But Wait! There's More!

Thought I was done, didn't ya? While the sun has set on the Aussie part of our adventure, I mentioned that we have boarded the Explorer of the Seas as our ride home. It's a 23 day cruise, the longest we've ever taken, but we definitely prefer cruising to a loooooong plane ride!

We've stopped at our first three ports. All French speaking which was fun for me. (Sidenote: I majored in French for 2 years in college and while I can't speak it fluently now, I can still read and get us around)

Our first stop was Noumea, New Caledonia. I had never heard of New Caledonia before booking this cruise. Our excursion was a day trip to an island. New Caledonia encompasses many islands and this one was called Amadee Island. We were told that there were snakes a plenty on the island. Wait? What! These are poisonous although they are afraid of us humans. They are water snakes, but come on land to digest their food. We went almost the whole time without seeing one..........almost. We were watching a coconut demonstration and this guy slithered among the people. Now, I should mention that I am deathly afraid of snakes. A fact that I wasn't quite aware of until we went to Big Bend many years ago. I sat on a rock during a hike and heard a rattle in the cracks of the rock. Someone in our group said snake and you probably never saw me move soooo fast. In fact, I took out a tree branch because NOTHING was going to get in my way. Not even a guy in our group, who came very close to being knocked into oblivion over the side of the cliff. Well, he WAS standing in my path. They tell me all this later because all I remember is running. So I totally wanted to freak at this particular snake, but notice that the locals aren't even paying attention to them. In fact, they just walk around as if they aren't there, even walking pretty darn close. Me, not so much, BUT I didn't run! So there's that!

We get a glass bottom boat ride which brought ALL these fish around. Yea, they feed them.

We also get a native dance and song demonstration as well as a native lunch. One which the birds seemed to like too. I really hunched over my plate this time. I was NOT going to let some bird get my lunch again!

It wasn't a very nice day. Although we'd taken our snorkel gear, we opted not to snorkel that day. However, stay tuned for my next post because it is chock full of underwater pics! 

Sayonara Sydney!

We have spent these last couple of days in Sydney making sure we've done and seen all that we had planned. I almost panicked on Friday when I realized that we had just one day left! Yikes! Can it really be possible that we have been over here for 5 weeks??!! We did a LOT in those 5 weeks between New Zealand and Australia. During these last days we packed in even more because not only did we still have a couple of sightseeing things to accomplish, but we had to do some mundane things before we got on ship as well. You know, the important things like get my nails done (because they charge an arm and a leg on ship!), buy a new suitcase (don't ask), get the t-shirts, etc.

We did this kind of backwards from our normal mode of operation, but we took the walking tour of Sydney. Our guide explained to us about the Coat of Arms of Australia which has a kangaroo on one side and an emu on the other.

The Aussies picked these two because they can't move backward. This signifies the country moving forward. Awesome and heartwarming thought. BUT it also seems that the Aussies are the only country that don't mind eating what's on their Coat of Arms! Speaking of which.........Bruce and Russ finally got their kangaroo.

Looks pretty innocent, right? Actually, I tried it. It was fine, just like a kind of steak. So, try kangaroo......Check.

On our walk we encountered this guy. I'm pretty friendly, tried to start up a conversation with him. He wasn't having it!

But here was a more friendly mate! The story says that if you throw a coin in the water and then rub the pig's nose it would assure good fortune. Well, I wasn't going to bypass that! I guess a lot of people feel the same. Look how shiny his nose is!

And I thought this was cool. In Melbourne we had all that street art in the alleyways. Look what this alley holds for us!

Different, huh? And they had recordings of birds playing. They even had it timed so that you heard the sounds of the morning birds in the morning and the evening birds at their appropriate time.

We moved to our last AirBnB of the trip which was close to Darling Harbour. 

Just a fun area with a mall, restaurants and the Maritime Museum.

The very last thing we did in Sydney was a light display on the shades of the Opera House at night. It is a display that depicts the aboriginal beginnings.

It was beautiful and amazing. Know what it reminded me of? When you go to Fiesta TX, the last thing at night are the fireworks. Kind of a "send you off" type of presentation. I felt like that about this light show. It was our last hurrah and I'm glad we did it on the last night.

Not done yet though! Our adventures continue as we boarded the Explorer of the Seas on Sunday and began our 23 day cruise home. We stood out on the deck and took our last selfies with the Opera House

and the Bridge

as we bid Sydney adieu!

Sydney Opera House

The Sydney Opera House! Of course, one of the most famous landmarks here in Australia! We had seen it from the outside on our last trip here. (Remember, this is our third time to hit Sydney during this trip)

But today we took a guided tour of the inside. Our guide gave us the whole history of the House - who designed it, how it came about, etc. The design was chosen during a contest. However, the man who designed it didn't have it looked at by any engineers or the like. So that crazy design that won may not have been architecturally sound. The, what they thought, was a generous estimate of building it at $7 million and 3 years turned into $102 million and 16 years. Yikes! A little overrun there, ya think?!

It is a beautiful structure though, inside and out! There are actually two stages in it where they run operas, ballets and productions throughout the year.

 

And to hear about all the intricate details is amazing. For example, that roof above is made up of tiles that look like something you'd put in a bathroom, laid upon those arrow type shapes and installed arrow by arrow. In its time, it was one of the only curved structures. When it rains, the rain slides down the curves onto the sidewalk that was built with troughs in between composite granite segments where the water was carried out to the harbor. Again, it was all in the details!

Oh, and BTW, here is my view off the balcony of our AirBnB tonight as I write this.

Sorry to write and run, but I've got things to be in awe of!

Snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef

We hopped aboard one of these today to explore and snorkel in the Whitsundays - a collection of 74 islands in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef. Airlie Beach, where we are staying, is the city hub of all this beauty. 

The most famous of these islands is Whitehaven Beach, boasting the purest beach in the world at 98% pure white silica sand. You can go up to a lookout where you can see all the colors of the ocean right in front of your eyes. It was cloudy (and even rained on us a bit), so the colors weren't quite as brilliant in these pics as later when the sun shined down upon us.

Hey, I just realized that if you look at Bruce's swimsuit, you can pretty much get the idea! Over our shoulders you're looking at some of those 74 islands. Oh, and there was absolutely NO picture on our camera that did the white sand justice, but put your imagination into gear here. This was looking down onto Whitehaven Beach.

And here is that beautiful sand!

BUT the best part of the day came next when we went snorkeling! A little back story here: The last several times we've snorkeled (no matter where it was), we've been a bit disappointed. You see, we remember snorkeling back in the old days before reefs started dying and whatever else is happening that has drastically reduced the number of fish you might see. However, this was good snorkeling. We saw some of the usuals.

But then THIS guy showed up!

If you know my "been bit by a grouper" story, Bruce says that this guy was even bigger than that grouper (although in MY grouper stories, the grouper is at least 6 feet long!). This guy was probably about 4 feet. 

Then along came this one!

Although it was a bit smaller, by this time I'm saying "Holy Crap! These are the biggest fish we've seen!" That right there made my day! Oh, and something like this one too

We moved onto a second spot that was all about the coral on the Great Barrier Reef. While I wasn't nearly as enthralled with coral, it is still awesome in itself!

And to end our day we had a wild rafting boat ride back to Airlie Beach. And I do mean wild! There were two rafting boats kind of traveling together. Turns out the captains were husband and wife. Guess they decided to put on a show because they surfed each other's wakes, put the boats veeeery close together and chased each other in a circle. Loads of fun! 

We said goodbye to these cuties today too, Buck (from California) and Maita (from Spain). 

We first met this couple at the Bundaberg Distillery. Just had a nice little chat and thought that was the end of it. Then we saw them further north when we went to the kangaroos on the beach. I jokingly said, "Hey, we're heading to Airlie Beach. You coming?" And guess what, yes they were! We saw them on our first day, we show up at the boat this morning and there they were! Stalkers maybe? Naw......... just a heck of a nice couple! We head back down to Sydney tomorrow though. They continue their trek north.

Do y'all know that we are 34 days into Our Aussie Adventure??!! Time is a flyin'!

Let's Talk Food

Aaahhhh............today we went to a resort and just did.........nothing!

We had mountains on one side of us and the ocean on the other. I know......I know........it's a tough life, but if SOMEONE'S got to do it, I'd just as soon it was me!

So to get back on subject....food in Australia. Fuhgeddaboudit! There is NO real food of Australia. Except maybe that Vegemite, and you KNOW how I feel about that! 

The food has been a pretty big disappointment. Restaurant after restaurant has the following: burgers, pizza, fish & chips and some sort of Asian. Geesh! I could stay home and get all that. We even had an Aussie tell us, "Oh, yea. We don't have any food of our own. We just take everybody else's."

Now they might have some variations of things that we don't do in the States - like pizza toppings. Although they don't do anything like kangaroo on top of a pizza, they do have some unusual toppings. Same goes for the burgers.

And the chips, aka known to you all as french fries. Oh, my! They come with every. single. food. I never thought I'd see the day when I'd say, "I'm sick of french fries!" I love potatoes and at home I hardly ever have french fries. You know, the whole fried thing..... So at first, when I realized that they were a staple here, I was ecstatic. Hmmmm and then I had them.....and had them.......and had them. I'm done! (Side note: I have learned that if they say beer-battered, they are the BEST!)

Bottom line is that I'm over the food and very tired at looking at menus that all say the same thing. And just like in the States, yes, some restaurants do dishes better than others, but there is not a lot of imagination. 

That being said, we haven't tried kangaroo yet. So stay tuned!

Lions and Tigers and Roos! Oh, my!

We got up at 4:30 AM this morning. Yawn.... If ya know me, you know how much I was looking forward to that! Here's the deal. There is a beach at Cape Hillsborough where the kangaroos gather at dawn. We originally thought it was to feed on some sort of seed pod on the beach, but we didn't see any evidence of them eating anything. It was amazing though to see kangaroos just hopping around on the beach. Never saw THAT at Port Aransas!

These two thought they were models or something. They came right up to the people and sat very nicely while everybody snapped away.

Towards the end they just kind of hopped off down the beach! One of a kind experience!

And who doesn't love a good waterfall? Our next stop-Cedar Creek Falls.

Now, before I finish out our day, I need to give a shout out about my last blog titled "Ho Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum". Bruce pulled that up to read, looked at me and said, "It's Yo Ho Ho. Ho Ho Ho is what Santa says." OK, whatever. I'm sure you got the idea.

We headed to Airlie Beach, our home for the next 3 days, ending our day at a place called Fish D'Vine and Rum Bar.

The seafood was good, but the rum..... This is a whole wall of rum!

Tristan, behind the bar, knew a whole lot about rum and steered us towards some pretty good drinks.

As we walked back to our AirBnB, this guy said goodnight to us.

An animal around every corner!