Days 6 through 8 - Perth

On Saturday, the day after we went to the Blue Mountains, we were back at the airport and headed for Perth.  The flight was about 5 hours and Rachel was well-behaved, but awake, the whole flight.  Once we arrived, we picked up the rental car, went for a coffee and then picked up Oma at the airport.  She was arriving from Louisiana so she had had a much longer trip than we had that day.  That evening, we relaxed and had dinner at Trevor's house and then went to the hotel.

Rachel once again got to see out the front of the car from her car seat.

On Sunday, we went to church in the morning and met many of my grandmother's and mother's friends.  Then, we went to the Fremantle war memorial to enjoy the nice weather and get a good view of the area.

It was good to have Oma with us to chase our very active toddler.

After that, we went to visit my Oma, Rachel's great-grandmother, who turned 106 on May 13.  She was quiet when she visited, but she and Rachel were both very happy to spend time together.

After a visit to the Fremantle markets, we headed over for a visit with Oma's cousin Jim and his wife Jean.  We have a very nice visit.  Rachel had a fun time playing with some toys and in the garden.

On Monday, Oma's cousin Peter's daughter Vicki and her husband Peter came to the house for a visit.  Vicki brought a lot of old family pictures and postcards from way back to the 1920s and we enjoyed going through them.

After that, we played in the garden for a little while before heading on with the rest of our day.

We took advantage of the sunny weather to let Rachel have her first swim at the beach.  It was relatively warm out, although it is winter in Perth right now.  The water of the Indian Ocean was pretty cold, but Rachel loved it anyway.  She was smiling and starting to shiver a little when we took her out.

After the beach, we went to King's Park.  King's Park is a beautiful park overlooking downtown Perth.  I celebrated my third birthday there on my earliest visit to Perth.

Rachel loves to go down the slide - this one was a bit big so Wes helped.

Rachel wanted to know if mulch tastes the same in Australia as it does back home

She loved playing on the little dinosaur...

...so much that she tried to eat him.

Day 5 - The Blue Mountains

On our fifth day in Sydney, we rented a car and headed west to the Blue Mountains.  Unfortunately, we ran into bad weather so we did not get to see all of the beautiful views that the Blue Mountains have to offer.  It was still a fun day - we will have to go back another time for the full experience.

Rachel enjoyed riding in the car in a front-facing car seat for the first time.

We stopped when we first got to the mountains for a short hike to a cave with Aboriginal paintings.

One of the most famous sights in the Blue Mountains is the Three Sisters.  We were lucky that the clouds lifted when we got there and we were able to see it.  Normally, you would also see a valley stretching out beyond but we take what we can get.

Before starting our drive back to Sydney, we took a break from the rain and cold at Scenic World.  They have a train down to the valley and a gondola ride, which we did not do.  However, they also had a free movie about the Blue Mountains that was very informative and showed us what it looks like without clouds.  Rachel enjoyed getting to run around for a little while and the bus loads of tourists from Asia through she was awfully cute.

Days 3 and 4 in Sydney

On our third day in Sydney, we had beautiful weather and spent most of the day on a bike tour of the city.  They even had a baby seat so that Rachel could enjoy the ride as well.

We started the ride in the Rocks, near the Opera House.

We stopped at the observatory overlooking the harbor bridge before we rode over the bridge and back again.

We stopped at a pub for a beer and some snacks on the way.

We paused in Darling Harbor to have a look around.

The last thing on our ride was a trip through Hyde Park and then the botanic gardens.

We started our fourth day with a trip to the Powerhouse Museum.

They had a great exhibit on the 80s.

We even got to play Ms Pacman for free!

A giant Rubik's Cube!

In another part of the museum, they had a fun play area for little kids that Rachel really enjoyed.  Here she is playing in the virtual splash pool.

In the transportation area, Wes tried out the old-style bike.  We also saw many steam engines, planes and robots.

After the museum we had yum cha in Chinatown and then took the ferry out to Manly.  It was raining off and on so we did not get in the water at the beach, but we still had a fun time.

Rachel liked the steamed BBQ pork buns

Happy on the another ferry ride

Rachel really loves playing in water, even if it is just a little splash in the fountains as we walked along the Corso.

First visit to the beach!

Our Trip to Australia - Days 1 and 2 in Sydney

I am very behind in updating the blog for our trip to Australia!

Rachel was great on the flights over to Sydney on Memorial Day weekend.  We arrived in Sydney on Monday morning and spent our first week there.

On our first day, we went to the Sydney Aquarium and Sydney Wildlife World at Darling Harbor.  We also walked around the Rocks a bit and saw the Opera House before heading back to the hotel.

Rachel got to see dugongs at the aquarium.

And she saw the sharks and fish on the coral reef.

Rachel was not afraid of the big snake, though.

On our second day, we took the ferry from Circular Quay to the Taronga Zoo.  It is a great zoo with beautiful views of the harbor and lots of fun animals.

On the ferry ride

On the gondola ride over the zoo

Rachel looked at the guide and helped us decide where to go in the zoo

We saw lots of kangaroos and wallabies

Rachel loved playing in the water at the children's zoo, even though it was a little cold out

We saw a bird show with a beautiful view of Syndey harbor

Rachel liked to watch the seals enjoying a swim