So we made it back from Australia! It was an amazing experience and it is still crazy to think that we were really there! It was so great to see Travis & Michelle & their super cute kiddos and we have to thank Travis for planning the best vacation for us! You guys are the best! We owe you BIG time!
I also want to thank My Mom, Clint's Mom, Camie & Jeff, & Kent & Kim for taking such great care of our boys while we were gone! They too had the time of their lives playing with grandma's, cousins, and aunts & uncles. You guys are the reason we were able to go and have such a great time and not have to worry about our boys being taken care of! We are so lucky to have the best families ever! We love you guys and owe all of you more than you'll ever know!
So it all started Sunday June 28th when we left home, after a VERY long layover in LA and one in Auckland we finally made it to Melbourne about 3:30 Tuesday afternoon (Monday didn't exist for us that week, wierd huh?). Travis picked us up at the airport and after going back to their house and getting cleaned up we went into downtown Melbourne. It is a beautiful city and I wish we could've spent a little more time there, it has some beautiful buildings and was really fun to see at night!
Wednesday morning we got up early and headed to the airport and flew to Sydney. We had an amazing hotel right next to the harbor so that day we walked around Circular Quay, walked around the Sydney Opera House, and then took a ferry to Darling Harbor where we went to the Sydney Aquarium and the Sydney Wildlife World (this is probably where I missed my boys the most because they would've loved, loved, loved these places) I am pretty sure I will never see another aquarium that even comes close to this one, it was amazing!
Then on Thursday we got up and went to the Sydney Temple. I'm really glad we decided to do this, it was so nice, and it's always fun for me to try to go to the temple whenever we go somewhere new. I am pretty shocked that we didn't get sick from going because I don't think I've ever heard as much coughing and nose blowing as I heard in that session! After our $100 cab fare (most expensive temple visit to date) we came back and decided to go to the Sydney Tower, it's kind of like the Stratosphere in Vegas, it was really a great way to view Sydney! Then we went on OzTrek which is a virtual reality ride across Australia, it was really fun. Later that night I went up to the roof of our hotel so I could take some pictures of the opera house at night and after I'd been up there for about 2 minutes some fireworks started going off in the harbor! It was so awesome and definitely my favorite thing in Sydney, I mean really who gets to see fireworks in the Sydney Harbor?
On Friday we woke up and went to the airport to fly to Cairns. It is so beautiful there, I wish any of my pictures did it justice. We stayed in Trinity Beach at these apartments called On The Beach, which were literally steps away from the beach. We had the most beautiful view of the ocean, it was amazing! We mostly just hung out and walked on the beach and ate that night.
Travis & Michelle met up with us in Cairns late Friday night and on Saturday we got up and headed into Cairns to go on our Great Barrier Reef boat trip. It was so amazing! You can't even imagine how beautiful the reef is. There are so many fish and coral, it was breathtaking! Clint and Travis scuba dived...Crazy! Michelle and I just opted for snorkeling. It was by far the most amazing thing we did and saw while we were in Australia! It was the 4th of July that day and guess what we actually got to see fireworks that night even though we were in another country. The US Navy was there or something so they did fireworks for them. It was really great because we thought we'd miss all the fireworks and instead I got to see them 2 nights! Crazy huh?!?
On Sunday we got up and decided to go on a Crocodile River Cruise. It was really neat. We saw quite a few crocodiles and learned alot about them. It was a lot of fun. That night Clint and I went for a walk on the beach and I'm not going to lie to you I was scared to death. I know it's supposed to be all romantic and stuff but I just kept thinking I was gonna step on something really gross or get pinched by a crab or who knows what else. My heart was beating so fast and poor Clint all he could do was laugh at me! After that we went out with Travis & Michelle and just had some fun chatting and eating!
Monday morning Clint and I got up super early and went to the beach because Clint really wanted to swim in the ocean again before we left. It was not super warm that early in the morning but he did manage to drag me in with him for a few minutes. After that we all decided to go golfing before we flew out of Cairns. It was a lot of fun, especially watching Clint who was determined to open a coconut he found on the golf course, but after only 2 or 3 holes and with only the cart and clubs he managed to get it open, and Travis actually dared to eat some of it. Gross. It was a really fun day of golfing and ocean and I was really sad to leave Cairns.
After a short layover in Brisbane we made it back to Melbourne and after a few hours sleep we got up early and stopped at the market on our way to the airport. You should've seen the produce at this market, it was craziness! I've never seen so much fruit, I wish we had something like that back here it was really neat. We had to leave for our flight before a lot of the market opened but not before we got some really great freshly made doughnuts! We left Melbourne about 10 am Tuesday morning and got to LA about 9am Tuesday morning so although we lost a Monday going there, we got 2 Tuesdays coming back!
We stayed in LA Tuesday night which was really nice we just napped, swam, and slept. Oh yeah and had a really good dinner and the best dessert ever! (One thing Australia doesn't have us beat on is good food! In my opinion anyways!) It definitely helped us to be ready for real life when we came back.
It was a really great vacation and we are so lucky to have such great friends that would let us come hang out with them in Australia before they moved back! Thank you so mcuh Travis & Michelle, you guys really are the best! And also I need to thank Clint for being the best husband ever and putting up with all my craziness! I could not make it through life without you there to calm me down. I love you more than you'll ever know!
Here are some pics from our trip. We don't really have any good ones but oh well, I guess next time we'll just have to put Kim in our suitcase so she can take some good pics for us!
I also want to thank My Mom, Clint's Mom, Camie & Jeff, & Kent & Kim for taking such great care of our boys while we were gone! They too had the time of their lives playing with grandma's, cousins, and aunts & uncles. You guys are the reason we were able to go and have such a great time and not have to worry about our boys being taken care of! We are so lucky to have the best families ever! We love you guys and owe all of you more than you'll ever know!
So it all started Sunday June 28th when we left home, after a VERY long layover in LA and one in Auckland we finally made it to Melbourne about 3:30 Tuesday afternoon (Monday didn't exist for us that week, wierd huh?). Travis picked us up at the airport and after going back to their house and getting cleaned up we went into downtown Melbourne. It is a beautiful city and I wish we could've spent a little more time there, it has some beautiful buildings and was really fun to see at night!
Wednesday morning we got up early and headed to the airport and flew to Sydney. We had an amazing hotel right next to the harbor so that day we walked around Circular Quay, walked around the Sydney Opera House, and then took a ferry to Darling Harbor where we went to the Sydney Aquarium and the Sydney Wildlife World (this is probably where I missed my boys the most because they would've loved, loved, loved these places) I am pretty sure I will never see another aquarium that even comes close to this one, it was amazing!
Then on Thursday we got up and went to the Sydney Temple. I'm really glad we decided to do this, it was so nice, and it's always fun for me to try to go to the temple whenever we go somewhere new. I am pretty shocked that we didn't get sick from going because I don't think I've ever heard as much coughing and nose blowing as I heard in that session! After our $100 cab fare (most expensive temple visit to date) we came back and decided to go to the Sydney Tower, it's kind of like the Stratosphere in Vegas, it was really a great way to view Sydney! Then we went on OzTrek which is a virtual reality ride across Australia, it was really fun. Later that night I went up to the roof of our hotel so I could take some pictures of the opera house at night and after I'd been up there for about 2 minutes some fireworks started going off in the harbor! It was so awesome and definitely my favorite thing in Sydney, I mean really who gets to see fireworks in the Sydney Harbor?
On Friday we woke up and went to the airport to fly to Cairns. It is so beautiful there, I wish any of my pictures did it justice. We stayed in Trinity Beach at these apartments called On The Beach, which were literally steps away from the beach. We had the most beautiful view of the ocean, it was amazing! We mostly just hung out and walked on the beach and ate that night.
Travis & Michelle met up with us in Cairns late Friday night and on Saturday we got up and headed into Cairns to go on our Great Barrier Reef boat trip. It was so amazing! You can't even imagine how beautiful the reef is. There are so many fish and coral, it was breathtaking! Clint and Travis scuba dived...Crazy! Michelle and I just opted for snorkeling. It was by far the most amazing thing we did and saw while we were in Australia! It was the 4th of July that day and guess what we actually got to see fireworks that night even though we were in another country. The US Navy was there or something so they did fireworks for them. It was really great because we thought we'd miss all the fireworks and instead I got to see them 2 nights! Crazy huh?!?
On Sunday we got up and decided to go on a Crocodile River Cruise. It was really neat. We saw quite a few crocodiles and learned alot about them. It was a lot of fun. That night Clint and I went for a walk on the beach and I'm not going to lie to you I was scared to death. I know it's supposed to be all romantic and stuff but I just kept thinking I was gonna step on something really gross or get pinched by a crab or who knows what else. My heart was beating so fast and poor Clint all he could do was laugh at me! After that we went out with Travis & Michelle and just had some fun chatting and eating!
Monday morning Clint and I got up super early and went to the beach because Clint really wanted to swim in the ocean again before we left. It was not super warm that early in the morning but he did manage to drag me in with him for a few minutes. After that we all decided to go golfing before we flew out of Cairns. It was a lot of fun, especially watching Clint who was determined to open a coconut he found on the golf course, but after only 2 or 3 holes and with only the cart and clubs he managed to get it open, and Travis actually dared to eat some of it. Gross. It was a really fun day of golfing and ocean and I was really sad to leave Cairns.
After a short layover in Brisbane we made it back to Melbourne and after a few hours sleep we got up early and stopped at the market on our way to the airport. You should've seen the produce at this market, it was craziness! I've never seen so much fruit, I wish we had something like that back here it was really neat. We had to leave for our flight before a lot of the market opened but not before we got some really great freshly made doughnuts! We left Melbourne about 10 am Tuesday morning and got to LA about 9am Tuesday morning so although we lost a Monday going there, we got 2 Tuesdays coming back!
We stayed in LA Tuesday night which was really nice we just napped, swam, and slept. Oh yeah and had a really good dinner and the best dessert ever! (One thing Australia doesn't have us beat on is good food! In my opinion anyways!) It definitely helped us to be ready for real life when we came back.
It was a really great vacation and we are so lucky to have such great friends that would let us come hang out with them in Australia before they moved back! Thank you so mcuh Travis & Michelle, you guys really are the best! And also I need to thank Clint for being the best husband ever and putting up with all my craziness! I could not make it through life without you there to calm me down. I love you more than you'll ever know!
Here are some pics from our trip. We don't really have any good ones but oh well, I guess next time we'll just have to put Kim in our suitcase so she can take some good pics for us!
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