Melissa's Idea Garden

Well things are winding down. It is hard to believe we have been gone from home for over 4 weeks. But it really doesn't seem like it has been so long. The time has been flying by.

We had a lovely flight from Invercargill to Christchurch and then onto Sydney. Customs wasn't so bad and we really are becoming pros at handling the massive amounts of luggage.

We are staying at the Hilton Sydney in an executive suite. The rooms and service are excellent, though the suites aren't really meant for family accomodations.

We are right across from Queen Victoria Building and in the basement there is a food court. It is nice because the kids can get things from McDonald's and Daniel and I can have food like sushi and Indian...

Unfortunately, I had a headache all day yesterday and didn't do much except lay around and nap. Finally, I made myself go outside with Katrina. We went in search first of the swimming pool, but it is part of a health club and while we can use it, when we went down, all the lanes were filled with lap swimmers. So we walked to Darling Harbor and found a little playground, but it was really more for toddlers. The walk out did us good though, as my headache finally began to drift away.

We played some cards and turned in early.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:26 PM | Permalink

We arrived in New Zealand today. It was so nice that we didn't have to get up until 5:30...way better than 2 a.m. We arrived at the airport at 7:30 and then the going to another country ordeal - customs out of Australia, we were in lines for over an hour, then we had a hike to the gate, then we had about 30 minutes to find a place to eat. By the time we found a place, stood in line and got our food, we had 10 minutes to eat before going to the gate. Then the plane ended up boarding 20 minutes late! That will teach us to rush!

The plane was very plush! We had complimentary headsets, comfortable eats, had our own monitor and we could choose from movies, music, games, tv and learning about NZ. I watched 3 episodes of Boston Legal. The legal part is a bit of a stretch from what little I know, but I enjoyed watching William Shatner.

We were served lunch (with chocolate ice cream). there were pillows and a candy was handed out when we landed. Cupholders were on the seat in front of us next to the monitor, which made it way easier to hold onto your drink and not spill it. The only down side was the older gent sitting next to me who kept his elbow in my side pretty much the whole trip.

So we landed at the Auckland aiport at about 2:30:

Continue reading "October 7, 2009 - Auckland to Rotorua, New Zealand" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 12:48 AM | Permalink

Just wanted to chime in and say that we are doing well and are currently touching base in Sydney. Yesterday, we spent the day packing up (trying to rearrange luggage so it will be easier to sort as we are traveling through NZ. Most places we will only stay one night). We also had to get to bed early as we had to get up at 2 a.m. because we had a taxi coming at 3:30 a.m. to take us to the airport for a flight that left Cairns at 5:45 a.m. and arrived in Sydney at 9:45 a.m.

We are checked in here at Sydney and it is just another low key day. Some more rearranging of the luggage and we were able to leave two bags with the Hilton where we will be staying in two weeks when we return from NZ. That much less to lug around for the next couple of weeks:) YEAH!

Tomorrow, we have a 9:30 flight to NZ and will be there for 12 days. Not sure how much we will be online during that time. We will touch base when we can.

And I leave you with these pictures to show what happens when people start buying hats to protect themselves from the sun....

Jack models Daniel's two hats, my hat, Jack's two hats, and Katrina's hat.

Katrina models her hat, my hat, and Daniel's two hats.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 11:33 PM | Permalink

Today was absolutely spectacular! We were up at 5 (today, Katrina was the one who was the hardest to get out of bed). In spite of the fact that we were ready to leave at 6:35 a.m., it was still 6:50 by the time we got downstairs to the vehicle and out of the building. It was like old home week when we got to the Tusa 5. There were several crew members there today who had been there on Friday and they were all pleased to see us back again. Considering the number of people that take their tours, it was nice to be remembered.

I just want to take a moment here and say that Australians are excellent at customer service and people back in the States should take some lessons. They make a real effort to learn the names of the people on the tours. We had a snack at a cafe after we got off of the boat and one of the ladies came and talked to us and asked us how our vacation was going, where we were from, what we had been up to and before we left she gave us a coupon for a complimentary drink with lunch should we come back. This is pretty indicative of the courtesy we have been extended everywhere in this country. It makes such a big difference to walk into a store, onto a tour, and have people treat you like you are more than just a customer. The funny thing is that here in Australia the minimum wage is twice what it is at home, and people here don't expect tips. But their service is so supreme, we have found ourselves giving tips on several occasions. I just can't stress enough what a wonderful experience it has been to be here and how wonderfully we have been treated.

Now, back to today. We knew our way around the ship today and it was nice to be able to help others when we saw them stuck or looking for something. We settled in and the ride today was calmer than Friday's. I didn't see anyone get sick.

We arrived at today's first spot on the reef and were given 2 hours to snorkel. It was absolutely amazing! We saw so many cool fish and other ocean life! I didn't want to get out at the end of two hours (but I was a little cold). Then we had lunch, a reef lesson, and we were off to another site where we got to snorkel and dive for an hour. If possible, it was more spectacular than the first site. There were these amazing canyons among the coral. I could have spent hours there, but we had to leave.

Continue reading "October 4, 2009 - Diving at The Great Barrier Reef" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

On this trip, we have experienced pretty much every mode of transportation: cars, 4WD SUV, 4WD tourist coach, buses, subways/monorails, trains, planes, ships, sky cable cars, and trolleys. We could be in a remake of the movie classic Trains, Planes and Automobilles!

So today, we were off on a great tour! We were picked up at 7:45 and driven to the Fairweather Station. Once there, we were checked in and given our tickets for the train. We were in carriage 9, seats 45-48. The Kuranda Scenic Train was something that Australians we met in Alice Springs were telling us we really must do. And that was lucky for us as we had booked this trip months ago. The train ride took about 1 1/2 hours to take us from Freshwater Station to the village of Kuranda. We drove through rain forest (which was fun to drive though, but probably even prettier during the rainy season). Here are some photos from our train journey.

Melissa looking out of the train.

At one point, we were on Horse Shoe Bend. We could see the front of the train and the back of it! Note all of the people with their cameras out of the window taking pictures of other parts of the train!

This is one of the photos of Barren Falls. These falls are spectacular during the rainy season. But locals here say that this is the driest Dry they remember and there wasn't much water flowing today. But still it was spectacular.

The train track we followed had 15 tunnels that had been carved by hand 100 years ago. It was and is quite an achievement considering that it not only went through the mountains, but the jungles as well.

Continue reading "October 3, 2009 - Kuranda Train, Kuranda, SkyRail, and Tjupaki!" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 4:23 AM | Permalink

What an amazing adventure! We were up at 5 am this morning because we needed to leave by 6:30 to drive to Cairns (we are staying a little way up the coast at Trinity Beach). Well, it was hard getting going. I won't mention any names, but one of us pretty much had to be pulled out of bed because she just couldn't wake up...must have been the motion sickness pills! Anyway, after a few false starts that included being slow moving, me being unable to find the room keys that had the remote for the garage and Daniel being unable to locate the dive papers, we actually left at 6:50. We got to Cairns and parked where we thought we were supposed to....only to find we were literally a mile from the boat...Fortunately, we had planned an extra hour into our travel this morning, so we were still on the boat in plenty of time.

This is a nice boat...here's a photo:

I just want to say that this experience was so, so, so very different than our experience in Myrtle Beach! And if you come to Cairns to dive, I highly recommend Tusa

First we got checked in and found a seat. We ended up at a table with two girls from San Francisco who were here in Cairns for a few days. Turns out one of them, Karen, actually lived in the same building Daniel lived in the last time he worked in San Francisco! Isn't that Incredible!

After we were checked in, we were encouraged to have a cookie and coffee or tea or water. This was morning tea. We were also warned that the trip out to the reef was going to be a bit bumpy and we should take some medicine if we had a history of being sea sick or if we had never been out on the ocean before. They offered either ginger tablets for free or two motion sickness pills for 1.00. I had taken another motion sickness pill before leaving the apartment, but decided that adding ginger to the mix would be a good idea. Especially since we were moving and I was already feeling a little queasy and we hadn't gotten out to the bumpy part yet.

Continue reading "October 2, 2009 - Snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:31 AM | Permalink

Today was kind of a do nothing day. We slept in a bit and piddled around (translated, caught up on emails and blogged), then we went to lunch at Hungry Jack's. That was probably the most interesting part of the day. I ordered an Aussie hamburger. It came with a few unique extras: pickled beets, fried egg, and bacon. It tasted pretty good!

Then we went to a 24 hour medical center. Daniel and I needed to get Dive Medicals here in Australia in order to dive, even though we had gotten clearance back in the states. Daniel passed fine. I didn't because of a medication I am on. Apparently, it falls in a gray area of possibly causing problems when diving and the doctor was unwilling to sign off on me diving. But snorkeling was okayed.

We stopped by Woolworth's to get groceries, then got back to our apartment around 4:30. Daniel and Katrina went to the beach for a little while. Daniel said the water was a bit colder than he expected, the sand was coarser than we are used to and the shore drops off pretty quickly (meaning you don't have to walk 50 feet out to get wet above your waist. Then they came up to the pool and I went down to meet them. Daniel came up to the room and I stayed with Katrina for a bit.

Before going to bed, I took 2 motion sickness pills in an attempt to keep from getting sick during the boat ride out to the Great Barrier Reef. When at Myrtle Beach, one of the instructors tole me that I might want to try taking it the night before I go diving since taking it an hour before didn't help me. I went to sleep pretty quickly after that!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:27 AM | Permalink

Today was kind of a do nothing day. We slept in a bit and piddled around (translated, caught up on emails and blogged), then we went to lunch at Hungry Jack's. That was probably the most interesting part of the day. I ordered an Aussie hamburger. It came with a few unique extras: pickled beets, fried egg, and bacon. It tasted pretty good!

Then we went to a 24 hour medical center. Daniel and I needed to get Dive Medicals here in Australia in order to dive, even though we had gotten clearance back in the states. Daniel passed fine. I didn't because of a medication I am on. Apparently, it falls in a gray area of possibly causing problems when diving and the doctor was unwilling to sign off on me diving. But snorkeling was okayed.

We stopped by Woolworth's to get groceries, then got back to our apartment around 4:30. Daniel and Katrina went to the beach for a little while. Daniel said the water was a bit colder than he expected, the sand was coarser than we are used to and the shore drops off pretty quickly (meaning you don't have to walk 50 feet out to get wet above your waist. Then they came up to the pool and I went down to meet them. Daniel came up to the room and I stayed with Katrina for a bit.

Before going to bed, I took 2 motion sickness pills in an attempt to keep from getting sick during the boat ride out to the Great Barrier Reef. When at Myrtle Beach, one of the instructors tole me that I might want to try taking it the night before I go diving since taking it an hour before didn't help me. I went to sleep pretty carefully after that!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:10 AM | Permalink

Let me preface this by saying that if you like animals and you are in Cairns, you really, really, really should make this event part of your trip here! We had so much fun!!!!!

So we arrived at the Cairns Night Zoo and were checked in. One of the first to greet us was Sam - the Sulpher-Crested Cockatoo (he liked being scratched behind his ears and told us so by saying 'scratch' and tilting his head to the side.

After we were checked in, we were allowed to grab a drink while we waited for our food to be served. We had water (we have been drinking tons of water here), but beer, wine, and sodas were all available as part of the evening's events. Next came a Swaggie with a Didgeridoo and gave everyone a lesson and a chance to play. Video will come at some point. Then the buffet was ready.

Freshly grilled steak, grilled chicken, Spanish mackerel, sausages, baked potatoes, the world's best cole slaw, pasta salad, green salad and crusty bread. Then the desserts came out. Pavlova with fresh fruit salad and lashings of whipped cream. I was too stuffed to try it, but Daniel said it was very good. Jack tried grilled chicken, a baked potato and the pavlova. He didn't like any of it, but at least he tried it!

While we ate, Dave sang us some songs. Our particular favorite was Country Roads! I feel sure he sang it for us (as he sang it when near our table), but later he seemed surprised to learn we were from Virginia. We bought his CD as we enjoyed his songs so much. Not so sure that Sam liked the music though, he got a bit agitated a couple of times, screeched and flared his crest!

Next we were given torches and a bit of a talk on what to expect and what we could and couldn't do and off we went.

Continue reading "September 30, 2009 - Cairns Night Zoo" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 4:49 AM | Permalink

I got to talk to Dad and Dianne today and to Ashley and Therese. I tried calling mom, but I missed her and Jim.

Wow, what a day! Who knew how much we could see on a 10 hour tour! We got picked up at noon by David. I have to say up front that he was absolutely the best tour guide we have ever had. David was in charge of taking us on a tour of the highlights of Cairns. He was knowledgeable, personable, and had hands on manipulatives for the passengers to look at. He had photos of local wildlife taped about the bus. He had copies of major news stories - big fish to crocs to floods. He had a cane toad in a jar and some bugs in jars. And he was funny, warm, and friendly. He made it a point to get to know all of our names and where we were from. He was truly a wonderful guide!

First David dropped us off at St. Monica's Cathedral in Cairns to look at the Creation Story in Stained Glass and the Peace Windows. Please, take the time to click on the link and learn about both the Peace Windows and Creation Story Windows. I took some photos but they are no where as good what you will see on this website (though I did load them up to Flickr). I would have a hard time going to this church...I would be spending all of my time staring at the windows.

Next, David drove us about Cairns pointing out good hotels, shops, and restaurants. He told us about sugar cane and sugar production, about tourism, and he showed us a naval base and shipbuilding. During this part of the tour, he showed us a sign that I had to get a photo of:

What you can't quite see in my photo is that this sign is beside a roadway. However, in times past, when there has been flooding, boats have traversed the road and the warning has been so they will note the overhead wires.... We learned that growing sugar cane is a big source of income here in this part of Australia. We saw the fields and the buildings where it was processed. Bet they have a really high Orkin bill!

Next we drove to the local headquarters of the Flying Doctor Service. When we were in Alice Springs, we learned about Reverend Flynn when we visited his grave site. He was the force behind the beginning of the Flying Doctor Service which over the years has saved tens of thousands of people. Because of the Flying Doctor Service, medical help is available to those living in the rural areas of Australia. But, they don't just provide emergency medical service, they also provide medicine chests for these areas (so when people are sick or hurt, a designated person can call in, consult, and dispense the medications). They are providing wellness and immunization services as well. We watched a brief film, toured the museum, saw the inside of a retired medical plane and perused the gift shop.

Continue reading "September 30, 2009 - Cairns Botanical Garden" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:52 PM | Permalink

Today, we were up at 7:30, but moving a bit slowly. It was 9:30 by the time we showered and packed and walked to Lasseter Casino Hotel for breakfast. Then it was back to the room to finish packing, checking out and heading on.

We went to visit Alice Springs Desert Park. This was a spot recommended by both of our tour guides while we are in Alice Springs and since we had been able to rearrange our flights from a mind-numbing 12 hours of flying and layovers to a mere 1 1/2 hours of flying, we had time on our hands to go visit it.

The bad thing is that in the end, we only had a couple of hours to visit and we could have easily spent four hours in this botanical garden/aviary/zoo. While there, we saw and learned about beautiful and useful desert plants from the sandy regions, woodland regions, and river regions.

They have a plant called a Desert Rose which looks a lot like our Rose of Sharon back home.

Then they have a Dogwood that looks nothing like our Dogwood tree!

We saw numerous birds and a few kangaroos. Many of the birds have iridescent wings or brilliant plumage, but they were hard to catch in photographs.

Continue reading "September 29, 2009 - Alice Springs Desert Park" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Daniel has a blog as well. He is not as long winded as I am either! You can check for more photos (and better ones as he has an awesome camera) at . Also, he has put some videos up on youtube. The name to look for is DanielBMarkham.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 6:12 PM | Permalink

Another long and exciting day today. We were up at 5:00 a.m. We had a tour to meet at 7:10 a.m. Phil, the tour guide, came to pick us up in a really cool 4-wheel drive shuttle. Check this thing out!

We picked up a few other people and away we went. After a quick stop at Dr. Flynn's grave, we headed to Hermannsburg. This was an 80 minute trip through the outback with Phil telling stories along the way. Hermannsburg is an Aboriginal settlement, and was started by a Lutheran Minister. We stopped here briefly for a comfort stop before heading off down the road to Palm Valley.

Phil warned us that the next hour or so would be bumpy, so we put on our seatbelts and prepared to be jolted. The first 20 kilometers wasn't so bad...it was like driving too fast down the road to our house at our home. Then we stopped for another comfort stop and morning tea (tea or coffee and cookies and fruit cake). Then he warned us the next 4 kilometers would be really bad (they would take as long to traverse as the last 20 kilometers). So we strapped in again, and this time the road was much more bumpy. It reminded me of the road up to my dad's cabin. The reason for the bumpy road is that we were riding along the Finke River Bed. It is the dry season here. The last time the Finke River flowed was in January of last year. And then it was 4 or 5 meters (12-15 feet deep). It stayed that way for about 5 days. It is just really hard to imagine and we would like to come back and see it when the river is running high.

Continue reading "September 28, 2009 Palm Valley Tour" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:27 AM | Permalink

Another busy day. We got up about 7 a.m. At 9, we walked down the block to the Alice Springs Lawn Sale at the Lasseter Casino Hotel. We were in search of hats to wear. Turns out for the tours here in the outback, hats were required (along with sunscreen, sturdy shoes and bottled water). We are told that is because the hole in the Ozone is right over Australia and the sun is really gnarly here. We figured if we could get some used hats, it would save us a bit. We did find one for Katrina and you will see a picture of it in a bit. Jack had already picked up a baseball cap and Daniel and I ended up purchasing hats at a nearby souvenir store.

After quickly perusing the lawn sale, we drove into Alice Springs to an area called Todd Mall. This is a bricked street (walking only) surrounded by shops, galleries, and cafes. Daniel and I got hats, we picked up another magnet (I am going to need a new fridge to put them on at this rate) and Jack and Daniel each got boomerangs. Daniel got a returning boomerang (which have only been around for a couple of hundred years) and Jack got a hunting boomerang.

After a bite of early lunch (we had skipped brekky), we headed back to the hotel. Katrina was supposed to meet with Paul, the owner of the Red Rock Opal store, and shape some opals. Well, we got there at 11:30 and he had a sign up that he was gone to lunch until 1. So we went back up to the room and goofed around while we waited.

Continue reading "September 27, 2009 - Alice Springs" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 4:56 AM | Permalink

Today, we rested, mostly... I managed to sleep in until 7:30! WOW!!! We enjoyed the brekky buffet at nearby Lasseter Casino Hotel and along the way we got some photos which you will see below. Then Katrina and I spent about 90 minutes in the opal store in the lobby talking with the owner. He gave us a class on opals. 95% of the worlds opals come from Australia. There are three main types: white opal, black opal, and boulder opal. The black and boulder opals are only found in Australia. Beware when you are purchasing opals that you don't get the synthetic versions that are made in a laboratory in Japan (unless that's what you want). Back in the states though, the law are such that they don't have to tell you it is synthetic... Here is a link to the history of the opal. Fascinating reading! We also learned that the reason the colors shift in opal when you move it is that there is actually water in there and it is like a rainbow effect! This is the only gem in the world that has this!

In between our visits with Paul at the Red Rock Opal shop, I worked tirelessly on blogging...getting the videos and photos set up is what takes so long.

Continue reading "September 26, 2009 Alice Springs" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 6:06 PM | Permalink

Friday, September 25, 2009. We got up at 5 so we could be ready to hop in our Maxi Taxi by 7 a.m. We had to get the Maxi Taxi so all of our luggage fit in (it is like a van). The gentleman who picked us up was very interesting and he and Daniel talked the whole way to the airport. Small wait at the airport as we once again had to get the special waiver for being international travelers so they wouldn't charge us an arm and a leg for our excess luggage.

Our flight from Perth to Ayers Rock was uneventful. They really do like to feed you on Qantas! On a 2 hour flight, we received pretzels, drinks, then a meal (pasta salad, roll, toberlone candy, cheese, crackers, tea or coffee and water). They also give you complimentary headsets and the tickets here are cheaper to fly about than at home...go figure that one out!

Anyway, we got to Ayers Rock and got our rental car all sorted out, filled it up with luggage, then headed to the ATM and grocery store. We picked up a bunch of water, some afternoon snacks/supper, and a map. We also added to our magnet collection!

Next we drove to Ayers Rock/Uluru. Uluru is the Aboriginal name and much like places in America that are sacred to the Native Americans, Uluru is sacred to the Aborigines. Our plan was to drive up, take a few photos, then head on to Alice Springs which was where we had rooms. This would give us a chance to drive through the Outback. We couldn't believe it when we arrived at Uluru and discovered it would cost us 50.00 to get in to see it up close! That's 25.00 per person over 16 years of age! So, we pulled out through the exit, Daniel took a couple of shots from afar and we rode on down the road.

Continue reading "September 25, 2009 - Perth to Ayers Rock to Alice Springs" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 3:07 AM | Permalink

Today we were up at 4:00 a.m. Nothing new there, eh? Our taxi arrived to pick us up at 5:45 a.m. and took us to the Clarkson Train Station. We gave him the last of our cash and expected to get more money from the ATM at the Train Station, but alas, there was no ATM at the train station and the nearest was a 25 minute walk away. No worries, mate, we'll just use our debit cards to get tickets from the machine. Unfortunately, the one problem we have run into here is that while our cards will work fine if we use them with a signature, we cannot use them as debit cards except at an ATM. Very frustrating. The lady at the convenience store couldn't help us because she could only give us cash if we could use the debit card feature. The person who should have been at the ticket counter was off taking care of other business in the station. We had to get to Perth by 7 or we would miss our tour bus.

There was a button on the box next to the ticket machine that said press for information. It rang when I pushed it, but no one ever answered it. I tried pushing it three or four times. A lady walking by asked what our troubles were and we explained, she went on her way. Meanwhile athe ticket agent arrived. We explained our dilemma and told him we would need to buy our tickets directly from him. He went into his office and came out and handed us complimentary passes. We were not expecting that, but apparently, he wasn't set up to sell tickets there. Or at least couldn't do it with signature debit cards. We made it on the train with a couple of minutes to spare. As the ticket agent was signing our passes, the lady came back, she had taken money out using her debit card at the convenience store and was going to loan it to us! Can you believe that? We were astounded. We have been so amazed, time and time again on our trip here at how pleasant, helpful and accomodating Australians are. We took the train to Perth, and once we got off there, our lady friend showed us the correct direction to head in. We arrived at the tour bus pickup right at 7:00 a.m.

Then, it was on to the bus to Rockingham for the Swim with the Dolphins trip. This was something that Katrina had chosen for this trip that she really wanted to do. And she was very excited. During the 40 minute drive to Rockingham, the guide told us what would be happening during our time on the boat and what to expect when we were in the water. It was obvious that she and all of the others on the tour had a true love of the dolphins and what they were doing with these tours where people were allowed to see dolphins in their natural environment.

Continue reading "September 24, 2009 - Swimming with Dolphins and Saying Good-byes" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 11:37 PM | Permalink

We loved our lovely 3 bedroom Mindarie Villa and we all would have liked to have stayed there longer. Katrina, who is practicing to be a real estate agent, sets you up with a walk through in this video.

We were up again at 4 a.m. That gave us some time to do odds and ends and shower and get ready for the day. The Bezants came by around 8:45 after dropping Charlotte off by school (she had a big test). Then we had a lovely breakfast at The Dome restaurant (an Australian chain). I tried vegiemite. I understand it is an acquired taste...since I can't get it back home, I don't think I will work too hard at acquiring it!

After brekky, our tour guides drove us into Perth. Steve was able to take the day off and it was delightful to have a running commentary from our friends as we saw some of the sights in this area. We visited Kings Park. We enjoyed some fantastic views of Perth and the Swan River. We also enjoyed seeing a variety of Australian flora. And we watched part of a rehearsal for a play called Wildflowers. There was to be a big wildflower festival this coming weekend.

Here is the video I took of parts of the rehearsal. Katrina and Alexis in particular enjoyed watching the flowers and the bee.

Continue reading "September 23, 2009 Mindarie, Kings Park, Perth, and the Bezants" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:32 PM | Permalink

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:58 PM | Permalink

We were up at 4 am this morning (still don't have that time thing down right). At 6:30, we were packed and down in the lobby checking out to catch our airport shuttle. A couple of last thoughts from Bondi Beach.

First, not sure if they do this all over Australia or not, but there is a practice I would like to highly recommend to the American Hotels. In our room, we had small bottles of shampoo and conditioner (you know the ones that if you don't use you grab them all up and take them home with you?) And little bars of soap. They also had a bottle in the shower. (I am on Daniel's computer and cannot put pics in like I normally do, so you will need to click on the links). Anyway, this bottle is attached to the wall and would do no one any good to take with them. It can be used as a soap and a conditioning shampoo. The maids refilled it every day and it was big enough that everyone with you can wash properly and you don't have to waste those little bottles! Just think if every hotel went to this system and did away with the little soaps and bottles...think of all the plastic and trash that would be saved out of our landfills! And think of all the money hotels would save!

And, secondly, I figure you deserve to see the view from our hotel window in Bondi. It was not very pretty, so if you stay at Swiss Grand Resort and Spa, be sure to request an ocean front room.

Then we piled into a taxi. And I do mean piled. We were picked up in a shuttle that held 9 people! Unfortunately, they weren't anticipating our pile of luggage. By the time we had picked everyone up, there was luggage everywhere! I would have taken a picture, but I wasn't sure how everyone would feel about that.

We arrived at the airport and it was a pretty simple matter to get checked in. The one snag was the size of our luggage and the amount of it. It was going to end up costing us a few hundred dollars each leg of our trip to carry our luggage. Since we were international travelers, Qantas gave us a waiver for our journey (THANKS GUYS!!!).

The flight here was 5 hours long. The aircraft personnel were exceedingly friendly (joking around with the passengers). We were delighted with the real cloth coverings on the pillows, the real glass to drink out of, and the ice cream that we were served for a snack. We watched Angels and Demons and overall had a lovely flight.

We disembarked from the plane and Lizzie was there waiting for us! Here, they still let people come to the gates to greet passengers. I can't tell you how neat it was to see my long time friend in person and give her a hug. We chatted while Daniel and the kids snagged the luggage from the carousel. Then Lizzie called Steve and we went out to meet him. He had brought his work van to carry all of our baggage in and Daniel. Lizzie drove Jack, Katrina and I to the hotel and Daniel went with Steve.

Continue reading "September 22, 2009 - Leaving Sydney and Arriving in Perth" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:02 PM | Permalink

Here is my video I put together from yesterday.

And here is Daniel's video he put together yesterday. Note the free advertising for Crabby Mike's in Myrtle Beach!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 3:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We were up and and about early this morning as our pickup for this tour was scheduled for 6:50 a.m. We were going on a Gray Line tour which encompassed first a tour by bus of Sydney and then a Harbor Luncheon Cruise. These tours weren't the most satisfactory tours in the world.

Unfortunately, on the bus tour, our guide was the driver was the guide. So this meant, that as he tried to negotiate city traffic, he threw in blurbs about Sydney. He didn't really share stories as much as facts and they were punctuated with the following: um, uh, long pauses, and "I'm turning right here," or "I'm turning left here." And then there were the frequent advertisements as he told us all the best shops and pubs to visit - made me wonder if some kind of kick back were involved. We usually learn a lot about a city on one of these tours, but this one wasn't as informative as we would have liked. I really blame the set-up more than the driver though. They should have had a separate guide so the guide could concentrate on speaking and the driver could concentrate on driving.

We did make three stops where we got to get out and take pictures and we enjoyed that very much (even though one of the stops was Bondi Beach and we already had plenty of pictures of that!). Then we went on the Harbor Cruise on a Majistic Ship. The lunch buffet was awesome. There was beef stroganoff, and wonderful fish, and a variety of veggies and rice and gruyere cheese and fruit and cheesecake. It was most excellent. The tour guide (I believe an automated recording) was also good and gave us lots of views of Sydney that you can only enjoy from the water and we learned a lot about the area around the Harbor. Being on the boat was awesome. My only two complaints were: 1) the cruise only lasted 90 minutes. I would have liked to been on the ship longer and 2) it turned out drinks weren't included in the price of the ticket. There were beverage menus on the table and there were prices besides them, but I figured the prices were for the cruises where they just went out for beverages. It was my fault for not asking, but they didn't volunteer the information either. And get this! A 10 ounce gingerale was 5.00!!!!! And we each had seconds and there weren't free refills! I threw a bit of a snit when we left (said the prices were insane) and she ended up only charging us for one drink each.

When we returned to the room, I took Katrina up to the rooftop pool so she could play a bit more there. We met a family visiting from Canaberra and enjoyed talking with them. Then after a bite of dinner, we packed up as we are leaving early tomorrow to catch a plane to Perth (5 hour flight).

So, here are the some photos from today. Only a couple of them are really good, but I thought they hit the hilights of what we saw today.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:35 AM | Permalink

I had a hard time getting this video uploaded last night, but it finally went through!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 12:15 PM | Permalink

Well, as I stated previously, we got an early start this morning. The kids and I were all awake at 3:45 a.m.

Around 8:30, we set off for our Sydney Aquarium adventure. Yesterday the concierege had told us we go around the corner and take bus number 380 to Market Street, then walk down to the Aquarium. Sounded easy enough.

We waited patiently for the bus to come. When it did, the bus driver informed me that he couldn't go to Market Street. He told me why, but his accent (not Australian) made it difficult for me to understand. So, I went back to the concierge. He said, I would need to take a bus to Bondi Junction, then take a train to Town Hall, then walk down Main Street to the Aquarium. So that's what we did. It was easy peasy. The train was really cool, it had three levels! You got on and could go down the steps to a lower level, or you could walk up the steps to a higher level. We tried the bottom and top levels. The top level was neatest. The train switched from underground to above ground on our journey.

The Aquarium was very nicely laid out. My favorite parts were the platypus exhibit as I had never seen a live platypus and the Little Penguin exhibit. Little Penguins are the only penguins in the world that breed in Australia. I had never seen or heard of them either. There was a wonderful Dugong exhibit and a wonderful Shark exhibit.

Here, for my friend, Carole, who loves turtles is a picture of a baby long-necked turtle and a picture of a huge green sea turtle (Jack Sparrow really could have ridden on a couple of these!).

For my other Sydney Aquarium photos, you can see them on Flickr

When we came back to the hotel, Katrina wanted to swim in the rooftop pool. We arrived there only to find, the pool was being used by children who were trying to qualify for a local swim team, so we would have to come back. On the bright side, we saw a beautiful rainbow over the Pacific.

Today's odd and ends impressions:

Several people were very kind to help direct us when we were a bit befuddled getting from Town Hall station to the Aquarium. And just as we are interested in learning more about the people of Australia, the people here are interested in learning about us. One lady seemed surprised yesterday that there wasn't Turkish Delight everywhere in the U.S. Today, I was being asked about the flight over from America and someone commented on my accent!

Just like home, prices are higher closer to the beach than when you get away from the beach. We heard more Australian accents today. The McDonalds has a really awesome sandwich available for breakfast (wonderful bread with eggs, two rashers of bacon, cheese and barbecue sauce) and the McDonalds here have McCafes, but they are very different from at home. People can get coffee served to them in a real mug. And they have some awesome looking treats to go with the coffee, but I haven't tried any yet. And the McDonalds we ate lunch at (I don't plan to always eat at McDonalds, but it has been an inexpensive option and the kids like the food)...anyway, the McDonalds had a second level! And red hair is very in here at Bondi Beach. We have seen several men and women sporting dyed red hair (I am not talking auburn, I am talking bright red or pink hair).

Oh, and one more thing, we knew the plugs would be different here, but we are very impressed with how the electric is handled at our hotel. When you come into the room, you use your card key to turn on the electricity for your room. If you don't put the card key in the slot, no power. Then when you leave, you take your card key out so that the power goes out again. A great way for saving electricity! And every plug in has a switch (like a light switch). It is not enough to plug into the wall, you have to turn the switch on too! Very cool!

Tomorrow we are taking the Grayline City Tour and Cruise. Should be awesome! 5 a.m. wake-up call, so early to bed tonight.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 2:06 AM | Permalink

My video of Bondi Beach

Posted by Melissa Markham at 4:21 PM | Permalink

As I stated at the end of my last lengthy post, we arrived here at our hotel, the Swiss Grand Resort and Spa, around 8 or 8:30 in the morning. Time really is probably going to become meaningless to us on this vacation as we will be flying a lot back and forth between time zones. Of course, we will need to keep up with it so we catch flights and board tours on time.

We have very nice rooms. There is a sitting area, then the bathroom area, then the bedroom area which can be shut off with a door. There is a small balcony, about two feet deep by ten feet long. Unfortunately, we are not on the ocean side of the hotel and we look out onto a brick building. The people here are very nice and have been a big help whenever we have had questions.

We got in our rooms, then we kind of floundered for a bit. We came with adaptors (we thought), unfortunately, none of the things we brought with us work here. So, we had to purchase us each an adaptor yesterday.

We walked up on the roof to check out the rooftop pool. And while the view from our room is the pits, the view of Bondi Beachfrom the roof is awesome!

Then we enjoyed some of the walk on the coastal walk. We didn't even make it to the first set of cliffs. We were tired, but it is beautiful. The water is so blue and the sun is so bright. This beach seems to be a big draw for 20somethings. Unlike Myrtle Beach where you see people of all ages and sizes. This is a beautiful recreation area and people were using it in all kinds of ways. Some were laying

Continue reading "September 19, 2009 Arrive Bondi Beach" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 2:34 PM | Permalink

Here are a couple of pictures from the plane in the last hour before we landed in Sydney.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 2:26 PM | Permalink

Daniel compiled a video of our trip to Australia. It is unedited (what do you expect from people who have had no sleep?).

Posted by Melissa Markham at 2:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The last two days have been a bit of a blur. We ran into last minute items Thursday morning. Then Mom and Jim came to get us and take us and all of our luggage to the airport. I think they are not sure whether we are crazy or brave and whether we packed too much or not. But when you are packing for five weeks for a family of four and you are going to be in a bunch of different climates, luggage will accumulate.

We managed to get us all in Mom and Jim's big Suburban (thank goodness) and we got to the airport in plenty of time. Just getting our boarding passes and the luggage through security took some patience and work. The weather in Lynchburg was overcast and cloudy, but the weather in Atlanta had been rough. We boarded the plane about 15 minutes after we were supposed to depart Lynchburg. Then we did the dreadful sitting in the plane on the tarmac for 45 minutes or so while we waited for clearance from Atlanta (who was having to shuffle in flights that weren't able to come in earlier). Nothing like spending an extra 45 minutes in a plane when you are already anticipating spending about 22 hours on a plane in the very near future.

We made it to Atlanta with time to spare. Had dinner and somewhere around 7 pm, we headed off for Los Angeles. (BTW, to my friends who live in Atlanta and L.A. - I saw you waving and hope you saw me waving back at you!) When we arrived in L.A., our bodies were saying it was 11:30 pm. We were tired, but it wasn't time to sleep yet. The two hours we were there went by quickly as we used the restrooms, picked up water for the long flight ahead and kept poking one another to keep ourselves awake.

Continue reading "September 17, 2009 Flying from Virginia to Sydney, Australia" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 3:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)