Take me to the Opera house

 There is certainly no other building in Australia as Iconic as the Opera House.  The setting in the Harbour and next to Harbour Bridge makes it even more spectacular. 



It is definitely something that is best seen from the water.  We managed to see it it twice, coming and going from the ferry to Manly. (Manly Beach is a definite must for people visiting Sydney).



 Being proud Canadians, we also ran parts of Simon Whitfield's gold medal run in the 2000 Olympics. 


A visit to the Olympic park was also on the agenda.


Still the impressive sights of Australia continue to be the beaches and the land.  There entire culture is set facing the water and it is a fantastic background to view.

Down the Coast

We took a few days to drive down the East Coast and the rain followed us.  However, we still manged to see some of the sights of New South Wales.
The Big Banana is just that, a Big banana in the heart of Banana country near Coffs Harbour.

At Port MacQuarie, we managed to see the set up for the Australian Ironman right next to our hotel.

 We also found an amazing indoor climbing gym.

And in the Blue Mountains, we found Autumn.  Leaves changing colour and long sleeve running weather.

The Far East

While we are living on the West Coast, it was the farthest Easterly point of Australia that we visited.
The Lighthouse of Byron Bay overlooks this point of land and the day we visited a near gale seemed to be brewing.  Windswept is a polite way of putting it.

The town of Byron Bay itself is part Surfing Village/part Woodstock rivival.  Little shops mixed with highend fashion and surfing super stores.  Dot in a few cafes such as the Three Sisters we ate at and it is a great little town.  Great surfing although we did not get in the water.

Keeping up with the Simms'

The family who help us develop our Australian plans are just finishing their second exchange year in Queensland and they generously put us up in their eclectic estate on the Gold Coast.  The only cost- constant action!
Day one- Surfing.  Kevin is closing in on 200 sessions of surfing this year and we were not going to interfere with that streak.  We went to Corrumbin- a great point break for young grommets and old rookies.  Both Meaghan and Liam had their own board (courtesy of the Simms') .  Meaghan managed a few waves on her own by the end of things.  Boatie caught a couple of rides and I balanced on a board.  Post Surf coffees and Kabobs were at the spectacular Burleigh Heads.

Day Two-  Okay, back to Corrumbin, but this time paddle boarding.  It is like melding Canada and Australia together- have people surf with paddles.  And then you get to add a bobbing, moving wavy core workout.  Boatie and I caught up to the kids on this one.  I managed to ride one wave in for over 100m (looking way better than Usain).  Only time for a quick coffee today, as we are off to Rainbow 's  waves to put in a surf session.  The Quicksilver pro event was here earlier in the year.  We let the kids tackle these waves.  As our session was ending a rescue helicopter started circling the next break over.  Looking for something, whether it was a missing swimmer or something with fins, we were glad to be out of the water.

Day 3-  we let the kids sleep in a bit and prep for the next mission.  I now completely understand "Fifty Mission Cap".  Back to the beach, but the ocean was getting angry.  No surfboards, only body boards and only Dads going out.  The waves were heavy and dumpy and I met my first nasty rip, but we stayed close to the shore and retired to build sand castles.  We treated the kids to a well deserved luch of Cold Rock Ice Cream before calling it a day.

On the fourth day well reluctantly said good bye to Kevin, Wendy, Hannah and Noah.  They were generous with their home and their time and it was truly a treat to catch up with our fellow Canucks.  Watching Liam and Noah fashion goalie pads out of pillows and play hockey with DVD cases  was awesome.

 

 

Easter Break

In Australia the school year is divided into four Terms and in between the first three are two week breaks.  For our "Easter Break", we travelled to Brisbane , the East Coast and Sydney.  While the temperature is similar, the landscape and humidity is very different.  Green hills rise up close to the coast and there are dramatic headlands breaking up the coastline. The city of Brisbane has recovered from the earlier flooding and has a fantastic setting with the river winding back and forth through the core.  I jogged  through the Botanical gardens and across the river underneath the cliffs of Kangeroo Point in the morning.

With only a day in the city we took the kids to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.  This time they could hold the Koalas for pictures and as a bonus- pet a dingo (no it did not go after the babies).
We then climbed up to Mt. Coot-tha for a panaramic view of the city skyline before turning South for the Gold coast.