Our last stop before arriving in Sydney was “The Entrance” only an hour or so out of Sydney, this sea side town is known as the “Pelican Capital of the World". Everyday at 3:00 pm a rather large gathering of these magnificent birds come to get their share of fish. This all started many years ago when the local sea food restaurant would throw out their scraps, everyday at the same time attracting the nearby pelicans. 
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| Port Stevens |
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| Port Stevens |
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| Port Stevens |
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Port Stevens
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One day, when they were late putting out the fish, the owner of the restaurant found that a large group had gathered outside and were waiting.Since that day, wild pelicans have been coming,
in droves, everyday at the same time, and the local community has now used this as an opportunity to educate people about Australian pelicans and also to keep an eye on the health and wellbeing of these giant birds. We really enjoyed participating in the feeding and, as you can see, we got lots of close up shots !
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| This one reminds me of an MC Escher drawing ! |
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| Another day, another great view of the coast line…. |
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| Sydney ! |
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| The view from the top of one of the Sydney Harbour Bridge Pylons |
Sydney ! We were very excited when we finally arrived in Sydney, there were so many things we looked forward to discovering with the kids ! We were also curious to see how much of it was still as we remembered it from when we were last there in 1998.
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| Matthew onboard the Endevour (replica) |
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| Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour |
What can we say ? Sydney is great fun, so much to see and do! Highlights were: Darling Harbour, taking a tour of the Opera House (truly worth all the hype!), climbing up and visiting the harbour bridge pylon museum, taking a cruise in the harbour, the maritime museum, climbing onboard a real life navy submarine and having a laugh at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum.
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SV First Lady carried Kay Cottee, the first woman who sailed around the world non stop.
Displayed in Sydney's Maritime Museum- we got to hop on board and visit inside ! |
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| Sydney Fish Market |
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| Having fun at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, Darling Harbour |
Other highlights included having an enchanted shopping day in the historic “Rocks district” and climbing up to see 'The Gap' (where Sydney harbour meets the Pacific Ocean). We thought it appropriate to get Meg up on a surf board at historic Manly beach, and the kids also enjoyed a swim at Bondi beach (where MC learned how to properly pronounce the name, she had been saying wrong all this time: It is pronounced “Bondai” NOT “Bondee” for those who care to know).
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| Meg learning to surf at Manly Beach, Sydney |
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| Circular Quays and the Harbour Bridge |
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| Darling Harbour |
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| Boarding a submarine, Sydney Maritime Museum |
The most memorable evening we got to spend in Sydney, as a family, was the one we shared with old friends from our Jakarta days. Tim and Francine and their three children. Their daughter Lara, was a playmate of Matthew’s, back when he was a toddler and it was really lovely to see them all.It brought back all sorts of happy memories of the early days in the lives of our children. Another wonderful reunion was when MC got to spend a magical star filled evening, sipping drinks by the majestic opera house with her dear friend Tracey, whom she had not seen since their teaching days together in Perth in 1997 !
The long and winding East Coast (part two): We left Sydney, splitting ourselves in two different directions: Mark heading North (flying), back to Brisbane to do Amelie’s sea trial with Angus (her new owner) and Rob (our broker), MC and the kids continuing with the drive South, along the scenic Great Ocean Road, for the 1380 km journey towards Melbourne. Being in no hurry, we took 8 days, stopping 3-4 times a day to take in the breathtaking views of vast and empty coast line, going for hikes and stopping at any tourist site that tickled our fancy.
We stayed off the main highway for most of it, taking the quiet scenic roads as much as possible, only getting lost once, or twice, but always making it to our cabin or hostel by dinner time. The highlights were: seeing a tiny echidna crossing the road ahead of us, stopping at Kiama Blow hole and swimming in the natural pools there, the colours of Ben Boyds National Park, shopping in a 19th century village (Central Tilba), visiting an old gold mine, walking through the wetlands in Sale, hiking at “The Prom” (Wilson’s Promontory), and visiting Phillips Island, spotting a few of the residents Little Penguins and learning a whole lot about the Antarctic at the excellent exhibit put on by the World Wild Life Federation: All three of us were wowed as we walked, surrounded by giant screens with sensational images of this glacial continent. We also got a real kick out of the Virtual Reality Experience which made it look like we were up close and personal with killer whales, seals and penguins ! The last stop before Melbourne was a delicious stop at Panny’s Chocolate Factory, which, of course, was amazing !
We arrived in Melbourne in time to soak up the Christmas spirit, and enjoy the company of many of our wonderful cruising friends, some of whom we had not seen since Fiji a year before, it was really a treat for us to get to spend time with each family, and our Christmas was made all the more special because of their good company. Meg was also interested to witness a real Australian past time: seeing how the Aussie kids spend a whole bunch of their summer holiday: In the ocean, participating in strenuous life saving and swimming programs- No wonder these guys do so well in the summer olympics !
We were house sitting for a couple of weeks, and got to meet and take care of Norman, a very energetic Pitbull ( Aussies call them Staffies), who kept us giggling and running (and hiding our belongings). Matthew enjoyed all the attention !
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| Ben Boyd National Parks |
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| Getting wet in the natural pool at Kiama Blow Hole |
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| Phillip Island |
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| Phillip Island |
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| Panny chocolate Factory, Phillip Island |
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| Virtual Reality, Antartic Exhibit, Phillip Island |
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| Brighton Beach Bath Houses, Melbourne |
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| Downtown graffiti, Melbourne |
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| Aussie's really do like to shorten everything ! |
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| Enjoing a "Hanukah hike" with our friends from SV Miss Behaving |
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| Christmas lunch with our friends from SV Seabatical |
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The tree surfing at the "Enchanted Gardens" near Melbourne
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Melbourne. We thought that since Australia was an old penal colony, we should take an afternoon to go and visit the Old Melbourne Goal, where Meghan was "arrested" !
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Matthew and Norman
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Perth, Western Australia, home again ! Nothing prepared us for the emotions we felt as we returned "home" to Perth on the "Eve of New Years Eve". It is only once we were there, surrounded by the sights, smells, sounds that it all came rushing back for Mark and I. For the first 48 hours, the kids had to put up with exclamation after exclamation, as a funny memory would pop into mind as we turned a familiar corner, "This is where we ran out of gas and had to push the car, remember?!", "This is where I used to take the train to go to work!", "This is the restaurant where we used to love to eat", "There is our house ! It hasn't changed a bit !" "There is the church where we were married!", on and on, like excited little children, we were in awe. Perth will always have one of the most special places in our hearts, and our hearts ached and swelled with emotion everyday.
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| Sailing a Hobie Cat on the Swan River, Perth |
The Indian Ocean, the hot burning sun, the laid back attitude, the miles and miles of white sandy beaches, the bohemian charm of Fremantle and its many historic buildings, its market…
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| Matthew meets a resident black swan, Swan River, Perth |
….all these filled us with renewed delight, but the best part of Perth, BY FAR, was being able to meet with old friends from another life time. Dave and Lyn, Michele, Lia and James, our sailing instructor and mentor Ian and his wife Deborah, Mark and Isla…all greeted us with open arms and we SO enjoyed sharing our stories and memories with them !
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| Movie in Kings Park with Dave, Lyn and their kids |
Another treat for our hearts and souls was to see our dear Ronnie again!
We LOVE this gal ! (Ronnie)
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Ronnie, whom we hired all those years ago, as Matthew's first therapist, when we lived in Jakarta.She lived with us for over a year and was there when Meghan was born. Nothing filled my heart more than to be able to share memories with her, reintroduce the kids to her (and meet her own adorable daughter and charming husband) and laugh and reminisce about our journey which all began with her (and Mike, Mark's cousin), almost 16 years ago ! Time flies! |
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| St Mary Star of the Sea where MC and Mark where married back in 1998 |
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| Cottesloe Beach |
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| New Years Sunset Dinner at Cottesloe Beach |
ROTTNEST ISLAND, Island of (Cute) 'RATS' ! One fun filled day was when we took the ferry across to Rottnest Island. We hired bikes and spend the day (7 am to 7pm) riding around the quiet road. (no cars, only a few tour buses are allowed) You could hardly wipe the smile from Matthew's face all day ! Meg loved meeting the resident quokkas (not actually rats, but little marsupials which are endemic to Rottnest)
While we were in Perth we filled our days with activities, going to the beach, sure, but also visiting the excellent King Tut exhibit, going to see a movie under the stars in Kings Park, Meg and MC went to see the excellent production of "Singing in the Rain" with Lyn and her daughter Emma and Mark and MC celebrated their 19th anniversary by visiting the church, and having dinner at one of our favourite spots near the beach. We are so pleased that we made the jump across Australia to come back to our second home, and we weren't disappointed !Tomorrow, we leave for Bali Indonesia, our first stop in our South East Asia adventure ! Stay tuned and, as always, thanks for reading! Lots of love from the 4Ms
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| Meg meeting a resident quokka on Rottnest Island |
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| A full day of cycling on Rottnest Island |
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| Rottnest Island |
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| King Skink, Rottnest Island |
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| Beautiful Rotto |
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| A memorable day riding on Rottnest Island |
