Seaworld

Our final day in Australia was spent at Seaworld. The kids loved the performances, and Rania, who loves dolphins, had a great time watching the dolphin show. With a pirate show, the Bermuda Triangle, the log-ride (splashing into the water), and lots of kiddie rides, we had a busy, fun last day.

View from Coolangatta

We stayed in another very, very nice place in Coolangatta. What a great view of the beach, and looking north to Brisbane. With a huge porch and lots of space, we felt quite luxurious. Here is the view from our balcony. Click on the pictures to see a bit more of Brisbane on the horizon.

Glorious Australian Beaches

It was so stunning to be on such beautiful beaches. We played for a little bit on Friday before driving further north to Coolangatta. We had more time at the beaches there, but in Arrawarra, just north of Coff's Harbor, we were stunned by the beautiful scenery, and had fun playing on the beaches. So forgive the many pictures!



The girls even got to ride some ponies, which was a big highlight.

Driving North

After a long drive north, we made it to our nice caravan place. Our lodgings were quite luxurious -- and it was beautiful to see a sky full of stars.

The highlight of our arrival was a group of kangaroos right outside the checkout area. Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of that, but as Reeve's birthday dragged on, we had yet another birthday cake for him -- and a huge whirlpool bathtub may very well commemorate the last of the baths with all our kids together (we thought we'd outgrown that, but made an exception after seeing that huge bathtub).

After the long drive, we were quite happy that we took the wise advise of catching a flight south, rather than trying to drive both ways -- that would have been crazy!

Birthday with the Bitners

We had a fun time, while in Australia staying with the Bitners. How fun to catch up with them, and also have the luxury of cooking meals, including getting a birthday cake to help Reeve celebrate.

Trying to get a group picture is also a challenge with little kids, but here were our attempts --
-- the best of the "normal pictures."
-- and one of the "silly ones."

Maritime Museum

For our last hurray in Sydney, we enjoyed the Maritime museum. Since the main exhibit is free, it is definitely one of the highlights of Sydney for families.


Walking across Darling Harbor, Tracy had fun singing "Sound of Music" songs on the bridge. Fun memories with cool weather and a delightful view of the water and the ships.

The girls were especially excited about the special exhibit on mythological creatures. So unicorns, flying ponies and dragons were part of the fun!

Then we went on the submarine and the navy ship. Walking backwards into the submarine and seeing the tight quarters underwater, then getting to be captain of the navy ship: what an adventure.

Wildlife World

We had a nice visit to Wildlife World in Sydney. Since we really, really wanted to see some kangaroos and koalas while we were in Australia, it was either the zoo or Wildlife world. Since wildlife world had the bonus of seeing other things downtown (and was cheaper), it won out. Surprisingly compact and right in the harbor, Wildlife world has several floors of exhibits and animals leading to the kangaroos and koalas on the top floor under a glass dome.

Wildlife world was advertising one of the world's largest salt water crocodiles, so it was fun for the kids to pose with portions of that exhibit. There was also a quite an exhibit for other reptiles, since Australia is famous for all its venomous snakes.
Since Rania is so excited about the snakes, she requested this picture.

Ironically, one of the highlights was a butterfly pavilion -- ironic because Kuala Lumpur has a fabulous butterfly park that we've only been to once in our 2 1/2 years!





Lots of photos, but who can resist cute kid with butterflies!

Blue Mountains

What an absolute privilege to get a touch of fall. We drove up into the Blue Mountains -- about a 2 hour drive. It was challenging trying to decipher the GPS directions and figure out the best way to get from point A (the Bitner's abode) to point B (the Blue Mountains). After a few wrong turns, we fortunately made our way.

The weather was decidedly cool, and it was delightful to be able to walk with a sweater. Even a handful of trees were changing colors, so it was nice to experience a touch of fall for some fleeting moments.

The Blue Mountains were quite spectacular with a huge cliff at the edge of the plateau. We did a couple of nice little hikes and enjoyed the views and the cool weather.

Australia! Sydney Harbor

Amazingly, we made it to Australia. Indeed, Sydney is a breathtaking city.
Great views. After flying on Easter, we enjoyed the day after Easter in order to head downtown. It was still a national holiday, so there wasn't much traffic. We had a nice walk through the botanical gardens, seeing the famed fruit bats (flying foxes).
We also enjoyed walking around the harbor seeing views of the Sydney Opera House before we finally made our way to the steps. Kids were tired, but did well on a walking tour of Circular Quays and the surrounding area.

Remote Control Plane

Reeve was pretty excited to get a remote control plane. We quickly discovered we needed a big space to fly the plane so it wouldn't end up in a tree or inside a neighbors yard. So we went to the ISKL field and had a fun time flying the plane.

Reeve had a good time, but even at the end, it managed to go mighty high and get stuck on the roof -- so daddy had a bit of acrobatics to try and climb onto the school roof to retrieve the plane.

All ends well -- but it is certainly a toy that needs to be used in large open spaces -- and even then there are few guarantees.

Birthday Girl

How fun to celebrate a birthday. We are realizing that we've long passed the baby stage, and now we are pretty much out of the toddler stage. We're just about in the elementary stage, and it is a bit sad to see some of that cuteness go as the kids seem so old sometimes.
We had some friends over for Rania's birthday, and it was a fun event. Rania got an amazing gift which she will treasure for decades and hopefully pass on to her daughters someday -- a quilt from her grandma Woodward. What stunning colors and intricate work. She also had fun having a dolphin cake, blowing out candles, and celebrating with her friends.