Australia

In Sydney, Australia right now. Taking a 3 week vacation with Charmaine's family before work starts.

So far have been to Auckland, New Zealand, Brisbane and Sydney, Australia.

In Auckland we stayed at an apartment style hotel with two rooms, a kitchen, and dining area. Very neat concept and worked out for us. Visited Sheepworld an hour from Auckland where there were sheep herding shows and a petting zoo including Alpacas, pigs, donkeys, miniature horses, rabbits and a hand-raised possum. All were very cute and eager for treats! On the way back, stopped in at a Honey Centre and saw some Manuka honey which was mentioned in class, it is supposedly good for wound dressing. Honey does not taste as good here as in Canada, not as fragrant. Overall Auckland the city felt too quiet, the countryside was very pretty though.

In Brisbane, stayed with Charmaine's family, including her mom's aunt and family, and her cousins. There was a total of 14 people. Visited Koala Sanctuary one day and the Gold Coast another. Both a lot of fun, would love to live on the Gold Coast, it is supposedly Australia's fall but still appropriate beach weather, so very jealous!

Now in Sydney, staying with Charmaine's cousin, Adrian in his little two bedroom apartment, visitors includes us and another family of 3 plus Adrian's mom. It's a bit crowded, but everyone is very quiet and we're out most of the day. Sydney is my favourite place so far, there is a lot to do and see, the transport system is also very convenient so getting around by ourself is easy. Adrian lives right next to the train station in Epping, getting to downtown Sydney by train takes half an hour. We bought the weekly MyMulti pass which allows us to use all the transport system including train, ferry, and bus. So far we have just been walking around Sydney, visited the Sydney Opera house and Harbour Bridge at Circular Quay, went to King's Cross to walk around but doesn't seem as interesting as the tour books say, lots of "massage parlours" but nothing special. Been to Chinatown and walked to Darling Harbour where the Aquarium is. Darling Harbour has nice restaurants along the waterfront which we will try sometime hopefully.

Forgot to mention, wild birds here are parrots! Quite a surprise to see the colourful birds flying around like our sparrows back home. The morning bird calls are also quite a bit louder than usual!

Tomorrow is the Taronga Zoo to see some Australian animals, it's suppose to be "the most beautiful Zoo in the world". Quite excited.