The Menagerie

Our last stop on the east coast tour was to visit one of my dive students. 

Last December I spent a few weeks down on the island of Kadavu, south of the mainland, at the Matava Resort. While there I met Julie and Dave, and taught Julie to dive. A very fun and generous couple, they had offered to host us whenever we came to Oz... luckily they actually meant it!

Dave drove down to North Avoca to pick us up. And after a short trip to check out a barge for sale (he's setting a marine business) he drove us up into the hills near their home to give us an idea where we would be staying.

It was a gorgeous day and the views were incredible!

In the distance you might just make out the southern end of Lake Macquarie... it's a huge winding lake that runs out to the sea.

Checking out the view with Dave (Lindsay hiding behind the camera as usual!)

Afterwards Dave drove us around the grounds a local psychiatric hospital...

where a load of Roos run around wild... so cool!

Momma Roo with little Joey in her pouch

A quick stop at the house to say hi to Julie (who had to work that day), we swapped the car for Dave's little runaround speed boat.. and headed off for lunch at the yacht club.

A fun little ride!

Back on the water!

We ran the length of the lake and came back as the sun was setting

Then back to the house to meet the menagerie... 3 HUGE dogs and I don't actually know how many parrots... some of the wildlife was rather friendly!

And our food tour was by no means over... Dave used to be a chef... so Julie says she had to learn to cook well... and she's definitely cracked it! Fantastic stuff she whipped us up !!

The next day Dave and Julie took us up into the wine country  and treated us to some amazing tapas and wine at one of the wineries... oh my!! Sooo good.... soooo fulll!

We were sad to leave our wonderful hosts, but by Easter Sunday it was time to head back to the airport and back to Fiji... probably a good thing and going by this picture we were starting to see the effects of all the amazing food on our food fest of a holiday.

Thanks again Julie & Dave!!!

Further On Up The Coast

We said goodbye to the Stanley's after a wonderful few days catching up and playing with the kids. 

When we first started planning our trip we had a few people to visit, but no real idea where they all actually lived....

It turns out they live only about a half an hour away from each other. So it was a short drive up to North Avoca, to visit Sarah & Jez. We had met them when they came diving with us at Ratu Kini in March... on their honeymoon.

The crazy thing was that they had spent a while living on Utila in Honduras, with Jez getting his Divemaster cert there.... that was where we went to become instructors last year. So, there was a fair amount of reminiscing about Utila over drinks.

We enjoyed a few days relaxing with them, checking out the local beaches and sharing a few drinks and taboo!!

They took us down to one beach that had amazing rock formations, which caught Tadd's eye.

Snakes, and Roos, and Crocs... Oh My!

The next day we packed up a picnic lunch and headed off the Australian Reptile Park for the day. It's a pretty small place, but has so much to see... we got to pet a baby wombat on the way in from the car park, before we'd even entered the place!

Rich, Hannah & Gemma enjoying the spectacle of poisonous snakes and reptiles.

The Emu's and the Roo's were wandering around freely amidst the picnics. But when they wanted a break from the visitors, they had their own rest area.

 A highlight of the park is the croc feeding ... so we went off the see if Elvis was feeling peckish.

With no delay he lurched out of the pool towards the keeper with a dead chicken on the end of a string.

Elvis looking pretty satisfied!

Then we went off to see my favourite animal!

 The koala's ... sooo cute.

And the keepers/volunteers came and held them so we could pet them and feel how incredibly soft their fur is... quite a juxtaposition to the huge, sharp claws they have!

Can't believe the size of the heads on some of the kangaroos!

The little Wallabies are very cute.


Then we checked out the spider house and the frog exhibit.

And just time for a quick pick in the croc's mouth before we headed home.

The Stanleys

After running around Sydney for a couple of days, the weather turned crappy and we jumped on a train north up the coast to Gosford. We were off to visit some friends of mine, Lynsey & Rich, who I haven't seen for ages... 10years in fact, Lynsey assured me, by way of her birthday celebration we last enjoyed together! It's been a long time and a whole journey for both of us since we were together in Quito, Ecuador running the Arribar together. Crazy times. 

Lynsey & Rich have been out in Australia for more years now and are well settled in Copacabana, Central Coast with their two bundles of energy, Hannah and Gemma. 

Our first night there, we got stuck into some of our duty free, before we were picked up by the "Happy Bus" - a common occurrence in those parts, apparently, where the pub sends out a minibus to pick you up and later drops you home... so no one has to be the designated driver... and a good thing too!

We went out to the Empire Bay Tavern & Restaurant with Lynsey, Rich, and Rich's brother Ian, to help one of Rich's footie mates celebrate his birthday...

Lynsey (right) with a friend

Ian & Rich

After quite a few drinks we finally got around to getting some dinner... oh my... fantastic!! Some of the best food we've had in ages! Amazing pasta with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes (molten to the last bite!) and a steak that was out of this world!! We we talking about that meal for the rest of our trip!

Yummy!!

Tadd was really enjoying the variety of Aussie beers, after being in Fiji with only a couple of options.

... and some more beer... and more steak! Yum!!

Needless to say, things got a little silly.

The next day we were up early - thanks to the little whispering cherubs (not so quietly) who get up at 6ish every day... so we all piled out of the house for a walk to the beach at Copacabana.

The cool temperatures weren't stopping the locals from enjoying the sand or the waves.

Very nice... but so are all the beaches in the area (we found out).

We stopped off at the beachside cafe for a round of 2nd breakfast.

Hannah enjoying her chips and milkshake... before she knocked it over :-(

And Gemma did stop chattering long enough to scoff some chips too

Before long, the girls headed off with Uncle Ian to climb the monkey puzzle tree.

Back at the house, we finally got to meet some of the local wildlife... a far cry from sparrows and robins we get feeding at home!!

The girls were kind enough to correct us that these weren't parakeets but lorokeets... gorgeous anyway you call them.

We had been told the kookaburras were really friendly, and, in spite of their HUGE beaks, you could stroke them without getting nipped.

Tadd making friends

He really was very tame... and we did get to pet him.

Great pals!

Amidst playing with the girls... Tadd had time to make himself a hat!

Hmmm....!

Later we went for a driving tour of the area

The view back south along the coast 

Gemma came along in her Flamenco dress

FREE Is The Name of The Game

After our fun on the town, we got up the next day, enjoyed the wonders of FREE high-speed internet at the hostel over breakfast, and headed out on the FREE bus that runs around downtown Sydney. While researching our trip, I came across a FREE walking tour. It had great reviews on the web and seemed to be legitimately FREE (tips if you want).

 

The old and the new buildings of city hall and the city.

So we jumped off at city hall and found a guy in a lime green t-shirt that says, "I'm Free." Ross and his girlfriend, apparently came up with the idea a few years ago... seems to be going well as we had about 10 or 12 people in our group. His tour was short and to the point, with lots of history, but not too much, and loads of funny anecdotes and jokes... very cool!

Ross starting our tour

Along the way we say lots of the usual tourist stuff - I love the street painters... very cool!

The tour took us into the Queen Victoria Building - where there very elaborate, animated clocks that have little stories that play out on the hour - one British, which goes so far as representing the beheading of some king or other at home, and the Australian version that is more to do with animals and stuff.

From here we went down into the tunnels that run all over underneath the city... who knew.

Eventually we emerged again into the sunshine and wandered again through Hyde Park.

Past some older gents playing chess - I love these giant chess boards!

Past the horsey fountain - very original.

And checked out the piggy statue outside the hospital - one wing of which was long ago turned into government offices. Supposedly it's good luck to rub the piggy's nose... a few jokers had been rubbing on some other bits for luck (not shown for under 18's).

Having seen a fair few lists of rules lately on our travels, I'm always intrigued by them... I guess they had decided that it is now acceptable to walk and train you dog in the pedestrian precinct, as they have whited out that one!

Not long after this we started to get peckish as we hadn't eaten for several hours, so we ducked out of the tour to try some meat pies... yummy! And when we caught back up with the tour... it was officially snack time, so we grabbed some Vietnamese -type summer rolls... shrimp, pork, chicken... 

Somewhere after that, I looked over and at another table nearby, spotted a couple we had also met at our resort in Fiji... so among the some 4.5 million residents of Sydney... we bumped into 3 people we know in only 2 days!! Crazy!!

Not too long after that, we hit Circular Quay  and decided we were happy with our section of the tour and bowed out. But just after we stopped in the central library.

This kid seemed quite taken by the miniature Sydney under the glass.

So by now we were close to the iconic buildings of Sydney... so, of course, I got a little snap-happy... hope you like them!

The Harbour Bridge

Tadd enjoying the view on the way to the Opera House

 

We enjoyed the ferry ride out through the harbour to Manly and back. Then we had to rush back to our appointment at the Apple store... well there's some stuff you just can't get done on the islands in Fiji.

From here we went out to Newtown to have sushi with friends... getting off the train we grabbed a few happy hour drinks... so I forgot about documenting the evening... but the food was fantastic!!!