The Sunrises
The Sunsets
The Hot Air Balloons
This hot air balloon went right by our windows, and the occupants even waved to the kids.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Brilliant!
Not that staying in Australia is a hardship, but there are a few things that make it all the more awesome.
The Sunsets
The Hot Air Balloons
This hot air balloon went right by our windows, and the occupants even waved to the kids.
The Sunsets
The Hot Air Balloons
This hot air balloon went right by our windows, and the occupants even waved to the kids.
Visitors!
Jenny's cousin Natalie and her family spent the month of March in Australia. They arrived in Melbourne on March 11, which meant that we would just miss them because we were returning to the states on the 10th. As luck would have it, we were still here. While Adrian spent the days working, I was able to show Natalie and Taylor around Melbourne. It was fantastic!
Monday, April 12, 2010
Fraser Island
Whilst up on the Sunshine Coast we went to Fraser Island, which is the largest sand island in the world. The only way to get to the island is by ferry and once on the island you must take a 4WD to get anywhere. The kids loved the big truck we went around in, and were thrilled to sit in the back row because it was really bumpy, mom and dad were not nearly as excited. Just like every other day we were up at the Sunshine Coast, it rained the day we went to Fraser Island. We found it ironic that every time we got into the truck the rain would lessen and/or stop completely, but once we stepped out of the vehicle for lunch, our swim at Lake McKenzie or our walk into the Red Canyon the rain would begin again with a vengeance.
These are pictures of our rain forest walk.
This is Lake McKenzie (one of over 100 freshwater lakes on the island). The sand was incredibly white and the water was nice and warm. We have no pictures of ourselves at the lake because the minute we got there the rain started pouring down and we all jumped into the water to warm up. The lake is a ‘perched’ lake which means it is completely supplied by rainwater, no ground water or streams feed into this lake. The natural composition of sand and organic materials at the base of the lake, form a special layer preventing the water from draining away. As you can see from this picture the lake has a shallow edge where we were all able to play, but if you go out past the first 10 meters there is steep 8 meter drop. I chose to include these pictures because this is what it would have looked like had it been sunny and that would have been truly awesome.
photo from davidwallphoto.com
photo from wikipedia.com
These are pictures of our rain forest walk.
This is Lake McKenzie (one of over 100 freshwater lakes on the island). The sand was incredibly white and the water was nice and warm. We have no pictures of ourselves at the lake because the minute we got there the rain started pouring down and we all jumped into the water to warm up. The lake is a ‘perched’ lake which means it is completely supplied by rainwater, no ground water or streams feed into this lake. The natural composition of sand and organic materials at the base of the lake, form a special layer preventing the water from draining away. As you can see from this picture the lake has a shallow edge where we were all able to play, but if you go out past the first 10 meters there is steep 8 meter drop. I chose to include these pictures because this is what it would have looked like had it been sunny and that would have been truly awesome.
photo from davidwallphoto.com
photo from wikipedia.com
We were lucky enough to see a dingo along the 75 mile beach road on our way home. These particular dingos are the purest strain found in Australia. Although very dog like, there were 5 attacks on tourists in 2009, so we made sure that Jared (being the baby stayed away)...we didn't want to tell people that "a Dingo ate my baby!"
Red Canyon was beautiful, it's actually just coloured sand. There is no rock at all, and all of the foliage you see is growing out of sand.
Red Canyon was beautiful, it's actually just coloured sand. There is no rock at all, and all of the foliage you see is growing out of sand.
Friday, April 9, 2010
The "NO" Sunshine Coast
For our "last" trip that we were meant to take here in Australia we went to Noosa, a gorgeous resort town favoured by Melbournians. It came highly recommended and all of us looked forward to a week relaxing on the beach, enjoying the warm weather, and playing in the water.
What we got instead was rain, rain, and more rain. Loads of rain. Even heaps of rain. It didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves though. We got plenty of use of the jacuzzi on the deck of our apartment which was fully covered.
The kids each got a souvenir of our trip as well, raincoats. They turned out to be very handy and were used almost continuously.
We even went on a bush walk through the rain forest behind our place. We saw this tree that looks like it has a koala climbing on it.
More rain.
Further along our walk, we found a real Queensland Koala, which is smaller in size and has thinner fur than the Koalas found in Victoria.
With all of the rain we were able to see gorgeous flowers. The top flower is actually leaves.
We also saw some beautiful birds.
The highlight of the trip for some of us was finding the Big Pineapple. The rain wasn't ideal for the pictures, but it sure made the area green and lush.
A bonus highlight was finding the Big Cow! Big Bonus! Huge!
What we got instead was rain, rain, and more rain. Loads of rain. Even heaps of rain. It didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves though. We got plenty of use of the jacuzzi on the deck of our apartment which was fully covered.
The kids each got a souvenir of our trip as well, raincoats. They turned out to be very handy and were used almost continuously.
We even went on a bush walk through the rain forest behind our place. We saw this tree that looks like it has a koala climbing on it.
More rain.
Further along our walk, we found a real Queensland Koala, which is smaller in size and has thinner fur than the Koalas found in Victoria.
With all of the rain we were able to see gorgeous flowers. The top flower is actually leaves.
We also saw some beautiful birds.
The highlight of the trip for some of us was finding the Big Pineapple. The rain wasn't ideal for the pictures, but it sure made the area green and lush.
A bonus highlight was finding the Big Cow! Big Bonus! Huge!
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