Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

Michael has been wanting to go to the Koala Sanctuary for a long time. I thought I'd be taking the kids to a little koala place by our house. I didn't know this 'little place' has been rated one of the top 10 zoos in the WORLD! Wow! And it's only 12 minutes from our house. I bought an annual membership and we're already planning a return trip since we didn't see it all in one day.

The big question was what to see first...
It was an overcast day, so Mary was prepared with her umbrella for when the drizzle came.
There was a barn section of the sanctuary where we were able to watch sheep dogs in action. It was really cool. One of the sheep dogs had 5 week old puppies that the boys cuddled with. They can't wait to do it again.
We ate lunch among the koalas and then listened to a presentation about koalas. We learned all sorts of things about koalas...like what to do if a koala jumps in our pool to cool off over the summer and can't get out. Apparently koalas are good swimmers but some pools are too steep for them to get out. (FYI- tie an empty milk carton to some string so it can grab on and get itself out of the pool).
An Australian python that our kids were a little too comfortable with in my opinion.
We found this great bib for Sara at the gift shop.

Here are some more of the highlights of our day at the koala sanctuary:

3 months

Dear Sara,

You are our sunshine.

Love,

Mom

Sara and such

It's been a while since I updated our blog. I'll get to my list of 'things to blog about' sometime soon. For now I thought I'd catch up on our latest pictures of our sweet baby. Here she is balancing on her daddy's hand:

She graduated from the sink to the tub for her bath although the verdict is still out as to which is better. She's still a bit too little for the tub in my opinion. Maybe we'll alternate.
Either way I love tubby time with this girl. It's our alone time after the other kids go to bed to chat about life.
She has got the cutest face...
Today is the last day of school before a two week winter break. Michael has made a list of activities for us to do over the next two weeks. Watch for pictures of our winter break adventures.
On the way to school this morning we spotted a huge kangaroo around the corner from our house. It was still in the same spot when I went home after dropping the kids off. Sadly, by the time I grabbed my camera and went back, it was gone. I noticed a wildlife officer patrolling the neighborhood for it too. One of these days I hope to actually have my camera on hand when we see a kangaroo by our house. How cool would that be?

A tea party

Today is the Queen's birthday. Well, kind of. Her actual birthday is on April 21st, but Australia celebrates it on the second Monday in June. We never argue with a day off of school. Unfortunately daddy still had to go to work.

Mary came up with a plan to have a tea party to celebrate the Queen's birthday. She read 'Tea for Ruby' to Sara while I set up, and then we had our lovely morning tea. On the menu for tea time was poppy seed muffins and orange juice. Simply delightful.

The boys were invited but respectfully declined when they discovered we were dressing up. They initially talked about a nerf gun ambush but in the end our tea party was peaceful.

Sweater weather

My iphone shows that Brisbane and London are the same temperature for two days running. Brisbane is experiencing a cold spell--the coldest in 10 years I'm told. I'm actually wearing a sweater today. Funny because when we moved here in February, it was so stinkin hot that I thought my sweater, scarf and boot wearing days were over for the next three years. No siree...I'm wearing a sweater and loving it!

Going home

Sunrise from our hotel room as we were packing to go home.

I included this picture to remind myself not to over pack next time. Does anyone else do that? It's a pain to haul too much luggage around--especially when we decide to take public transportation instead of hiring a car.

An interesting fact about Sydney: people say 'G'day' a lot more than they do in Brisbane.

The train in Brisbane.

Thanks for a great trip Sydney! G'day until next time!

*BTW, I forgot to mention that when we got home we were greeted by hundreds of baby spiders in our office. Gasp! A spider nest had hatched while we were away and our ceiling and walls were covered with tiny spiders. I had no idea that a spider nest could hold so many spiders. My camera card was full from the trip so I didn't even get a picture.

We've been meaning to call a pest control company to spray for quite some time now. These little spiders just moved that item up to top priority in a hurry. Luckily he came within an hour and our house is now pest free!

Ferry ride

Our ferry ride in Sydney was from Darling Harbour to Circular Quay. We got to go under the Harbour bridge and we had a great view of the Opera House. The older boys were thrilled when the boat picked up speed in the open waters and Luke was thrilled with the whole experience. Good times.

Sydney Aquarium

The Sydney Aquarium is located on Darling Harbour. Isn't that a great name? It really is darling too. I don't have much to say about the aquarium other than... it was fantastic and we had a great time!

(Luke and Mary with a massive shark)

Here we are on Darling Harbour after our visit to the aquarium waiting for our ferry back to Circular Quay.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

...is also called the 'Coat Hanger' because of its arch-shaped design. It opened in 1932 and is still the world's widest steel arch bridge. It carries eight vehicle lanes, two train lines, a pedestrian walkway and a cycleway.

We had the opportunity to take a taxi ride on it, a boat ride under it, and watch the light show on the Opera House that is projected from the top of it.

Sydney opera house

The opera house was a highlight of our trip. Every night they do a light show on the opera house and this was the view we had of it from our hotel room.

We walked along the water from the botanical gardens toward the opera house. The kids spotted a jellyfish in the water right after I took this picture.

Walking up the stairs to the opera house.
This picture is for Alex because I thought of him when I saw the cool bathrooms in the opera house. The stalls and the sinks follow the wave pattern.
Interesting fact: The opera houses's roof is constructed of 1,056,000 glazed white self cleaning granite tiles imported from Sweden. Hmmm... self cleaning tiles? I need to get me some of those.
It is an awesome building in an incredibly beautiful city. We're big fans!

Cindy in Sydney

Okay, I'll admit I was a little skeptical of traveling in Australia after our travels through Europe for the last three years. I couldn't imagine that a country this young could have the same magic for me. Boy, was I wrong. Our trip to Sydney was fantastic. Our kids are still asking when we get to go back. We took nearly 300 pictures in 3 days. It's been hard to narrow it down, but hopefully over the next few posts, you'll see the best of them.

I love this picture because it shows the Autumn colors in June. It's still hard for me to remember that it's not Summer because the sun is still shining and although it has cooled down a bit, it's not nearly as cool as the Autumn weather I'm used to.

We took a taxi to the Sydney temple. Absolutely beautiful.

Mary cutting Luke's fruit at breakfast. She is such a sweetie. We didn't ask her to do it, she just noticed that her brother's fruit was too big and walked over to take care of it for him.
Our family at the Sydney Opera house (more pictures of it soon) with the city in the background.
We walked through the beautiful botanical gardens hear the Opera house. I loved this amazing tree with the Ibis birds below it.
A monument to Captain Arthur Phillip (First Governor of New South Wales--1788-1792).