Road Trip to Sydney!

Now that I am in Houston I have plenty of time to write about our fun road trip to Syndey!  It was just me, my mom and dad and Brody, since Brian was in LA for a wedding!

We decided to take the "scenic coastal" route on the way there.  So we woke up plenty early and left for the LONG drive!  It was really a beautiful trip.  The rolling bright green hill that covered most of the drive were amazing!  We tried to get some pictures but they dont do the scenery justice....
   


























We stopped to have a seafood lunch along the coast in Lakes Entrance... then 10 hours after that-- We arrived in Sydney!!!  (The whole coastal drive was 15 hours!  WOW!)  We stayed in Bondi Beach at a rental apartment so Brody could come along on our Sydney adventure.

The next day I had made a reservation to me and Brian's favorite restaurant, Doyle's.  We got to the Watsons Bay area early so we could check out the area, which has awesome cliffs and fabulous views of the city!

   

Ahh It is so nice there!  I just love it!  Brian and I decided that since our favorite restaurant happens to be in Sydney we will have to go back for our 10 year anniversary (we'll see about that!!?)  The food was delicious-- so it is good to know that it wasnt just a fluke the first time!  haha  BEST SEAFOOD EVER :)  The views arent bad either!

We then took the ferry into the city!  I love that boats are a normal/daily part of transportation there... Plus seeing the Opera House and Harbor bridge from the water is the best view so I wanted that the be the first way mom and dad got to see it!  
TA - DA!  Its always great to see this :)  When we got off the ferry we spent some time touring some of the touristy areas-- the Opera House, The Rocks

    
 After we toured the area we went back to Bondi where we got to spend the evening with our other travel companion, BRODY!  He loved walking along the beach, although, he was not actually allowed ON the beach... oh well!  We even got to take him to a bar later that night!  Bondi is definitely puppy friendly, which was soooo nice!  I wish more places let you take your dog with you everywhere!!  We ordered in pizza that night and it was delicious-- if you go, Bondi Pizza is the best!

The next morning, after a long walk with Brody and breakfast at a sidewalk cafe, we went back into the city to see more Sydney sights.  We started off at St. Marys Cathedral.  It is the most amazing church with a beautiful park across from it.  Some of the pics are similar to Brian and my trip in February but deal with it :)


        

Then we took Mom on a Mothers day Sydney Harbor Cruise!  They had a delicious seafood buffet  so we enjoyed that and had some wine before going on the upper deck to take 1 million pictures... Here are a few... (I know this blog is mostly pictures but that is what we did the whole time!)

We spent the rest of the day strolling through the Royal Botanical Gardens which are beautiful and then getting back to Bondi Beach to hang out with Brody for the evening.  

That last evening was great with a wonderful sunset over the beach!  We all four loved it and it was a perfect end to our time in Sydney.  

The next morning we woke up and set off on our drive home... we did not take the "scenic coastal" drive but although it was not coastal, it was still very scenic!  And MUCH shorter (well still a good 9 hours but thats much better than 15!)  I had the best time showing them around Sydney!  I dont think I would have ever though about going on a trip with just me and my 2 parents but it was so much fun!  Maybe we can do it again sometime :)

Now that I have shown you all our pictures and stories from Tasmania and Sydney I feel like I need to do a whole separate entry from our time around Melbourne!  I think its a great city and we all took lots of pictures!  (well mostly my mom, actually, dad took about a million himself, which means we have about 3 million pictures....)  I am sure I will get around to that post soon!!!  

I miss you!

As many people know, I have had to head to Houston earlier than planned, to attend the funeral of my Grandmother, Edith Grantham.

She was such a special lady, who I already miss so much.  Her funeral was beautiful and since we all know she is happily in heaven now, the remainder of the service was a letter to her family asking that they make sure they are there with her some day.  Evangelizing from the grave :)  Oh, I will definitely miss her encouraging us in that way.

She was so funny, either with smiling, singing or saying something which seemed so ridiculously blunt or out of date that it made us all laugh!  She is also probably editing this blog from heaven, never stopping her English teacher ways.  (Even when I would tell Brody to "lay down" and he wouldn't she said it is probably because he knows he is supposed to "lie down" -- as if Brody knows proper grammar haha)

Anyways, I am just already missing her so much but I really do feel so blessed to have spent so much time with her.  I just looked through some old family pictures and I realized I have photos with her from every stage of life- at every age and at every event.  I will miss her as an additional constant supportive figure in my life.  But now that I think about it, I guess I have not lost that.  She is now just my constant angel watching over me.... and that makes me happy!

I love you Grandmother!!!!

Mom and Dad down under-- Tasmanian Wilderness

Well, Hello!!!  I haven't written in awhile but have been busy entertaining and enjoying my MOM AND DAD!  I am so thrilled that they are here and we have been having the best time!

When they got here we gave them a whole two days to get over jet lag before we got them back on an airplane and flew to Tasmania!!  Brian and I love tassie and knew they would too!  (Well at least my dad!)  We did go to a different part of the state so it could be an all new experience for us all!

We flew into Launceston early Thursday morning and since we had a little time to spend in the area we thought we would see the GORGE :)

Although it was beautiful is was really no match for the scenery we saw the rest of the weekend!  Even the drive to Cradle Mountain (our next stop) was amazing.....

Wow :)

When we got to Cradle Mountain we left straight away to check out the Mountain!  It was beautiful!

It was definitely cloudy (and COLD!) that day but I kind of like the look of the clouds on the mountain!

Next we went on another of the "short walks" (the "long walks" were in the 6 day range-- no, thank you.)  The walk was along a river and it was amazing!  Everything was covered in a bright green moss!  We left rugged mountain terrain and somehow found ourselves in Fern Gully 5 minutes later!

It was really pretty and completely unexpected... I had thought the area would be all rugged mountains!    It was beginning to get dark by time we finished our walk so we got all settled into our "chateau" and had a big ole dinner and drank beer, wine and cider by a warm fire!  (Did I mention it was cold here?  If not Susan (mom) will :) haha)


Later that night Brian, my dad and I went out in the freezing to search for wombats!  We had not seen those in the wild yet and really wanted to see some.  Unfortunately, all we saw were wallabies :)

The next morning we decided to do a "day walk" which means 3-5 hours of walking!  It was a perfect crisp morning so I think we were all happy to be out.  The clouds were gone over Cradle Mountain (but I am still partial to the cloudy pics)

The whole walk was beautiful.  We went to Lilla Lake, which was the stillest lake ever, so it looked like a giant mirror (Dad kept calling it Mirror Lake, desperately trying to change the name)  Then we saw Crater Lake.  It was a really high hike up but it was beautiful, all the leaves were turning yellow and the trees surrounded the big crater (which is now a lake!)  The hike back down led us through more of the moss covered forest and rivers and waterfalls.   I think we could all agree that it was an amazing walk with the most spectacular scenery... Here are lots of pics... we took so many!!!

We took sooo many more pictures butI really needed to narrow it down.... I am still only on day 2 of this Tassie adventure, after all... (sorry this is going to be another lonnnnnnnng one!  whoops)

3 or 4 hours later and we were ready to stop for a lunch break!

Buuuut before we got to the end of the trail we spotted some WOMBATS!  Hooray!  They seemed pretty far away so my dad and Brian went to check them out. They came back with some great pictures of these adorable animals (I never realized they were so cute!) soooo I had to make the trek toward where they were to see!  They really were not concerned about us and let us get pretty close!

Are they not the cutest little things!?  A mama and her baby :)  Awwww.

After a lunch break we went to see another popular native wildlife.... the Tasmanian Devil!  I didnt get to see them last time I was in Tassie so we made sure to see these endangered animals this time.  We had to go to a conservation to see them because 1.  they dont come out much and are afraid of people and 2.  there are not very many any more so our chances would be slim to none.

They DON'T look like this....                               They DO look like this....

they both do have quite the temper (although no twirling around like a torando for the real Taz- that I saw!?)  They often made scary sounding shrieks at each other -- which is what originally gave them the name "devils"

And that was our trip to Cradle Mountain!  Next up, Strahan!

It was only about 2 or 3 hours to Strahan (a cute little town in the "Western Wilderness" area of Tasmania).  We got there and check into our hotel with enough time for dinner, drinks and bed time!  We had already made plans for the next few days.  First, was a train ride thru the rainforest (cold Temperate rainforest, not like the warm weather ones)

Dad wanted me to add:  The middle part in the track is a rack and pinion drive on the train so it can drive a 12-1 slope rather than the regular 40-1 slope trains are made for these days.  It is one of the only ones in the world like that still in operation.

Got that?  Good, there will be a pop quiz later.

I will tell you, it is rainy in a rainforest. :)   Luckily, on a train it doesn't matter!  Of course, there were all the times we got off....

 

We also tried to pan for gold.  No luck.  I guess we will continue to have to work for money.

That night we cooked a yummy dinner and hung out in Strahan, once named the best little town in the world by the Chicago Tribune  :)

The next morning we had a cruise on the beautiful Gordon River.

The water on the River is like glass and the rainforest all around reflects into it and it is just amazing!  Here are some pictures :)

sarah island convict ruins

Salmon Farm, YUM

After the cruise we drove back to Launceston to catch our evening flight!  We got a special treat on the drive-- a huge full moon!

We had such an amazing time in one of the most beautiful places I've seen!

The next weekend Mom, Dad, Brody and I  road trip to Sydney :)  Ill tell you all about it soon