Australia 2013

 About 10 months ago, Phil found an amazing deal on a trip to Australia.  As my brother Ryan and his family are living there and it won't be for much longer, we wanted to get there while they were there to show us around. We purchased the deal... then all we had to do was wait, and wait, and wait! 

Finally, June 6th was upon us. As we were going to be gone for two weeks...it was unfortunate timing that we were missing the Kimball Family Vacation to San Diego while we were gone. Thankfully, Grandma & Grandpa Kimball were so sweet to invite Jessica and Taylor to join them for the week. Tanner & Tyson stayed with some good friends during the day and my parents at night.  Then Dave & Katie were the best to come stay with them for the following week in exchange for us taking Emma for a week in August when they will be in Costa Rica.  We definitely got the upper hand in that deal.  One nine month old for 4 kids....deal!!

We flew out of Salt Lake at 8pm to catch our 11pm flight from LA, 16 hours later landing in  Melbourne, Australia!  

Our package had us flying to Melbourne for 4 days, then to Sydney for 4 days (where Ryan & Sara were able to join us) and then we paid a little extra to extend to spend time with Ryan and his family at their home in Canberra.

This is a picture of Phil in Melbourne Harbor.  Melbourne was beautiful.  We were there during their fall, so it got a little chilly in the evenings.  Melbourne was great for tourists as so much is in walking distance and they have a free tram that goes in a big circle around the city and you can get on and off to see all the sights!

Our first day there we made it to the Queen Victoria Markets.  They were all these cute little stands of goods, from yummy delicious food to Hello Kitty!  We found some great souvenirs for the kids.

We arrived in Australia on Saturday which was nice to be able to ac-climate a bit.  Sunday, we were able to find a Branch to attend.  Only it was in Mandarin ;)  Which was actually a very neat experience as our kids are learning Mandarin and there were 8 sets of missionaries assigned to that branch and many of them were from Utah.

 The thing I loved most about Australia is how friendly everyone is.  The next, is all the beautiful gardens that are everywhere.  That is St. Patrick's Cathedral in the background.

 There is a rich history about Melbourne and we loved the opportunity to explore.

This is in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral.

 

 Inside beautiful St. Patrick's Cathedral

 

The following day, we wanted to get to the beach and found a tram to Port Philip Bay.  It was quite obvious we were tourists as we were the only ones crazy enough to be there while it was so cold.

Our Hotel was lovely, but we both giggled using the shower.  Its good we're both in relative good shape as getting in and out was a good step, and the door didn't close all the way so you had a nice breeze hurrying you along.

It was lovely being able to tour Museum's at our own speed and not have to worry about the kids getting bored.

 Melbourne had some beautiful buildings and amazing Museums, this was the Art and Film Museum.

 More beautiful Gardens. 

 This was the Queen Victoria Garden in Melbourne.  It was acres and acres in the middle of the City of beautiful Gardens.

 Its hard to tell in this picture, but Phil is the best husband ever!  He is wearing my shoes as they were killing my feet and we had been walking forever.  I can't decide if its a good thing or not that we can share shoes ;)

Queen Victoria Gardens

Our last night in Melbourne we spoiled ourselves and saw King Kong, the musical.

It was a little different than musicals we were use to, but it was absolutely awe inspiring.  Loved it!

We did find a few places to make us feel more at home so far away...

 

 The next day we flew into Sydney.  Ryan and Sara were so sweet to meet us there so we could take advantage of as much time together as possible.  We had a couple hours to explore before they were there so we walked around Sydney after checking out our hotel (picture on right is from the roof of our hotel where there was a swimming pool.  It wasn't heated, or at least not heated well, but Ryan still got in it as he said, "if I'm paying for a hotel with a pool, I'm going to use it" ;) The picture on the left was showing how far away we were from our babies...way too many km away!!

Not 20 feet from where we took the picture on the left, as we were exploring around our hotel, we found the red light district ;)  I found out more than I wanted to know about what a red light district is ;)  Once Ryan and Sara arrived we went to dinner at a delicious pizza restaurant and then for even more delicious ice cream.  Its a good thing we were doing a lot of walking!

We got up early the next morning to do some sight seeing...

For some reason on the map, Bondi Beach didn't seem that far away from our hotel, but once we started walking it was further than we thought.  We definitely walked off our ice cream from the night before!  Bondi was beautiful. There was a neat little walking trail around to several different beaches and we got in some more walking before lunch.

We walked back to Bondi for lunch and as Ryan and I weren't feeling like fish and chips, we each grabbed something delectable and met back on the beach to enjoy it while watching the surfers.

Another long walk back to the hotel...we chose to eat close to the hotel that night at a delicious Thai restaurant.

 The next morning we walked to the heart of Sydney to the Royal Botanic Gardens on our way to Sydney Harbor.  We passed a beautiful park, Cook & Phillip Park ;)

and some interesting street signs on the way...



 At the Royal Botanic Gardens is the Wishing Tree. If you walk around it three times forward and three times backward then make a wish it will come true!

Hard to tell, but this is Sara walking backward ;) 

Phil's wish was for a kiss :)

I was loving every minute spent with this cutie. 

...and this one!

{Check out the date on the rock and the date on the picture!}

When we got to this rock we realized we had missed it by one day!  Good thing our camera was still on Utah time ;)

 Sydney Harbor

 

The Opera House

Lunch in the Harbor with the most spectacular view!

After lunch, we took a ferry...The Friendship! over to Darling Harbor

 and caught a picture of this sail boat under the bridge on the way. 

 Pictures in Darling Harbor @ Sunset 

 

 We had done miles and miles of walking so we treated ourselves to a subway ride home. 

The next day we spoiled ourselves and took a taxi back over to Circular Quay to do some shopping @ The Rocks.  Amazing handmade goods.  It was so fun to browse all the darling little shops.

We met Beverly when we bought those two cute koalas from her.  She was so sweet and all her handmade ceramics were incredible.

Phillip's Foote

My favorite thing about Sydney was Almond Croissants every morning for breakfast!!

My favorite restaurant we ate in while in Sydney was Maggie's

Check out that Chicken Schnitzel! Yummmm!

Our last day in Sydney, we took the Ferry over to Manly to do a little sightseeing.

What better way to sight-see than via bike!

 

 

 
 
 
   

 

 

Manly Beach

 

 

  Have you ever seen anything more Manly? 

 That evening we drove the three hours to Canberra where Ryan and Sara live.  The next morning we got up and went for a walk right out their back gate to these great walking trails where we got to see Kangaroo for the first time in the wild.  Kangaroo there are much like running into a herd of deer here.

We had such a wonderful time with Ryan and Sara at their home.

We especially loved spending time with our nieces and nephew. Its been much too long since we've spent time with them.  They are so darling and I ate up the time with them...I'm sure I was missing my kids just a little....

We visited many museums at the National Mall while in Canberra which is the capital of Australia.  It was neat to learn more about Australia and Canberra's history.  It has only been the capital for just over 100 years.

 We went to a nature preserve called Tidbinbilla.  We were in search of a koala. We went on a long walk trying to find one of three on the reserve.  We never found the koalas but had a great time searching and found lots of kangaroo, and some emu!

 

 National War Memorial

 Questacon

A hands on museum for kids.

Here Phil and Ryan are showing off for the kids.

The light would flash and your shadow would stay on the green screen for a few minutes...

 Me and mini-me

Poor Izzy.  Her mom says she suffers from the need to do straight lines in the carpet while she's vacuuming, just like Aunt Rachael.

 The New Blue Man Group! 

Our last day there we visited a super cool museum, where we found these awesome oven mitts that have a koala and kangaroo on them. What better way to be reminded of the trip of a life time every day ;)

The sidewalk ends, and unfortunately so did our trip.

We had such a magical time in Australia (over 300 pictures worth of memories) and will never forget our time there, especially time with our wonderful family!  Can't wait to see them again.  Hopefully, this time in the states ;)  Being that far away from my kids and facing a 14 hour plane ride home, I was anxious to be on our way...

We did a little time warping on the way home!