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 1 & 2

In March we did something that I've been wanting to do for 12 years!  We visited Australia!!!  Ever since coming home from my mission in June of 2004, I've wanted to go back and visit, and to take my family with me!  Being here in Japan has opened up so many traveling opportunities for us, and Australia was one of them.  It is so much more affordable to fly to Australia from Japan than from the states, so we figured that if we didn't go now, who knows when we ever would.  And because the prices are so much less flying from Tokyo, we figured out that we could fly all 5 of us (well, we went 2 weeks before Bennett's second birthday, so technically we only had to pay for 4 tickets ;)) for the same price as if only Peter and I were to go from the states.  So, in short, it was too sweet of a deal to pass up!  And even better . . . once we arrived in Japan and conceived of this plan to visit my old mission country, we began accumulating Marriott points on our credit card so that we would have enough built up to pay for all of our lodging!  Mission accomplished!  By March we had enough points to stay at Marriotts in Sydney and in Brisbane for 8 nights for free!  The hotels were unbelievable--they were in beautiful and ideal locations.  It was absolutely perfect.

The flight from Tokyo to Sydney is LONG.  About 9.5 hours.  We took a redeye (with 3 kids--super fun btw) and arrived very early the next morning.  Even though the flight would be rough, we thought it would be worth it to have a full day ahead of us that wasn't eaten up by traveling.  Which turned out to be true, for the most part.  We dropped our bags off at the beautiful Pier One Sydney Harbour Marriott, which is essentially right beneath the Harbour Bridge!  The back of the hotel is on the water and it was gorgeous.  

After walking around the Harbour a bit, we were starving, so we decided to pop into a burger place that looked pretty good.  And, I don't want to brag or anything, but we happened to pick the best burger joint ever!!!  Seriously, it was amazing!  The place was called Ribs and Burgers and it was at The Rocks right by the Harbour.  Peter and I each had "the burger with the lot", which in my opinion, is the only way to eat a burger when in Australia!  The burger came loaded with beets, a fried egg, bacon, cheese, cabbage, onions, tomatoes, and pickles!  Soooooo delicious.  This is the food I have been missing since my mission!

After eating lunch, we opted to take a red, double decker Hop On Hop Off Bus.  This was a great way to see the city, especially since we didn't have a car and there aren't really any trains.  Sydney is so beautiful and there is so much to see, but let me tell you, sitting in the hot sun on top of a bus the day after taking a 9 hour redeye flight with kids can make you quite sleepy!  Hahaha, we may have struggled to stay awake, and more than a few us dozed off for a bit as well.  Needless to say, we didn't "hop off" as often as we'd planned on doing!  But, it was great nonetheless and we took it over to Darling Harbour, which is a really cool area and has a super fun playground and water/splash pad area for kids.  It was the perfect way to end a hot day of sightseeing.  Well, the playground plus the yummy ice cream bars and Aussie treats and drinks that we snacked on of course!

At the end of the day, we strolled back past the Sydney Opera House to our hotel exhausted, and ready for sleep.

Day 2 in Sydney we woke up and check out of our hotel and had a taxi drive us about a mile over to the Sydney Harbour Marriott where we checked in to stay the rest of our time while in Sydney.  Overlooking Circular Quay, this hotel was incredible!  We had a great view of the Harbour and of the Opera House from our window.  Gorgeous.  

After checking out our new room, we loaded up and headed out to catch the ferry to take us across the bay to Manly.  

We had a fabulous day in Manly!  We rented bikes, one with a half-wheeler attached for Will and one with a trailer attached for Bennett and Clara.  Then we took off to explore!  And, let me tell you, with 3 kids under 6, biking is so, so, so much better than walking!  We rode over to Manly Beach and to the cliffs on the far end to explore "the wormhole".  This was the perfect, short hike to do before soaking up the sun and playing in the water.

We hopped back on our bikes and found a little beach cafe after climbing on the rocks and through the wormhole.  We ate delicious fish 'n chips, my very, very favorite Aussie meal, and then rode over to Shelly Beach to camp out for the rest of the afternoon.  

Our day in Manly was absolutely perfect!!!