Goodbye Sydney

It was a wild ride, but it is time to go. We spent a little time hanging out on Daddy's suitcase while Daddy's snorkeling stuff dried. Then it was off to the airport ....

Snorkeling!!

Daddy spentt he whole morning snorkeling, and he even let us try his gear! Pony wore the mask, and Green Car tried the snorkel. He saw a lot of fish, including a 3 foot gruper and a 2.5 ft manta ray!

Another Beautiful Shot

This is the entrance to Sydney Harbor, looking out into the Pacific ocean. Daddy let us take a LOT of pictures of all the pretty scenery :)

Sydney Opera House at Sunrise

Beautiful, isn't it?

Sydney Harbor Bridge

It is big and beautiful, and for a mere $200 you can be strapped into a harness and climb up the arch to the very top!

Ocean Liner

The 'Queen Victoria' ocean liner in the Sydney harbor.

The Manly Ferry

One of the most popular things for tourists to do in Sydney is to take the ferry from Sydney's inner harbor (by the opera house) to Manly, which is a town by the mouth of Sydney bay with beautiful beaches and views of the ocean. Since we fly home today (hooray!!) we went to Manly very early in order to snorkel. We got to sit on the bag of snorkeling gear and guard it :)

Italian for Dinner

After seeing Bondsi Beach, we stopped for some REALY good Italian food. Daddy said he knew it was really good, because one of the people with us from his office was from Italy, and SHE said it was really good Italian food :)

Bondi Beach

The most famous beach in Sydney is Bondi Beach. Daddy went there for a walk and for dinner with friends from work. The beach was very pretty :)

A New Friend

Today, we were joined by a new friend! He is an Australian buddy who is holding a boomerang. We can't wait for him to come home with us and see the snow - he has never seen snow before in his life!!

Daddy says he is SO excited to be going home tomorrow, and so are we! We can't wait to see John and Mark and play with them and tell them all of our adventures :)

Snorkeling Pictures

Daddy didn’t have an underwater camera, but he did find a site to show us what he saw snorkeling yesterday.  This web page described the place where he snorkeled:

 

http://www.sydneynature.com/snorkel/clovelly.html

 

Daddy said he say most of the fish listed on this page (including bluey), although he did not see an octopus.  

 

While he was snorkeling, he found a kids snorkel, which he is bringing home for John or Mark to try if they want to J

Emergency Repair

Before heading to bed, we helped Daddy make an emergency repair to his suitcase. The handle had pulled out traveling to Sydney because of pulling it up stairs with his dive weights inside. So he borrowed some tools from the office, and he fixed it up like new :)

Dinner in our Room

We had a quick diner in our room tonight because Daddy wanted to turn in early. It was a long day starting early with taking the first bus out to a beach to go snorkeling at sunrise (Daddy didn't bring us or his camera). Daddy told us afterward that he saw 2 dozen kinds of fish - it was great! But now he's tired so it is bed time.

A Visitor at the Window

While Daddy was posting pictures on the blog, he heard a tapping at the window. We looked over and there was one of our friends from the park, perched on the outside window ledge :)

Time for Chores

Even when you are traveling around the world, you still need to do laundry :)

Meat, meat, meat!

Dinner tonight was at a Brazilian BBQ right off the beach. We ate a lot of meat, and pineapple roasted over the open flame (yum!). Very fun wime with a lot of laughs.

Beach Walk

After snorkeling,Daddy and his work buddies went for a walk along the shore. It was a very pretty walk, and Daddy said he really wished that Mommy was there with him. Fortunately, the beach was very easy to reach by bus, so hopefully we can go again.

The Australian Coast

Daddy was able to go snorkeling after work and we got to come along too (yippee). Unfortunately the waves were very rough, so the visibility wasn't as good as usual (but he still saw a LOT of fish, including a 2 foot bright blue grouper). We got to sit on the shore and look out at the beautiful views - it was quite scenic :)

Going to Bed

It was a long, full day, and we were so happy when Daddy finally tucked us into bed. The hotel room as a twiin bed and a double bed, so we geta a whole bed to ourselves! (we let Daddy have the bigger bed).

Good night!

Sydney Tower

Right in the middle of the city is the Sydney Tower. It is about 300 meters tall, and is very visible from everywhere. The black dots in the picture is a group of the flying foxes (bats).

Battleship

In the harbor on the other side of the peninsula from the opera house sat 3 HUGE battleships! They were a pretty cool sight to see :)

A Classic Sydney Shot

Here we are, Pony and Green Car. Overlooking the Sydney harbor, the opera house and the bay bridge. A very pretty scene indeed!

Another Australian Bird

This bird had a very long beak. Daddy thought it might have been an Ibis, but he wasn't completely sure.

Australian Parrots

These funny (and loud!) guys were all over the place. They were quite unafraid of people, and Daddy got up really close. We wanted to be in the picture with them, but Daddy was afraid that they might try to snatch us and fly away with us, so we hid behind Daddy while he took the picture.

Flying Foxes

When Daddy left work, one of his coworkers told him to watch the skies for flying foxes as he went through the park. Daddy thought he was kidding, But he was not. In evening, thousands of huge bats with heads shaped like foxes come swooping over Sydney's skies and feast on fruit in the trees in the park. They were the biggest bats that Daddy had ever seen (but it was hard to get a good picture of one up close)

Towering Cathedral

In the middle of the park :)

Beautiful Fountain in Hyde Park

Even though we really wanted to go swimming, daddy would not let us.

A Walk in the Park

After work, to try to fight jetlag, we went for a walk down through the park. There were beautiful old trees which lined an avenue used by walkers and joggers.

The Heart of Sydney

This morning, after the rain stopped, it was obvious that we were in a pretty nice location. Directly opposite out hotel is Hyde Park, which is huge and beautiful. There are many monuments, including this one which we see right from our window.

Arrival in Sydney

We all survived the flight, and then we hoped off in Sydney. There were a lot of people waiting for their bags, but we finally got our and took off for the train to the city.

Leaving the Bangkok Airport

Daddy helped us find our seat, and we settled in for the 9 hour flight. The planes at the airport were HUGE! It was obvious that they were all getting ready to go to far away places :)

Goodbye to the Hotel Lobby

Just because it was so interesting, Daddy took a couple of pictures of the hotel lobby while we were getting ready to get onto the bus headed for the airport.  This was certainly a nice place to visit!

Statues

We stopped to look at a Chinese dog statue (Daddy let us take the picture of that one), and another Asian statue of some kind.  These decorations are very different from what we are used to seeing back home, and we are so glad that John and Mark let us go with Daddy so we could see these strange and interesting things!

Dragonfruit and Guava Joice

Breakfast came early this morning (3:00 AM) since Daddy’s clock had not adjusted to the time zone.  There was GREEN juice which was guava juice, and a white fruit with dark black seeds called Dragonfruit (it didn’t taste very good Daddy said).  Daddy said the milk tasted different from what he was used to (he wondered if it was from a cow).  But all in all, a good breakfast J

Admiring Art

The hotel was very modern, and everything about it was intended to look beautiful.  This is a picture we took of the top part of the registration desk in the middle of the lobby!  It was all very shiny and ornate.  We spent most of the day looking forward to bed because we were so sleepy from the night before J

Bus Ride to the Hotel

As soon as we stepped out of the air-conditioned airport, it was obvious that we were in South-East Asia.  It was warm and muggy!  We hopped on board the bus to the hotel, and watched out the font of the window at the very busy traffic.  Fortunately, our hotel was close by.

Not in Kansas Anymore

It was fascinating looking at the signs around the airport.  We couldn’t even understand the letters, let along the words!

Bangkok Airport

Well, the sleep thing didn’t go as well as we had hoped.  Daddy tossed and turned a lot, and we ended up finally giving up around 3:00 AM, Thailand time.  We ended up watching a couple of documentaries about Bangkok, Thailand, which were very interesting!  Then we arrives at the airport.  The artwork was beautiful and everything was ornate.

Taking off for Bangkok

Our seat seemed very comfortable (for a pony and a car), and we settled in for the long flight. We will be flying over Europe, part of Russia, part of China and India, and then into Thailand.

Out the Airplane Window

We walked down the longest tarmac we have ever seen and got onto the airplane. There were lots and lots of flight attendants, and we got our seat.

Boarding the plane

The plane for the flight to Bangkok is really, really BIG!! There are two levels for passengers at the front of the plane (two different floors). Even though it is 11:30 AM in London it is 6:30 PM in Bangkok, so we are going to try to start settling down to go to sleep for he night in 3-4 hours.

Heading back to the Airport

After packing our bags again, we jumped on the bus back to the airport. It was one of those standard British buses with blue seats and yellow poles. Today we fly to Bangkok, which is a 12 hour flight crossing 7 time zones! Daddy tells us that basically if we are going to change to the right time zone, we need to fall asleep for the night when our bodies think it is 3:00. Crazy! We will see how it goes (fortunately we like to sleep).

London Heathrow Marriott

After landing in London last night, we took a bus to the airport Marriott. It was a 'lovely' room and Daddy let us sleep in untill 7:45!

Quick Bite at the Lounge

After taking a taxi to the airport, we checked in on an earlier flight to London (yeah!) We grabbed a quick bite at the airport lounge before getting on the airplane.

The Lights of Glasgow

We asked very politely, so Daddy let us take one more picture of the beautiful light canopied street next to the Art Museum. It really was very pretty at night!

Helping to Pack

Well, Glasgow was fun but now it is time to pack up and move on. We helped Daddy get his bags packed at the hotel, and then head off to another day of meetings. Tonight we fly out to London.

Giving a Presentation

There was a projector in the room, and we both enjoyed giving a presentation on our worldwide adventures.

Out the window from the Meeting Room

The room where Daddy had his all day meeting was on the top floor, and it had a very pretty view of the city skyline. It really is a beautiful city ... Daddy thinks Mommy would really like it. :)

Ben Spead
(sent from my handheld device)

The Square in Glasgow

This morning, Daddy walked through a different section of Glasgow and saw the beautiful square in the center of town. Daddy was nice enough to let us take the picture (which is why he is not in it).