Saturday, June 5, 2010

Well it is 6 am here in Sydney (and raining).  We will be leaving this am for our flight back home.  It is bittersweet but I think we are ready and excited to see everyone at home.  We regain the day we lost when we left (of course on a plane!) - we should be in to LA around 11:30 am (your time) on Sat morning and at JFK at 5:30 pm.  It has been a GREAT trip.  Truly a trip of a lifetime.   Can't wait to share the 10,000 pictures we took between all of us.   See you all soon!!!!!!!!!!!  And Sara - enjoy your last three weeks - we love you and will look forward to you coming home!!!  I'll be sure to have a quiznos grinder and buffalo dip with me when we pick you up.

Final update -me made it home safe and sound....and THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Today we leave Hamilton Island and head back to Sydney - but first we had to say goodbye to Sara for the next three weeks.  Her flight was to Brisbane where she will drive down the coast back to Sydney with her friend Shelley.  It was hard and I so much wished she was coming back with us but she will be back in 3 weeks so at least it is a short time and she will be home.  We arrived in Sydney around 6 pm.  Of course I HAD to get the internet!  We were starving so Katie, Mike, Tony and I went out for MORE italian.....boy was it good!  Not gonna like that scale when I get back.   

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Today we had a knock at our door at 10 am asking for our luggage.   Apparently when I added a night here noone bothered to tell me that we would have to go to another room.   We tried to fight it but I guess they had someone or some situation that we needed to get out of the room we were in.  So we packed up and moved to a new room.   It was a rush for us because we were taking our last trip on a boat to Whitehaven Beach which is one of the top beaches (6th - Katie and I googled it) in the world - Lisa - #2 is in the Bahamas (Pink Sands Beach on Harbour Island).  So we packed up and moved to a new room then we went out to Whitehaven Beach on the "Fanasea" boat....  It was cloudy and cold but the beach was amazing.  When we got back to the room they left us a bottle of champagne so we all celebrated in the hot tub!  We had a blast.   Next we went out to an Italian dinner.  This is our last night here - we leave for Sydney tomorrow and start our journey back home.   Sara is going to Brisbane with her friend Shelley - they are driving back down to Sydney.

Wednesday June 2, 2010

Today was another low key day - feeling like a RI vacation. We slept in - Katie and Mike did a bush walk while Sara, Shelley and I did what they call "retail therapy" (shopping - surprise, surprise).  We also walked the island and we saw some awesome butterflies.  We all met for lunch and had these cool pizzas and caesar salads.   At night we cooked burgers on the grill and botatos (Katie).  I was saying my blog is getting boring because all we are doing is "relaxing" for the most part.  My picture taking was not so successful today either.  I think my camera is tired!    And MJ I LOVE my Kindle....

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Today we had breakfast with the koalas.  That was alot of fun.   After that we hung out at the beach for the most part.  The weather has been absolutely perfect here.   Then we went on the catamarans but it wasn't windy enough so we really didn't move that fast.   It was beautiful and fun though.  Around 4:30 pm we went up to see the sunset (it gets dark early here).    Those views are stunning.  We then just had an early dinner and then the some of us attempted to watch a movie.     

Monday May 31, 2010

So we arrived on Hamilton Island this morning and this is by far the BEST place yet.    They call this spot Whitsundays -  It is comprised of 74 islands on the Great Barrier Reef.   It is unbelievable.   The island we are on is Hamilton Island.  We are on the 17 floor of the Reef View hotel and boy is it a view.   We were supposed to stay here till Thursday but within 10 minutes of getting here I was on the phone rearranging our plans to stay here until Friday.   Plus that gives us an extra day with Sara.  Here are some views from our room.  And we have a hot tub on our deck which we wasted no time using.   The entire island has golf carts to get  around.  The beaches are gorgeous.   We have great visitors too - Cockatoos.....they come right up to our deck.   Now the kids are on the deck looking at the beautiful stars.  

Today was a low key day. We slept in (well some of us) - then went to breakfast and hung out by the pool. Later in the afternoon we headed to Cairns (the city) to what they call the Cairns Esplanade. It was a marketplace of shops and food. A funny story though - when we went to the front desk to ask some questions before we left - the guy at the desk asked us if we had watched the local news. We did not and he continues to tell us to not be alarmed- we thought maybe something bad happened in the city. When we asked him why - he said "it is the koalas - they are acting up". Apparently they were attacking people - he added they like jewelry and sunglasses. He said if we see one koala, no big deal but if we see many together (they are like gangs) - just lay down on your stomach and do the "koala chant" which come to find out is a "hmmmmmmm". Of course everyone (except me) was excited about all this and couldn't wait to see the koalas. I swear he was pulling our leg because every other person we asked subsequently did not hear anything about the koalas. And Tony just got back from the lobby and it turns out he WAS joking all along. The new guy at the desk said “oh he loves that koala story”! Ha! One thing is for sure the people here have great senses of humor. So tomorrow we leave at 7:25 am to go to Hamilton Island for the next 4 days.