Australian Tour with the Rellies

SYDNEY

October 2 - 9, 2002

We arrived in Sydney one day before the 'rellies'. Some may say they are touring Australia with us for one month - but truth is we are touring with them - they made the plans and we are actually stowing away in thier flash hotel rooms.

They arrived early in the morning of October 2 and we all knew that they were suffering from intense jet-lag but they did not let it slow them down - we walked to the Sydney harbour to take in the breathtaking views of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. The views are very surreal because they are so familiar but to see them in real life was amazing. We just stood in that harbour admiring the sights for hours.

We did a harbour boat cruise and then nearly killed the rellies with too much actvitiy for their jet lagged legs. We knew they were exhausted when they all started wilting away in the pub with their beer in front of them.

We quickly learned that we all have different travel styles - we eat alot cheaper and stay at very different accomodations than the rellies. Plus we tend to walk more than taking taxis or public transport. The key to travelling with other people is negotiating or "sacrificing for the team" we each had our 'own day' to do this. We decided our itinerary based on everyones priorities and of course the plan centered around food and drink.

We met for lunch and walked the Botanical Gardens. This is where Aunt Sue started her facination of the flying foxes (bats). The sound was ear piercing and we tried to ignore it untill we again realized it wasn't parrots but rather thousands of flying foxes in the trees.

Aunt Sue was so excited she could hardly contain herself. This was made evident when a young boy and his father passed by us. The boys balloon was swaying in the wind, extended out to the end of its string, the wind allowed it to sweep in, brushing across her neck and hair! She was so excited to have one of these beautiful creatures land on her shoulder that she instantly started singing with the bats. She just started schreaching louder and louder, it seemed that the bats were so happy to have another member join their chorus!

The Paddy Markets became our souvenir shopping grounds - get ready at home! The boys tried desperately to do some bird watching at Bondi Beach but unfortunately for them the winds were all wrong. But not all was lost, we were happy to call the Australian embassy to report that every single latino tourist and latino-Australian could be found at any one time on Bondi Beach!! We never saw so many chopped Subarus in our life!! Dice from the mirror the real deal!!

Our big night out was to the Syndey Opera House for a Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra in the Concert Hall complete with opera and modern dance. The only way we could talk Paulie into joining us was to indicate that the "Harmonica Orchestra" would play all his favourite from Goulais River. But the sound was so amazing that Sherry's dad stayed awake (well for most of it).

We made it up to him and took him to eat on top of the city in a revolving restaurant. This was 'Paulie's day' because we had been eating at so many "different" restaurants that he finally got his familiar buffet meat and potato meal. We finally got to try some true Australian fare - Kangaroo (tastes like lean beef), Emu (wild and red, tastes like ham), Camel (feral and gamey).

We also took the ferry over to the Taronga Zoo. We walked through the zoo and compared it to the others we have been to. It wasnt the best one we have been to but it had a lot to offer. First there were the views, the Sydney zoo is located in the most wonderful spot, it over looks the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Opera House and the harbour.

There were the chimpanzees and we enjoyed them for a long time but our favourite part had to be that we brought Wanda. You see we have never travelled with kids before and it was amazing to see the excitement over take her. Being one of the tallest kids in the park, it was fun to watch her and Paulie push their way to the front of every exhibition. Hardest part was pulling her away to go see the next show. In the lions den it was like she was a lioness herself as she too paced up and down the glass wall keeping pace with the king of the jungle.

She was so intrigued we thought this might have been her first time to a zoo that was until she started to do her "special" dance in the grass!! You see all the others had left because they were too tired from trying to keep up to Wanda so we took turns walking with her.

"Just wait till we get to the elephant then youll see!" she whispered while we all stood waving to the others as they headed out the entrance.

We just looked at each other, puzzled "What do you think she has in mind?"

As they rounded the last corner, Wanda sprinted ahead to the elephants and by the time we arrived she was fully enveloped in her "Elephant dance"

"Bloody hell, what is she doing?" we stood staring at her while we leaned against the fence watching her? The trumpet of the large male elephant storming around behind us was the only thing that could have broke our concentration!

"My little sister, Wendy showed me this dance at the Toronto Zoo!". "It works youll see!"

Sean yelling so Wanda could hear over the trumpeting elephant "Why are you doing that dance?"

No answer was required as Sherry tapped Sean on the shoulder so he could turn around at see this huge (literally) animal leaning way out over the edge reaching towards Wanda with his trunks. It wasnt until the park ranger sprang out with a hose, immediately giving him a cold shower that we knew what kind of dance Wanda and Wendy did when they got to the Elephant exhibitions!

The group then booked an entertaining tour to the Blue Mountains in a mini-van chauferred by none other than Sean!! He provided a light commentary for the day, full of 'facts' and information?? Even though he promised not to steer us wrong, Aunt Sue is still checking her "Forbes" travel bookfor backup. We took in the sights of the 3 Sisters in Australia's "Grand Canyon".

The rellies had been complaining for days that Sean still hadn't taken them to eat a true Aussie meat pie. (This was one of the reasons we saw so much of Sydney on foot. Sean always promised that there would be a pub selling Pints and Pies "Just around the next corner!") But he finally delivered on his promise. I thinked they complained too much though as he made them eat pies twice on this full day tour!!!

Cairns itself isn't so flash but where we stayed was great! It was bad enough that were become quite accustomed to the flash hotels we were "crashing" in, now we were actually "Crashing" at a full fledge resort. Pool (complete with a sandy beach in the shallow end) and none other than a swim-up bar. Which wouldn't have been so bad if the group stuck to the Carlton Colds and XXXX Bitters, but NO!! Someone let the Aunt and Niece float off on their own and next thing we knew there were little umbrellas floating all over the pool. At $11 a pop, there goes Bills retirement!!! Never mind Cindy's and Shannon's bid on whats left!!! Daniel that means another couple years of work/vacations!!

But don't you think for a moment that we don't know that Wanda would have been right in the thick of things with the girls but she had more important things to do. You see before she got here, someone in their wild wisdom, told her that unlike her practice runs in the Goulais River, everytime she snorkeld in Australia she would see wonderfull coloured corals, fish, turtles and other underwater life. No matter what Bill yelled down her snorkel, as she swam by us in the pool, she was not convinced that she would actually have to come out to the reef to see all those great things!!

Make no mistake, we all came up to Cairns to swim/snorkel/dive and experience the Great Barrier Reef and to be in the ocean. "Not the OK Barrier Reef - not the Pretty Good Barrier Reef - the GREAT Barrier Reef!!!" Was it nerves or excitement that had Paul and Wanda up at 5:00am for an 8:00am boat launch??? Sherry's mum and dad have not snorkeled before and there were some mixed signals coming from that side of the room. It wasn't til we boarded the boat that their true emotions won them over. Up to the top deck, down for Tea, Back up, Out to the front of the boat, Back up...."Did you see that?".... "I hope we see this!" ..... "Lets go see this!!!" As you can clearly see it was definitley excitement that had them stirring early!

We went out on our first dive/snorkel tour with the Quiksilver tour to the Agincourt Reef from Port Douglas. Aunt Sue and Uncle Bill went diving and the rest of us snorkeled (they were robbed but you have to read their website for that story!)

After everyone was suited up with the gear on and in the right places we all jumped in. Just off the pontoon there were hundreds of fish below us. Sherry's mum laughed, screamed and pointed at fish continuously. She could have stayed in the water at the loading bay all day - but we knew better and dragged her (literally) away to see the reef.

Sherry's dad had some difficulties, now he would have been fine, and we thought his equipment was perfect especially when the lifeguard came over and switched the childs mask he was wearing for an adult version. We however did not notice that he accidently put on a straw instead of a snorkel. It seems Paul was quite thirsty since he spent most of his time drinking the clear blue water found around the reef!!! After some discussions over lunch we got him figured out and the next time he was able to tow Wanda around so they could tour together.

Once again Sean was our little tour guide. He kept diving to the bottom to bring up some of the coral and starfish for the rest of us to see and hold.

We are not "Certified Divers" so we had to sign up for an "Intro Dive". The premise about these 'intro dives' is that you do not have to be certified as long as you stay near the instructor. However big surprise that Sean was a natural at diving - he had no problems equalizing or breathing and was ready to go. He kept trying to get away from the group and do his own tour.

Sherry woke up that morning with a sinus headache and has some difficulty equalizing on the way down - so it took her a bit longer (yeah - like twice as long ). Then she would not let go of Sean the whole time - so he could not venture very far.

We went down 12 meters and it was fantastic to have another perspective of the world under the sea. Diving the Great Barrier Reef was an amazing experience but without the freedom to roam around on your own we felt limited. This experience showed us that we need to be certified if we are to ever dive again.

Aunt Sue and Uncle Bill had some great dives with their friend Wally the giant Moari Wrasse. Although we saw so many things when we were diving we really felt as though we would see more when we were snorkelling - probably because of the freedom.

Our gut feeling payed off. Later that day Sherry followed a black tip reef shark and came surprising close to a colour/shape changing octopus that was sitting on the coral. We also swam with some turtles. Another great day snorkeling on the reef!!

We took one day off from Sean's sea sickness to relax at the pool and tour Cairns. But Sherry's mom was so jealous of our stories that she begged us to do one more reef tour so she could snorkel again. This time we went to Milln Reef on a Tusa Boat. Once again she floated and we towed her - she was so excited and laughed all day. We saw angelfish, butterfly fish, stingrays, turtles, anemone/clownfish and fantastic coral. We got stuck in some tight places with shallow water and sharp coral but she just floated and trusted us to tow her back to the sights. This was another amazing day on the reef - we all got sunburns, colds and felt waterlogged but we wouldn't have changed it for the world!!!!

While on route to Brizzie Paulie hurt his back twisting and lifting his luggage (bad lifting technique especially with a physio daughter). He needed some R&R but managed to see some of the Brisbane sights.

It was during this time in Brisbane - eating in so many different styled restaurants - that we realized that Uncle Bill's dining techniques differed from ours. Now we are food sharers anyone who has eaten with us can attest to the fact that if you have something interesting on your plate you can pretty much guarantee that you will be sharing it with the table. Apparently this is a new dining technique for Uncle Bill !!! And making things worse he had the most adventurous palate we have ever enjoyed the company of.

There were so many times during this trip that he ordered bizare and unique dishes and food items all of which were brand new to us. His big mistake was to 'gently persuade' us to just try!! He could never have expected that after that moment - every item he ordered we would be just trying!!

From his plate, we experienced some of the most exotic food we could have ever imagined. In Sydney we sampled Carpaccio (raw/dried beef don't forget the lemon), rock oysters (raw don't forget the lemon), roe (raw), tuna tataki (raw), and I am quite sure they snuck in some blood pudding along the way!! Can you sense the pattern here - folks??? If it wasn't for the fact he included ratchette (Swiss) a couple forms of calamari (some of which were cooked) and who can forget the pizza in Sydney, we would have thought this guy had some sort of an eating disorder!!

But not to be out done, Wanda had some exotic dishes that she wanted to show the gang as well.

"Bill, you think that Raw Carpark stuff is good, EH!! Well have you ever had BBQ Dinosour??? Eh???"

The funniest part was that it was even harder for us to get her to share her Bronto-saurus Ribs with the table than it was to get Bill to share !!!

We have to admit it was some of the most fabulous flavours, and textures we experienced from food in our lives. Our appreciaton for dining has increased exponentially and now we can blame Bill for us having to go out to so many different resturaunts.

And to teach him a lesson we sent him home with his own genuine "stone" to keep for however long he likes!!

The Gold Coast resort was a relaxing beachside kinda place - we were in no rush to be anywhere and had no agendas (new concept for Sherry - LOL). Our time share apartment was right in the middle of the bustling and busy metropolis of Coolangatta admist the many shops and restaurants. Honestly though dont get us wrong - it was very relaxing - we were just down the beach from the very busy Surfers Paradise which was hosting the Honda Indy and we were the youngest 6 people for miles - how relaxing?

Our apartment was one bedroom which meant that 4 of us had to sleep in the living/dining room. Cozy! We didn't know till late in the evening that this was one of the most exciting events for Wanda!! You see it had been a long time since Wanda had her friends over to stay up late, play cards and watch movies. The only thing missing from her Slumber PArty was the girls from Goulais River!!

Nothing was missing, we had lots of snacks and as soon as the parents shut of the lights Wanda and Paulie started gigling away. They even kept the parents awake. Susan had to yell at them on more than one occasion to get back to bed.

We all thought to ask what was so funny on their side of the floor but thought it was better for all if we never found out!!

Well we relaxed for the first day ate some world famous meat pies and walked the beach. Enough relaxing ---- we decided to head south for the promising excitement of Byron Bay. We were not disappointed.

Byron Bay is like a little adventure land situated all by itself on the ocean. The views from the lighthouse were some of the best we have seen in Australia, and while we were looking over the rough ocean we were lucky enough to see whales just off in the distance.

Lamington National Park was on the way home so we tredged our way to the rainforest for some new sights and sounds. But we never did find that Lyrebird. The rellies liked this rainforest area more than we expected they would and it wasn't till the following night we would find out!!

It was strange but the next day we woke up and the rellies started talking us into going to Brisbane without them. They told us they didn't know what they were going to do, yet but they would figure something out?

Well how can we explain our shock when we found out they went straight back to the hills in Lamington National Park, as soon as our backs were turned around. I don't believe we would have ever found out had they not eaten so many of the cookies that their new "Hippie" buddies were serving. "There soooo good for you, MAN???"