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"Which way, which way?" What a great plethora of signs.
a nice Cairns public swimming pool right on the beach (the beach was not tourist-friendly, filled with crabs, and no swim-able water close by)
the aboriginal place wouldn't be tourist complete without funny-looking cut outs to put your face in for a photo
We all got to throw a boomerang, but Dad got to keep his because he caught it!
Aaron probably threw the spear the best
They kind of put on a show, which Matt got to participate in. They had us join their singing and then picked people from the audience to dance with them on stage (kind of like a line dance). Here they are starting a fire.
This cracks me up because I look like such a dork, looking tired and worn out from getting sunburned. It was really humid there, too!
We went to an aboriginal place to hear a brief history of Australia's aborigines, their creation story, and we got to practice throwing things like boomerangs, and weapon spears. And we got painted.
One of the many cool signs :)
I'm sure Matt was trying to focus on the scenery, but I like the rain drops on the car window :)
Once back on land, we took a walk on the beach and saw these. I wasn't sure what they were at first. My first thought was some kind of grape-shaped seaweed plants. Then I looked closer...they're little balls of sand surrounding tiny crab holes! They were everywhere. Kind of cool looking. And Matt and I got to swim in the ocean. There was a netted-off area safe for swimming, since they wanted to keep out any dangerous jelly fish.
While people were in the water, I stayed on the boat soaking up some sun/getting burned up on top deck. I would've read my book, but I was afraid that would make me sick (even though I did take some safe travel sickness med.). The skipper asked me why I wasn't in the water..."Is it all those beers you been drinkin'?" He was joking, but that got us into a whole conversation about beliefs, kids, religion, etc. It was cool to be able to talk with him. [He's the big guy in the white shirt below.]
Scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef near Port Douglas (We had to fly from Sydney to Cairns and then drive an hour to Port Douglas). I chose not to scuba dive (I have many reasons). Some had to snorkel instead because of their poor ears. Others had to be in the beginners class because they forgot their certification cards. :( But they still got to go. Poor Matt got sick a lot from diving. Vomit in the ocean...YUCK! But he says he's glad he went anyway. Some saw a shark, sea turtle, lots of schools of fish, etc. I have yet to see the actual diving photos!
Harbor Bridge-we walked across the bridge next to the road part of it on the sidewalk, not on the curved top where you have to pay $200 or so! Can you see people on the top?!
We took quite a few pictures of the Opera House. It's such a fascinating structure.
great views from the ferry (here's another ferry)
During a walk along a beach-side trail, we saw this cool rock. I thought this shell shaped/carved rock looked more like a snake head. It had a hole through it, that from the front [left side] looked like eye sockets. I wanted to get a silly photo with people coming out of the holes, but the girls were like, "please, not another photo!" :)
Aaron stayed behind to snorkel and enjoy the water, while the rest of us walked around for a bit then ferried (is that a word?) and walked over to Darling Harbor to see the Chinese Gardens.
Manly Beach. [left and right hand sides] I don't remember if it was on an island or peninsula or what. But it was very nice and crowded.
We took a ferry to Manly Beach (we're waiting in line to board the ferry).
"Name's Bruce!"
This is the only photo we got at the aquarium before our camera battery died. Aaron and Lindsay have some good ones on their blog :)
It had a cool clock in the middle of the building with this little ship that "sailed" around it, keeping track of time?
The Queen Victoria Building (mall) had a huge Christmas (tree) that reached all 3 or 4 floors. It was a great meeting place.
The flying foxes [bats] were interesting...at meal time they would climb down the cage walls to reach their fruit instead of flying. Here's a mama and her baby.
it was pretty fast climbing this tree
this pokey animal is an echidna
blue-tongued dragon (no, actually, I can't remember)
Okay, I looked it up. It's a common goanna.
cute owls huddling together to sleep
These birds [ibis?] were kind of like pigeons--everywhere and trying to eat your french fries.
koalas- most were asleep, but one of the zoo keepers would move one to another tree, specifically for photo taking. They're very child-like in the way they cling to the zoo keeper, for instance, very cute. Koalas feet are interesting. They basically have three fingers and two thumbs on their feet, I'm sure to help grasp branches and climb trees.
Matt got a video of a koala walking around. I had to include it. [Matt photographed the majority of our trip's pictures. He gets the credit there :)]
this pokey animal is an echidna
This one was keeping cool in the shade.
lots of different birds there [pelican] [wide-mouth owl? and ?] Matt took pictures of the signs to we could remember the names of all the cool animals, but I don't mind not looking them up :)
A lot of the animals were allowed to roam free, or at least were not completely enclosed in a cage/fence.
Our next adventure was at a zoo. [Whitney, Lindsay, & Kelsey riding the train, applying sunblock, and reading.]
Amazing orchestra (with a choir behind it) including guest performances by a young violinist and opera singers. They performed a variety of music including Stars & Stripes, "A few of my favorite things" from The Sound of Music, song(s?) from Phantom of the Opera, and others I recognized but couldn't tell you the names. It was great, aside from the body heat making me slowing fall asleep. I did really enjoy it.
Inside! We were seated way at the back. Cameras are not allowed. However, after seeing other people breaking the rules, Matt got his camera from bag check and snagged a few shots post intermission. Hee hee!
Awe, look at the cute couple.
The Opera House!
[Dad's at the head, then L to R: Kelsey (not pictured), Matt, me, Aaron, Lindsay, Whitney]
After resting for a few hours, we met up with the rest of the group at Sydney Harbor (I think they went on a tour bus ride...they had more energy. Aaron and Lindsay had flown in from LA the day before.), ate some dinner and walked over to the Opera House for a concert! Here are some different dishes we had...red snapper, chicken pizza, pasta w/ seafood sauce?, lamb, kangaroo!, soup and salad, fish and chips. I tasted the kangaroo. I didn't really care for it. In my opinion, it had an intense flavor almost resembling liver, texture similar to beef. Whitney, who ordered it, would not agree with my comparing it to liver. She liked it; didn't think it tasted like liver at all :)
2 comments:
They let you eat kangaroo?! Ah, to be outside of the US and all the pansies here. How cool.
Those pictures are really cool; I love the koalas. They're so cute and cuddly. And that video was fun, to see all the camera flashes directed at it.
Sad for you and a sunburn, but at least you got to go home to snow with color. :)
I love all your pictures- that one in Port Douglas with the rain on the window really is cool. The koala video didn't work for me though. :( I will have to try again later.
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