(On a crappy internet connection- I’ll add photos later.)

Day 2- Museums and Bondi

Another full day planned in Sydney! We start out early and head to the Sydney aquarium. A short walk over to Darling Harbour and a morning coffee and muffin made for a nice brecky. We head into the aquarium not know what to expect. It is basically a walk through the different regions of Australia. It started with rivers and such and I was thinking that it was ok, but not that great of an aquarium. After perusing a few areas then we started to get into a cool exhibit- the Dugons. Apparently, these are the source for all the mermaid legends- how, I have no idea. They look like a walrus without whiskers or tusks. Regardless, the exhibit was cool. There was a huge pool that we walked to the bottom of and then walked down two tunnels at the bottom of it. Kind of like a cool shark exhibit that I have seen at several other places. Loads of fish and a couple of those Dugons. We kept on going and then found another pool just like the Dugon one, but filled with sharks. That one was way cooler because of the sharks, but it also had a couple sea turtles in it as well. It was great fun and then got even more interesting when we saw a nurse shark clamped down on another’s fin. I thought that was odd that a shark would be attacking another one of roughly the same size… until I realized that it wasn’t “attacking” her but rather mating. An aquarium worker was amazed it was happening and said it was an incredibly rare thing to see. After that it only got cooler as we started into the great barrier reef region. Crazy bright and many colored fishes! I cannot wait to dive and see them in person!

After the museum, we jumped on a nearby train out to Bondi Beach. We were told it was a place to see, and we thought it would be fun to get out of the city. So after a 10 min train ride and another 10 min bus ride we found ourselves at Bondi. It was quite frankly breathtaking. It was so amazingly scenic and I would say the most beautiful beach spot that I have ever been to. One of my favorite features was an Olympic sized swimming pool that was built up against a cliff and was immediately adjacent to the ocean. As the set came in, you can watch the waves crash over the wall into the pool. So cool. Rach and I grabbed some fish and chips at a fish market and went down to the beach for lunch. These were the real deal. The guy wrapped it all up in paper and handed it to me. Felt like the real deal! We went for a hike up the cliffs to a bluff with a great lookout site. Totally amazing.

We then took the trip back and got off at the train stop near our hotel. We took a walk through Hyde Park. Looked sort of cool from the 12^th story where our room was, but really cool from the park itself. We traversed the park to get to the Australia Museum- the natural history museum for the country. I love natural history museums, so I was having a great time- but poor Rachel was just totally beat. The coolest part for me was the section dedicated to ancient Australian animals. I never knew there was a Tasmanian tiger before. Can you imagine a marsupial tiger? All extinct now of course, but just fun to go to the other side of the world and learn about an entirely new fauna both extant and extinct. We headed back to the hotel for a nap, then just had a quick dinner before turning in early yet again.

Day 3- Road trip!

We were up again early and a good thing because we had a bus waiting for us at 7:45am. We booked a trip to the Blue Mountains and took a tour bus there. It was fun to see the sights, but the driver alone was worth the price of the trip. Daryl got on the microphone about 8:30am and never stopped talking. Normally you expect a tour guide to tell you something, pause for a bit, and then tell you something else. Not Daryl. It actually felt like we were having a conversation with someone who never lets you get a word in. He would even ask us questions, hear a mumble, and just run with it. Totally hilarious. So, he gave us the background on everything we could possibly want to know- even to the detail where he would tell us the building said one year and a book he read said another year. He even told us that his favorite “lollis” (chocolate fish) were all bought up at his favorite “lolli shop.” Which of course, we had to visit. Anyway, on our tour we first stopped at Featherdale wildlife park- which was totally amazing. Mainly because there were kangaroos just loose around the park. They brought out koalas for us to pet, and then gave us food to feed the kangaroos. Petting kangaroos, koalas, and even emus was just totally cool. Rachel really enjoyed it as well, as evidenced by the 50 photos I took of her petting all the animals. She was not too keen on the emu, though. That bird was a monster I have to admit. I also got to hold a good sized skink. Pretty fun place. They also had tons of other caged animals. Loads of birds, a reptile house, and all the requisite Aussie mammals: dingos, wombats, wallaroos, Tasmanian devils… From there we hopped in the bus off to Scenic World. Sounds like a totally cheesy place, but basically it is an abandoned mine area that has been converted into a tourist attraction. The deal is basically to look at the scenic “Three sisters” which is a rock formation in the Blue Mountains. Then you can hitch a ride to the valley floor and back in Scenic World. We rode down the mine train, which is the worlds steepest something or other. I have to say, it was intense. I was marveling at how we were able to be at such a steep angle and going so slow. I think I have been that steep before on an amusement park ride but going 100mph. Going only 10mph was way intense because you just felt like the car was going to let go of the track and then that would be it! We walked around the valley and looked at some old mining equipment, and then headed back up a skyway type cable car. Pretty cool spot, and definitely worth the trip. We also hit a couple lookouts and took some photos of the mountains and the valley. The trip ended with a trip through Olympic village- the area where the 2000 games were held. Pretty cool to see for sure. The bus then dropped us off at wharf where we took the “River Cat” back to Circular Quay. Pretty cool cruising into Sydney Harbour at night from the other direction. I tried some photos, but nothing too successful- more fun to just stand there and take it all in. We had some pizza for dinner and then made our way back to the hotel. Had to gear up to leave our beautiful hotel and head out for the great unknown city of Townsville!

Day 4- Australia goes from heaven to hell…

So we wake up early yet again- 4am and try to sleep to stay on Sydney time. Since we have an early start, we decide to just leave early and head for the airport. We figure that taking the train will be cheaper than a $30 cab fare to the airport. So, we haul our monster bags down to the train station to get to the ticket office and find out that two tickets to the airport cost… $30. Oh well. The train ride was fast and uneventful. We get up to the terminal and check in without a problem. I select 2 bags to check in, Rachel selects one. We go to turn the bags in, and it turns out that our heavy bag is 23 kilograms, and the limit is 20. Bummer. We start getting ready to move stuff around when the attendant asks if we have three bags. Apparently, we are only allotted 20 kilos for each of us. Between us though, we have 57 kilos. 17 over. No worries, she says. Just an extra charge for the weight. $10 per kilo! So, we had to pay $170 to bring our extra bag… which means we have to pay $170 to bring it back to Sydney. Needless to say, this put a horrific damper on our day. We were both in utter disbelief and just shell shocked about paying that much for a bag. But, we really had no choice… Strike one. We get on board and the plane seems great, so perhaps we can get over it. Just give me a coke and I’ll read for a few hours. Coke, sir? That’ll be $4. Strike two. I nixed that. So, we land and go to pick up the rental car. No problems there, an upgrade in fact! We get our bags ok and head out to the car. Fun thing about Australia is that they drive on left side of the road. Have I ever driven on the left side of the road? Nope. Steering wheel is on the right… thank god the pedals were not switched or it would be a total mess. So, we bravely head out to the Hotel with Rachel uttering her mantra “Jake, stay to the left… Jake, stay to the left… Jake, stay to the left…” I navigate the streets quite well, actually. Mostly, I drive too far to the left a couple times because I am used to sitting on the other side of the car. I still turn on the windshield wipers every time I want to turn, seems like they should switch those too… We arrive at our resort hotel only to find that is pretty far from any beach. It is also a little too Motel like. We can clearly hear our neighbor through the wall and Rachel is not feeling this place at all. Hard to come down from the VIP treatment at the Sheraton, but this is borderline sketchy. Strike 3. We decide to just get some food and let it all sink in. Rachel would rather we walk, but there really is nothing around our resort Motel- so I convince her to let me drive again. We head to the nice strip only to find that no one will serve food until 5pm. It was 3:30pm. Strike 4? Luckily, we find a place for some Fish and Chips and chow it down. We head back to the resort and I startup our wireless internet. A $14 charge and so crappy that I have flashbacks to dial up times. I am typing this in a word document because I know it would cut out if I dared do it in the browser! Strike 5… I have been around enough now to know that I don’t have to be unhappy. So, I make sure that I can cancel the rest of our stay here and find a nice hotel on the strand for a cheaper rate! So we are putting up with it tonight, but the rest of the week we’ll be at a tolerable hotel. More later on whether it is up to par or not tomorrow. I head off to the conference tomorrow at James Cook University. I’ll have to come back to move Rachel over to the other hotel, but will only miss a talk to do it. I’ll make sure I pick a lame one! Ha.