Down Unda: Brisbane Days 7 & 8

After spending two incredible days on the Gold Coast, we hopped in our car drove an hour north to Brisbane.  We checked into the Brisbane Marriott, which is located right in the heart of Brisbane and overlooks the Brisbane River, and set off to explore the city.  

The first thing I wanted to do once we arrived in Brisbane was to visit the Brisbane Temple.  When I served my mission in Brisbane 13 years ago, the second area I served in was the temple grounds.  The temple had just finished being built and I had the opportunity to serve at the open house leading up to its dedication.  Serving at the temple open house was one of the best experiences of my mission.  I had some of my most spiritual experiences during that time and I loved having the opportunity to introduce people to the peace and serenity of the Lord's house.  So, as you can assume, I was anxious to get back to the Brisbane temple and to show my husband and kids this place that meant so much to me as a missionary.

After walking the grounds and taking a bunch of pictures, we crossed the street to Kangaroo Point to see the views of the city.  Then, we walked down the stairs of the cliff and walked along the river for a bit, until we were too hot and anxious to go swimming!

We drove over to South Bank to check out their incredible swimming spaces.  At South Bank is Aquativity, an awesome splash pad that all 3 kids absolutely loved, a large pool, called the Boat Pool, and Streets Beach, a manmade beach right by the pools in the center of the city!  And there is a large playground, shopping, and restaurants all around.  And, as if it couldn't get any better, all of the aquatic spaces overlook the Brisbane River!  Spectacular.  If you ever find yourself in Brisbane, with or without kids, I highly recommend visiting South Beach!  For lunch we hit up Guzman y Gomez, and it was exactly what this Mexican food-deprived mama needed!!  It was really a fun day and a great introduction to Brisbane!

Our 8th day in Australia (essentially our last day since we just woke up and headed to the airport on day 9), was probably my favorite and our family's most memorable day from our whole trip.  We were really worried because the forecast all week leading up to our last day had been predicting heavy rain.  And that was the day we were planning on going to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo.  So, we woke up that last morning, ate breakfast, and then waited.  We waited for the rain to come.  And we were back and forth, back and forth, as to whether or not we should go.  It was still looking clear by 8:00ish, which is when we were planning on heading up to the Sunshine Coast to get to the zoo by 9. We decided to just do it!  We hopped in our car, stopped at a convenience store and bought 5 ponchos, and then made the scenic drive an hour north to Beerwah.  By the time we arrived at the zoo, it was still . . . clear!!!  In fact, it never rained once the entire day!!!  The weather was absolutely perfect and we had the BEST DAY EVER.  I am so glad we went!  And that the weather predictions were totally wrong!

Here we are, super excited to go in and showing off our best kangaroo hops :)

Australia Zoo is full of hands-on experiences.  Touching lizards, holding birds, petting crocodiles (!!),  seeing emus, otters, koalas, kimodo dragons, and of course, feeding kangaroos!  We had a blast seeing all the animals and watching the shows.  The tiger show was UNBELIEVABLE.  The birds and crocodiles were amazing to watch as well.  And somewhat frightening!  Those crocs are scary!!  Besides feeding the kangaroos, my favorite part of the day was getting to hold a koala!  So cuddly!!!  It was really an unforgettable day.  So amazing. 

After leaving the zoo, we decided to drive up the Sunshine Coast a little further to see its infamous coastline.  Australia is full of gorgeous beaches, and we couldn't leave without at least taking a glimpse at one of the Sunshine Coast's most beautiful beaches, Shelly Beach in Caloundra.  We parked at a look-out point and caught some beautiful views before the sun went down.  

Seeing this gorgeous beach was a perfect send-off to one of best trips we've ever taken!  Australia, we love you!!!

Down Unda: Gold Coast Days 5 & 6

Day 5 of our epic Australian adventure took us from Sydney to Brisbane, well the Gold Coast, actually, but we spent the morning flying into Brisbane and then picking up a rental car and driving an hour south to check in at the Surfer's Paradise Marriott Hotel.  All of the Marriotts that we stayed in in Australia were amazing, but the Surfer's Paradise Marriott wins FOR. SURE.  It was unbelievable.  Our room had an amazing view of the city, which is built upon canals weaving up and down streets, and right on the beach.  And the rooms, food, and accommodations were awesome.  But, the best part of the hotel was the pool!  It was actually made up of a few pools, one of which was salt water with a man-made beach.  And in the pool was reef with hundreds of fish that you could swim with and snorkel!  It was really unbelievable.  We could have spent a week at this hotel and been perfectly happy not ever leaving!  But, we didn't have that luxury since we were there for only a couple of days and we had all of the Gold Coast to explore!  We compromised though, and after getting settled in our hotel, we decided to just hang out and swim at the hotel for the rest of the day.

We couldn't leave the Gold Coast without dedicating a day to its beautiful beaches.  We had really high hopes of visiting a few different beaches, but in the end, we decided to just hit up Burleigh Heads Beach and make a day of it.  Burleigh Heads is gorgeous!!!  There's a national park right on the beach, and they've got some great hiking trails and beautiful rocks and cliffs to explore.  We didn't hike, but we stopped and took photos and enjoyed the views.  They also had a really fun playground right by the beach that our kids had fun playing on while Bennett took a nap on the grass.  Once he woke up, we set up camp on the beach and had a blast playing in the sand and the waves (which were HUGE btw).  

After we had our fill of swimming and playing, we grabbed delicious tacos and gelato on the cute beachy-town streets of Burleigh Heads and then headed back to our hotel.

We let our kids swim in the pool while I got to meet up with a very dear friend, Emma Eriksson!  Emma, her sister, and her dad were baptized while I was serving in Nerang in the Gold Coast 12 years ago!  It was so, so, so wonderful to be able to sit and talk and catch up with her!  She is an amazing girl and is very dear to my heart.

Then, after Emma left and we ate and rested a bit, I got to see more dear friends!  Rachel and Kurei Smith, their kids, and Kurei's parents (who were all in Nerang ward when I served there) came to the hotel and we were able to visit while all of our kids swam together.  It was such a fun reunion!  Rachel and I had a special bond when I was a missionary and it was so good to reconnect with her.  

The Gold Coast is such an amazing place, with people there that I love!  Next time we will stay longer!!!

Down Unda: Sydney Days 3 & 4

On day 3 in Sydney, we decided to take a tour bus out to the Blue Mountains.  We used the company, Oz Trails, and they were awesome.  Our driver was extremely knowledgable about the landscape, history, including all of the Aboriginal history and lore, and he also taught us survival and medicinal, and apothecary tips using the local shrubs, trees and foliage.  And the Blue Mountains are so, so, so breathtakingly gorgeous! 

We stopped to check out an ancient Aboriginal carving of a kangaroo:

And continued on to a little hike or "bush walk" to a lookout point over Wentworth Falls.  

This is the hollow tree that a didgeridoo is made of. 

After Wentworth Falls, we got back on our bus and went over to Scenic World to see the famous 3 Sisters rock formation and more of the scenery within the Blue Mountains.  We took the Skyway, Australia's highest cable car, the Cableway, walked through the forest on their Walkway, and then took the Railway, which is the steepest in the world!  And it was steep!  Our kids were practically crying they were so scared!  It was awesome.

We took a ferry cruise home after a full day of visiting the Blue Mountains.  It was a perfect day of beautiful sights and fun bush walks.  I'm really glad we decided to go and see them.  

Day 4 in Sydney was city time!  We spent the entire day just doing more sightseeing within the city.  We started out by walking down to the Sydney Opera House and checking the place out.

After the Opera House, we meandered our way through the Royal Botanic Garden and let the kids run around, roll down hills, and smell the flowers.  The gardens, right on the water in the middle of the city, are beautiful.  Sydney really is one of the most scenic and beautiful cities in the world!

After exploring the gardens, we walked over to the Sydney Tower Eye, the tall tower that looms over the city.  Along the way we had fun window shopping and checking out local street festivals and the city crowds.

Now, we've been to a lot of tall towers in our travels, but for whatever reason, our kids LOVED the Tower Eye.  Actually, I think I know the reason:  their 5 minute 4D movie about Sydney that everyone watches before taking the elevator up to the observation deck level!  Our kids wanted to go back just to see the movie again!  So funny.  And, then after checking out the views from the top, we splurged and bought the cheesy green screen photos because they were just too funny!

We finished out our day by heading over to Luna Park, a 1930s style amusement park.  It was a fun atmosphere, but unfortunately our kids couldn't go on very many of the rides.  But we had a fun time nonetheless!

We love Sydney!  We had such a great time exploring and we'd love to go back again!