Chris, Riley, and Paul's Oz Blog (CRaPoBlog)
August 1: A walking tour of Sydney
(Warning: if you have a dial-up connection, go get a cup of tea while this page loads)
We head toward the harbour and follow the shoreline
Up the stairs into the Botanical Gardens
Exotic birds everywhere ...
Lise and Paul in front of a bottle tree (guess how it got the name)
Us, the Sydney Bridge, and the Opera House
The roof is actually covered in what look like bathroom tiles.
Look closely at the top of the bridge.
That's right ... there are tourists walking around up there!! And the PAID MONEY to do it !!
Mum was too cheap to let us do it (Lise was crushed)
The famous Circular Quay
We boarded a ferry heading to the zoo. More interesting Aussie signs ...
General life advice ..
And a warning ...
They should have had a sign that read "Big Uglies on Board"
More shots of the Opera House (from the ferry this time)
OK, enough Opera House (I promise)... How about the Sydney version of Alcatraz?
Our port of call for the day (careful how you say the name of the wharf).
Looking back across the bay (and you can hardly see the Opera House -- so there!)
We took the cable car up to the Zoo entrance (and Lise wasn't scared a bit)
We saw crocs ...
And koalas ...
Kangaroos
Some sort of tree dwelling roo ...
Wombat
Lise was so sick of me taking photos of the Opera House, she tried to blow it up ...
Laurie and Lise resting on a Komodo Dragon (red heads are brave)
They decided not to sit on this one (crikey!)
More lizards in cages ...
in tanks full of water ...
And even running loose !! (an escapee or a local?)
The usual suspects — giraffe and zebras
Feeding time at Chimp Land. The keeper tosses fruit across the moat.
"Oo, oo, keeper, pick me!"
Mama makes sure Junior gets some ...
The Thinker
That's a small kangaroo behind us
Or maybe a very large rat (I'm not sure)
More weird birds
What kids do when told to pose
This is a photo of trees — not the Opera House
Echidna ... echidni? echidnooses? We were told they were trying to mate. So we hustled the kids away ...
Lise was the victim of an Emu stalking ...
It seemed to be after whatever she was eating ...
And was peeved when Lise ate it all ...
So it loped off in a huff.
Then the dingos circled, but did not eat my bubee
They got chicken
Family photo — Lise is giving Pete a piggy back ride (note Opera House in extreme distance)
Only the alpha male ape came out to play.
Strange lookin' penguins
Pete hates penguins ...
So we fed him to the tiger
And threw the scraps to the snow leopard
Meerkat basking under a heat lamp
Red Panda
OK, really, last time...
And the sun did set on Sydney
Time to get ready for the plane ride home. Must ... recharge ... iPod ...
Red headed women must pre-approve photos for web site publication...
One last game of poker. Despite his glum look, Paul actually won ...
A last group photo ...
The taxi ride to the airport (cell phone photos)
As usual, Lise is excited, Riley is pensive, Laurie is worried, Pete gets a kick out of Laurie being worried, and Paul is in iPod Land ...
After a long, tearful goodbye, I put them on their plane for Canada and headed back to Cairns.
When I got there, the weather suited my mood ...
The family made it home safe and sound. The dog survived their absence and I hear that Grandpa Pete built us a lovely new shed. I'm happy for all that. It was a wonderful visit.
But now that I'm alone, I really should get some work done to justify this whole southern hemisphere extravaganza. So there will be fewer updates to this site in the coming days — unless you really want to see photos of me sitting in front of my computer in my underwear.
Just 45 more sleeps until I come home...