Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Australia!

So...the 3 weeks since our last post have been quite an adventure.  We spent a fantastic week in Australia, split between Sydney and Melbourne and then headed to Bangkok for a quick stopover before spending the last 2 weeks in Japan.  I'm writing from Tokyo now where we are getting ready to fly back to Bangkok this afternoon. 

Australia was awesome and we will definitely be back for another visit!  I think we could easily spend a month or more and still not see everything.  Here are a few pics....


In front of the Sydney Opera House

Tony enjoying the grass at the botanical gardens- after freezing in New Zealand it was nice to be somewhere a little warmer! 

The last white Camellia of winter

The Queen Victoria Building (or QVB).  It's a beautiful high end shopping mall- each floor is a different color (red, blue, yellow) with beautiful tiled floors. 


Close up of the QVB clock with dioramas of Australian history

More of the QVB

In front of the James Craig before our tour.  The National Maritime Museum in Sydney was amazing- definitely worth visiting.

We happened upon an arcade in Chinatown that was full of UFO catchers with Angry Birds themed toys in all different sizes. 

Westfield tower at Sunset

Beautiful Sydney rowhouse- there were a lot of homes like this-Victorian details with balconies and tropical plants.

Postcard view of Sydney

Red Kangaroo at the Taronga Zoo

Wallaby!

Victoria Pigeon

Carnivorous mammals on road?

Koala

Tasmanian Devil- doesn't look so scary :)


The Zoo's free flight bird show- props to Tony for taking this great picture!

View of Sydney from the Zoo

Thar! (This one if for our friend Rob)

We took the ferry over the Manly beach.  Even though it was chilly there were still tons of surf lessons going on.

Yum yum...$10 steak special

Sign on the ferry back to Sydney...

Sydney subway- all the trains are 2 levels.  Reminds me of NJ Transit, but cleaner.

So, we thought it would be a good idea to take the sleeper train from Sydney to Melbourne.  We could travel overnight (maximizing our time in the cities) and sleeping on the train just sounds cool.  Unfortunately, between the movement of the train and the over-heated car we barely got any sleep. Next time we'll fly for  1/2 the price and 1/4 of the time.


Train bathroom (the whole compartment is a shower)


We had a great 3 days in Melbourne- it's a beautiful city with a really hip, artistic vibe that feels a lot like Portland.  We found this cool street in the middle of downtown.  


More Melbourne architecture- there is a great mix of both old and really modern architecture.

We can across this winter festival (with ice skating) outside the old Exhibition Hall.

Custard apples

Our laundry hanging along our couch surfing hosts' fence.  Our hosts Richard and Jo  were really fantastic and extremely generous people.  Staying with them made our time in Melbourne extra special!

We took a day trip to Geelong with Jo and Richard- Geelong feels like a Victorian beach  holiday town and is known for  these carved and painted bollards depicting scenes from Geelong's past. 

More bollards, and yes, that is a tall ship in the background. :)

Tony finally got to take the helicopter tour he'd been craving since New Zealand!


3 comments:

  1. Great post, and great photos! Looks like you're having a great time, look forward to each post!

    Fred and Kre

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  2. Hope you have a credit card because Tokyo is EXPENSIVE! Anyway, shoutout from Colorado Springs, again!

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  3. Love all the updates and pictures. As for that last one - Tony, I was happy to realize that that yellow thing you're wearing is a life vest (I think?) and NOT a fanny pack.

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