the food is expensive! Most places had breakfast around 15 a person. We all could have eaten at Bob Evans for about that much! We found a cheaper place, ate, and wandered around. We walked to the beach to check it out. Our hotel was about a 5 minute walk from the beach. After we checked in (around noon) we headed to the beach. Delaney loved playing in the sand. She had sand in every single body cavity one can imagine by the time we were done! She got used to the waves and ventured out a little. She didn't want to go out far unless Derek or I were holding her. I gave that job to Derek, as I have a hard enough sometimes keeping myself from not going under! The waves weren't too rough that day, but were definitely some of the bigger ones I've seen...must be why a very close area to us is called Surfer's Paradise! At night, we went to an Italian place that had meals for 1/2 price. Our bill still was around 40 dollars at half price! Got back to the hotel and Derek was out by 8 pm. He hadn't slept much on the plane the night before. Delaney and I played games as he drooled and snored.

Sunday:
We found a bakery in the shopping center by the hotel and ate there for breakfast. We also found a smoothie place. We went to the pool after breakfast. Delaney really liked the hot tub...it was nice and warm. One strange thing about the pools, though, is the fact that they were all salt water. In talking with my Aussie friends, I guess it's pretty common there. Anyway, we headed to lunch and got kebabs, which were incredible! Then we were off to the beach. There was some sort of convention or vacation for workers at Amway who we think were from China. They had obviously never seen the ocean before. The would go out in the water up to their ankles and end up soaked (fully clothes, mind you) because they didn't understand the concept of waves. They took their cameras out there too. Derek was just waiting for them to lose a camera in the water. We buried Delaney in the sand. She got quite a kick out of it. We went to two places for dinner. Derek and I split a burger at a burger joint and then went to an Indian restaurant to try tandoori chicken. Both were great. We had to get ice cream after dinner. Delaney had her ever favorite Bubble Gum while I had my ever favorite vanilla milkshake.

Monday:
This was probably Delaney's favorite part of the whole trip. We went to DreamWorld, which is an amusement park. There was a Nickelodeon Central area and Wiggles World. She's been in love with the Wiggles since before she could talk, so this was quite a big deal for her (this is why there are so many pictures of Wiggles World in our slideshow). She got to ride their Big Red Car, see Henry the Octopus, and Captain Featherswords. She was a little upset that she didn't see Dorothy the Dinosaur. Captain was quite impressed that she was from Chicago and had travelled so far to see him. We went to the Slime Show in Nick Central. Delaney was called up on stage, and poor Derek had to go too, again! He got to dress up like a baby and pop balloons with his bum. Delaney's job (with two older boys) was to collect the balloons for Derek. She wasn't quite sure what was going on, but she did allright. We got to pet kangaroos at DreamWorld. Delaney fed them. She had a great time doing this. I felt sorry for the kangaroos, though. The Amway group (same group from the beach) showed up and were forcing them to eat, they went in areas that were supposed to be for the kangaroos to rest (clearly marked), they were pushing people out the way (me included) so they could get their pictures taken next to the 'roos. We left soon after they came. It was too hectic. The burgers were so good the night before that we went back for more.

Tuesday:
Beach and pool pretty much sums up this day. The undercurrent was really strong out to sea, so the lifeguards were pretty busy reminding people to stay close. We headed to a mall around 5, only to find out that it closed at 5:30. Guess that's how it's done there. In talking with my Aussie friends and British friends, that's how it's done there. We were a little disappointed, especially since there was a Target there! Dinner was at a different Italian restaurant, and was good.

Wednesday:
We headed to Sydney. We got there, checked in, and wandered around the harbour to look and find a place to eat. Delaney fell asleep as I carried her. Derek and I ate dinner while she slept. She of course woke up when we got back to the hotel (around 8). At 10 she said she wanted dinner and it had to be pizza. The concierge gave us some ideas but warned us that it would be difficult to find anywhere open so late. We found a place called Rossini's. The staff there loved her. She wanted milk but they didn't have it, so he brought her what he called "Australian Milky Water"...not a real thing, obviously, but Delaney fell for it. She loved it there so much, she had to eat there the rest of the nights. In all we were there 4 times! Boram was our waiter every time. The last night he bought her pizza for her and gave her 2 scoops of ice cream. Delaney was in love...her first crush!

Thursday:
Woke up and went to a cafe for breakfast. We booked our tour for the next day and walked around Circular Quay. This is where all of the ferries leave, where the Opera House is, and where to see the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We took a 2 1/2 hour narrated ferry cruise of the harbour. We tried to go to the Olympic Stadium later in the day. We got off of a ferry at the Olympic Stadium wharf only to discover that it was pretty far away from the wharf. We all had dinner at Delaney's restaurant that night.

Friday:
We took a tour out to the Blue Mountains. First stop was at Featherdale Wildlife Park where we saw Australian animals. We could pet kangaroos and koalas. Delaney was incredibly excited to see a mommy kangaroo with a baby in its pouch. She fed the kangaroos. Many weren't too keen on eating though, as there were tons of people there trying to feed them. I think all of the tours stopped there at the same time. We also saw dingos and wombats, among others. We then had a lesson on the art of throwing a boomerang. We headed out to the Blue Mtns which are named that because of a blue mist that is visible over the mountains. The blue mist is there because the eucalyptus trees emit an oil which appears blue when the sunlight hits it. We had a couple of stops in the Mountains, one of which was to see the Three Sisters rock formation. We went to a place called Scenic World, where we rode the world's steepest passenger train (it used to go down to coal mines), a glass bottomed cable car, and a regular cable car. It was fun. We went to a small little town called Leura. Didn't stay too long. We went to see the Olympic Park. I stayed on the bus b/c Delaney was sleeping. Derek got out and took a few pics. We then took a ferry to get back to where we were going. Delaney met a surrogate grandma on the tour. Grammy Ping was from Cincinnati and had been in Australia for 2 weeks. She was missing her grandkids as much as Delaney is missing her grandmas. They were a good match!

Saturday:
We went to Manly Beach. Water was much cooler than up at the Gold Coast, so we didn't do much swimming. Derek enjoyed much of the scenery. The town of Manly was very cool. Lots of surf shops with great clothes and tons of restaurants. Delaney had fun trying on the hats at the shops. On the ferry ride back to the hotel, it started to rain and get really cool. By the time we walked to dinner that night, it was absolutely freezing. Okay, maybe it was in the 60s, but when you're used to temps in the 90s, it's quite a shock to the system.

Sunday:
We had some time to kill before our flight. We walked around the Rocks, a restored colonial area. There was an arts festival, which happens every weekend. We bought a didgeridoo, an aboriginal instrument, as our reminder of the trip. We let Delaney pick it out, as they all had different designs. It was chilly that day. I'm glad that I had packed jeans and cardigans for Delaney and I. I did this purely for the plane, but seeing as autumn started while we were there, it was a smart idea!

Summary (through the eyes of Derek): Our vacation (or holiday as the locals call it) was great. We got to chill out at the beaches at the Gold Coast which is known for its weather and famous surfing sites. Sydney was in one word....AMAZING. It had this certain big city energy about it while maintaining a cool seaside vibe. It was full of beautiful old buildings lovingly restored, great transporation network, unending food options, amazing homes dotting the shoreline of Sydney Harbor (leading you to daydream about being a lotto winner or a Motorola VP ha-ha) and most importantly a great collection of people. Everybody we came in contact with was helpful and friendly. Another thing that I realized was that their were alot of beautiful people...majority of the guys were the strong good looking type that looked like they just walked off the rugby field and the woman were stylish and beautiful. To think that we spent 8 days in really just two cities and we could have spent many more just exploring the rest of Sydney! Then there is the rest of the country with far off cities like Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne. I think our next trip back to Australia we will hit Melbourne to watch the Australian Open and then we will spend a week exploring New Zealand. I highly recommend Australia to everyone.....its weird finally being able to see things like the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House in person.....even Delaney got excited to see the Opera House in person because it was in the movie Finding Nemo.