Lower Hunter Valley and Departure from Australia

Spot the native animals in the vineyards. How often do you see that?!?




08.14.08: After being spoiled by all the availability of good wine for 2 months in Europe, then not really anything for 3 months in Asia, we got to Australia and I was happy to drink some good stuff again. I wish I could have done more wine tasting in Europe. So, I suppose I was on a mission to do some in Australia. Outside of Sydney is a big wine producing region called the Lower Hunter Valley. We couldn’t really find a good mode of transport on our own, so we ended up booking with Boutique Wine Tours. (Caitlin was lucky enough to enjoy the wine also, as she was old enough to drink in this country!) We had to wake up at the crack of dawn AGAIN, and I was seriously ready for another day of rest. But we had to meet the coach at Circular Quay at 7:50am, which meant we had to leave our apartment to walk to the ferry by 6:30am. Luckily, all we had to do was stumble (from lack of sleep, not from too much wine…yet!) on with six others and sit there for a couple hours drive. The tour took us to a handful of smaller boutique wineries, a café for lunch, as well as The Smelly Cheese shop and a chocolatier for cheese and chocolate tasting too. The nice thing about the tour is that they also took requests. So, I inquired about organic wines and voila! They took Sean, Caitlin, Kailani and I to an organic winery, Tambourlaine, while the others went to some of the other wineries nearby. It was great to ask the winemaker some questions. We found out that it took them 12 years to finally become certified and they are still on their way to becoming biodynamic. I was always under the impression that, because organic wines don’t have pesticides, which are made from sulfides, that the wine would contain less, even though there are still some sulfides that naturally develop during the fermentation process. As I found out, their wines have about 80% less sulfides. Good to know for anyone that can’t usually drink wine because of the sulfides…

Fortunately, Kailani took a brief nap during our first winery tasting. It must have been the early morning wake-up. But, during our last winery tasting, Kailani, who was so patient with all of this boring wine business, finally had it. I took her outside to run around while the rest of the crew was inside tasting, and finally decided to give her a snack. But she got a bit crazy, bounced her chin off the pavement and got a pretty good war wound. I’m just glad it was only pavement rash and she didn’t break a tooth or bite her tongue! Luckily, the rest of the coach decided that she was such a good girl, that she deserved to pick which DVD to watch on the ride home. So, Happy Feet it was. That kept her entertained until she fell asleep again. Just like the other nights, when we finally got back to Sydney, took the ferry to Manly and walked back to our apartment, we collapsed for the night.

The next evening, Friday, Caitlin and Tutu were flying back to Hawaii. And, Sean, Kailani and I were flying to Auckland, New Zealand the day after that. But, someone else had dibs on our apartment, so we had to move out again. Luckily, Manly Surfside had another apartment available down the street, but it still meant we had to move, which was still a minor annoyance with all our luggage in tow. When we went to check-out/check-in, were “bumped” to another apartment, a 3 bedroom 2 ½ bath “luxury” level one. Too bad it was just the three of us for one night, instead of all five of us for the entire week! Still, it was nice. After shopping for a few more last things on The Corso, Caitlin, Kai and I trekked to the Manly ferry while Sean and Tutu took their luggage, plus one large duffel bag of our Bali artwork and our summer clothes, in a taxi. This time from Circular Quay, we took the train to the Sydney airport for one last dinner with Caitlin and Tutu. By the time we took the reverse route, got back to the apartment and packed up our stuff a bit tighter, it was late.

And, of course...we had to wake up at the crack of dawn AGAIN, one last time, to get back to the airport for our 11:30am flight. It was so early that the Manly ferry wasn’t running yet. Luckily, the Manly JetCat, a faster catamaran, still ran at 7am on a Saturday morning. Taking that just meant that we couldn’t use our week-long pass, and we had to pay for another ticket, but at least we got there. Go figure, that when we arrived at the airport and stood in line for what seemed like forever, we finally get to the ticket counter to get told that they cancelled our flight due to bad weather. Luckily, there were still seats left on the 3:30pm flight. While waiting, we already got two different contacts from New Zealanders on the same flight as us who told us to contact them when we get there. Talk about a friendly country! Anyway, all I kept thinking was that I could have been sleeping in our luxury apartment for a few more hours if only they we had a phone number for Air New Zealand to call us and tell us of the news. Oh well!

I’m very grateful that we again got lucky with weather while in Sydney. Although it was cold, at times bone-chilling cold, it didn’t rain with the exception of an hour or so when we were shopping at The Rocks weekend market, and we were under a tent at the time. Unfortunately, we didn’t get lucky with the waves. They were small the only day we went surfing. And, it got flatter the rest of the week, except of course, the last day we were there. But then again, we ended up with more than enough to keep us occupied. As far as a cancelled flight from Australia to New Zealand due to bad weather, I guess it tells you what we are in for when we arrive.

* I also want to give a big thanks to Gabi, who told me about Port Douglas. You are right. It was a nice place!

Dim Sum with the Au's, Sydney Wildlife World and Aquarium

From left to right: Aunt Patricia (my mom's sister), me, Caitlin and Leanne

Left to right: Kailani (hiding behind a toy), Tutu, me, Caitlin, Aunt Patricia, Leanne and, the belated birthday boy, Uncle Henry



Kailani with "Bruce"

The underwater tunnel at the Sydney Aquarium

08.13.08: After a lazy morning of recovery from the day before, we finally made it on the Manly ferry to go back to Sydney. First, we met my Uncle Henry, Aunt Patricia and Cousin Leanne for a dim sum lunch in Chinatown. I’m so very grateful that we finally got the chance to see them! It had been years, but all still looked just as young and healthy as ever. They walked us over to the Darling Harbour area, where we parted ways and entered the Sydney Wildlife World.

The first part of this “zoo” was all the scary, deadly, yucky bugs and snakes that Australia is inhabited with. Then, it got better. After that was a display of the nocturnal animals, then kangaroos, koalas and butterflies. At the kangaroo area, we had the pleasure to meet an indigenous guide, Jimbinyan (I know I’m butchering his name!) who was a delight to talk to and gave us a brief didgeridoo lesson. Hopefully, Sean and Tutu remember what to do when they get home with use theirs. Anyway, if you see a new movie come out called To Hell and Back, he has the starring role.

Next door, we entered the Sydney Aquarium. Of course, Kailani especially liked seeing the coral reef exhibit, where Nemo, Marlin and Dorie live in the anemone. They also had a great walk through tunnel where the sharks (aka “Bruce”…for Kailani), stingrays (aka “Mr. Ray”), turtles (aka “Crush” and “Squirt”) and other sea creatures swam around you. If you don’t know about any of the names that I’ve mentioned, you will have to see the movie, Finding Nemo.

After some shopping and dinner at Darling Harbour, it got late really fast. After some annoyance trying to get back to Circular Quay with as little time and walk in the cold as possible (because taxi drivers couldn’t take all five of us in one cab and were a bit rude about it), we finally made it back home for another late night collapse. As you might be able to tell, the afternoon’s attractions were really more for Kailani than for any of us. But, I think we all enjoyed it as well.

Katoomba and the Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains
(It's named after that becaue the Eucalyptus trees give off a blue glow when the sun rises.)

Scenic World glass-bottom cable car

View of the waterfalls from Scenic World

(I wish I could have taken a picture of what you see through the glass, but my camera doesn't do well through glass. So, you'll have to use your imagination.)

This must be an old car not in use anymore. But, it gives you an idea of what the incline is like.

08.12.08: We woke up at the crack of dawn again and took the ferry to Sydney where we took the train to Katoomba, a small town in the Blue Mountains, which is also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. From there, we booked a hop-on, hop-off “carbon neutral” trolley tour. I asked the drive what made it carbon neutral and he had no idea. I’m guessing that the company pays for carbon offset. It included a ride down into a canyon on Scenic World, a glass bottom cable car over 600 feet above ground. From there, we took a ride down The Katoomba Scenic Railway, the steepest incline railway in the world. (52 degrees) I believe this must have been originally used for transporting coal before it became an amusement ride, as there was a lot of old coal mining displays when you got down there. After a brief hike though the rainforest, we took a ride back up the other side of the canyon via another cable car. If I were to describe Katoomba and the Blue Mountains from a Bay Area native’s perspective, imagine taking a 2 hour train ride from San Francisco to the Grand Canyon. Instead of the Colorado River at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, there’s rainforest. Now, imagine taking a cable car across the Grand Canyon, but the floor is glass. You get the picture. It was absolutely stunning to get out of the city and there’s this HUGE canyon. As you took these rides down, it just kept getting better. The only drawback was that the air was so chilly. I don’t know if that could have caused a stunning reaction too. But I don’t think so though!

After that, we jumped back on the trolley and headed to the next town over, Laera, for a late lunch. By the time we were done there, we caught the last trolley of the day back. The driver took us through more areas along side the Blue Mountains for more fabulous views. After that, we headed back to Sydney then Manly so we could stumble into our apartment and crash.

Manly Beach and Sydney: Part 2

The view from our Manly Surfside apartment

The view of the Opera House from the base of the Harbour Bridge

The view of the Harbour Bridge from the Opera House

08.08.08: We boarded a late evening plane from Cairns back to Sydney. By the time we arrived, retrieved our luggage from storage, got a taxi and got to Manly, it was about midnight and we were beat. The apartment we booked for the week was not available for the first night (what’s up with nothing being available that weekend?!?), so we checked in to a “family studio” (a room with 3 beds) at Manly Backpackers. I’m glad we didn’t decide to stay there for the week, because it was a pretty tight fit and the place wasn’t all too well maintained. There was a sign indicating that you need to shut the bathroom door while showering or else the smoke detector would go off and you would be charged minimum $250 for a fire department visit. But when poor Tutu slid the door, it would just fall off the tracks!

The next day, we spent most of the next morning “moving” from there to another apartment with Manly Surfside. Check-out at Backpackers was at 10am and check-in at Surfside was not until noon. So, we had brunch at The Corso, Manly’s main pedestrian street. Afterwards, we found a weekend market, selling handmade crafts. Sean and Kai picked up some Uggs for a decent price. (I’m still kicking myself that I didn’t get a pair myself! It’s two weeks later and I still have only one pair of shoes, Keen sandals with socks…what a fashion statement!) When we were finally able to get into the apartment, I was ready to collapse. Unfortunately, we had to pass on going to my cousin Richard and family’s house for the celebration of his dad, Uncle Henry’s birthday. Luckily, the apartment was MUCH more equipped than the first, and was right across the street from the beach. We all LOVED waking up in the morning to a view of the beach, even though there were no waves all week. Later in the afternoon, I finally worked up enough energy to rent a board and go surfing in the little waves with Sean while Kai hung out with Tutu and Caitlin. It’s fairly rare for us to go out together. Usually we have to “take turns”, so it was a treat. Luckily we went, because it got even smaller later in the week and we would have been too busy to go anyway.

On Sunday, we took in the typical Sydney sights. We started by taking the ferry from Manly to Circular Quay and then walked over to The Rocks, a historical neighborhood, for lunch. After lunch, we strolled through their weekend market which sold more handicrafts. At the end of the market was the base for the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Originally, Sean, Caitlin and I thought about doing the “Bridge Climb”, where you could tie yourself to a cable and walk over the top of the bridge. Tutu doesn’t do heights and volunteered to watch Kai. In the end, it would have taken several hours and hundreds of dollars, so we just walked the pedestrian sidewalk halfway across, back and over to the Opera House. It was just as well because it was a windy day anyway. At the Opera House, another UNESCO World Heritage site, we opted for a tour. It proved very worthwhile as we got to see the inside of the big auditorium, made of native timber from floor to ceiling, marveled at the architecture of the inside of the building which is just as impressive as the outside, and heard the tragic story of how the building’s architect still to this day hasn’t seen the completed building. (Note: I was so impressed with the Opera House that I told Sean if they hired me to do event planning and we could live in Manly, I might just do it.)

Monday came and we realized we still had yet to book flights or a campervan in New Zealand for the upcoming weekend. So, we ended up taking a “day off” to go online and get stuff done, and then do some shopping along The Corso. As it turned out, I finally found not one, but THREE health food stores in Manly. Their selection of organic foods seemed to be limited to non-perishable stuff. Unfortunately, we already stocked up for the week at a big grocery store chain, Coles, which has a very limited selection of organic food. But at least, it was good to see that Manly residents DO have more of a selection than the conventional grocery store chain.

Kuranda

Kuranda Rainforest via Sky Cable

Kuranda Scenic Railway

Caitlin and Kailani's new koala friend

Sean and Kailani feeding a wallaby (essentially, a small version of a kangaroo)


08.08.08: On our last day there, we had one more tour. This time we went south, past Cairns, to Kuranda, also considered a World Heritage site. The first part of our day, we took a cable car up over the rainforest canopy. You could get off a couple times on the way up and view different parts of the forest and scenic views like huge waterfalls. At the top of the cable car was the town of Kuranda, where you could eat lunch and explore for a while. So, after our meat pies, Tutu went in search of a digerido. Sean, Cait, Kai and I went to a Koala Sanctuary. It’s one of the few places where you can actually hold one. As we found out later, it’s illegal in the state of New South Wales, where Sydney is. I’m not sure if it’s for humanity reasons. But, the gals at The Sanctuary told us that each koala is only held for a few hours per week, and the koalas didn’t seem to mind. They normally sleep for 20 hours a day and the one Caitlin held barely even woke up! Also there, we got to feed wallabies, which are smaller versions of kangaroos. It was pretty fun. Kailani still keeps asking to go back! After our time in town, we boarded the Kuranda Scenic Railway train, originally built in 1891. We snapped off many pictures as it was very scenic: going through the hills, seeing into a valley of rainforest, and going past more waterfalls. When we were finished, the driver was able to take us to the Cairns airport for our flight back to Sydney. How well did that work out!

Overall, we had a great 6 days up in North Queensland. After almost every local told us that it was pouring rain the week before we got there and the weather was again supposed to pick-up the day after we leave, we really felt like we lucked out. So far, we were able to see three UNESCO World Heritage sites, all of which were well worth it. And, there’s still more to come!

Lower Isles, Great Barrier Reef & Port Douglas

A little too small for all of us to eat, but at least he caught one!

The island we went to at the Lower Isles, Great Barrier Reef

08.06.08: We again woke up early for another snorkel cruise to the Great Barrier Reef, this time to the Lower Isles, a different part of the reef. The boat, The Sailaway, was more of a large yacht with sails with an intimate crowd of probably around 20-30 passengers. Just like the rest of the week, the weather was excellent and it was looking like another epic day of snorkeling. I had the seasick bags on hand and was on guard with Kailani. But, I also made sure to feed her breakfast well in advance, and she seemed to be doing better. Unfortunately, halfway out to the reef a gentleman started having medical issues and we had to turn around and go back to Port Douglas. The slow boat seemed to take forever when we needed to get back for medical help ASAP. When we finally got back, the cruise company offered to reschedule the trip or to continue the day on another boat that hadn’t left shore yet. Since we only had two more days left, we took up their offer for the later. So our next boat, part of the Quicksilver’s mega-fleet, held at least a few hundred passengers. But, at least the day was not completely lost. It took us to a tiny little island where there were shuttle boats that took you from the mega-boat to the island, or you could jump on a smaller glass-bottom boat and view the reef without getting wet. The later was quite convenient for Kai. Although the last part of our day, she finally decided to swim out, with the aid of a noodle and her sister, and swam over the reef (with no snorkel). I was pretty proud that she made it out!

Thursday ended up being a slower day. I’m sure we would have collapsed had we not had this day! Tropical Nights didn’t have room for us anymore. But, they located rooms for us next door for our last night. So, after packing and moving, Kailani spent the afternoon with a babysitter. Kailani keeps asking for “a friend to play with”, so she was excited to have someone to come and play with her. I’m sure she didn’t expect that “friend” to be so grown up. But, Julie brought some different toys to play with and they had fun. Meanwhile, “the girls”, aka Tutu, Caitlin and I, went shopping in Port Douglas. Although I didn’t get anything, it was nice to not have to chase Kailani through a store, putting everything she puts her hands on back. Sean took his new fishing pole that he got for dirt cheap from the outlet mall in Sydney to the pier, where he made a friend to fish with. The rest of the day, we popped open a bottle of wine, lounged and went to a local pizza place for dinner. Kailani made another friend to play with. This time, she was the same size as Kai!

Daintree National Forest

"Scarface"


Cape Tribulation


From left to right: Gloria, Tutu (aka Grandma Karen), Caitlin, Sean, Kailani and Baby Bear (Kai's beat-up best friend since last December, who's travelled 14 countries without a passport!)

08.05.08: We did another full day tour, this time up North to the Daintree National Forest, anther UNESCO World Heritage Sight. The tour company, Tony’s Tours, didn’t allow children on their “standard” tours, which usually hold 6-8 passengers. But, because we had 4 adults plus Kailani, it was cheaper to charter our own car, rather than the four of us going and getting an all-day babysitter for Kailani. We quickly found out why they don’t normally allow children when Kailani had a temper tantrum getting into the car seat and kept squirming out. I guess she really got used to not having to sit in one for the last 3 months in Asia. Chris, our guide, could not drive without her being in her seat, and had to pull over several times. But finally, with the help of movies on the PSP, she cooperated. Our first stop was a stroll around the Mossman gorge. Chris explained the evolution of the forest, pointed out several indigenous plants, toxic fruits and how they were used as medicine. We also had a rare sighting of a platypus. Then, we jumped on a boat cruise up a river for more crocodile sightings. This time, there were more crocs cruising around and the driver could get us up pretty close. He all knew them by name, ie “Fat Albert” and “Scarface”. Fat Albert WAS pretty huge! Next, we drove up the road and stopped for tea and a stroll on the beach at Cape Tribulation, where Captain Cook sailed his damaged ship for repairs. It was very scenic. We also saw a HUGE lizard just cruising around the picnic area. It must have been at least 6 feet long. It’s so hard to believe that those things are allowed to just roam freely amongst us tourists! Our next stop was for a picnic lunch, swim in the river and stroll through a private area in the Daintree National forest. Lunch was grilled steak, sausage and fish, several salads and damper. The later is a non-yeast bread, offered throughout Australia but the best was our first. It is eaten with butter and “brown syrup”. The bottle didn’t say what it’s made of, but it tastes like honey. Of course, you could also eat your damper with vegemite. But after a micro-taste of the stuff, I opted for the mystery syrup. The swim was in freezing cold water. But, Chris guaranteed that crocs won’t be swimming with you. They are smarter than us humans, and don’t swim in water that cold! I’m pretty sure we burned off our lunch trying to stay warm in the water. Later, Chris, who was getting married to a Thai woman two days later, gave us more commentary of all the indigenous animals and plants, the later was 80-90% toxic to humans. He pointed out soo many plants, trees and creatures in the forest walk that we wouldn’t have known about otherwise. Overall we were very impressed with the day, especially with the information we learned from Chris. Hope he had a good wedding!

Outer Great Barrier Reef

The Poseidon

08.04.08: Early Monday morning, we were off on a boat out to the outer Great Barrier Reef for a day of snorkeling. We all felt that seeing this 8th wonder of the world and UNESCO World Heritage sight was an absolute must before it might not be there anymore. When we were in Ko Tao, Thailand, we heard how there used to be so much more reef, but how it’s dying because climate change has increased the water’s temperature by 1 to 2 degrees. What a sad reality that is! Although the boat we were on, The Poseidon, seemed a bit too large for our taste carrying probably 100-150 people, it was nothing compared to another boat, The Quicksilver, which carried more like 300. And, we did like the fact that it made three various stops that was determined on the conditions of the day, which meant that they didn’t always stop at the same place, thus minimizing damage to the reef. The great thing about when we went out was the fact that it was whale sighting season. And as luck had it, we saw whales three different times: on the way to the reef and twice on the way home. The first time, we saw at least 5 whales as close as 15-20 feet, warming their bellies by lying on their backs. Even the crew was excited and taking pictures. After that was the journey to the reef. I was pretty tired that morning and, although I’ve never gotten sea sick before, was feeling a bit green. Perhaps, I overdid it on the wine the night before, after not having anything “good” for several months in Southeast Asia. But somehow, I never expected poor Kailani to beat me to the punch (considering no issues after several boat rides throughout Asia), losing her entire breakfast as she was sitting on her poor sister’s lap…facing her! After cleaning up both girls, we finally made it to the reef. Kai and I decided to sit it out. But, Tutu, Caitlin and Sean had a great time snorkeling. Our second dive sight, the water was 24° C (72° F). Didn’t sound too cold, but with the wind, was still way too cold for Kai. She was just not going to jump in! I got to jump in for both sights #2 and 3 and they were both pretty spectacular. Caitlin sighted a squid at sight #2. At sight #3, it pretty much resembled “The Drop-Off” in the movie, Finding Nemo, which we’ve been traveling with and have probably seen at least 1000 times. Basically, we can almost recite the entire movie. Anyway, Sean dove down the deepest he’s ever been. And, he got to touch the largest clam he’s touched, probably at least 4 feet wide. After he got out, I went out. Caitlin and I had fun exploring together. We found several large clams as well and anemones that housed several “Nemo” clownfish. I tried my hand at diving as well. But, I can’t compare to Caitlin, who can go down about 30 feet after learning on her kayak/camping trip to Palau with Tutu last summer. On the way back, we had two more whale sightings. The last was also pretty spectacular because it was a mother and a calf. Overall, we all had a great day. Even though Kailani got sick in the beginning and didn’t get to go out in the water, I think she had a great time just being on the boat and seeing the whales.

Port Douglas, North Queensland

Port Douglas Estuary...crocodiles and all!

The Lady Douglas

08.02.08: We stowed a couple bags in the Sydney airport and flew on a three hour Jet Star airlines flight up to Cairns. Getting off the plane….ahhhhhh!! We were back near the rainforest and it was warm and humid again! After finally locating our shuttle, we left for an hour’s drive up to Port Douglas for the next six days. By the time we got there, it was pretty late. We found a menu for “takeaway delivery” and ordered ribs and chicken wings for dinner. It was pretty good. But, the restaurant ran out of corn so just didn’t include it. And, the side of salad, supposedly enough to feed a family of four, could have fed just one of us, despite a rather pricey bill. Then again, everything in Australia seems to be pricey so far! I suppose I could have been cranky and hungry, but they heard an earful from me…

The next morning, we decided to start planning what we wanted to do. With six days and everything we wanted to do, we could have spent at least a few weeks there instead. (So be prepared to read a lot below!) Still, we booked five tours through the owners of Tropical Nights, a small complex of town homes that we were staying at. The place itself was quaint but nothing spectacular. But, we were very impressed with Peta and Alan’s hospitality and friendliness. Although, we haven’t met anyone less friendly and polite as they are (with the exception of a few taxi drivers). Later that day, we walked into town, got the opportunity to stroll through their Sunday market where they sold handmade crafts and fruits/veggies, and then got some groceries for the week. Then later, we walked back into town again for tour #1, a sunset cruise on an old fashioned steam wheel boat called The Lady Douglas. The cruise went down through the estuaries, where the main attraction was spotting crocodiles. We had fun snapping off pictures of the few that we saw as well as just the cruising itself.

Sydney: Part 1

07.30.08: We left Bali for Sydney on a redeye. It was way past Kailani’s bedtime, and she totally cried on the plane when she had to put on her seat belt for take-off and landing. Two other kids around the same age as her seated next to us took turns with her crying. But at least they all didn’t do it together. Thanks to earplugs and an eye cover, I got at least a couple hours sleep and didn’t feel as bad as I expected to be. We landed in Sydney around 7am. We have never seen soooo many surfboards at an airport luggage claim before. After the most rigorous entrance into a country by customs, we were allowed with a little bit of food that we were carrying and our Balinese wood carvings which we had to claim on the customs form. When we exited the building….burrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!! There was definitely a climate change!

While we were in Bali, for some random reason, I decided to check our friend Rory’s tour schedule on his band’s web site. As it turns out, their last show in Australia was the day before we arrived in Sydney and they were playing in the outskirts of Sydney. It ends up that he flew out the morning that we flew in. What a bummer that we ended up missing him for the SECOND time on our trip! (First time was when we were trying to get from the Italian Alps to Munich.) But, third try should be a charm. We WON’T miss him when we go to Hawaii in October!

We went to the apartment we were to stay at. Caitlin and Tutu (aka Grandma Karen) had already arrived from Hawaii the night before. When our taxi drove up, we saw Caitlin watching out the window for us. I can’t tell you how great it was to see my other “baby’s” face, as well as Tutu’s. Kailani was so happy to see her big sister. She didn’t forget her big sister one bit. Thanks to Tutu and Caitlin, for bringing lots of requested goodies for us! It was such a treat, even though all that organic food was sprayed with insecticide on the plane by Australia customs! After long hugs, we spent most of the morning settling in, letting Kai and Cait play together, catching up and then went to lunch. The next order of business for all of us was to get more cold weather clothes. The Riola family arrived with mainly shorts, t-shirts, tank tops and open-toed shoes. (Technically, I also had a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt for me and Sean, and a thin sweater for Kai. But still…) The Sanchez’s (aka Caitlin and Tutu) also underestimated the weather and could use a few more things. Talking with local taxi drivers, it was also usually cold for this time of year. Luckily, there was an outlet mall within walking distance. Walking there, it was way more westernized than Asia. But, we heard some strange sounding birds that made us definitely feel like we were somewhere that we’ve never been to. At the outlet mall, we actually ended up with a lot more than I thought we’d find. Although, it didn’t seem like we paid outlet prices. Later that evening, we got a visit from my cousin, Richard, who brought a box with our wetsuits and cool weather stuff that we shipped from Amsterdam last May, minus anything much for Kai since she would have outgrown it all. We can’t thank you enough, Richard and Libby, for storing that box of our junk at your house!!! It was also nice to see Richard and catch-up over sushi dinner.

The next morning, after a slow start and a trip to the market for breakfast stuff, we took the bus to Circular Quay then ferry to Manly for late lunch and to scope out the area and accommodations to see if that’s where we wanted to stay after going up north to the Cairns/Great Barrier Reef area. There is a surfing beach, the area is nice and taking the ferry to the city is convenient. So, we’ll probably be back next week. On the ferry, you pass right by the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. It was quite a stunning view, especially on the return trip when it was dark out and the city lights were lit.

On Saturday morning, we packed up and headed to the airport, this time for Cairns. Since its a few hours up north by flight, we’re hopeful it’ll be a bit warmer. Between the five of us, the addition of a box AND shopping, we had TONS of stuff. So, we stored a couple bags at the airport. (Not cheap! …but then, nothing at this country seems to be thus far.) Security at the Sydney domestic terminal seems to be the most lenient we’ve seen so far. They never asked for an ID anytime before boarding (usually, we have those passports out for several checks) and they actually allow liquids on their flights. Since I’m in the air as I type, all I can say is that, so far, everything else about the flight seems to be going smoothly. We keep telling Kailani how we’re flying to see Nemo. She’s only seen that movie about a thousand times. So hopefully, there won’t be a shortage of “Nemos” on the reef’!