Monthly Archives: February 2012

Cairns!

Posted on by robandlinds
Kathy bought a pretty awesome Living Social deal. The deal included a flight from the states to Sydney, a flight from Sydney to Cairns, from Cairns to Melbourne, and a flight back home to the states. It also included accommodation for 3-4 nights in each city AND a hot brekky each day! So, I decided to join her during her long weekend in Cairns, a city directly north of Sydney (~3 hour plane ride).
Kathy made on a few friends during her scuba diving tour and we ended up spending the entire weekend with them!
We managed to find a bar with a dance floor and I managed to show off my new dance move..

The next day – after only getting approx 4 hours of sleep the night before – we decided to ride scooters. Turns out they’re a lot harder than they look. The guy who was explaining how to properly ride the scooter got a bit nervous after we almost ran into a parked car in the parking lot.. Whoops!

We had such a blast – swam in some rivers, rode on the highway, stopped to look at a map, made a few wrong turns, almost hit a parked car, met some friends from Brissy who showed us up by driving legit dirt bikes, stopped to look at a map, passed some cars on the left, got honked at, got confused by their maps, sang some songs, hiked around a bit, and still made it back safely with less bruises than indoor soccer!!

Ms. G…i.a…n.s.i.r..a..c.u…s..a

Posted on by robandlinds

Kathy arrived on the same day that my parents left, so she got to spend the morning hiking around Balmoral Beach with the entire Ralph Family (minus Jer)!

The jet lag didn’t last long for her due to our wild Manly excursion. We took the ferry over to Manly and introduced Kathy to all of our Aussie friends, which went over well considering we had a previous, positive encounter with another Kathy in Hunter Valley.

United airlines managed to screw up again, but this time with luggage!! Upon arriving in Sydney, Kathy received the unfortunate news that her bag was missing and the airline didn’t find it for another FOUR DAYS. Regardless, we still managed to have a great time – sweats ‘n all ;)!

PS Ralph Photography

Posted on by robandlinds

My dad’s photography was much better than my little point-‘n-shoot camera.  While they were in Sydney, he spent many mornings near the Harbour Bridge taking pictures of the city during sun rise.

Check out his website when you have a few minutes.  His pictures are spectacular! http://www.perryralph.com/Portfolio/Travel/Aus-NZ/7546716_qk6Kj8#!i=1730939836&k=z7dHk2v

TAKE TWO!

Posted on by robandlinds
Above is our mini – manual rental car we drove for 4 days with 4 people and 4 bags. It was the very last car available at the airport.

We spent the first half of the day walking around the Melbourne Botanic Gardens.

The sun was out and it turned out to be an amazing day…
… Until we walked back to the parking garage after wondering for ~2 hours
And found out it was $25 per hour!

We made a stop by the stadium where the Australian Open was played a few weeks before. (We had the opportunity to go with Tom & Lynne, but turned it down @ the last second. But we’re hoping to make it next year!)

Hanging with Rod Laver

After spending the day in Melbourne, we drove for a few hours in our compact, mini 2-door car to Phillip Island. Phillip Island is a small Island directly south of Melbourne. The island is home to the smallest penguins in the world and we had the opportunity to see them!!

Check out this 1 minute video of the penguins and Phillip Island:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X__YPxhJUUY&feature=fvsr
The Great Ocean Road has a lot of similarities to Highway 1 in California. There are steep cliffs covered with rainforest terrain that drop directly into the ocean. The road is windy and the 2 lane highway is tight, but the ocean views are spectacular!
  
My dad tried to teach me how to take a good photograph, given the difficulty with the gray skyline and the white light house.First photography lesson of the trip: white on white background will not make a good photo (as shown with the light house picture on the left).Second lesson: don’t put people directly in the middle of the photograph (as shown below).
THE OFFICIAL START OF THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD!

Lindsey had to show per parents her best dance move (something she has perfected over the past few months). Luckily, Perry got it in action.

We stopped at a town called Lorne, which was a bigger town than where we stayed in Apollo Bay.
Lots of wild koala bears at Otway National Park
12 Apostles is the highlight of the Great Ocean Road. 12 rock formations rising from the water. Only 6 or 7 left as the Pacific has taken down a few of them.
The professional at work

My parents flights were cancelled twice on their way out to Sydney! The first night, United claimed that the aircraft had some sort of malfunction and provided hotel arrangements for the evening along with a $30 voucher for breakfast (Hmmm.. $30 breakfast for two??).  Then on Superbowl Sunday, they got on the plane and sat there for 3 hours before customer service came aboard to say there was another malfunction with the aircraft. United required everyone on board to re-book their seats on the flight leaving the next day! After more than 4 days of traveling, they finally arrived in Sydney, 48 hours after they were supposed to. Luckily, United offered to move their flights home back 24 hours without charging. So, we spent the last 24 hours eating sushi and spending the morning at Balmoral Beach!