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| Shrine for baby George |
- Sydney Opera House
- Blue Mountains
- Sydney: Royal Easter Show
- Brisbane
- Easter Sunday church service in Sydney and Taronga Zoo
- Uluru
- Adelaide (a whopping three hour tour!)
- Canberra (the capital!) is
- Anzac Day in Canberra
- Leave
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| Government House |
We started last weekend by going to the government house in the botanic gardens. It is the house where the (female!) governor of NSW lives. The house is ridiculously old and is rich with history and art and culture. There was ornate ceilings with gold painted on them, massive dining tables, and a ballroom. The tour was limited to certain portions of the house but we learned that the entire second story was modern apartments. Overall, great for a free tour!
On Thursday evening in an attempt to beat the long weekend traffic we headed to Raymond Terrace to spend a few days with Andrew's family. We got the kids an Easter present (Just Dance for Kids!) and stocked up on beer and food because everything is closed on Good Friday...Then we settled in and played some cards, Euchre is the big game here, and went to bed relatively early. On Saturday Andrew and I toured around the area, went for a swim and hiked up so huge sand dunes nearby. The dunes were incredible and spread for miles and miles. We then met with Andrew's brother's Chris and Dave and some of their friends for a motorboat ride and ski/wakeboard. It was beautiful sunset and although I didn't get in the water, we all got wet when Andrew drove into a wave which drenched the entire boat. On Saturday we went to his brother Paul's house for dinner and a few drinks before waking up at 5 am to come back to Sydney to Skype my family. Great seeing them all together for Easter filled me with love and affection and gave me an appreciation for what a great family we have, and also a few friends showed up as well! |
| Three Sisters |
From there we headed to the Blue Mountains. We got stuck in a little traffic and by the time we got there and stopped a park with grills to cook lunch (steaks, deviled eggs, and some salads) we went on a 2 hour hike around the mountains to the Three Sister rock formation and some waterfalls. The Three Sisters is an Aboriginal legend about three sisters from a tribe who fell in love with three men from another tribe which was illegal. There was a war waged between the tribes and an elder turned the three sisters into stones so they would be protected from the battle. However, the elder was killed and no one was able to turn them back. So, there are three tall random rock formations now. We went out for dinner and visited a fancy old hotel with a rich history dating back to the 1800s.  |
| View from the top |
On Monday we hiked around the mountains a bit more including the Great Stairway, which is a 900 step ascent to the top of the mountains. After hiking through the temperate jungle for two hours, seeing many waterfalls, wild cockatoos, and foliage, we reached the stairs and began the steep climb to the top. It was quite the workout...The people walking down were even huffing! The view from the top (a place called Echo Point) was breathtaking and we could see the Three Sisters and most of the valley and mountains! We decided to stop and hike to one more waterfall on the way back and ended up getting back into Sydney for a late dinner.
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| Teaching the kids to judge cattle |
On Tuesday we went to the Royal Easter Show, held in Olympic Park where the 2010 Olympics were held...We met Jenny (sister), Jemima, Miranda, and Sam, Steve (brother) and Braxton, and Denise (mom) in the morning and began wandering around the massive carnival. There were thousands of animals and even an animal nursery where we fed the animals. The kids loved the rides and we went on a few too including a (surprisingly scary) haunted house...We ended the day watching a precision driving team and then a 45 minutes show called "Australia in all its glory" while eating some deep fried foods on a stick. The show highlighted some of Australia's special people, history, sports, and inventions. The best part? Tubes of Vegemite dancing to Kylie Minogue. The night ended with a 15 minute firework show in the arena (which included fire fountains) set to music. It was probably the best firework show I've ever seen!
So that was our own little "royal" tour. Will, Kate, and George definitely had the right idea...And so did we!
One more thing...tune into Modern Family's Australia episode. Not sure when it airs there but it features Sydney and looks pretty comical!
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