We arrived in Coolangatta that after noon. We had pizza (surprise, surprise) for dinner that night and played cards. The next morning we hit the beach after an interesting breakfast with strangers. I will spare you the details on this but I got the impression that Josh and Stacey would much rather "support the unemployed surfers" than watch their money disappear in the "booming" housing market there. Ha!!! : ) It would take forever to tell you about that. But Josh and Stacey will appreciate it and hopefully have a good laugh. : )After our "gourmet" breakfast Daddy Dearest and Josh rented surf boards and were off. Here is DD...
It was a GORGEOUS beach!!!! There was a look out at a point (close to our condo) where most surfers lined up to catch a wave. Here is a video of all the surfers that were out there. Can you see now WHY I didn't get a board and venture out there. Josh said that there was a 50 ish year old lady (that was surfing) that told a little boy to go back to where ever he was from. People having arguments over waves! That is hardcore!!!If the conditions were just right you could start to one side of the point and surf the same wave for at least 200 yards or more. I never watched anyone long enough to see if anyone did it but Josh said His Dad would do it when He was younger. That would be GREAT!
I enjoyed "sun baking" as they call it over there. It was so warm and the breeze was just perfect! SO NICE!!!! I can't wait for summer now!
After having a great time at the beach. We went to see "The Outback Spectacular 2". Now...just to give you the brief history that Josh and Stacey gave us...The Outback Spectacular (1) was based on The Man From Snowy River. You may not have seen this movie (based on a true story) but I on the other hand have seen it more than my fair share while growing up. This show (TOS1 ) was shown in the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics in 2000 when it was hosted in Sydney, Australia. TOS2 was based on the Australia Light Horse and how they came about. If you are interested check out the history at this website... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Light_Horse
It was a really cool show. We ate dinner while they show took place in the arena. Here we are with the guy that narrated the show and his horse "Mystery"...
After the show I had my turn to drive. I also had my turn at turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal several times. It was very hard to get used to driving on the opposite side of the road. Luckily for me, we were on the highway most of the time so all the cars were going the same direction. There wasn't too much that was different than us driving on the interstate. Well...until you get a little relaxed and begin easing over into the other lane which (in America) wouldn't have any cars in it but DOES in fact have cars in it in Australia. You see their "slow lane" is our "fast lane". It was HARD to get used to. The real fun came when I got off the highway. : ) We made it back to our condo without hitting any THING or PERSON. THAT is what was important! And I had fun!! : )
As you can see, this one was ecstatic that we were there...
I don't guess I really realized that they got around (when they aren't hopping) by using there very small forearms and the flat part of their tail. It was neat seeing them move around.
This one REALLY liked DD's toes. It sat there for a long time and licked them. He would eat for a second and then start licking them again. It was funny.
Here is one that couldn't WAIT to be pet by us. : ) This one was by itself under a tree as comfortable as could be. We even walked up to it and scratched it's belly and under the chin. She didn't move.
Here is Stacey holding an alligator. How brave!!!! I didn't want anything to do with it.
Moving on we came to two "tree kangaroos". They were cute. I had never seen anything like them here. They stay in trees. No hopping for these kangaroos.
This is a Wombat. He was kind of cute. These are also in the wild in Australia. From what Josh and Stacey told us they can do as much damage to a car as a deer can do. They are pure muscle and will attempt to charge through anything.
Here is a Dingo...I will pause here so you can quote the famous line..."A Dingo ate my baby". We did it too. : ) Looks just like a dog, just like what I heard it would look like. : )
Okay...These lizards (which you can by in America for pets) were EVERYWHERE in Australia. We saw one sunning itself on the lookout point while watching DD surf. We probably saw 10 of them on the walkways throughout the zoo. This one was the biggest one I saw. They would scare you if you walked up on them and frightened them. They are just so big they caused quite a commotion when they ran away.
Here are a couple of pictures of the rugby game. You have to be TOUGH to play this game. There were some hits that would have been painful if they had been wearing football pads. Rugby players however, do NOT wear pads. It was really neat to watch. Before you knew it the game was over. They play a total of 80 minutes of ball. They don't have penalties that are called every few seconds like football. They have 10 minutes of half-time, which DD loved. Really cool game.
Here is our crazy crew after the game...
Top, Left to Right: Gav (black shirt, not really in the picture but there), Josh (bet you thought I wouldn't put this picture in the blog, didn't you? : ) ) Jemma and Donk, Bottom: Daddy Dearest, Me, Stacey and Bec. We had a GREAT time! Gav drove our leftover luggage down from Newcastle that afternoon. Thanks so much Gav!!! This was our last night with everyone. It was so great to see them all again. It wouldn't have been the GREATEST trip EVER without you guys!!!!! I only hope that we can return the favor one day when you want to come back to the States.
Believe it or not...Daddy Dearest was recognised by a guy he went to college with while at the game!!!! CRAZY that He can go to the OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD and know someone.
After the game we all went to a pub and had a chance to talk and visit on our last night there. It was great!
Here are Stacey and I...
Who is that throwing the coasters!?!...Stacey do you know????
Moving on...we got back to the hotel and went back to the Casino. I gave up and went to sleep at 3 a.m. I was exhausted. We had one more day in Sydney and then we were to fly out late Sunday morning.
After the show I had my turn to drive. I also had my turn at turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal several times. It was very hard to get used to driving on the opposite side of the road. Luckily for me, we were on the highway most of the time so all the cars were going the same direction. There wasn't too much that was different than us driving on the interstate. Well...until you get a little relaxed and begin easing over into the other lane which (in America) wouldn't have any cars in it but DOES in fact have cars in it in Australia. You see their "slow lane" is our "fast lane". It was HARD to get used to. The real fun came when I got off the highway. : ) We made it back to our condo without hitting any THING or PERSON. THAT is what was important! And I had fun!! : )The next morning we went back to the beach for a while and then set off for another zoo. One that let you hold a koala. Stacey even called and made sure I could hold one before we went. She was just GREAT to do all that she did for us!!!! Thank you again, Stacey!
After Josh found out which way we should go to hold a koala ( BIG SMILE HERE JOSH!!!) we found the koala and had our picture made. The third TICK off my list! YEA!!!!
We walked around a bit after having our picture made and came to the Kangaroos. There were probably 30 kangaroos in an enclosed area just waiting for people to come and pet and feed them. Okay, so some of them were just sleeping and not REALLY just WAITING for someone to come pet them (in this picture you can see the legs of one that couldn't have cared less if we were there to pet him or not) but some of them were. They were SO cute...
As you can see, this one was ecstatic that we were there...
I don't guess I really realized that they got around (when they aren't hopping) by using there very small forearms and the flat part of their tail. It was neat seeing them move around. Here I am feeding one of them. It was so cute! He grabbed my hand and pulled it closer to him. The one that is next to him came up to my shoulders when he was standing straight. He wanted some food too! THAT was very intimidating for sure. I just kept thinking "they are STILL wild animals". But they never did anything to make us uncomfortable.
This one REALLY liked DD's toes. It sat there for a long time and licked them. He would eat for a second and then start licking them again. It was funny.
Here is one that couldn't WAIT to be pet by us. : ) This one was by itself under a tree as comfortable as could be. We even walked up to it and scratched it's belly and under the chin. She didn't move.
Here is Stacey holding an alligator. How brave!!!! I didn't want anything to do with it.
Moving on we came to two "tree kangaroos". They were cute. I had never seen anything like them here. They stay in trees. No hopping for these kangaroos.
This is a Wombat. He was kind of cute. These are also in the wild in Australia. From what Josh and Stacey told us they can do as much damage to a car as a deer can do. They are pure muscle and will attempt to charge through anything.
Here is a Dingo...I will pause here so you can quote the famous line..."A Dingo ate my baby". We did it too. : ) Looks just like a dog, just like what I heard it would look like. : )
Okay...These lizards (which you can by in America for pets) were EVERYWHERE in Australia. We saw one sunning itself on the lookout point while watching DD surf. We probably saw 10 of them on the walkways throughout the zoo. This one was the biggest one I saw. They would scare you if you walked up on them and frightened them. They are just so big they caused quite a commotion when they ran away.
We just relaxed a lot of the trip to Coolangatta. We did go to Byron Bay. It is a well known place in Australia. Although I had never heard of it. : ) We went but it rained the whole time we were there. Instead of walking around we camped out at a pub. It seemed like a cool place though. We just weren't thrilled with the idea of walking around in the rain.
We also went to Surfer's Paradise while we were at the Gold Coast. We had the PLEASURE (sarcasm added) of meeting two meter maids. Meter maids are girls that walk around Surfer's Paradise in a bikini and add money to any meters that are about to expire so no one gets their vehicle towed. Josh asked one of them if she had a degree. She just looked at him like HE was the stupid one. It was...interesting.
Friday morning we packed up...AGAIN and caught a plane back to Sydney. We stayed at Star City Hotel & Casino. Stacey (having worked there) got us very special accommodations with Robes and everything. It was fantastic!!!! The room was FABULOUS!!! I say room, it was an apartment. It was great!! We had drinks on the roof of Star City before heading off to the Waratahs Rugby game. What a sight from the top of the building. It was really neat. The only view that was missing was one of the Opera House. Side note...The gold tower you see to the right of DD's head is the tower that had the rotating restaurant.
Here are a couple of pictures of the rugby game. You have to be TOUGH to play this game. There were some hits that would have been painful if they had been wearing football pads. Rugby players however, do NOT wear pads. It was really neat to watch. Before you knew it the game was over. They play a total of 80 minutes of ball. They don't have penalties that are called every few seconds like football. They have 10 minutes of half-time, which DD loved. Really cool game.
Here is our crazy crew after the game...
Top, Left to Right: Gav (black shirt, not really in the picture but there), Josh (bet you thought I wouldn't put this picture in the blog, didn't you? : ) ) Jemma and Donk, Bottom: Daddy Dearest, Me, Stacey and Bec. We had a GREAT time! Gav drove our leftover luggage down from Newcastle that afternoon. Thanks so much Gav!!! This was our last night with everyone. It was so great to see them all again. It wouldn't have been the GREATEST trip EVER without you guys!!!!! I only hope that we can return the favor one day when you want to come back to the States.
Believe it or not...Daddy Dearest was recognised by a guy he went to college with while at the game!!!! CRAZY that He can go to the OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD and know someone.
After the game we all went to a pub and had a chance to talk and visit on our last night there. It was great!
Here are Stacey and I...
Who is that throwing the coasters!?!...Stacey do you know????
Here we are on KingsPort Rd. ( I think that was the name of this St. I could DEFINITELY be wrong.) It was a CRAZY street!!!! See...you can see that crazy girl behind us...just kidding...that is Stacey making a face but it WAS a crazy street! But it had really good Kebabs. Kebabs are like Pita bread sandwiches. A little like Gyros.
Moving on...we got back to the hotel and went back to the Casino. I gave up and went to sleep at 3 a.m. I was exhausted. We had one more day in Sydney and then we were to fly out late Sunday morning.We got up and said goodbye to Stacey and Josh. They had a busy weekend of parties and get- togethers of their own. Had a great breakfast in our favorite part of Sydney, Darling Harbour, and set off to a market in Sydney.
We decided to take a water taxi into Sydney because we hadn't taken a water taxi yet. Well...It turned out we got on the wrong one!!!! It was a 10 minute boat ride, TOPS from Darling Harbour to The Rocks (a neat, historical area of Sydney).
An hour after we got ON the boat, we were finally able to get OFF the boat! It was windy and the water was very choppy. While we were on our SECOND harbour tour...we did see a TON of sail boats. It was cool to watch them all. There were 100's. That was the best part of our long journey.
If we hadn't already taken a harbour tour, it would have been great! BUT...we had and I got sea sick. I did NOT want to feel like that again our last day in Australia. We eventually got off the boat and made our way to the market in The Rocks. It was really cool! There were tons of tents. Vendors selling anything from food and clothes to Jewelry and Art. It was great!
We decided to take a water taxi into Sydney because we hadn't taken a water taxi yet. Well...It turned out we got on the wrong one!!!! It was a 10 minute boat ride, TOPS from Darling Harbour to The Rocks (a neat, historical area of Sydney).
An hour after we got ON the boat, we were finally able to get OFF the boat! It was windy and the water was very choppy. While we were on our SECOND harbour tour...we did see a TON of sail boats. It was cool to watch them all. There were 100's. That was the best part of our long journey.
If we hadn't already taken a harbour tour, it would have been great! BUT...we had and I got sea sick. I did NOT want to feel like that again our last day in Australia. We eventually got off the boat and made our way to the market in The Rocks. It was really cool! There were tons of tents. Vendors selling anything from food and clothes to Jewelry and Art. It was great! We had seen these guys out playing their Didgeridoo earlier on our trip. This was the first time we were able to get a picture of it. It was very interesting to see.
After doing our shopping at the market we went back to Darling Harbour. While we were riding the Ferry a storm began rolling in quickly. We had to get a few more pictures of the Sydney Bay Bridge and the Opera House before we left. You can see how dark it is behind the bridge.
We went to a GREAT dinner that night. They had beautiful fireworks in Darling Harbour that night. What a great send off for us!!! The next morning we packed up AGAIN. I think it was the Fifth and final time to pack our bags before UNPACKING them. We left at 11 a.m. on Sunday morning from Sydney and traveled with the sun. We arrived in L.A. at 7:30 a.m. Sunday morning. We arrived home at 5:00 p.m.. We had not one, but TWO Sundays. What a day of travel. BUT...our payoff was seeing Bunny!!!! We had been missing her so much!!!! Bunny was still in her bed in her room but not asleep. We walked in...and she started poking her lip out and tearing up. I really wasn't expecting that! She did eventually warm back up to us. We just ATE HER UP that night!
It was so GREAT to see her!!!!! We missed her so much!!!
After doing our shopping at the market we went back to Darling Harbour. While we were riding the Ferry a storm began rolling in quickly. We had to get a few more pictures of the Sydney Bay Bridge and the Opera House before we left. You can see how dark it is behind the bridge.
We went to a GREAT dinner that night. They had beautiful fireworks in Darling Harbour that night. What a great send off for us!!! The next morning we packed up AGAIN. I think it was the Fifth and final time to pack our bags before UNPACKING them. We left at 11 a.m. on Sunday morning from Sydney and traveled with the sun. We arrived in L.A. at 7:30 a.m. Sunday morning. We arrived home at 5:00 p.m.. We had not one, but TWO Sundays. What a day of travel. BUT...our payoff was seeing Bunny!!!! We had been missing her so much!!!! Bunny was still in her bed in her room but not asleep. We walked in...and she started poking her lip out and tearing up. I really wasn't expecting that! She did eventually warm back up to us. We just ATE HER UP that night! 
It was so GREAT to see her!!!!! We missed her so much!!!We had a WONDERFUL trip! Like I said before, it wouldn't have been a trip of a lifetime without seeing our friends and experiencing all they suggested. They REALLY took GREAT care of us!!! We really can't thank them enough! I also need to say a HUGE "Thank You" to Daddy Dearest. It is because of his hard work that we were able to take this AMAZING trip! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Sweetie!!!! The best part of the trip was being able to spend so much time with YOU! I loved traveling across the globe with you! I hope we are able to do more of it in the future! You were really easy to travel with!! I love you so much!!!
Just as the "Boomerang Song" says we went out to "roam" and had a WONDERFUL time, but then came back home. And I wouldn't trade being here for anything else in the world.
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