One door closes, another opens

Finally, what everyone has been asking for.....

Arrival, Wednesday evening 7ish:
The flight was wonderful, we flew Hawaiian Airlines and it was good. The flight attendants were on top of their game. The only strange part was being sprayed by pesticides when we arrived, the entire inside of the plan was sprayed with us in it. Upon arrival we ended up taking an airport transport to the hotel.

First full day, Thursday:
We awoke early to hop on the train to the Blue Mountains with a pit stop in Blacktown. Blacktown was the home of the Featherdale Wildlife Park, smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Once we entered the park we walked through a gate into a magical area of Australian wildlife. Kangaroos were hoping about freely, there was a man holding a python (I touched it, the others in my group kinda of skirted around it) and finally tons of koala bears. They were nestled in their trees sleeping with a few out for people to pose with. Their fur was very rough and they kind of smelled bad but they were neat. Next, we purchased an ice cream cone and filled it with kangaroo food. We entered another area full of roo's. Alexis made the first attempt at feeding them. Her cone was snatched out of her hand by a large roo. It was really cool, they almost seemed like dogs, nothing like I expected.
After the park we caught the bus back to the train station and continued on to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. Once there we found a trolley bus to take us the Scenic World. Scenic World is a park that has several methods of taking you to the valley floor. So we hoped onto the incline railway. It was a train that went at a 52 degree angle straight down. Believe me we were all scared and holding on to the cage around us, mind you, no seat belts and only one door, the other side was open. Once at the bottom the view was beautiful. We walked through the rain forest and rode on a cable car back to the top. We then went to Echo Point to see the three sisters and the amazing canyon. The back on the train for a two hour ride into Sydney.

Day two, Friday:
We hoped on the Sydney explorer bus. This bus is run by the government and stops at 29 different points of interest around Sydney. Our first stop was the Fish Market where we ate lobster, scallops, prawns and calamari at 9:30 in the morning. Next, we went to the Harborside shopping plaza, looked around a bit, then continued on. The highlight of the day came at our next stop, the world famous Sydney Opera House. It truly was amazing. A majority of it was made from tiles. It must have taken forever to build. From the Opera house, we could see the Harbor Bridge and all the little people walking across the top of it. Next we went to the Sydney Tower observatory, the elevators were a bit scary but the view was worth it. We then went to the Opal Museum (mom's choice). Then back to the hotel for a quick rest and change before heading to Star City. Star City is the only casino in Sydney. I can happily say Sydney has nothing on Vegas or even Ho Chunk for that matter. We ate dinner at the food court area and played a few games then headed back.

Day Three, Saturday:
Bondi Beach explorer bus. We hopped on and headed towards the world famous Bondi Beach in a suburb of Sydney. The bus went on a path through rich residential areas and down the coast line. Our first stop was at Harry's Cafe de Wheels, a very popular meat pie wagon. There we ate meat in pies with mashed potatoes on top and smashed peas, very interesting especially at 10am. After that we stopped at the Gap, the famous area on the heads heading into Darling Harbor where a ship crashed and all but one person died. It was a beautiful place. On to Bondi Beach, it was the start of fall there so there weren't many people around but it was still neat. We went to some shops where I bought a swim suit then continued on. We made it back to Circular Quay by early afternoon. Circu;ar Quay is the main dock for all vessels in Darling Harbor. We decided to take boat rides in the Harbor. Mom and Bob booked a trip on a sightseeing ferry and at the same time Alexis and I booked a ride on a speedboat. The ride was crazy... first it was cold then it was wet. It started raining on us and then they made the boat go fast, just imagine 65 degree weather in a speedboat without a coat when it was raining...not happy campers.
After that adventure we went back to get ready for the night. We all went to a pub that served Toohey's New (a beer) and had dinner. Afer whichAlexis and I were off to the Australian Rules Football game... the Sydney Swans. What an interesting sport...we had a few beers and watched the game.

Day Four, Sunday:
We headed out the the Olympic Park to check it out. There was a cute market that we had breakfast at. We had a wonderful European pancake type thing, we liked enough that we went back for a second order. As for the park, first on our list wasn't to tour a stadium or anything but instead we went to an outlet mall close by. Yes, I did buy shoes and a few shirts. But like Alexis says... EVERYTHING IN AUSTRALIA IS ON SALE!!
We headed back to the park and decided to go to a Rugby game at Tesltra Stadium. The venue was really cool. Alexis and I bought a few items from the gift stands.... GO South Sydney Rabbitohs. Everyone really gets into the game. We did leave a bit early as it was really warm. We hoped on a train and went to a shopping mall. We were in search of TARGET. I have to say it was the worst Target I have ever been in. It was all crammed together and it didn't look very clean. They must have a different reputation down under. After shopping we went back to the hotel before catching a cab to the airport.

We crammed a lot of stuff into those four days and it was a blast. Mom, Bob, Alexis and I all had a lot of fun. It was also their fall so that was a nice change from Hawaii.

I would love to go back someday!