SYDNEY

Of course we couldn't visit Australia without spending some time in Sydney, my favourite city. This time we went on the train, it was safer. Only kidding, we went on the train because we all enjoy the journey. There is some lovely scenery between Wyong, where my aunt and uncle live, and Sydney. Also it gives my DH time to sit back and enjoy the scenery too. The train was very busy but we manged to find seats. I love the Australian trains, they are on 3 levels, although if you are looking for seats it can be a bit awkward on a moving train having to go up and down stairs.

Anyway we arrived in Sydney and it was a beautiful day, blue sky and the sun was shining. We didn't have any plans as to what we were going to do, just have a wander around. Amy wanted to go to the Opera House, it is her favourite place, probably because they always show it on TV. So we decided to walk through the city and make our way there.



We got to Darling Harbour and had a look round there. The Australian National Maritime Museum is situated here. There is a submarine to look around and a large ship, a destroyer. It all looked very interesting and certainly somewhere we would visit on another occasion.



We crossed over a bridge, I think it is called the Pyrmont Bridge, and carried on through the city to the Opera House.

We had a walk around the outside of the Opera House and stood and looked at the views over the harbour, the bridge and to where we had been at Taronga Zoo a couple of days earlier. It is a beautiful spot to just stand and take in the amazing scenes. I love it!


We got one of the ferries back to Darling Harbour, Amy spotted somewhere else for us to visit, I told her we would put it on our list for next time. We got on the tram from Darling Harbour to take us back to the station. We had had another amazing day but I was glad to get back on the train and sit down.

I took this photo as we went over the Hawkesbury River, I was amazed I caught the sunset through the bridge supports.

When we were getting closer to Wyong I phoned my aunt and told her we were nearly there. She said my uncle would meet us at the station, thank goodness, I don't think my feet would have made it back to their house.

TARONGA ZOO

We did find Taronga Zoo and enjoyed a fantastic day there. I can definitely recommend it and it is a place we will certainly go back to. As well as all the amazing animals you get to see close up there are several shows you can go and watch. We just caught the end of the elephant show, but we watched the sealions and a fantastic bird show, where birds swoop around the crowd. The setting for the bird show was fantastic too, overlooking Sydney Harbour. We also saw the red panda, I had never heard of this animal before. Whilst we were there it was on the news that the red panda had given birth at Taronga Zoo. We didn't get to see the baby, but mum was gorgeous.

Taronga Zoo is well worth a visit not only to see the residents, but also to get the most amazing views of my favourite city, Sydney!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Sorry I haven't been around for a while, but I have had swine flu and didn't feel like doing much. Thankfully I am now on the mend and looking forward to things getting back to 'normal'. Thank you to everyone who kept visiting my blog and dropping their Entrecards.

Hope you all have a happy and safe Halloween.

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LOOKING FOR TARONGA ZOO

We decided to drive to Taronga Zoo using my uncle's sat nav. This was a big mistake! Before we left the house I had had a look at the map with my uncle and he had pointed to where the zoo was and also told me about various buildings we would pass and areas we would drive through, so I had a rough idea of where we were going. But then we made the big mistake, we took his sat nav instead of taking the map. My uncle's sat nav was nothing like the one we have back home, it is very confusing, to us anyway. Once we got into the outskirts of Sydney it all started to go wrong. We seemed to drive around in circles, driving on and off motorways, paying tolls. We guessed he hadn't updated it for along time. We drove around streets and even pulled up and asked a couple of men for directions, mistake number 2. They seemed more confused than us.

We kept ending up on a road which was leading to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, I knew we didn't want to be on the other side of the harbour. So I made my poor husband turn around again and tried really hard to remember the names of the roads I had seen on the map.

We eventually found a hospital I remember my uncle saying we would pass and I instructed poor husband to carry on driving. At last I spotted a road name I remembered and from then we seemed to find our way. What a journey we had had. I am surprised we both stayed so calm.

AMY'S FIRST MODELLING ASSIGNMENT

I am taking a break from my Australia Adventures to share this picture with you. I have recently added hats to my Etsy shop and sold my first one (you can see it here) to someone in Australia which was very exciting as this was also my first Australian customer. I was having a problem displaying the one above on my upside down vase to show it off so I asked Amy to be my model. The hat is made for a teen/adult, but it looks really good on Amy. I really need to invest in a proper display head but until I have the funds I have to use whatever I have. Anyway Amy was delighted to do this. I think she makes a lovely model!

WARNER BROS MOVIE WORLD

There are several of these theme parks on the Gold Coast and we chose Warner Bros Movie World. We arrived early to get a full day there. Amy was very excited, she has just started going on the big rides with her dad and she loves them. It was a beautiful sunny, winter day, perfect for this kind of day out.



The first ride Amy and her dad went on was the Batwing Spaceshot, a tower which shoots you up into the sky, no thanks I will pass on this one and take a photograph! Of course they ended up on the seat where I couldn't get a good shot of them, typical. Amy came off this looking slightly shocked.

Next we all went on Batman Adventure The Ride 2, which was a tour round the bat cave and then we all got strapped into a kind of vehicle thing which shook us about, whilst watching a movie of batman chasing a criminal, sorry I can't remember the full story, but you probably get the idea.

The next was probably the biggest disappointment for Amy the whole day. There were only 2 really big rides in the park which considering what you paid to get in wasn't many. I haven't been to many theme parks, but I have been to Alton Towers in the UK and the number of rides and attractions there was considerably more than this place and that was quite a number of years ago. Anyway back to Movie World, 2 Big rides and one, Lethal Weapon, was shut! So we queued up for Superman Escape and it was a very long queue. We measured Amy against the post and she just came up to the required height. So we queued and queued and queued. I was getting nervous as we got nearer to the front as I am not that bothered about these kind of rides, but I wanted to go on with Amy. So it was our turn, Amy had to be measured and guess what, she was just too short. The measure just skimmed over her head, that close it moved her hair. I felt so sorry for her, the look on her face. The girl measured her with another tape, but she wouldn't let her pass, she was so slightly too short! So that was that, the one big ride and Amy couldn't go on it. Can I just say at this point if anyone from Movie World reads this please, please, please put someone who measures at the start of the queue to avoid this kind of disappointment.

Shrek 4D Adventure was next and we loved it. You walked into an old style cinema, into a foyer where you had to listen to an introduction. After this we went into the cinema where there were long rows of chairs and sat down. We had to wear funny glasses but it was well worth it. You got rocked about in the chairs, things ran around your feet, spiders jumped out at you from the screen, you felt as though you could put out your hand and touch things. It was very good, that good we went in there twice.

Next was Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster. Luckily we didn't have to queue very long for this. This was a big surprise. We got in a the car and set off. The ride was in the dark and Scooby Doo music was playing very loudly which we were all singing along to. The car went into a lift kind of thing which rocked from side to side as you went up, we then left the lift backwards and I was waiting for it to turn round, then came the surprise. The car set off backwards and the next thing we knew we were dropping down backwards, in the dark. I think I left my stomach somewhere up in the lift. But it was amazing, I loved listening to Amy's reaction and we laughed and screamed all the way around. I went on it again with her later and we had such fun. In fact because there wasn't much else Amy and her dad went on that several times whilst I went around a few gift shops.


The next ride was the Wild West Falls Adventure Ride. I volunteered to take the photos because I hate getting wet. Amy and her dad are somewhere in that splash and you can imagine what they looked like when they got off. Amy loved it and so they went on again and got even wetter!

So despite the earlier disappointment, Amy enjoyed her day out and said it was the bestest day ever.

BRISBANE

Whilst staying on the Gold Coast we visited Brisbane and had a lovely day there. We walked along the river and had a look at the manmade beach, which was different to what I had imagined, but they were working on it so didn't look as it should.


We then got on one of the Citycat ferries which I had really been looking forward to, I have seen them so many times on the TV. I was taking photos of it before I got on and I was called to hurry up by the boat person, whoops! We had just got on and my aunt had sat down when we reached the other side, it was funny.

There was a market on the other side so we had a look round that. All sorts of lovely foodstalls. My aunt and uncle decided to leave us to it and they wandered off on their own and we continued round the market. We tried some German sausages they were delicious. I found a gorgeous fruit stall on one of the streets and got a lovely fresh fruit drink from it.

We walked back to the other side over one of the bridges and walked along the bank of the river to where we had started.
















It is a lovely area of Brisbane and I am sure there are many others. We didn't have long there but hopefully when we are living in Australia permanently it will be a place we will get to visit again.