G'day Mate!

Sandi and I had a blast in Australia!  The festival in Newcastle was great, but I didn't take any photos.  It was Sandi's first festival 'on-staff' and it was fun to have her around, both to experience a day-in-the-life of a festival and to have her help.  She can tell you a lot of cool stories from the day we arrived until after follow-up was finished.
 

On to Sydney:

This photo was taken from a ferry to Manly Island.  The sailboats were out in droves.

It looks like the boats are about to tip, but they never did.

Skipping ahead to Cairns (pronounced 'Cans') we flew up to see the Great Barrier Reef on Thursday (Wednesday in the US).  Sandi, myself, and 4 friends from the Palau team rented a condo for 3 nights to get away from it all.  We were across the street from the beach.  The next day, we traveled to Port Douglas to snorkle the outer reef.  The coral and the fish were amazing.  Neither Sandi or I had the equipment to take good photos under the water, but a friend of ours took his camera.  I will post them when I get them.  In the mean time, you can look at this link for an idea of what we experienced http://www.quicksilver-cruises.com/nature_gallery.htm
 

After our snokeling trip, we went out to dinner.  Sandi and I celebrated Thanksgiving by having kangaroo steak and sweet potato mash.
 

The following day, we went a boutique zoo to hold a koala.  We also got to feed wallabee and see crockadiles. 

When our time in Cairns was up, we flew back to Sydney and said goodbye to our friends.  Carey and Kevin had to drive back to Newcastle that night, so they dropped us off at our hotel.  Our hotel bordered the red-light district (complete with prostitues, strip clubs, etc.) so our friends weren't terribly excited about our choice.  As we later found out, if you turned left instead of right, you were just fine.

Rather than show all 300 pictures of the Opera House, here is a sample of other Sydney attractions we saw:



St. Mary's Cathedral

The skyline reminded me of Seattle's skyline - very interesting and diverse.

The Botanical Gardens included an extensive array of grasslands, fountains, statues, trees and everything that makes a garden beatiful.  We spent Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning before our flight home wandering through the gardens. 

The gardens are home to the Governor's mansion.

Hyde's Park in downtown Sydney

Sandi relaxing in a 'secret garden'

 

 

We have much more to show and tell, but we'll look foward to seeing you in person.