Are you tired of the overly documented life of the Seattle Stevens yet? We're not haha but that's what you have to do when you have an audience...you go and have an adventure and then document it! Looking back it seems forever ago that we were in Austraulia. So much has happened and many adventures were lived and documented via social media that blog posts are neglected.
We look back on Austraulia with fond memories. We got an airbnb that's fairly modern on the inside, but a bit rustic on the outside. It being 200m from the beach drew our attention as we've heard that beaches in Austraulia are gorgeous. Turns out they really were! The sand was very fine and the kids loved finding shells along the beach.
We took exactly one day to rest up and then we got going
We tried out some local food. Vegemite - Dan could not stand the taste. I thought it was ok and tasted a little bit like dried up soy sauce
This wheatie cereal was a bit different than anything we've had. Food is so so expensive here in Sydney. We thought food was expensive in Seattle, and Hawaii, until we saw the prices in Sydney
This beach here is Brighton-Le-Sands. There is a long trail that has work out bars. I wish there were more like these in the States
We got an Opal transportation card for everyone and took the bus and trains every where we go, even to church
We toured the city until dark. Thinking about it I think we over worked the kids on the walking. I like that they don't sit in front of the TV
We ate meat pies at Pie Face
We saw 3 cathedrals in Darling Harbour
Silly kids!
Cathedrals in downtown areas reminded me very much of England
This day was probably most memorable, sadly not because it was so fantastic but because I brought some milk and left my bag sitting out in the sun for so long it cooked the milk. By the end of the day I stupidly gave it to Ronin and the next morning he threw up and continued throwing up for 2 days. Poor kid. We were worried it was a virus but so glad it wasn't because no one else was affected which made me traced back to the milk I stupidly handed him without thinking. Our summer is Sydney's winter but their winter is like Seattle's early spring and when you're sitting out in the sun for hours to let your kids play at some of the most awesome splash park for nearly 4 hours and then sitting around some more at the Opera house, yeah the milk would get bad. All sorts of guilt thinking back to this experience but so thankful he is ok. It could've been the water or some bacteria he picked up from the splash park or so I like to think when I feel the overwhelming guilt, but I'm pretty sure it was the milk sitting out in the sun for hours
They had so much fun at this splash park though. I think seriously my addiction is watching my children having a good time.
Ronin couldn't wait to feel better so he could go on the trains again. He loved all the trains he got to go on
The Opera house was one of the things to check off so yay! Checked it off at age 34 for me and 37 for Dan. Not bad!
I got so excited learning that my favorite actor, Hugh Jackman walked on the same path hours before.
And every night we are out late. I think we definitely have a travel addiction
On the days that Roro was sick, me, him, and Darion just stuck around. Dan took the girls on ferry rides and electric sky rides and to the Zoo. I didn't want the girls to miss out on anything fun and the boys would probably not remember much of this anyway. Roro was in good spirit and he would say after puking that he's all better and ready to see the Kangaroos. His sisters and dad took videos for him to see and he would say "I saw the Kangaroos". He's such a good sport
The ferry ride across the harbour
I think by the look of this picture they had a good time. I told Dan to take a lot of pictures so I can enjoy it vicariously. I will save you the boredom and not post them all here.
The Kangaroos
Taronga Zoo
Koalas
Inside the sky tram
One of the things I really loved about our airbnb was that they had a huge container of kids toys. Roro and Darion were so excited when he saw them. He got pretty tired from the puking but any moment he could stand up he happily stands up and plays with toys. We even went on an hour long walk around the neighborhood
As soon as he was all better we got everyone outdoor. Again we saw in the news that Hugh Jackman walked near Bondi beach so of course we looked at our list and alleluia Bondi Beach was on the list. We took a taxi to Coogee and walked the path to Bondi. It was such a beautiful path that we stopped and took pictures every few minutes. Again, I will spare you the boredom but wow if you come to Austraulia, THIS IS A MUST DO!!
We did a selfie and Darion was too short to show up haha
Rocks like these lay on the beach on this trail walk from Coogee to Bondi
Energy powered by lolipops
I love this picture because we are all dressed for different occasion here. I think I'm dressed more like Fall, Darion is getting close to Winter, Debrie is Spring with her sandals, Ronin is pure Winter with his huge coat, Reena is end of Winter and Dan is pure summer with his short sleeves and shorts. I think by the end of the walk everyone took off their outer layer.
A lot of little beaches along the walk like Shelly beach and Bronte Beach
We got super hungry by the time we got to Bondi so a huge pizza was calling out to us. We spent a few more hours walking the mall in downtown Bondi
I have never seen so many pharmacies in a row. And yes their pharmacies are listed "CHEMIST"
Lastly, I want to give a big shout out to our Australian friends that we just added to our group of awesome Australian people that we know. Al and Lauren invited us into their home after church and fed us the MOST AWESOME crepes ever! Yes I've had crepes in France, and yes I've had some pretty amazing crepes, but let's just put it this way: I will never make crepes any other way again. We had so much fun on our second to last day in Australia and it was because of hanging out with these guys. We met some of the kindest people here at church and so thankful we got to meet and greet with the saints in this region of the world
Our last day was spent walking around Sydney Temple ground, exploring some Asian communities of Australia and walking along the North part of Bondi
At the end of the vacation we always ask ourselves...could we do Sydney? Would we ever see ourselves living here and loving it? The answer is YES! We loved it there, even with the scary driving on the WRONG side of the road. Check this video out and you'll see what I mean.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2BvP3A3NKk
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