Reflections

Now that we are home after such an amazing trip, we've all done some thinking about our favorite and eye-opening experiences. Favs: 1. Feeding Kangaroos

2. Living in our home exchange in Yeppoon 3. Whitsunday Islands National park

4. Eating croc pizza in campground in Daintree 5. RV night at campground in Mission Beach South

6. Tubing in river in Cairns 7. The glass floor on the viewing deck of Sydney tower 8. Taking the ferry to Manly to cycle the shoreline 9. Learning to throw a boomerang

10. Running in new locales: Sydney Harbour, Fiji Islands Eye openers: Miles: "how friendly people are in Fiji" Colin: "How fast Aussies drive" Thomas: "That croc meat tastes good" Kari: "That they sell all parts of kangaroos...including scrotums!" Tracy: "That the 5 of us slept in a van for a week - about 30 square feet of sleeping space!"

Bula Fiji!

Arrived in Nadi and took 45 min ferry to Malolo Lai Lai Island.

We have been staying in a Fijian resort which is not the typical North American "resort" but loaded with activities and friendly locals!

Have had a wonderful time but looking forward to home, friends and family....flying out tomorrow night.

Spectacular Sydney!

The harbour in Sydney is spectacular! We walked down to the harbour and first enjoyed the impressive aquarium.

We then walked to Circular Quay and caught the ferry for the 1/2 hour scenic trip to Manly.

Once in Manly, we rented fun cruiser bikes and cycled Manly beach. Impressive to see the surfers in the huge waves. Beautiful spot!

Checking out Sydney....

Yesterday we flew to Sydney and took the train into the city.

This morning we joined a free walking tour of the city getting a great overview of the sights and history.

This afternoon, Colin ran around the harbour while the kids and I went up Sydney tour. The views were spectacular and we got a rush from walking out on the glass observation deck!

Aussie Drifters...

We took a trip to Welch's Pyramid, a half hour South of Cairns (see mountain behind Kari).

Once there, we rode tubes throught the currents down the creek - enjoyed the patches of rapids and the lush environment. No snakes fortunately!

Near our motel we found a cool street...

Cairns has been beautiful and tough to leave. Love the climate, tropical trees and plants, and easygoing people. On to Sydney tomorrow.

2012 Olympics open...

We got up at 5:30am to watch the Olympic Opening Ceremonies which were fabulous.

After, we walked the 20 minute seawalk route to Cairns to check out the town, stopping to test out the exercise stations on the way.

Kari had her hair done...but not as crazy as the lady's who did it!

We enjoyed our day in the rainforest today. We started out by taking the skyrail from Cairns to Karunda. The ride was 7.5km long and spans the oldest rainforest in the world. Great views as we rode above the lush landscape.

We arrived in Karunda and enjoyed checking out the unique markets.

Colin tested the "hottest chili sauce in the world" while the boys cracked up at the kangaroo scrotum items for sale. We took the Karunda Scenic Railway back to Cairns - built in the late 1800s with interesting Aussie and WWII history. Very scenic!

Returning CamperMan to Cairns...

We have really enjoyed the experience of our campervan but 6 nights in the tight sleeping quarters was enough so we didn't mind saying goodbye to CamperMan. We had a great beach morning in Daintree before taking the scenic drive to Cairns.

We walked from our motel along the seawall to the lagoon pool where the kids had a dip near Cairns Square. Beautiful city - looking forward to a few days here.

Crocs!

We drove North from our campsite outside Cairns up to Daintree Village where we took the "Crocodile Express" and checked out the crocs on the Daintree river. Great tour with guide who has lived there for 70 years.

We took the ferry over Daintree river and drove another 35km of windy but scenic roads to arrive at Daintree National Park and our remote campground.

We drove to the next campground for dinner to enjoy oven fired pizza....with crocodile meat!!!!

On to Cairns

We stopped at a winery - Murdering Point Winery- en route to Cairns. It gets it's name from the cannibals who ate the shipwrecked British sailors nearby!

We then drove on to the town of Babinda to see the "Big Boulders". We hiked in to check them out and enjoyed a picnic and a refreshing swim.

Camping outside Cairns tonight - on to Daintree National Park tomorrow....serious croc country!

On to Townsville and South Mission beach

We then drove on to Townsville for a steep hike up Castlehill which had amazing views from the top!

We drove further North to Mission beach - our campsite was in an amazing location right on the beach and had a great pool and pickleball court. In the commonroom, we enjoyed watching the Australian version of "the Amazing Race" that was filmed in Vancouver!

Can't believe how well the kids are sleeping in our compact quarters!