Our Final Post

Hi Everyone,

Our time here in Australia is winding down. Mom and Eddie's trip diving was amazing! They saw lots of tropical fish, sea cucumbers, beautiful coral, barracudas and even some whales!!! (See picture of whale's tail). That night, we went for dinner at a really cool local restaurant called Salsa. Our food was pricey but good. We had an eccentric French waiter who was quite fond of himself. After dinner, we went to see the infamous Cane Toad Races at the Iron Bar in Port Douglas. Eddie was selected to race a toad. If you are wondering how to race a toad, check out Utube and search toad racing. Eddie got to pick up his toad Ozzy, kiss it for good luck, and encourage the toad to jump off the table with a party blower, along side 4-5 other toads. It was hilarious!!! Too bad we left our camera at the hotel. IT was cool but Eddie got disqualified for scooping the toad with his hand. All in good fun.

Tuesday, we woke up pretty early to get a head start on our journey to Cape Tribulation. Our first stop was the Daintree river for a River Boat crocodile expedition. We saw some pretty awesome crocs in the wild- sooooooo cool. Our captain was a real outback type aussie and he let me (Kelly) drive the boat while smoked. He was sooooo great and could spot even hatchling crocs under trees in the mangroves. After our trip, we stopped along the path to get some photos in the rainforest under some giant leaves (take a look at the picture). We took the ferry over the river and drove on a crazy winding road up to Cape Tribulation. The drive was beautiful and the trip through the thick rainforest was well worth it. When we got to Cape Trib, we stopped at the beach and look out where the two world heritage sites collide (the great barrier reef and protected rainforest.) We stopped for lunch at a hidden restaurant in the back country called the cassowary cafe.

Tuesday night mom and I had a fantastic aboriginal inspired smoke ceremony spirit massage. It was incredible! Jesse and Eddie cooked our last dinner in Port Douglas.

On Wednesday morning, we got up pretty early to enjoy some of the day before heading to Cairns. Mom and Eddie did some shopping while Jesse and I had a great anniversary brekky at a local cafe (crazy fruits- it was good).

In the afternoon, we drove to Cairns and walked around a while. Jesse and I went to the lagoon for some sun while mom and Eddie shopped. We had a great anniversary dinner all four of us at an Italian restaurant on the Esplanade. We went to bed early, as our flight for Sydney left at 6am this morning.

Today, we were up really early and had a pretty good flight to Sydney. It's cold here, we're not used to it having been in the tropics for the last while. We are looking forward to coming home, but we will miss Australia lots. We've done so much and can't wait to share it all with you.

Hope you are all doing well and we will see you soon. This is our last post before our very long journey home tomorrow.

Lots of love,

From down under for the last time,

Kelly, Jesse, Rhonda and Eddie

The Last few days

Hey everyone

We've had a very busy/not so busy last few days. We'll start with a few days ago (the day after our last post). We took a trip to an aboriginal village called Kuranda. The way we got there... TRAIN. We took the Kuranda Scenic Railway (1000 years old) up the side of the mountain. The trip was quite breathtaking! Views seemed to go forever. The railway was built by hand up the side of the mountains. 15 tunnels (all dug by hand), and a number of bridges including a rather high one! We got to town and wandered around a bunch of little markets, and bought a few things, had some lunch, and then headed to the Skyrail (Gondola) to head down. This was a very cool way to head down the mountain. Hovering above the tree tops over the oldest rainforest in the world. What a view! We made a short stop on the way down where a ranger did a little tour and walk through a small part of the rainforest. We saw a tree that was over 1000 years old. It was easily 10 feet wide. He also showed us first hand how you can eat the green ants here! Well actually just their green butt... GROSS!!!

The next day we got up and checked out of our apartment and headed to down town Cairns and got a coffee, and wandered a cool market set up on the lagoon. Lots of things to see. Then we drove north about an hour to our last stop on this trip... Port Douglas. It's a beautiful town with lots of cool shops, and it's nice and hot here! We checked into our incredible accommodation for the night. A place called "Pool". There's a reason for the name. Basically the whole place is built around a giant pool. The rooms here go for 700 a night, but Kelly managed to find a deal that we only ended up paying about 20% of that. SWEET. We lounged in the sun for the rest of the day. During dinner that night we sat on the patio (over looking the golf course) and as the sun went down, out came the BATS!!! Millions of them. They started flying by and they just kept coming for about 20mins. Fruit bats apparently fly from the south every night to the Daintree River Rainforest to suck up the Eucalyptus oil from the trees. It was quite a sight. (Check the attached video below)

Next day, we got up, and layed in the sun again, and took off to our next hotel. On the way we got sidetracked with the hot sun and decided we needed a "Beach Day". We tossed on the sun screen and baked in the hot sun, and swam in the ocean for hours. then we checked into our next hotel "Hibiscus Gardens". We got settled, showered, and then got on the road to Tjapukai, a really cool aboriginal park. We went for a dinner show called Tjapukai at Night. Ed and I got our faces painted in traditional dot paint, and we all enjoyed dancing, singing, Digeridoos, and a buffet dinner. Then we headed home and hit the sack.

Today, Well this was a day where Kelly and I did something different then Rhonda and Ed. We ALL got up at 7 or so. ed and Rhonda walked down the the warf to board a boat to go diving and snorkeling (they'll have to post later to talk about it). Kelly and I got up and boarded a bus for Wonga Beach to go Horseback riding. It was a lot of fun. Kelly rode a horse named Julie, and I rode a horse named Bailey. We rode down some trails right out onto the beach where we got to trot through the ocean. We did a ride down and back on the beach and then did a trek through the rainforest. It was a really cool way of seeing the sights of the rainforest. We both had a blast. then we headed back to Port Douglas for a few showers and a lunch, which brings us to now. Ed and Rhonda will have to come down later and post something about their trip today a little later.

Hope you're all doing well. Only a few days left so we'll see you all real soon... WOW can't believe it's already been a month.

Cheers

Kelly, Jesse, Rhonda and Ed

Whitsundays north to Cairns

Alright... soo sorry we haven't been posting that much. Not too much around for affordable internet.

So after our amazing time in Whitsundays, we headed north to Cairns. It was a very pretty drive and one the way we stopped by Mission Beach. We had a great lunch at a very cozy little cafe run by one woman and we were her only customers. Very good! Then up to Cairns. The place we've been staying at is great, right on Trinity Links golf course. Sadly we havn't booked any golfing. The day after we arrived, Kelly and I bought a digeridoo from a local aboriginal artist, which is being shipped back for us. It's hand carved with a very cool garana (lizard) on it. The next day Ed had 3 dives in one day. It was all on the outter barrier reef. He had a DVD made of one of the dives so he'll be able to show some of you when he gets back. I (Jesse) tried to go kitesurfing yesterday but was skunked by the wind (...figures...). I'm planning on an early morning session for Saturday (forcast looks good so far). While he was diving the rest of us took a drive to Port Douglas, which is where we are staying next. It's a great little town and we took advatage of the hot sun to lay on the local beach, and watch crabs dig in the sand. On the way back we saw a heard of kangaroos enjoying dinner in the sunset off in a field- they are such amazing animals- sooo cool. Today we took our time getting up and made our way to Trinity Beach (just outside of Cairns) where we did some tanning and swimming. The beaches here are all so beautiful and surrounded by incredible vegitation and views. Kelly had the BIGGEST bowl of mushroom soup know to man! Not kidding! On the way back we saw a really neat Cable Wakeboard park. No need for a boat, just rent a board and the cable way takes you around the lake. We also saw the Skyway gondola that we'll be taking tomorrow through the rainforest to an aboriginal village called Kuranda. Now we're wandering the downtown area and going to book a few more dives.

Hope you're all doing well. Miss ya lots, our time is winding down so we'll see you all soon.

Cheers!

Kelly, Jesse, Rhonda, and Eddie

A Day on the islands (Whitsundays)

Well today was really great! We woke up early and were picked up by our bus and brought to the Harbour in Airlie Beach where we boarded our ship for the day and then we were off to the Whitsundays Islands for some snorkeling and touring. Our first stop was where we all got out to Snorkel... WOW!!! It was a little chilly once the wind hit ya in the water, but boy did we see alot of really cool fish and coral. It was amazing. Then we all jumped aboard the boat and headed to our next stop, Whitehaven Beach. It had by far the whitest sand you could ever imagine. It was also the same place much of Fools Gold (the movie) was filmed. We took some time to relax in the sun, and then off to the last Island stop for us. We took a small boat to shore and did a walk through the rain forest up to a really neat look out and saw one of the most amazing views of the White sand and Coral Sea. Then it was a 1 1/2hr ride back, and now were getting ready for bed.

Hope you're all doing well, we'll keep you posted soon. Off to bed to get ready to head to Townsville tomorrow.

Miss you all!

Cheers

Jesse, Kelly, Rhonda, and Eddie

Our trip up the coast

Hi Everyone,

We have been busy driving North the past few days as it has been quite rainy. we stopped in Surfer's paradise on Tuesday to see Steve Jevne. Thanks for the visit Steve! Surfer's paradise is a beautiful city- super modern and lots of high rise over a long stretch of beach. We did a bit of sight-seeing there. From Surfer's paradise, we pulled a 12 hour drive through the rain (on the wrong side of the road might I add) up to Rockyhampton. On the way we stopped in Maroochydore where Jesse met with Vaughan Jones, a super awesome producer on the Sunshine Coast. It was cool to see how radio stations work on the other side of the world. It was a neat experience for him, although not too different from back home.

Rockhampton is the international marker for the tropic of Capricorn- kind of neat. We only spent one night there in a little motor Inn (an interesting experience). On our way we stopped at these really neat caves called the Capricorn caves. We took a tour for 20$-pretty steep but worth it. They took us through an amazing cave system where loads of bats live- we only saw one. They have a cathedral inside the cave that people have weddings- pretty cool! Vikki, you would have loved this part!

After this, we drove... and it rained and then we drove... and it rained!!!

We ended up here in Airlie Beach (Whitsunday coast). We are so glad to see sun again and to be stopped for a few days. Today we explored the beach and townsite and saw lots of neat shops and an AMAZING harbour and lagoon. Everywhere over here is so scenic and majestic. Pictures don't do it justice.

Tomorrow we are venturing out to do a sailing, diving, and snorkeling trip to the Whitsundays Islands - by boat. We are going to see one of the top 10 beaches in the world- Whitehaven beach. This is where they filmed parts of the movie "fools gold". It should be a blast- Eddie and Jesse are hoping to do a dive.

Hope you are all doing well. We'll check back in soon.

PS- Auntie, we are SOOOOO happy for you!!! Can't wait to hear all the plans.

Vikki, sorry to hear about your Papa- take care and we're thinking of you

Ry and Jenn, We wonder if you had your walk through yet- miss you all lots!

Hi to everyone. We are all safe, Grandma!

having fun down under

Jesse, Kelly, Eddie, Rhonda

Coff's Harbour to Kirra Beach

Hi everyone,
Hope you are all doing well, we miss you all lots. We have had a busy few days.
We started out day 8 by exploring Coff's Harbour. We walked along the pier and saw a really neat sea turtle as well as lots of cool fish. We walked up to mutton bird peak, where there was an amazing view.
From Coff's harbour, we drove North to Byron Bay- by far the coolest little surfer town we've seen yet! We got there late at night and tried to check into a super fun hostel, but non of us were feeling tip top so we didn't want to bunk with others. The receptionist suggested a little beach house that her friend rents out, so we opted for that instead. It was such a cool place to stay! In the morning, we spent some time at the beach and then had a nice relaxing lunch. We walked around the townsite, lots of cool little shops (I picked up your sarrong, Sam). We finished off the day by having a beer on a sunny patio overlooking the ocean (Kelly of course did not have beer, a Bloody Mary instead). Before heading to our next destination, we took a drive up to the light house (stunning view- Eddie got lots of cool pictures at sunset). From there we walked to the most easterly point of Australia and saw some more whales off the shore- so amazing!
From Byron bay, we drove to our next stop at Kirra Beach (one hour south of Brisbaine on the Gold Coast). We have a nice condo here for the next few days. Today, we hung out on the beach for a few hours (2 minute walk to the GIGANTIC beach). Kelly went for a run on the beach and Rhonda took a walk and found some more sea shells. Jesse was in the water the whole time (surprise surprise). After lunch, we drove to the Curumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. It was an outstanding sanctuary! The very first thing we did was... HOLD A KOALA!!! SOOOOOO fuzzy and cute! We had so much fun with our Koala Leighton. We also fed some more soft kangaroos, checked out the dingos and echidnas (spiky little guys) and saw a giant crocodile. Rhonda and Kelly got to hold a baby saltwater croc- so heavy and cool to experience. He'll get to be up to 1000 pounds and something like 7 meters long!!! To round out the day, we saw a really neat Aboriginal show with digeridoo and dancers (Ry, I am so buying you one of those- we'll have to learn to play!)
We'll add pictures at our next stop- this computer won't let us.

Tonight we are hanging out in our room and relaxing. Tomorrow it's off to Surfer's paradise and Jesse and Eddie are going to plan a day for kite boarding and diving.

Nikolas, we still haven't seen an anteater, but the platypus' are sooooo neat! We're keeping our eyes out for more cool creatures to tell you about.

We'll check in soon!
Cheers from down unda!

Kelly, Jesse, Eddie, Rhonda

Day 5, 6 and 7

Okay no pics this time... no USB.

The last few days have been a whirlwind and a blast!

Day 5
-Got up and decided to go to the famous Bondi Beach. It was my (Jesse's) first attempt at driving here. Went pretty well, but takes some getting used to. The beach was great, HUGE! It was still a little chilly but Ed and I decided to tough it out and hit the water anyway. It was freaking COLD! But fun, the waves were rolling in pretty good and we got beat up a bit. Kelly and Rhonda relaxed in the sun and Kelly decided to take a run.
-Then we drove back, had a little clean up and walked down to Liverpool Street for a bite to eat (really good pizza meal) and then it was off to the Opera! The Opera house is even more amazing at night! It was busy walking down there because they were kicking off World Youth Day in Darling Harbour and there was around 200,000 people down there. The performance was amazing. What a great show, and because it was a Musical not and Opera and in English, we all understood it. The actual theater was great, but Kelly and I both expected it to be slightly bigger, never the less and great experience!

Day 6
-We got up and let our apartment in Sydney to head north. We jumped in the mini van and headed to Newcastle. On the way we made a detour out the the hunter valley (wine country) to do a little wine and cheese tasting. We actually drove by the Lindmens Estate vineyard which was really cool. We stopped at McGuire's and sampled cheese and then I did a wine tasting. Very nice, then it was back on the road to Newcastle. We stopped for dinner and headed to Port Stephens. Port Stephens was beautiful; however, our hostel was a little on the "rickety" side. It was out in the forest, not a whole lot of heat, and you had to go out of the room to get to the bathroom. It was weird, lots of animal noises, none of us got a whole lot of sleep.

Today (Day 7)
-What a cool start to the day. The nice lady at the hostel told us of a few places to check out one being boat harbour (on Anna Bay)may be able to see some whales, and DID WE! They were jumping right out of the water just off the shore. It was really surreal. Got lots of pics.
-Then we drove to the Sand Dunes. They stretched forever! This is where we all took CAMEL RIDES! It was really fun and we all had a blast! First time for all of us.
-Then is was into the Van and started to drive north again, which brings us to now.

We're in Coffs Harbour. It's a really neat hostel. We made supper in the community kitchen and now were headed to bed. Not sure what's planned for tomorrow, but should be pretty fun!

Hope you're all doing well, we'll post pics when we can.

Cheers from down under!
Jesse, Kelly, Rhonda and Ed.

and yes we did see wombats! They're very cute and about the size of a pot belly pig.

Day 4

Wow- what a full day. We hopped a tour bus this morning at 7:30 and headed out towards the famous blue mountains. Our first stop was at the Featherdale Wild Life Park where we had an incredible encounter with Kangaroos, we actually got to touch and feed them. One of the females had her joey tucked up in it's pouch head first. We didn't think we'd get to see it, but just as we were leaving, the little joey peaked out at us- check out the picture. We also saw some koalas, and got to pet them!!! It was really neat, but we couldn't hold them. Apparently it's illegal in New South Whales. We'll see if we can hold them further north. It was a really cool park. Jesse now has a new favorite animal, the wombat- SOOO cute.

Our next stop was for morning tea in a cool little park where we got to try throwing real boomerangs. Jesse was really good at it, and our tour guide Gabriel was awesome!

After tea, we headed to the luscious blue mountains for an incredible sight-seeing adventure- really amazing. Pictures do not do it justice.

From there we had a nice lunch at a country club and headed up to the skyway cable car (a really steep gondola) that took us to the base of a rainforest- lots of flora there, Ry!

We got back up the hill by taking an extremely steep ride up a railway that the coal miners used to use for shipping coal up the mountain.

From there, we headed back to Sydney, where we toured the sight of the 2000 olympics- so amazing. We finished our tour by taking a River Cruise back to Circular Quay (a harbour where the Sydney Opera house is located)

Tomorrow we are taking it a little easier. Maybe a trip to Bondi beach and then our Opera show tomorrow night.

We may not have a chance to write for a while. Everyone take care and we'll check in soon.

Love

Kelly, Jesse, Rhonda, Ed

Day 3 (The ZOO!)

Hey Everyone,
It's so easy to update this while we're here in Sydney... cheap 1 buck for 30mins.

So today was Zoo day. We got up at a decent hour and started to get ready... unfortunately the day started on the wrong foot when we decided we should all try Veggiemite on toast (and Aussie thing) One word... GROSSSSSSSS! not one of us could swallow and all had to spit it out. I would not suggest this.

After that we were off to the Toranga Zoo (not Steve Irwins as Kelly had said in our previous post). We saw SOOOOOO much. Our first Koala (Kelly was excited), and a tonne of Kangaroos which were really neat, and all sorts of other stuff. We also took in a Seal show. That wasn't much different than the ones back home but still cool to take in. We got to the zoo by taking a Ferry from Darling Harbour. Great ride across and on the way back they took us for a 45 min cruise around the different harbours. Some great things to see and some amazing houses right on the ocean (I'm sure lots of money). Then we pretty much jumped off the boat and headed back to the apartment. We're still on the (seems like) ever lasting hunt for a good cup of coffee... If we don't find one I fear for Eds sanity!!! he he he. Oh yeah... the Pope arrived today! This city is all a buzz with his arrival. Religious people EVERYWHERE. You can't hardly turn around without seeing a nun or priest. Thursday is World Youth Day (thank god... no pun intended... we're gone by then! They're planning on having most of the roads shut down that day, and security will be at a max.

Anyways there's alot more I could say I guess, but we have a very early morning tomorrow. We're headed off to the blue mountains tomorrow for an all day tour. We're also looking forward to a performance of My Fair Lady at the Sydney Opera House on Tuesday. Sorry to hear the weather hasn't been great back at home. Today was a little warmer (20 degrees) here. Looking forward to heading north. Brisbane was 27 today so the further north we go... the warmer it'll get.

Hope you're all doing well, we miss you all.
Cheers!
Jesse, Kelly, Rhonda, and Ed

Day 2 (Touring Sydney)

Hello Everyone,
Day 2 on our adventure turned out to be quite the hike! We spent the day wandering Sydney by foot and saw lots of very cool things. We all woke up at least once during the night trying to adjust to the new time sched.

1) We started out heading over to St Marys Cathedral (Where the pope will be in a few days). It was INCREDIBLE!!!! Kelly said it rivals the ones in Europe!
2) We then ventured down through Sydney to the Botanical Gardens which were really captivating. We could have spent the entire day just there taking it all in. They welcome walking off the paths "Hugging Trees" (Just for you Ryan-he he he). \
3) The gardens were right next to the Famous Sydney Opera House. Even more spectacular than you could imagine. It was very breath taking. We tried to book a backstage tour but it was all full up for a few days so we may do it on our last day of the trip... we'll see. We also got a great view of the Harbour bridge from the opera house.
4) Then we hopped the bus to Paddy Market, where we had a bite to eat and floated around the craziness that is the market. SO MANY people! Eddie bought a really cool Tilly (Crocodile Dundee style hat) made of Kangaroo leather. Really works for him! Rhonda bought some super cheap UGGS. Jenn, let us know if you need a new pair. We can pop down and get some for you.
5) We are now heading to the market to grab some groceries because it's very expensive to eat here. We plan on dining in tonight.

Tomorrow is a big day. We're planning on hitting the Toronga Zoo (Steve Irwin's zoo) by ferry and maybe the 3D IMAX version of "Whales and Sharks" . The IMAX here is the world LARGEST. We also booked a tour of the Blue Mountains for Monday.

Hope you're all doing well. Thanks for the comments guys, great to hear from you all.
Love lots
Jesse, Kelly, Rhonda, and Eddie/Grandpa

Day 1 +

Hi Everyone,

We are finally here in Sydney. Our flights were as good as can be for spending 19 hours in a pressurised tube. We had a little trouble with Kelly's passport and plane ticket (starting in Calgary and finally getting sorted out after tears and worrying that I'd be stuck in San Francisco because my passport and ticket were in two different names, maiden and married- not allowed down under, but it all got sorted out eventually- thank goodness). We all had at least a little sleep on the plane and arrived here in Sydney in pretty good shape. On our plane, we met a huge group of Catholic youth, and even some priests and nuns. Turns out the pope is going to be here in Sydney for World Youth Day.

When we arrived, it was 6:30 am Sydney time on Friday (Thursday at 3:00 Pm home time), we lost a whole day somewhere. We picked up our stellar van, which is completely backward from our vehicles in Canada. Eddie had a bit of difficulty deciphering between the signal lights and wipers, as well as driving on the wrong side of the road. We had Ed's GPS which helped us to get to our apartment (it didn't however help Eddie drive correctly- but he did an awesome job all things considered). It is so cold here, compared to Calgary. We are hoping it warms up as we head north.

Our accomodation for the next few nights is fantastic. We are within walking distance to Darling Harbour, Paddy's market and even a grocery store! We have a great view and are looking forward to getting some real sleep tonight.

In order to try to get ourselves on the right time-clock, we decided to stay up all day, settle in and do a Sydney tour aboard a really neat double-decker bus. Afterward, we treated ourselves to a nice cup of joe to warm up. There is so much to see and do here, and it's only our first stop!

We are looking forward to our trip to the blue mountains, the opera house and wild-life tours. We will check in soon. Hope everyone is doing well.

Off to bed for us.

Love

Kelly, Jesse, Rhonda and Ed

Packing, packing, and MORE PACKING!

Actually it's not that bad as we're only taking backpacks.

So Yesterday we packed. During the packing process we discovered that Kelly and Rhonda's backpacks are MUCH larger than Ed and myself's packs... figures... women...lol (Jokes on you Kelly, we probably won't even have a couch for me to sleep in down under...he he he). Anyways we are pretty much set to go. We leave Wednesday afternoon (actually evening, 7:10, but we need to be at the airport by 4p.m.). I'm working for the morning and then coming home shortly after noon to get ready for our 19 HOUR TRIP!!!! (YIKES). This is a HUGE TRIP for myself as I've never been of of the North America Continent, and I know Ed has ALWAYS wanted to dive on the great barrier reef, of course Rhonda and Kelly are both looking forward to seeing the sights and I think Kelly is especially looking forward to touring the Sydney Opera house, seeing a show there, and getting the chance to stand on the stage. Lots of stuff we're looking forward to. We'll try and keep up updated as much as possible... Keep checking back.

Alright better get back to work here. Talk to you all soon, have a great summer!
Cheers
Jesse (and crew)

P.S. The pic is of my pack and Kelly's (during the packing phase)... Can you guess which one belongs to who?...

Not gone yet, but getting close!

Hey Everyone, I created this blog so that all of you (our family and friends) can follow along as we trek through Australia. Keep checking back for updates, anytime there's a computer available I (or one of us) will do our best to update. For now... less that 2 weeks before we leave. We're getting very excited!
Cheers
Jesse and Kelly