Big Trip--Part Three--Australia

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The end of our Big Trip!

These rocks were actually in the water. In my attempt to jump to them, the waves came splashing up and got my shoes wet :)

bench in the gardens under a veiny-looking rock

On our last day, Matt and I decided to go back to the Botanic Gardens, such a nice place to relax and enjoy the view.

Back in our "room"...views of Sydney. Our apt. had two huge floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room.

The house.

The tents.

Not too far away from Sydney.

Some aboriginal art on one of the factory buildings.

A nicely ventilated men's restroom...one of the original on the island, probably.

At one point in our tour, we paused near a fence to look at something, when Matt suddenly screamed like a girl and jumped! Turns out he brushed up against this guy's web! Eeww!

I think this was the view from the prison yard area.

One of the huge cranes used in the ship yard.

The island used to house a prison (some of which still stands/not pictured). Then it became a ship yard. Now a days, people can rent tents or the house for a vacation. We went on an audio tour of the island. Very interesting history.

Houses right at the water's edge complete with boat ramp.

How would you like to have your porch/patio/gazebo on the water?

One day we took a ferry to Cockatoo Island. These are some shots from the ferry. (Variety of ships in the harbor)

map-curtain before the show

So Matt and I got to see the musical "Wicked" for 1/4 of the cost and sit in the front row! Later that same day, we all returned to enter the next drawing, and Dad's name was the first called! So Whitney and Kelsey attended the night show!

(Random cool sculpture near the mall and our apt.)

The next day we walked down to the Capitol Theatre and entered a drawing called "The Wicked Lottery." Sounds nice, doesn't it? Matt's was the first of about 8 names called out!

Our hotel-apartment in Sydney was like on the 70th floor!

We made it to the end!

I had had enough climbing of the narrow steep stairs and decided to turn around, since "The Three Sisters" was a dead end.

This is the walkway to Sister #1.

That's me in the red shirt standing on the landing. Down below there was a bench in a cave-like opening where people are sitting on Sister #1.

It's hard to tell, but I think this is Sister #1.

Part of our uneven trail.

We took a bus to the start of a different hike on the other side of the mountains, where we got to be right next to "The Three Sisters." Beautiful scenery. It was hard not to include all the photos! There was also a storm in the distance. If you watched closely enough, you could see the lightning!

Matt decided he needed to try one out. Go Tarzan.

And vines.

There were lots of different trails, most of which had nice boardwalks.

Lots of huge cool trees. This is a Silver Fern.

The Three Sisters (again :)

Gorgeous view from the train.

The train squeezed through a crevice in the mountains!

These dinky seats had very little head room, especially for those seated against the right side. After the train starts, the cars tilt, making you use your feet to keep from sliding down.

Katoomba Falls

"The Three Sisters"- these two shots were taken from the cable car. The mountains are "blue" because of the eucalyptus oil in the air.

One day we went to the Blue Mountains. (It's a few hour train ride there.) Very cool! We got to ride the skyline cable car and the steep railway train, over the valley and through the mountains!

Goodness, gracious, great balls of flowers :)

Someone wrote love notes in the grass with flowers. Awe, how sweet. These flowers, in particular smelled buttery yet fruity, to me.

This bird was drinking nectar from the flowers.

The Government Building/House? Kind of looks like a castle. It's nestled in the gardens, but fenced off.

Harbor Bridge

While on our tour, we got to take a peak inside one of the theaters at an orchestra rehearsing music from "Psycho!"

The roof is covered in white and cream-colored ceramic tiles in a "chevron" style pattern. And when it rains, it's like Niagra Falls because the roof is so slick.

We got to go on a guided tour of the Opera House. It was cool. The building itself is amazing.

A nice little peak through the gardens to see the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House.

The gardens also became a home for many flying foxes (bats) you can see hanging in the tree. They're really not welcome because they're destroying the garden trees, but what do you do? They were loud, too.

This is the laughing cuckabura (?) bird we're looking at. It's sounds did resemble laughing. And they eat snakes.

the botanic gardens were jungle-like in areas

lots of cool fountains ( I like the spitting turtles :)

cool reflecting pool

Back to Sydney. Aaron and Lindsay had to go back home :( We walked from our hotel/apartment to Hyde Park to see the war memorial, and then we walked on to the Royal Botanic Gardens.