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.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

So after a great day yesterday - when we went to bed - around 3 am - I heard some swearing out my window (the F word).  It was outside the place we are staying and it escalated quickly - there were a bunch of what I have now come to learn are native Australians (known as Aboriginals) that apparently live closeby.  To my surprise they were fighting with each other with "spears"....only Tony, Sara and I were awake to experience this...we called the reception and the police came shortly after.    (Something Tony wanted me to blog).

Today was an awesome day - we took a boat out to the Great Barrier Reef - and pretty much snorkeled all day.  I was the wimp of the group.   I did snorkel but always got spooked when I saw any kind of resemblance to a shark..so I made my way back to the ladder of the boat often (and by the way I thought of Laura the whole time (Matunuck boogie boards?) - you would have LOVED it and I would have loved you there because we would have stuck together!  These guys are WAY too good for me.)  We collectively have TONS of pictures but you will have to wait for most of them when we get home.  It is hard to upload them as we pay for internet by the hour!  We are exhausted now and going to bed - tomorrow we are going to do a "whatever we want day".  No wake up call for us!   And we were all so excited to hear about the arrival of Lucca!  Congrats to Gino, Amanda and Rocco!  Hope everything goes well for you over the next few weeks.  Gino/Amanda/Steve/MJ - we are waiting for some pictures! We miss you all.

Thursday May 28, 2010

Today was another great day.   We took a tour to a place called Kuranda where they have a train that goes all through the mountains in Cairns.   After that we took a sky rail down and the scenery was breathtaking.  It was a gorgeous day so that helped. We then went to a Crocodile tour and saw even more animals and got up and close to the kangaroos.   When we got home we finished off with a barbeque of mussels (Katie's favorite), hamburgers and hot dogs by the grill.  The pools here each have a nice grill area.  Mike, Katie, Sara and Shelley are getting ready to go swimming in the pool as it is absolutely beautiful tonight.   Tomorrow is the day we have been waiting for - we are finally going to the Great Barrier Reef.   We are excited for that.   The time is flying - 1 week from tommorrow we come back to reality.   But until then after we leave here we saved the best for last - Hamilton Island (Whitsundays).  That part is going to be all R&R - at the beaches and pools - weather permitting!  We are all starting to miss Hayley and Maggie but are sure Grandma and Grandpa are taking great care of them.  And lastly, we are POSITIVE our lawn looks perfect.  I will put up pictures in abit.  

Thursday May 27, 2010

We left for Cairns today at 4:30 am.   We added a passenger - one of Sara's friends - Shelley - she is a delight.  It was a challenging trip getting to the airport (long story) but we are here and boy is it beautiful.  So different from Sydney.  The weather today was so sunny and 80's.   We hung  around the pool for the most part.  Then we had a buffet dinner which was awesome.   Mike actually tried Cream of Celery soup - he did not like it!  Tony and Mike headed to the city to do some sightseeing while the girls are watching tv....Tomorrow we are doing  a day trip to Kuranda - a rainforest and more which I will learn tomorrow.   The apartment we are in is different but nicer I think in alot of ways.  All is good.    Oh and Tony got his seat he has been waiting for!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Okay today was the worst day weatherwise. It was on and off pouring all day. So we got on the bus, then the monorail and went to the aquarium today. We saw alot of fish and sharks that we will probably see at the Great Barrier Reef. After that Tony, Katie and Mike climbed the Sydney Tower. I was a chicken - it was way too high for me. But it was so cloudy they did not get as good a view as they hoped. Then we waited for what seemed like forever for the bus in the cold and wind and rain and came home for a bit. We just got back from eating at a great Italian restaurant right across the street from us. We are leaving here at 4:30 am - yikes and heading North to Cairns (pronounced Cans) where it is like going to Florida here - it is hotter the farther North you go. The forecast looks great. We get there at 10:15 am our time. Tony already has his beach chair picked out.

Tuesday May 25, 2010

Today was another not so nice weather day but it did not stop us. We did a 4 mile (or Sara claims it is 4 miles - seemed more like 8) walk from Coogee Beach where we are staying to Bondi Beach. The scenery is breathtaking. When we were done with our walk we went to Mooburger and got these gigantic burgers and great fries....and after that we went to the races! It was Randwick Raceway - horse racing. That was alot of fun and Mike won on the very first bet he placed. He won $22.80!!! There are 8 races in all - a great time. We also noticed UNSW (Sara's school) can be seen from the racetrack. If our feet weren't so tired we would have gone there to walk the campus - something I want to do before I leave. After the races, we just came back to our "pad" and hung out - played setback, ate - all the things we like to do. Tomorrow is our last day in Sydney - then we are headed up north to 90 degree weather (so we are told). Sara will be done tomorrow - yeah - so she will be in more of the photos going forward - ha. We are sharing one computer between the 5 of us so that is probably why we aren't as communicative. Hopefully when we get to Cairns they have wireless!

Monday May 24, 2010

Another great day here in Sydney.   This city is breathtaking and the views are unbelievable. The weather finally is looking up - we decided to make breakfast this morning - not an easy task with the minimum amount of utensils this apartment supplies!  Then we were off to the Tarango Zoo - it was fantastic and I never knew there were so many living creatures in this world.   Sara is busy studying so it is just Tony, Katie, Mike and me till she is done on Wed.

Sunday May 23, 2010

Today was another rainy day in Sydney to start. Sara brought us to the Market Place that had all kinds of souvenirs and stuff like tshirts etc for cheap (I taught her well :)).  After that the sun came up but it is cold here in Sydney - definitely not beach weather - that we will have on Thurs when we go to  Cairns.  So the rest of the day we went to Sydney Wildlife World.   It was awesome.  We saw koala bears and kangaroos and that was the best!

  

May 22, 2010

Our first morning in Sydney. Our apartment is excellent - roomy enough for all of us. It is right on a busy street so can get noisy but we are fine with that.

 But of course our first day and it is RAINING! Something we are told happens rarely here in Sydney.

So we decided to go to the movies and see Avatar in the Imax theatre. It was awesome.  I would see it again and again.

When we came out it was much nicer but alittle chilly. We walked around Darling Harbour.  Darling Harbour is like a big square around the harbour with loads of food/shops and fun.  We then took a water taxi around the harbour and a tour of the Syndey Opera House which is amazing from an architectural point of view.  It is a great story about a determined architect - so try to read about it.

Syndey Opera House

We Arrived Safe and Sound albeit tired

Well we are finally here. It was a long flight but worth it. We had big plans to get baloons and decorate our room but decided to disregard all advise from everyone and went to sleep. So we were sound asleep when she got here! She had to wake us up! So far it is beautiful and we were soooo excited to see Sara. More pictures to follow!

Today is the day

1 day to go

Well it is May 18th. Hard to believe we are leaving in 1 day. It has been alittle bit of a challenge getting ready so close to Katie's awesome graduation and the "dump" of stuff that comes home at the end of the semester (this time for good). Today we spend packing and getting last minute things we forgot.

5 days to go

Okay we have one important thing to do before we leave. This weekend we go to Boston for Katie's graduation. A beautiful weekend for sure.

7 days to go

Today Tony and I met with the travel agent - he explained everything to us and I am confident that it is all organized (not). Tony was all excited because when we get to Sydney - there will be a driver guy with a card "MATTIOLI". He said he always wanted one of those!! We got this nice folder too to carry all our paperwork. It is called Tapa - a cloth that is handmade in a village on the island of Vatulele in the Fijiian Islands.

10 days to go

Ten days from now we will venture out to see Sara down under and we can't be more excited. I decided that since everyone was so keenly interested in Sara's blog that we would create one for our trip.

First things first. We need luggage. So I bought these two suitcases so far.