Sydney Revisited

We got back to Sydney Tuesday morning, and got off the ship pretty early, but not early enough to catch a flight back to Bangkok, so we had decided to do one last day in Sydney, and then leave the next morning.  I had found us a different Airbnb in another part of Sydney, about half way between the harbor and the airport, so we Ubered over there.  One of the selling points of the house was that it had a big backyard.

We let the girls run around and play a bit, while I got some laundry done, and then we headed back into town.

Our extra day in Sydney overlapped with Jeff's dad and stepmom being in Sydney getting ready to go on a cruise of their own, so we were able to spend a wonderful day with them as a bonus at the end of our trip.  They were kind grandparents too, and let me pick a kid friendly activity for the day, the Australian Museum, which is a great natural history museum in Sydney.

We started in the animal section.  They were all looking at the butterflies, so I got them to turn around for a picture.

The grandparents had brought cute little notepads for the girls.  Elena demanded a crayon, and set about checking off all the animals on her "list."

After the hall of animals, there were a couple more large rooms devoted to aboriginal culture.  That part was really interesting to explore, because it's not something I've ever studied before.  The girls liked it too.

There were museum employees there, and they explained some of the hunting techniques to Vivian.

Jeff thought the display of all the different kinds of spears was awesome.

Then we went upstairs to the gems and minerals exhibit.  My kids crack me up, because they walked right by the display cases full of colorful, glittering rocks, and went right for the interactive wall display.  I think they actually learned a couple things.

Vivian and I went to check out a special exhibit on the art of the Scott sisters.  They were 19th century naturalists who drew beautiful, highly detailed pictures of butterflies and plant life in the New South Wales area.  

While we enjoyed the art, one of the things I found most interesting is that scientists today were able to use the Scott sisters' drawings to rehabilite an island that had been turned into an industrial area in the 20th century and was now being declared a park.  By the end of looking through the exhibit though, the girls had gotten a bit silly and stolen their grandparents' hats.

Luckily, the museum also has a kids play area, which is part of why I picked it.  They have these pods set up, and each one has different activities inside.

The adults took turns watching the girls and exploring the rest of the museum.  Then we finished up at the hands on discovery lab area.

The tortoise shells were a big hit.

Vivian said, "Now I know why turtles move so slow.  This shell is heavy!" The girls were getting pretty tired by that point, and I was worried about pushing our luck and staying out after dark, since it was getting dark pretty early.  Luckily, the grandparents were good sports and agreed to come back to our Airbnb place.  We also made strategic stops at a cheese and meat and a wine store along the way, so we had food and drink to entertain with.

It was such a treat to be able to spend the day with them, and we got a cute picture of them with the girls before they went back to their hotel for the night.

The next morning we got up bright and early, headed to the airport, and flew home.  We got home right around dinner time, so we were able to settle the girls into bed at the regular time and get a much needed massage.  The next day, this is what Vivian chose to wear to school.

What a great trip!  Definitely one for the memory books.

Brisbane Easter Birthday

This year, for the first time I can remember, my birthday fell on Easter.  The past two years, my birthday has been right after spring break, and we're so worn out from that, that we keep my birthday low key.  This year, on the other hand, was a full on celebration.  Not only were we on a cruise, but it was also a shore excursion day.  I had picked the Mount Tambourine Off Roading adventure, and it was a full day of family fun.

First off was getting to the top of the mountain on dirt fire tracks.  It was bumpy, but we made it.

The dirt roads were pretty well cleared, but they were steep and bumpy.

And don't be deceived by vehicle appearances.  This is one tough van.

We stopped to a explore a little, and we found a really big mushroom.

Our favorite part was coming back down, which felt a lot like riding a roller coaster.  Wisely, they didn't feed us until after the ride.  We had a small break between the ride and tea time, so they took us to a park to let us try out throwing boomerangs.  Jeff's actually curved back, and the rest of us had fun just flinging and seeing it go.

Elena thought the boomerang was fun, but her favorite part of the park was the butterfly mural.

Our guide took us on a little drive around the neighborhood, beautiful houses and a beautiful view.

He also told us about honesty boxes, where people leave out their excess produce and sometimes jars of things like jam and honey, and then people can take what they want and leave money.  It sounded really cool.

After that we went to an old inn that had recently been relocated and got some yummy tea with scones.

After our fuel up, we went for a rainforest walk.  This rainforest was used as a model for Ferngully, which I thought was cool.  

Before we started our walk, our guide made sure to tell us about gimpy gimpy, a leaf that can cause a rash ten times worse than poison ivy.  He showed us what it looked like, and we carefully avoided it.

Our final destination was a pretty waterfall, but we found some cool stuff along the way.

After that, it was back into town for wine tasting and shopping on the cutesy main street.  Jeff and the girls found a place in the shade to hang out, and I walked around, but there really wasn't anything I wanted to buy.  We were all excited about our next stop, a cattle ranch and camping ground, where we were going to have grilled steak for lunch.  

The typhoon had made its way through this area too, and some of the roads and bridges were washed out.  

Our monster van was fine though, and it was worth a few bumps to get to the steak.  It was SO delicious that we gobbled it all up without taking pictures.  I got one of Elena enjoying watermelon for dessert though.

There was a stream, and some kids were playing in it, but they were wearing bathing suits and camping right there.  Vivian was determined to get in the water no matter what though, so I let her, but pointed out we would have to wash her feet up afterwards.

Jeff found a hose to spray her down, and a nice family lent us a towel to dry her off.  Crazy kid.  After that, we headed to our last vineyard.  The wine was okay, but the best part was that they had alpacas, and the kids could feed them.

They had all kinds of alpaca related products that Vivian was entranced by, but we compromised on alpaca shaped gingerbread cookies.

After a fun day full of adventure, we got back to the ship right before the last boarding call, and then relaxed on the balcony for a sunset drink.

We had reservations at Chop's Grille for more steak.  The girls got an extra surprise when the captain came around with chocolate eggs for the kids.  Elena thoroughly enjoyed hers.

I got a special birthday cake too.

It was lovely, but the fun didn't end there.  They were showing The Secret Life of Pets on the big screen above the pool deck, so after dinner, we went up to watch it.  Elena got a bonus smoothie too.

It was one of the best birthdays I've ever had.