Sydney, Australia

After a lightening speed tour of the Outback, we headed to Sydney, Australia, to meet back up with Dave's parents and enjoy the city.  We spent abut 6 days there, and could have spent  month.  I loved Sydney!

Of course, you can't go to Sydney without visiting the Opera House.  We actually got to see a ballet at the Opera House, which was fantastic!  The acoustics in that place were everything that I've always dreamed of.

Australia's history involves a lot of criminals being sent over from England.  This is the barracks where some of them slept.  It was actually a sad story - some had been separated from their friends, family, and homes for something as small as stealing a loaf of bread for survival - as a child.

Wildlife in a the Royal Botannical Gardens!

 

The Sydney Harbour.  Beautiful colors in the water and sky.

An ape and her baby at the Taronga Zoo.  It is set in the city, built into the side of the hill, and accessible right from the harbour.

I especially loved the baby!

Ok, and this guy too.

A view of the city from Taronga Zoo.

Another side of the Harbour.

The Harbour Bridge at night.

A view from our 63rd story apartment in Sydney.  It had floor to ceiling windows - incredible!

Just after sunset.

I'd love to go back!

The Australian Outback

From Cairns, we flew out to the Outback, to see the huge, amazing rock formations.  We weren't disappointed! 

I got to drive on the wrong left side of the road for the first time!

Vegetation in the outback.

These flowers were so tiny!

Deadwood we found while hiking in the Olgas, or Kata Tjuta (the native name).  The background is the red rock wall that the Olgas are made of.

More of the red rock wall.

Ayer's Rock, or Uluru (native name).

It changes color during the sunset.  This is right after the sun was set for the night.

The other side of Ayer's Rock, just before sunset.

We hiked around the base of

Ayer's Rock.  Beautiful!

Cairns, Australia

After spending time in and around Christchurch, New Zealand, Dave and I flew to Cairns, Australia.  We visited the Great Barrier Reef, as well as Kuranda, a village in the rain forest.  It was SO beautiful! I couldn't believe the colors that came naturally in nature.

This was taken from our hotel room deck.

Another view from our deck, but this time just after sunset.

Sunrise, same location.

Early morning.  I couldn't believe how much the colors changed, all within the course of a day!

Michaelmas Cay.  It's a cay rather than an island due to the lack of trees. The Great Barrier Reef was beautiful, but difficult to get many pictures without getting a non-waterproof camera wet!

A kangaroo at Kuranda.  I was standing right next to this one - they're so used to people here that you can even feed them!

This kangaroo was my favorite! My lens wasn't zoomed at all - he got really close to my camera out of curiosity!

And koalas.  I wanted to bring one back with us, but Dave said no.  However, we did get to hold one - that was amazing!

New Zealand

We were blessed to travel to New Zealand this Spring.  Dave's dad was on Sabbatical in Christchurch,

NZ, and we stayed with them for about a week.  We got to see downtown Christchurch, and a lot of areas around the towns in the first couple of days, along with a Maori (native) show, and a wildlife preserve.  Then, we were quarantined for having been in contact with the swine flu (which we never got!).  However, even though we weren't supposed to be around people, our doctor gave us the thumbs up to go hiking in the mountains by ourselves!  It was amazing. 

Our apartment was the one in the middle!

A downtown cathedral

A beach nearby

 

 

I loved all the sheep we found in the mountains!

This is the area where Lord of the Rings was filmed!

A creek we found while hiking in a ravine

One of my favorite pictures of Dave from our trip!

I loved New Zealand - such an amazing display of God's creation!