Dolphin, dolphin, dolphin, dolphin...eel...Love Your Kingdom!

Canberra: Final Day

We woke up on our last full day in Canberra and spent the morning watching TV, doing some last minute laundry, and just relaxing. Then, Andrew's sister Kate called and invited us all to go with her to Gibraltar Falls, a swim hole just outside of Canberra. So we all threw on our suits and headed out. When we reached the falls, we maneuvered our way down the rocks to the pool that forms at the edge of the creek before the water rushes over the falls. It was hard to get a feel for how high the falls were from this angle, but we spend the time sunning ourselves while the boys got all the way in the cold mountain water.

(You can see where we're starting to set up on the edge at the right)

(Sunning on the rocks)

(You can see where the falls start behind Andrew)

After we'd cooked in the sun, we decided to walk down to the viewing platform to get a sense of what the falls really looked like. It turned out that the water from our pool went over the edge and formed a 50 m beautiful waterfall. Good thing the current wasn't strong enough to take us over the edge!

(The rocks on the left of the falls were where we were sitting...and the water going over the falls is coming from the pool that we were swimming in)

(50 m down!)

We then headed home and some of us took naps while others watched TV and just relaxed. Then we all got ready and headed out to enjoy MovieExtra Tropfest, a short film festival started in Syndey 19 years ago by director John Polson and which is now streamed live to all of the 5 states and two territories in Australia, as well as there are spinoffs such as Tropfest New York and Tropfest Arabia. We picked up pizza on the way and then met up with Andrew's parents at the festival, spread out our blankets, and sat back to enjoy a night under the stars.

(Watching films as the moon was rising over the amphitheater)

There are 16 films in all that are shown and if you want to see any of them yourselves, go to http://www.youtube.com/user/TROPFEST and all of the Finalists are listed on the right hand side. If nothing else, watch Animal Beatbox, the film that won...it was great! One thing to know...there is a theme each year that is required to be worked in to each film. For example, this year's theme was "keys"...this meant that keys had to be shown or referenced in some way in each film. It was great to see how each film incorporated this into their movie as well.

All in all, it was a great night and a wonderful way to spend our last night in Canberra. We've had a great time with Sarah and Andrew and we're going to be sad to leave them!

Cat in the furnace and budgie smugglers

Canberra: Day 3

We started off our third day in Canberra with Andrew making us a "traditional" Aussie breakfast of Vegemite on toast and Milo to drink. Vegemite is basically processed yeast that Aussies are obsessed with and Milo is a malted barley drink that is a lot like Quick, except that the barley doesn't really dissolve, so you end up eating a lot of it. I really liked the Vegemite, while I wasn't a huge fan...we both thought the Milo was pretty tasty though!

(Enjoying our Vegemite toast)

After breakfast, we all got changed and ready to head out for the day. Sarah and Andrew planned on driving us around more of Canberra, so we started by driving to the top of Black Mountain to a lookout where we could see the cite centre sprawling below us.

From there, we drove to the Australian War Memorial and walked around. It is a beautiful memorial site with a reflection pool, a memorial wall, and a grave of an unknown soldier.

(Memorial wall where people have placed poppies by the names of their loved ones)

(Reflecting pool with the eternal flame...it's there, just hard to see)

(Mosaic of an Australian nurse)

Then, we drove down to see the Old Parliament building and to see the "Aboriginal Embassy" which is actually a tent city that has been set up across the street from the Old Parliament building for over 20 years. The Aboriginal people and elders are there because they want representation in Parliament...it is amazing to see how much racism and inequality still exists in this country. Up until the last 1960s, the children of the Aboriginal people were still being removed from their homes and it wasn't until three years ago that there an official apology given to them by Parliament.

(Aboriginal tent embassy)

After our Canberra tour, we headed home to have dinner and to get ready to go out for the evening. Sarah had three different stops planned for the evening. First was an Irish pub, followed by an Aussie bar called Phoenix that had a great live band playing, and finally we went to a place called PJ O'Reilly's where they have karaoke every night. One of Andrew and Sarah's friends, Damien, signed us and Sarah up to sing "Born in the USA"...we couldn't believe it!

(The girls)

(Damien doing karaoke)

Somehow we managed to survive singing and had a great night out overall. We arrived home in the wee hours of the morning and headed off to bed. Another great Aussie night...

Cheers!

Jess and Erin

Potato scallops and zucchini balls...

Canberra: Day 2

We slept in on the second morning of our time in Canberra and Sarah had taken the day off of work to hang out with us. She started the day by making us pancakes...yum! Then, to work off the pancakes, she took us over to Mt. Taylor, a small mountain in Canberra so we could hike to the top with the hopes of seeing some kangaroos.

She swore up and down that the big field that we passed by on the way up was always full with a herd of kangaroos that lived there, but when we passed by it, much to Sarah's surprise, it was empty!

(Field where there should have been lots of kangaroos)

We decided to head up to the top of the mountain and finish our hike first before coming back in search of the kangaroos. Sarah forgot to mention that there would be stairs involved in this hike as well...

(Stupid stairs)

It was actually a short walk to the top and once we got up there, we had a 360 degree view of Canberra...it really was beautiful!

(Great views of Canberra in all different directions)

Then we headed back down to the field in search of the sly kangaroos. There was a tree at the top of the hill in the field that we headed toward with Sarah swearing that she was sure the herd must just be on the other side of the hill. Imagine her surprise as we neared the tree and suddenly 30+ kangaroos stood up from lying in the shade because they'd heard us coming! We hadn't been able to see them because of the tall grass, but now they were off and running through the field. We took the opportunity to take a bunch of pictures of and with them as best we could.

(The tree in the distance on the left is the one they were sleeping under)

(There were lots of them!)

(I was trying to get one to smuggle home)

After we'd had our kangaroo fill, we headed back to the car and home for quick showers. Then we were off to get some lunch and see where Sarah worked. First, we headed into the suburb of Fyshwick, the red light district of Canberra and near where Sarah worked at one of her many previous jobs. Here, Sarah said they made the best potato scallops that we needed to eat for the first part of our lunch. Basically they were a thick potato slice coated in batter and fried...and they were delicious! Andrew told us later that this was a very common Australian thing to find at a take-away shop. Then we went off search of zucchini balls, the second part of our Canberra lunch excursion. The first place we tried was closing and totally sold out of all of their food (it must be popular!), but the second was open for business! Zucchini balls are a Turkish food...they're sorta like a moist hush puppy stuffed with zucchini and covered in a garlic aoli...again, they were delicious!

With full tummies, we headed in to the heart of Canberra and Sarah took us by Australia National University so we could see her campus and where she works. It's a huge beautiful green campus right in the middle of the city, so we walked around a little bit and then headed over to the pub where Andrew was have a drink with some mates from work. We joined him for a glass and then headed home.

The plan for the evening was to just relax at home, so Sarah broke out her meat pie maker to make us some homemade meat pies while Andrew made up an appetizer of franks and tomato sauce. Sarah also mixed up some Pims drinks...a popular drink in the UK that she used to serve at her pub there all the time. Both Sarah and Andrew were also really keen to have us try a Bundy rum...it's sorta like a pre-mixed Aussie rum and cola drink that they sell in the stores here and that they love.

(A great invention)

(Andrew hard at work)

(Erin and her Pims)

We ate to our hearts content and watched some Aussie TV shows before calling it a night on another brilliant day.

From Sydney to Canberra...

Sydney: Last Day, then off to Canberra

We woke up the morning of our last day in Sydney and started by repacking our bags so that they would actually close before we had to lug them on the train. We gathered our things and lugged everything back down the three flights of stairs and left our luggage in the lobby before heading out for the morning. We grabbed some food and were off.

We decided that since we only had a little bit of time (and the weather was supposed to be overcast and rainy), we would spend the day at The Australian Museum. It is a national museum that revolves around all things Australia-related. We were able to look at skeletons of Australia creatures and dinosaurs that were found in Australia, we looked at precious stones found throughout Australia, and we learned about spiders and snakes and other animals. It was actually a really neat place!

After we finished at the museum and grabbed some lunch there, we headed back to the hostel to catch up on some blogging and downloading TV shows to watch on the train. Finally, we gathered our things and were off to the train station. Luckily, this train ride was uneventful and we made it to Canberra without a hitch. Sarah and Andrew met us at the platform and we went back to their house and crashed.

Canberra: Day 1-Rest and Relaxation

By the time we woke up on our first day in Canberra, Sarah and Andrew had left for work. We used the day to catch up on reading (homework!) and laundry. We also spent the day playing with their dog Coopa!

(Sarah and Andrew's house)

(Coopa!)

That evening, we all (Coopa included) walked over to Andrew's parents' house and had a wonderful dinner with Andrew's friends and family. It was wonderful! What a great way to start the Canberra part of our vacation!

Quite the Manly beach...

Sydney: Last Full Day

We woke up this morning determined to spend a day at the beach and we weren’t going to let anything stop us. We checked the weather report, which called for mostly cloudy with a chance of showers for today and thunderstorms all day tomorrow, so we thought “What the hell!” and we headed over to the train in our swimsuits and covers with bags packed with towels and sunscreen...you never know, the weather report can occasionally be wrong! When we stepped outside, it was cloudy, cool, and sprinkling, but overall not terrible weather.

We took the train over to Circular Quay by the harbour yet again (we really know our way around this area of town by now) and (with flat whites in our hands!) hopped on the ferry that would take us over to the town of Manly on the North Shore and the famous Manly Beach. It was about a 45-minute ride over to Manly and the rain had stopped and blue sky was trying to peak through the clouds, so we sat outside on the ride over and enjoyed the scenery.

(Our ferry boat)

(Home of the Australian Navy)

(Looking back toward Sydney)

(Crossing the head of the harbour)

Once we arrived in Manly, we wandered down the main street amid the restaurants and shops until suddenly we reached the end of the road and the beach was spread out in front of us.

Because the weather wasn’t ideal for most, the beach wasn’t crowded at all, so we wandered through the sand until we found the perfect spot to set up our towels. Despite the clouds, you could feel the sun’s rays on you, so we lathered up with sunscreen and proceeded to lay out and doze with the sound of the ocean in the background, feeling the warm sea breeze on our faces, and smelling the salt in the air.

(Getting some color!)

(A beautiful day after all)

The sun proceeded to peak through the clouds more and more as time went on and eventually we were both warm enough that a swim was in order. The water felt fantastic and the waves were quite strong. We were warned about a major riptide just to the side of the designated swim area and more than once we found ourselves drifting in that direction as the waves tossed us around...it became easy to see how dangerous the currents could be if you weren’t aware of them!

(Going for a swim!)

(Drying off in the sun)

Finally we had had enough and our faces were slightly pink, so we packed up and wandered back down the street in search of something to eat. A great thing about Australia is that it is a huge melting pot of people, so we have eaten a different type of cuisine almost every day that we’ve been here. This afternoon, we decided to stop at a Middle Eastern shop and got some fantastic kabobs. By this time, the clouds had cleared and sun was shining, so we took our food out into the courtyard on the street to eat. Maybe not our best plan because all it took was the short time we sat there eating for the pinkness in our faces (and now the rest of our bodies) to redden up a bit more. We decided to get out of the sun by wandering in and out of some of the shops until we finally made our way back to the ferry dock. We sat basking in the sun on the way back to Sydney (continuing to contribute to our redness, although we did apply more sunscreen when we got on the boat) and finally arrived back in Circular Quay.

(Coming back to Sydney)

(The Governor General's house)

(If you look not quite halfway up on the left, you can see a group making their way to the top)

We headed back to the hostel and showered and changed to go back out and grab dinner. On the first half-day we spent in Sydney before heading off to New Zealand, we had wandered past a pub in the back streets of The Rocks called Hero of Waterloo. Then, when we were on our ghost tour the first night we spent in the city, our guide told us that this was one of the oldest pubs in Sydney. In fact, he told us about how back in the 1800‘s, the barman used to poison young men just enough to make them sick and pass out, then he would drag them through the basement of the pub, through a secret tunnel and down to the harbour where he would sell the men to a ship captain who would then press the men into service once they recovered and found themselves out to sea. With a pub with that much history, we knew we had to check it out!

(Oldest pub in Sydney!)

We had some pints and snacks at the pub and visited with some friendly Aussies who were also having a drink and struck up conversations with the two Irish bartenders. We met two mates who were more than happy to give us a detailed lesson on Australian politics and answer our questions about Australia and the British monarchy. Before we knew it, it was past 11 pm and we needed to head back to catch the last train back to King’s Cross. We got home and climbed into bed to rest up so we could enjoy our last day in Sydney.

Night!

Jess and Erin