Cross Sydney off the list of places to see...

20 August 2007

Our poor kids --- no sooner had we only slightly recovered from the 3400 km trip up to Uluru than we were packing our bags again and heading on the road. This time of course we had the added advantage of throwing in a plane trip and bus ride as part of the package … which helped convince them that this vacation would be different than the last. As it turned out, though, our trip to Uluru seemed to have brought out Hunter’s more aggressive side. We’d left the house early enough to stop by the Adelaide botanical gardens on our way into the airport. We saw the usual monster trees, ornate landscaping and colorful flowers … but nothing could compare with the colorful character we were about to witness in our youngest son. About half way through our trek Hunter decided that it was pretty cool to be able to walk on his own; and no sooner did he realize that he could be a big boy and walk with us, than he realized he could be a big boy and walk the opposite way as us! Well, that was ok as long as we could pick him up occasionally and take him forward a bit … but then we actually had to make some headway and get to the airport on time, so we picked him up for good. Oh boy, big mistake. We soon had our first Hunter temper tantrum that last through the rest of the botanical gardens, through getting situated in the car, through the city of Adelaide … and nearly until we reached the airport --- I ‘reckon’ it was a full 20 minutes of full-blown, top of your lungs screaming. Actually quite entertaining if you can stand the noise J

Anyway, on to the trip. We parted ways with Jerry/DeeAnn in the Adelaide airport since they were on a different itinerary and flight than us (which meant they were flying the ‘high class’ Qantas Airlines --- which basically means they got juice and a muffin on their flight while we flew Virgin Blue and had to pay 4 bucks for 2 bottles of 6 oz of water!) The kids were really good on the flight. Hunter crashed for the entire 2-hour flight having spent all his energy on the tantrum. Collin complained of his ears hurting, but that was probably just a ploy to try and get more lollies (candy) so he could pop his ears. Savannah was an excellent trooper with all of her arts/crafts in her pull-along Dora suitcase. We arrived in Sydney around 2 in the afternoon and Jerry/DeeAnn were there waiting for us. After a quick ride in a minivan taxi we were at our apartment and ready to take on the town. The ride from the airport to the city wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for a big city. The usual graffiti along various buildings and along railroad tracks. But, once we got into the heart of the city the streets and buildings were surprisingly clean and well kept. The only downside was the fact everything was so closely packed together. Our highrise apartment building had an entrance of only 15 feet across and looked more like a space for a café than a 40 story highrise building (we ended up on the 33^rd floor facing towards the harbor – couldn’t see the Opera house because of other buildings but did have a view of the bridge and harbor along with the Sydney tower.) But, somehow everything expands once you get inside and there is plenty of room for a reception desk, elevators, etc. I’ve mentioned that we recently had friends from high school move to Sydney with work (American Express). We called them up when we got in and as it turned out they were staying in apartments only about 3 blocks from us (until they move in their house the beginning of September). We met up with Stacy, Madi, Cooper and Riley over at Hyde Park near where we were staying and where Kevin is working. Savannah and Madi are only 3 days difference in age and were pretty shy around each other (although they both quickly learned that neither of them are very shy at all). They were holding hands and walking in stride not a ¼ mile later. Cooper is about 6 months older than Collin, but Collin was pretty shy for a good while. Riley is about the same age Hunter was when we moved over last year, so we had a lot in common as far as horror stories on trying to get organized to move overseas while juggling passports for newborns and such. We walked from Hyde Park up alongside their botanical gardens (didn’t want to try and go in after the morning ‘Hunter’ ordeal) and straight to the Opera house. Unfortunately the skies were somewhat overcast, but at least it wasn’t raining as the forecast had predicted. We took a lot of pictures from every angle possible along the steps to include pictures of the neighboring harbor and distant Sydney Harbor Bridge. We then met Kevin (Stacy’s husband) after he got off of work and wandered down to the area known as the ‘Rocks’ – just opposite the Opera house on the harbor. This is the place where Sydney basically started and in the early days had quite the reputation as the ‘red light’ district. Now it’s more or less a tourist area with some buildings that bare resemblance to original brick and architecture – but most there are souvenir shops and the like. We found a cool little pizza place where they found enough room on their second floor for the ‘lot’ of us – we had 12 between all of us. In any case, we just happened to have a view of the Opera house (albeit through some bare winter trees) but from the looks of the insides it was pretty old. It was out of brick and had an old-fashioned fireplace next to our table. It was pretty cool. After some yummy, thin-crust Italian pizza we were off again trudging up through the ‘Rocks’ to underneath the Sydney bridge and then along the harbor walkway where we got an awesome view of the harbor and Opera house at night. It was a very comfortable walking temperature with little to no people roaming around.

By this time we were all pretty tired and parted ways with the Hutchinsons at the train station. We walked about a mile back to our apartment complex. The kids were begging for piggy backs and to be carried from Grandpa and myself … to which we didn’t have the heart to say no … or at least we didn’t want anyone to hear their complaining J Back at the apartments Jerry and I made a quick pit stop for essentials at the grocery store on the corner (prices still a lot more than the States but generally cheaper than a normal store in the suburbs of Adelaide – go figure.) The kids were wiped out and we all crashed pretty quick …

21 August 2007

I woke up before everyone and decided to make a morning of it and go on a run. It was about 1 ½ miles to the Mrs. Macquarie’s chair which sat on the opposite side of the Opera House and (relative to the Sydney Harbor bridge where we were the night before.) I got there 20 minutes after sunrise so missed the colors, but there were still only a few clouds in the sky so the lighting on the House was better than the day before. I then made the trek around the harbor, passed the Opera House and then wound through the Rocks and up on to the Harbor Bridge. It was a pretty quick jog over the top – a lot of people were commuting by walking across. On one side of the bridge you can walk and on the other you can ride your bike. Something else that was also interesting was the security. At the beginning, middle and end of the bridge there were security police officers who would stop random people and search bags. I guess it’s a pretty good spot for a terrorist attack, but as Jerry said, it’s unfortunate that the world has come to require such measures. Anyway, the jog was a great hour trip around the city to the popular spots and I got some great pictures. After getting back, everyone was up and at ‘em. We hit the streets and took the monorail once around (it ‘flies’ about 20 feet off the streets of the city and gives a unique vantage point) … on the second circuit around we got off on the Darling Harbor side (the other side of the Harbor Bridge relative to the Opera House). We went to the Maritime Musuem which had some cool stuff inside. It was a bad sign that Collin was already asking for a piggy back and to be held. I tried to hold strong but I’m such a softy when it comes to that kind of stuff. I think by the end of the museum I’d already given up and was lugging him around. We stopped to let the kids play in a park which I think was built around hosting the Olympic games. It had enough for the kids to keep them busy. Savannah happened to spot a pair of kookaburras in a tree and Collin went head first, on his back, backwards --- landing on his head at the end of a slide. Don’t ask me how he did that one. Hunter was up to his newly-found independence trooping everywhere and letting Savannah take him down the slide. He did have a problem negotiating one steep playground hill and ended up on his face. We met up with Kevin/Stacy/munchkins after lunch and went to a free concert at a cultural center. It was the famed didgeridoo and oh boy was it entertaining. I’m growing to like the sounds of that instrument more and more. The fellow (or bloke) playing it had some background pictures of Uluru which was kind of cool since we were just there in person. He did some fun gestures with his hands and made noises that mimicked certain Australian animals. It was all pretty entertaining. It only lasted 40 minutes or so but by the end we were buying his CD. He also threw in a ‘how do you play this thing anyway’ bit which was really good since when Jerry and I started playing ours we sounded like sick, bloated elephants. Very entertaining … and as it turned out Jerry and I got pretty good deals on our didgeridoos based on the $200 - $500 price range of those on sale in the store.

After the day’s culture lesson we boarded the train and headed up to the harbor. The kids managed to finagle some ice cream out of us while we waited for our ferry … but soon we were on board and heading across the bay over to Manly on the north side of the Sydney harbor. The weather threatened to rain all afternoon but never did … thankfully. We got some great pictures on the ferry of the sites, but probably best of all was Cooper and Collin on the top deck of the boat going crazy yelling at the top of their lungs about silly, goofy stuff … the usual bathroom humor mixed with some seaman-type jargon courtesy of our being on a boat. It was pretty random stuff, but still somewhat amusing. I think anyone on the end of the boat that was there to start the trip wasn’t there when we got to our destination. The ride was fairly calm until we crossed the main entrance out into the ocean. There we hit some big swells that really rocked the boat. The kids liked them though and no one puked over the side. At Manly we walked a short distance to the beach where there was a large number of surfers in some pretty good breakers … dude. It wasn’t at all warm and so they were pretty hardy to be out there. We just let the kids play in the sand while we chatted and caught up on things from the past 10 or so years and Jerry/DeeAnn were off doing some window shopping. By the time we got back on the ferry it was nearly dark and we had a good chilly wind to fight on our way back to the city – nothing like a day at sea, arre matey!!! We went back to our place and had a hearty dinner of rotisserie chicken (the kids only managed ‘Macos’ (McDonald’s) but weren’t complaining – especially when the boys toy was a roboraptor!), while overlooking the city lights and listening to some of our newly-purchased didgeridoo music … couldn’t beat the ambience (minus the kids causing a ruckus in the back rooms of course.) We introduced Kevin and Stacy to the Tim Tam Slam (a type of chocolate covered wafer cookie which you bite the corners off the top and bottom and then suck hot chocolate through which melts the inside and makes for a heavenly treat …) We were all pretty tired to say the least but it was definitely a successful day of go go go …

22 August 2007

We were exhausted going to bed the night before but a good night’s rest and were ready to get up and get going again the next morning … ok, everyone except the kids that is. I did the run out to the Macquarie chair again but this time there was pretty good cloud cover and the sun was just barely over the horizon when I got there – so I just turned around and went back home. Did see some people doing some ‘boot camp’ physical training which was interesting. We took the kids and decided not to make them walk very much and bought a family day pass on the public transportation. We rode the train across the bridge and then walked it coming back. The kids did pretty good … we stopped at a bakery before walking across and bought them some doughnuts. Collin did good walking by himself which lasted only as long as the sugar rush from the donut did, and then I was carrying him again … and Jerry had Savannah. The walk across was interesting though and fun to take a gander at all the steel support beams and millions of rivets that hold it together. 16 people died making the bridge which isn’t surprising given the height and expanse of the whole thing. After the bridge we walked through the ‘Rocks’ again and went through a museum which told of the history of the place. The kids found a goofy video game which kept them entertained for a bit while we could read some of the stuff. We then boarded a train and headed way up north to where the LDS temple is located. It was about a 45 minute ride including 2 transfers and somehow we managed not to get lost on the quirky metro/train lines of Sydney. While I was pleasantly surprised with the cleanliness of Sydney itself, some of the immediate outskirts were a little less clean and taken care of. By the time we got up to the northern neighborhoods, though, it was quiet and nice. The temple was pretty and reminded me of the one in Santiago, Chile. They also had a Distribution Center which was something of a novelty since we have to order all of our stuff from that very location if we want it back in Adelaide. The kids were pretty beat by now and so were the rest of us carrying them around. Hunter relished every opportunity to get out of his stroller and thought he was big stuff in the train when we’d let him get out and he’d try and walk around. We bought some gummy snakes and used them as bribery as much as possible throughout the day J We finally made it back to our apartment around 4:30 and were pretty beat. We just let the kids unwind for a bit and then Kelli/DeeAnn went out to find some grub (but not ‘grubs’ of the bug variety mind you!) Kevin, Stacy and their kids came over for dinner and we had another nice visit (the kids managed Macos again so they were happy … again.) We then hit the pool after dinner and had a riot of a time watching the kids get in the ‘cold’ main pool and then jumping into the spa. There was another couple in the pool before we got there but they apparently didn’t like the pool-side company and made a dash for the exit (can’t really blame them …) We had a good time but before we knew it it was time to part ways again … we had some good ol’ Aussie creamy ice cream and then said our goodbyes to Kev/Stace and Savannah/Collin’s new friends. Savannah and Collin were pretty keen for this vacation because of the good friends they made. It was really good to catch up with Kevin and Stacy as well. It’s pretty ironic and yet interesting that a few days before we’d maybe seen each other twice since high school and then we were eating pizza in some upper level Italian restaurant overlooking the Opera House in Sydney. Our kids are also so much alike from their temperaments to fun-loving personalities. It is a small world – and if you don’t mind a bit of philosophizing, while we are extremely grateful for all of the opportunities that we’ve had while in the military to see different sites and have some unique experiences, it is the friendships and people we’ve grown to love that really qualify the quality of the time. It wouldn’t have mattered if we were sitting next to the Opera House eating pizza or at Hires hamburger shop back in West Valley, the important thing is that we were able to spend some quality time together and let our kids get to know one another. Hopefully some day when we are all done moving around we’ll be able to settle closer to those that we formed such strong friendships with … some day …

23 August 2007

Unfortunately that last little bit leads into the other drawback of moving around a lot and not living close to home – having to be apart from family and saying goodbye all too often. We woke up at 3 this morning to catch our flight. After working out how to take the train to the airport ($36 for our family and a one-way trip – just as much as taking a taxi!) we had to say goodbye to Grandpa and Grandma Whetstone. The kids were still in groggy land from waking up and Collin was in his ‘rebellious’ mood for having been on vacation too long, but it was a sad moment when we had to part ways … it always is. We had a lot of good memories from their visit and hopefully captured a lot of them in picture and writing. Nothing can really replace spending time together, though … and thus we look forward to the next time when we will see all of our family back home. As such, we think that was our last set of visitors from the States. Hopefully the Hutchinsons will be able to make it down from Sydney some time, but other than that we’re not sure that anyone else is planning to brave the trip down under. We hope so … just let us know if you’d like to!! The kids did great on the plane ride home --- but unfortunately it was right back to school and work for Savannah and I. I managed a half day on half a brain (if even that much), and Savannah’s teacher said that she asked to take a nap after lunch because she was “really tired.” However, that didn’t stop Savannah from scoring her first goal at net ball to help her team win the game 1-0. Very entertaining and we were quite proud of her. So, until next time we’ll see you chaps later!

CHEERS!!!