Australian Adventure, Part One!

Hello!! We are still in Australia! We have been here for about two weeks now. We have already seen and done so much that I don't want to forget any of it so I thought I better blog about it in chunks, plus I know some of our family would like to see what we have been up to. I have taken over 700 pictures so far so it was hard to narrow them down. Fair warning.....this is a long post! SO if you are still interested, grab a snack and get comfortable :)

We flew out of Salt Lake on May 25th and had a layover in LA. We finally flew out of LA at 11:40 p.m. so by the time we got all situated we were all pooped and still had a 16 hour flight ahead of us. We were on a Quantas Air Bus and flew Premium Economy so it was pretty sweet! We had plenty room, lots to eat, and our own personal entertainment systems. The two older kids did amazing!! I think they actually enjoyed it! They slept for a good chunk of it and then just enjoyed movies the rest of the time. Such good little travelers. Mason was a slightly different story, lol. He fell asleep right as we got on the plane but that didn't last long. He screamed for a good little while and then woudl sleep for little spurts here and there which made it hard for me to get much sleep. Overall, he did fine though and it wasn't nearly as traumatic as I thought it was going to be.

By the time we got to Melbourne and got through customs and gathered our crazy amounts of luggage we were all more than excited to see Barry. We have missed him soo bad! My mom and Kelly stayed at a hotel near the airport and the kids and I went back with Barry to his apartment.

This is a cool tunnel you drive through on the freeway in Melbourne. It's such a fun city with lot's of colorful buildings and random art and statues everywhere you look. We were all exhausted so we took a short nap, but Barry woke us up before too long so that we would have an easier time adjusting to the time difference. (They are 16 hours ahead of us!)

Barry has a great apartment right outside the city at a place called the Docklands. It's got fabulous views!We went on a tram ride around the city and ended up at a park not too far from the apartment and then walked home. I love this building.

There are little bike stations like this one all over where you can rent a bike for a couple hours. Hardly anyone drives in the city and it is easy to understand why. It's crazy!!! There are trams all over the place, tons of traffic, people that cross the street wherever and whenever they want, and what little parking they do have is ridiculously expensive. As in $2o an hour!!

This is an odd little sculpture of a cow stuck up in a tree. Our apartment building is the second one from the left in the background.

These little sculptures are on the dock right outside our apartment. The kids have a good time running around and climbing on them.

We just stayed one night in Melbourne and then left the next morning for Sydney. Getting adjusted to the time difference took a while. I still don't think we are all all the way there, lol. The first week though, we had to fight to stay awake until 7 p.m. and we were all wide awake and ready to go by 4 a.m. YUCK!

This is the view from our hotel in Sydney when we first arrived. We stayed on Darling Harbor and it was awesome!

The next morning we walked across the bridge and went to the most amazing aquarium. Unfortunately most of the pictures I took are less than impressive because of the flash or lighting but it was something I don't think we will forget. It was HUGE! There were a couple sections with tunnels that you would walk through and it felt like you were right inside with the sharks or Manta Rays, and Dugongs. IT really was incredible and the kids loved it!

This is inside a shark cage in the aquarium. After spending the morning there Mason and my mom and Kelly were exhausted and wanted to go back to the hotel. Barry and I took the kids on a ferry ride over to Sydney Harbor where the Sydney Harbor bridge and the opera house are. Then we spent a couple hours walking around little shops and markets and just enjoying all that there is to see.

This is a little set up right on the harbor where they play the didgeridoo, and do aboriginal dances.

This guy had very little teeth but one of the biggest smiles I have ever seen. He feeds the birds and actually does a little choreography :)

It had been a long day for Baylee and she ended up crashing on Barry's shoulders, lol.

We stopped and got some delicious corn on the cob for a snack. It was pretty entertaining watching Aidan try to eat it with so few front teeth :)

I got teary a couple times as I was looking out at the harbor and the opera bouse. I seriously can't believe how lucky I am to be here and experiencing such an amazing place with my family! The Opera House and Bridge are a couple of those places that I have seen pictures of my whole life and I never would have dreamed that I would get to experience them with my kids. We are so lucky.

Barry and I as we head under the Sydney Harbor bridge.

My mom and Kelly in front of the Opera house.

I can truely say that this building is even more impressive in real life than it is in pictures and movies.

Me and my lucky family in front of the bridge the next morning on our way to Taronga zoo. This zoo is the most incredible zoo I have ever seen. You can see the opera house and bridge in the background and it is nestled up in a hill and not visible from the outside. The kangaroos walk free in their habitat and were so fun to see.

I already loved Koalas but I fell even more in love with them after this visit. We got to get right up close to them and take pictures with them. They are sooooo cute! They sleep 20 hours out of the day and just curl up in little balls and rest their little noses on the trees.

Unfortunately about an hour after we got their it turned into a downpour. We tried to stick it out as long as we could but it was just too wet. We did get to see the elephants put on a little show, but you can see in this picture just how hard it was raining. After the zoo we went back to the hotel and had some dinner and called it a night. We left the next morning (Tues) for Port Douglas. I will post about that next time, but it was AMAZING! Definitely a favorite for everyone.

These are a couple pics of Darling Harbor at night. I am pretty sure that is required that all the buildings turn on EVERY light at nigbht because there are never this many lights on until late evening. It sure is pretty though!

Well if you made it this far congratulations! I will try to do the next recap soon.