Australia, Wednesday Nov 28, 2012

Well this has been the longest day as a matter of fact it has been two days for us.  Hope that it slows down soon.  We started out Wednesday by having breakfast at Gloria Jean’s and tried to see off the rest of our crew but they had already left by 8 for the airport.  We then finished our packing and stored our luggage at the hotel in anticipation for our evening flight out of Sydney.  I had wanted to see the St. Mary’s cathedral so that was our goal before we left.  It was a beautiful cathedral built in the European style.  Unfortunately we could not take pictures inside of all the wonderful stained glass.  It had about four altars beside the main altar at the center of the church.  I lit two candles one for each of our parents and said my typical prayers as I do in all the old churches.  We even took a picture in front of the cathedral next to their Christmas tree.  After exploring the cathedral we went to the Australian museum which is a natural history museum and includes aboriginal artifacts and art.  That was a full day and we went back to the hotel to eat and wait for our shuttle which was arriving at 3:30.  Once we got to the airport we had several hours to wait so we ate dinner prior to boarding the plane and we did some internet chatting. 

Our second Wednesday began when we arrived at Honolulu airport early in the morning Wednesday again; It was a bit like grounds hog day.  We had another 8 hours to kill before flying to Dallas.  We rented a car and went for a drive to the north shore. We watched the turtles and the surfers at the Haleiwa Beach.  We then went to the Waimea valley and presumably the falls. We did a 60 minute walk to the falls and back unfortunately there were no falls today because there had been no rain for several days.  There was a trickle of water coming from the rocks and the pool was full but no swimming allowed because water was stagnant.  The river was also bone dry.  It seems that we have been following the travels of Captain Cook all trip because he was here in the Waimea valley as well as NZ and OZ.  We slowly made our way back to the airport following our Garmin guide.  She was quite good at pointing out points of interest and filling us in on the attraction of each sight.  Now we sit and wait for the plane and since there is no wifi I resort to finishing my blog which has gone undone for a few days, very busy days.

Austrlaia Nov 27, 2012

Today we planned to go to the Maritime museum.  This was a bigger undertaking than we had anticipated.  There were four naval vessels and the endeavor which is the ship Captain Cook brought over to explore and circumnavigate the globe.  It was actually a replica but it appeared very authentic.  Bob was in his glory looking at all the ships and wondering through them.  We barely made it through three ships when we stopped for lunch.  Then one ship more and on to the inside of the museum.  We met up with Michael and Gail just before lunch so we hung with them at the end.  The inside of the museum was awesome with three levels of maritime history and exhibits.  Boats hung everywhere.  It was four before we finished this outing to the museum.  We had said that we wanted to go up the tower to the Australia square and have a drink in the revolving bar and Michael and Gail made it happen.  I was almost ready to call it a day but we decided that it would be better to finish the trip with this overlook of Sydney.  What a wonderful view and good company.  We went around one and a half times.  Then back to the hotel to crash. 

Australia Nov 26, 2012

Today we all went on the train and went to the south coast of Australia to Kiama.  The purpose was to see the blowhole at Kiama.  We walked the beach and had lunch at a lovely restaurant with a view of the bay.  The blowhole was not functioning as we had hoped because we arrived at low tide and the seas were very calm.  We had Thai food at the restaurant next door to the hotel.  Then we began our task of packing for the long journey home.  It wasnt as difficult as we anticipated.  Just take everything in the room and put it in the bag not like making the choices before the trip.

 

Australia Nov 25, 2012
While eating dinner at Doyle's everyone agreed that if we could we should cancel our plans to drive to the south coast. Dave managed to cancel our reservation and the cars and we were free to sleep in Sunday everyone seemed to be very happy with that in the morning especially me. Bon and I went to the aquarium which was marvelous. We have found that they don't do much half way in oz At first we thought that it was going to be cheesy but we soon became surrounded with bigger and bigger rooms and tanks including a few walk through tunnels. They had more sharks and varieties that I have seen in one place. Even the regular fish tanks with many varieties of smaller fish and coral were exciting when the rank is taller and larger than anything I had seen before. After this adventure I went back to the room to crash and try to get well from yet another cold.

Australia Nov 24, 2012

 Saturday the 24 we went for a walking tour of Sydney with a young man giving a tour for tips only. We walked about 5 miles altogether out and about the city. He pointed out several historical museums and buildings including the Rocks which is the first inhabited district. He also pointed out many options for further exploration.

 

 We walked through Hyde Park and the Botanical Gardens.  the gardens are quite extensive with a very pleasing and interesting layout.   We also went to the Anzac memorial which is a memorial to the servicemen who died in World War I.  The day was very exhausting.  We also went to eat at Doyles restaurant , which is supposed to be world famous for their fish and chips. 

Australia Nov 22, 2012

Today we finished our tour of the Blue Mountains.  We went to the skyview gondola, train and tram.  The views from above were magnificent of Katoomba falls and the valley.  We also got glimpses of the Three sisters.  We also took a walk in the rainforest below the tram ride and enjoyed the fragrance of the trees.  The birds were flitting about and we also tried to identify some. The coccatous were squawking and flying about also.  We took a gondola ride back to the beginning and then did another hike along the ridge and got some more magnificent views of the valley and the three sisters as well as waterfalls.  Now we are sitting on a train and making our way back to Sydney.  It was an enjoyable few days in the Blue Mountains. 

Australia Nov 21, 2012

We spent the day in Katoomba again today doing the hop on and hop off bus.  Five of us walked into town to have breakfast and wait for the bus at the first stop.  We had breakfast at Café Zuppa.  The remainder of the group rode into town later and we all paired up according to our interest Bob and I decided to take a walk along the ridge and we got some photos of the rock formations and walls of the Blue Mountains.  It was nice to get out in the open and smell the Eucalyptus trees.  We also walked down some steps to get to the first sister of the three sisters rock formation.  The day was a miserable looking day with rain and fog when we started out but soon it cleared and then clouded over again.  Just like in Michigan I guess.  Once we completed our hike we joined part of our group at the cultural center and watched some aboriginal music and dance and did some browsing at the local art.  Then we all caught the bus and went to have Tea at the local tea shop in Leura.  I enjoyed the shop because it was loaded with tea pots and tea paraphernalia.  After Tea we all went to a Cascades and did a hike down along the falls.  The only problem occurred when one of our group slipped and slid down the falls while taking a photo.  He was fortunate to keep his camera dry and only come away with minor scrapes.  Dinner was a Papa Dinos.  The owner was quite entertaining and enjoyed small pranks on his cutomers.