Our Adventure

WOOO HOOO I’ve started packin’

carriensam — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:00:01 +0000

We’re comin’ HOME!! Just in time for the holidays. It’s been an incredible trip and we’ve learned and seen a lot. We didn’t let any grass grow under our feet that’s for sure. We’ve all had an experience of a lifetime. We’ve seen things that otherwise we’d never get a glimpse of and yet I’m excited to be packing up and heading back to the USA!!

I want to thank all of you for visiting our site and taking interest in our Aussie Adventure. I’ve absolutely loved this blog and loved hearing from all of you. This was a perfect venue to keep in touch and keep you updated on our daily ventures.

Cheers!

our day in Melbourne

carriensam — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:50:17 +0000

Scott, Sammy and I walked to several different parts of the city today just to explore the area. We rode the free city tram just to cover more ground. We were able to go to Burke Street which has a ton of shopping, a couple of parks (we found one actual playground, Sammy got to play in there for a few minutes) we didn’t stay long in the parks though because the flies were so BAD. I’ve never seen so many flies flock to people like the do in Melbourne. They’re big and pesty. One lady walked by me and she had at least 14 of them sitting on the back of her shirt. They were sitting on Sammy’s stroller. It was irritating to say the least.

We had lunch in China Town and for dinner we ate Indian food, which btw I’ve never eaten before today. I ordered lamb in a creamy sauce and Scott had a chicken curry dish-mine was better.

SIDENOTE: BTW, I do NOT want to hear about the weight gain when I return home. We’ve had to eat out for all of our meals for over a week. I haven’t had access to a kitchen since we left Brisbane. It’s been very difficult making wise decisions and to be honest we’ve been trying some new dishes since we’re here. AND, I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. It’s back to the grind once I return home so I’m not too worried about it.

Oh yeah, Sammy got his picture made with Santa here in Australia. He wasn’t a big fan of him so I had to sit with Sammy in Santa’s lap. LOL While Sammy was waiting he was able to watch a couple of window displays of “elves working” and a “talking tree”. The talking tree’s name was David and he was trying his best to get Sammy to like him. David, the tree, kept saying “Sammy, don’t be shy” and of course Sammy wasn’t keen on him knowing his name. That was funny. Sammy really didn’t want anything to do with that tree.

Here are a few pictures. There’s a couple of pictures of China Town, the talking tree and the window display from one of the department stores. The theme was a Christmas Olivia. She was cute and Sammy kept pressing his face against that nasty glass. (sorry about the reflection, it’s difficult taking pictures of a window display)

City of Melbourne

carriensam — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:25:19 +0000

After Sammy’s nap I decided to take Sammy across the river to the Southgate precinct. It’s an area full of shops and cafes. We went through the precinct, then to a couple of parks, passed through more of the city and then went to the exhibition hall. The exhibition hall was having a free AC/DC exhibition that I thought Sammy would enjoy. HA! I enjoyed it and he did kick his feet to the music.

I’ve included a picture of the exhibition hall and a couple of pictures from the AC/DC exhibit. The first one is a display of three of their outfit/costumes and one is a letter from the original vocalist who died and was replaced by Brian Johnson.

Here’s a picture of their Music Bowl. It’s the largest outside auditorium in Aussie.

Once Scott got home from work we had to grab dinner. We went to a trendy little Mexican restaurant on Barclay. After dinner we walked to the beach to watch the sunset.

Melbourne Aquarium

carriensam — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:18:13 +0000

Sammy and I visited the aquarium this morning. The coolest thing there were the penguins. They were truly adorable. Anyway, here are few pictures from our day so far.

I pulled this one out of the gallery to point out the penguin sitting on an egg. These parents were real protective.

LOOK it’s Nemo-I found him :-)

Peek-A-Boo I see you!

We’re now in Melbourne

carriensam — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:40:34 +0000

Thank goodness this is our last trip before we head home. We flew out of Sydney around 4:00 pm yesterday and arrived around 5:30 pm. It was so cold here last night. I had to put my sweater on and Sammy had his little windbreaker.

About Melbourne…once we arrived at the hotel we pretty much freshened up, put Sammy’s jacket on and left. We hit the ground runnin’. We covered a lot of the city last night and I have to say I think we’re missing something because I’m not a big fan of Melbourne at this point. It’s kinda dirty, but it has extremely trendy, high end stores tucked in alleyways everywhere…very strange. It kinda makes you scared to walk through the alley to get to the little shops. Oh well, I’ll go exploring again today while Scott goes to his meetings. I’m SURE we’ve missed something. I know Sammy and I will go to the aquarium today and across the river to some boutiques and cafes. I also plan on taking him to the park so he can run around. He hasn’t had much running around time since Sydney…poor guy. The city is just not suitable for kids.

Here are some pictures of some buildings that caught my attention and a picture of a cable car. Cable cars are everywhere in this city.

Darling Harbour, Sydney, AU

carriensam — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:27:39 +0000

While Scott worked Sammy and I took the ferry over to Darling Harbour. This is where the aquarium is but we didn’t have time to go since we had to be back at the hotel at 12:30. :-(

Here are a few pictures I took on the way there and a few boats that were docked. They were beautiful boats. Some of them were all glass.

It’s Monday here in Sydney

carriensam — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:43:43 +0000

Scott has to go to work this morning so Sammy and I are on our own. I’m thinking of catching the ferry and visiting a few recommended places. I’ll keep ya posted on the places we’re able to see. It’s going to be a rushed day though since we fly to Melbourne today. We’re packing up this morning and flying out at 4:00 pm. We wont be able to do much but we’ll do as much as time allows. I’m sure I’ll be able to post more once we get settled in Melbourne. Talk to ya then.

Sydney Zoo and later on that day

carriensam — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 10:21:20 +0000

Today we took the ferry over to the Sidney Zoo. We only had ’til 2:00 pm to get through the zoo because we were meeting several people from Scott’s work for pizza and beer. They ordered several types of pizza. I think you would all be impressed with the pizza we ventured to eat. We had kangaroo, emu, Crocodile, surf and turf and a sausage pizza. The emu meat on the pizza tasted like roast beef or somethin’, the crocodile was kinda bland and the kangaroo tasted a little gamey (stringy like) They were all good, but not something I’d order again. :-) But kudos to us for trying it. In addition to the pizza I ordered a greek salad. It was very good until the end. Thank GOD other people shared this salad with me because after they took their portions I got my salad back and there was a live thing in it. I don’t know what the hell it was, really! But it was NOT a fly. One of the Aussie’s blurted out that he thought it was a leach…a LEACH are you freakin’ kiddin’ me!! It was turnin’ and twistin’ around like a big creepy worm thing WHATEVER I can’t talk about it any longer. I’ll move on to post my pictures. Especially since I still have a weird aftertaste in my mouth. I’m sure it’s psychosomatic at this point. YUCKY!

Scott and I were able to let Sammy experience an unusual koala encounter. It was the largest koala we’ve ran into thus far so we had to snap a shot of him.

After that we saw this creepy bird. It’s categorized as one of the most dangerous birds in the world. But look at him…look at his feet, look at the top of his head (it’s not feathery, it looks hard like a hoof on a horse)

Look at these giraffes. Look at the background in one these pictures. There’s the giraffe and then the Sydney Opera house is in the background. Cool, huh? The zoo is located right in the city.

I’ve also included some other pictures from the zoo.

Carnival

carriensam — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:59:56 +0000

At the end of the day we stopped off at the carnival that’s located on the Harbour Bay. Sammy enjoyed watching all the fast rides and he said that the bumper cars were “cool”.

Cruise Ship

carriensam — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:51:11 +0000

Check out this cruise ship in Harbour Bay. I’ve never seen a ship this large. Check out the rescue boats hanging on the side. These pictures do not give justice to this ship. It was extraordinary. Look how large it is up to the Sydney Opera House and look at all the people.