Monday, January 11, 2010
We are home
We had a great trip home-the boys traveled really well and are recovering from jet lag. We had a great visit with our home exchange family in Vancouver and were greeted with a wonderful dinner and family visit when we walked in the door! Rod almost fell asleep holding baby Shyloh at 5 pm so we had an early night and got up and skied all day Sunday. We are back at work and dreaming of the beach AND try to figure out what next....Thanks to everyone that has been following our blog and keeping connected with us on our adventure!Hope to talk to you soon.....
Friday, January 8, 2010
Farewell to Lennox
Yesterday it was cloudy and not exactly beach weather but we couldn't stay away ... Jed showed up with parting gifts from his family, for the boys (and us too) We decided to spend the day at the beach and that is where we stayed all day!
Rod had his last go at surfing and decided the next time he does a surf holiday he is not going unless Kieth (and Mary) come along!
We ended the day with a bbq with Jed and Sophie joining us and a great visit with their mom! The kids were outside playing and saw this bug...even the bugs are beautiful here (can you tell we really don't want to leave...) We ended the day with cleaning and laundry until 2 in the morning
Well we got up early and continued to clean...we had a MAD scramble in the end, but made it to Sydney. We are staying downtown, so we made use of our time and squeezed in as much as we could! We started in Chinatown with something to eat-the first thing we saw was an outdoor food vendor so we enjoyed some squid on a stick.
We walked through downtown to the harbor. We saw"` the Rocks", we made it to the Opera house. We had a good view of the Harbor Street bridge (we actually had the most incredible view from the plane of the whole harbor on our flight in-there was not a cloud in the sky!)
We continued into the Royal Botanic Gardens-which were incredible. They reminded us of the sea wall in Vancouver and Stanley Park...except there were not cute fuzzy squirrels instead there were bats-the boys thought this was the coolest part of their day-especially when they started to wake up and fly around
On our way back to the hotel we happened to walk through Domain Park and we were fortunate to be in the right spot at the right time! There was an outdoor circus/festival performance, running through its dress rehearsal in the park for a performance tomorrow afternoon. It was a great way to end off our day
Rod had his last go at surfing and decided the next time he does a surf holiday he is not going unless Kieth (and Mary) come along!
We ended the day with a bbq with Jed and Sophie joining us and a great visit with their mom! The kids were outside playing and saw this bug...even the bugs are beautiful here (can you tell we really don't want to leave...) We ended the day with cleaning and laundry until 2 in the morning
Well we got up early and continued to clean...we had a MAD scramble in the end, but made it to Sydney. We are staying downtown, so we made use of our time and squeezed in as much as we could! We started in Chinatown with something to eat-the first thing we saw was an outdoor food vendor so we enjoyed some squid on a stick.
We walked through downtown to the harbor. We saw"` the Rocks", we made it to the Opera house. We had a good view of the Harbor Street bridge (we actually had the most incredible view from the plane of the whole harbor on our flight in-there was not a cloud in the sky!)
We continued into the Royal Botanic Gardens-which were incredible. They reminded us of the sea wall in Vancouver and Stanley Park...except there were not cute fuzzy squirrels instead there were bats-the boys thought this was the coolest part of their day-especially when they started to wake up and fly around
On our way back to the hotel we happened to walk through Domain Park and we were fortunate to be in the right spot at the right time! There was an outdoor circus/festival performance, running through its dress rehearsal in the park for a performance tomorrow afternoon. It was a great way to end off our day
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
2 days left :0(
With only 2 days left, not much need for explanation as to what we did most of the day....
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Rainy Days
The weather has been rainy for a couple of days so apart from getting school work done we have been spending time hiking. Yesterday morning we started at The Pat Morton lookout. We started from the parking lot and noticed surfers in the water & dolphins playing playing right beside them in the surf. If you want to see the dolphins click on the photo (and get a magnifying glass-looks like a zoom lens is next on the wish list)It was incredible!
When we got to the top of the lookout, we took a picture of Lennox-even beautiful on a cloudy day.
We continued to hike to Boulder Beach. This has been our running route for the past month and the boys had not been on it-it will be pretty hard to beat this scenery!
The boys grew tired of this after about 2 hours...so we headed to Ballina. Stir and Zay headed for the skate park and the rest of us exploring a new beach-Shelly beach...very quickly we understood where the name came from.
We headed home and had a bbq and played games. This trip has been so incredible. We feel so blessed to have had such an incredible exchange to such a beautiful part of the world but also for the time we have been able to spent together as a family!
Today we woke up to more rain and clouds, but by 11:30 it cleared up. We headed to the beach where we played until 5:00...We are doing our best to get every minute of sunshine as we hear it is soggy and cold at home! :0(
When we got to the top of the lookout, we took a picture of Lennox-even beautiful on a cloudy day.
We continued to hike to Boulder Beach. This has been our running route for the past month and the boys had not been on it-it will be pretty hard to beat this scenery!
The boys grew tired of this after about 2 hours...so we headed to Ballina. Stir and Zay headed for the skate park and the rest of us exploring a new beach-Shelly beach...very quickly we understood where the name came from.
We headed home and had a bbq and played games. This trip has been so incredible. We feel so blessed to have had such an incredible exchange to such a beautiful part of the world but also for the time we have been able to spent together as a family!
Today we woke up to more rain and clouds, but by 11:30 it cleared up. We headed to the beach where we played until 5:00...We are doing our best to get every minute of sunshine as we hear it is soggy and cold at home! :0(
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Bring your own Wine
We had a great day just hanging with the boys-It looked like it was over cast so we headed for the skate park. It cleared up and got hot quickly so we went to the pool and water slides for the rest of the day...it was incredibly relaxing
We went out for dinner to a great little Mexican restaurant and discovered in Australia you can bring your own bottle of wine with you and pay a corking fee of $1.50/head. It was great....we had the conversation that we hoped Shelley and Graeme knew that this was not a regular occurrence in Canada
......
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Dalwood Falls Alstonville
What an amazing day... Jed took us to a local hangout about 2o minutes outside of Lennox Head. We knew we were on local turf when Jed stopped to explain that the no trespassing sign was really just a disclaimer from the Shire council to remove them from any legal responsibility should someone get injured. It really wasn't private property.
The swimming hole was an amazing setting only a short walk from a back country road. We all had a blast plunging into the freshwater. Jaxon did not miss a beat and was right in there with the other boys. Stirling was flipping and diving from 20 foot ledges and even Mom and Dad did some cliff jumping.
Jed and Isaiah hit the highest ledge available just to keep things interesting....(well worth clicking on this pic so you get a close up of just how high this jump is.)
A fun day had by all that ended with a barby and a sleep over with the boys new idol, Jed. He definitely has our vote for tour guide of the year.
The swimming hole was an amazing setting only a short walk from a back country road. We all had a blast plunging into the freshwater. Jaxon did not miss a beat and was right in there with the other boys. Stirling was flipping and diving from 20 foot ledges and even Mom and Dad did some cliff jumping.
Jed and Isaiah hit the highest ledge available just to keep things interesting....(well worth clicking on this pic so you get a close up of just how high this jump is.)
A fun day had by all that ended with a barby and a sleep over with the boys new idol, Jed. He definitely has our vote for tour guide of the year.
Friday, January 1, 2010
New Years Day
After a few days of rain we spent yesterday on the beach to make up for lost sun and we all got a little over sun baked. So today we packed up and headed south and started with a couple of skate parks. The kids skated while Mom and dad relaxed with the Scrabble board. From Balina we headed to Evans Head and another skate park.
We also had to hit the Fish and Chips place in Evans Head that was recommended by Jed (Our thirteen year old Aussie tour guide). More greasy fries and deep fried fish than was called for in the New Years diet, but really it wasn't quite New Years in Canada so we were alright.
We then headed further south and ended the day in Yamba. It was spectacular with beautiful beaches, coves and tidal pools.Exploring the tidal pools with the boys was a definite high-light. The Rock pool was also very cool and a fun place to cool off.
Jaxon has been the sandcastle King since we arrived in Aus and the pics of his sand castle below were taken by big bro Stirling. We planned on making a couple midnight calls when we got home but it was already 2 am in Canada by the time we got back to Lennox Head. Happy New Years to all from the Peters Down under.
We also had to hit the Fish and Chips place in Evans Head that was recommended by Jed (Our thirteen year old Aussie tour guide). More greasy fries and deep fried fish than was called for in the New Years diet, but really it wasn't quite New Years in Canada so we were alright.
We then headed further south and ended the day in Yamba. It was spectacular with beautiful beaches, coves and tidal pools.Exploring the tidal pools with the boys was a definite high-light. The Rock pool was also very cool and a fun place to cool off.
Jaxon has been the sandcastle King since we arrived in Aus and the pics of his sand castle below were taken by big bro Stirling. We planned on making a couple midnight calls when we got home but it was already 2 am in Canada by the time we got back to Lennox Head. Happy New Years to all from the Peters Down under.
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