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  • Kristine SchroederTrans-Pacific CruiseKristine Schroeder
    Queen Victoria BuildingSt. Andrew's CathedralLabubu lineSussex StreetDinner place in Chinatown

    19,272 steps later

    11 октября, Австралия ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

    We spent 90 minutes walking around and trying to find a place to eat. Each and every one of us was hangry by the time we found somewhere to eat. Dad didn't want to cook and everything in Sydney seemed to cost an arm and a leg. We settled on Chinatown and Dad said, I quote, "it's only a mile up the road". That was by far the longest mile I have ever walked.

    Smom found a hot pot place that was $50 per person. Not cheap but it was right there. Dad didn't want it. We walked to this seafood place but it wasn't what anyone wanted and it looked a little too pricey at over $100 per person. Then we walked to this dolar hot pot place but it had a one hour wait. Everything else around it was either a long wait or a la carte.

    Smom found a place just outside and down the road a short walk. It was an eat outside type of venue and they sat you next to a bunch of other people eating from other restaurants. It was like an outdoor food court where they seat you and serve you. Wild.

    We ordered 3 main dishes: honey chicken, sweet and sour pork, and Kung Pao chicken. We also ordered two sides of friend rice with prawn and pineapple. All of the food was delicious, and I don't think it was just because we were so tired from our trek. The honey chicken was the absolute best. It was good enough that I could have eaten it for every meal.

    The drinks were $4.50 and up so we opted for a winter melon tea that appeared to come in a huge quart. Much to our surprise when they brought out a beer mug and sat it in the middle of all four of us. Well. It gave us a good laugh.

    We finished our meal and I think many of us were still hungry. I wanted a fourth main dish but Erik was certain it would be too much food. He can get quite prude on spending money. Though, he is usually right , this time he was wrong. I could have done another honey chicken.

    We said we would stop for gelato but wouldn't you know the 2 or 3 gelato shops we passed on the way to dinner were no longer open. We stopped at a Woolworths and grabbed some breakfast and candies and went to the apartment we are staying in. Now, I lay in the bed so thankful to be off my feet after 19,000 steps (in flip flops, no less).

    Tomorrow we go to the Blue Mountains which is even more walking but I plan on wearing some better shoes.    Читать далее

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  • Kristine SchroederTrans-Pacific CruiseKristine Schroeder
    Tim Tam
    Instead of Exit: Way Out

    We slept in & buses and trains, oh my!

    12 октября, Австралия ⋅ ☀️ 70 °F

    Of course, we slept in. Only until about 740am but the original plan was to be on a train at 6am. We got on the 9am train. We showered and I ate a toffee yogurt which I really enjoyed. I downed it pretty fast because we were already needing to leave. Erik are some chocolate chunk cereal. We also had some caramel Tim Tams and I can see what all the buzz is about. Erik's phone didn't charge last night so that wasn't good because he is the only one with the international phone plan.

    Today, of all days, the route from Penrith to Granville was moved to buses (probably due to some train track fix?). This means our 2 hour trip (1 train & 1 bus) out from Sydney to Katoomba turned into a 3 hour trip (2 train & 2 bus). Though, it was relatively easy to use. Everything was clearly marked and their tap on and off system worked like a champ.

    The first train was 1 hour long and it was a double decker so we sat on the second floor. The closer to Sydney we were, the closer the houses were together. Almost sitting on top of each other. The bus came pretty quickly. Maybe 3 minutes to wait for it..

    Then we got off at Granville and got on a bus. The bus was an hour long and only 2 total stops. Nothing super spectacular about the bus ride. The guy drove pretty fast. The bus left almost immediately after we sat down on it.

    Then we got on the 2nd train at Penrith and rode it to Katoomba. This was also about an hour. This train ride was also uneventful. Erik tried to sleep most of the way on this train. We were in a quiet carriage, which I guess is a thing. We didn't know. On this train we had to wait for about 20 minutes before it arrived and we could board it..

    Once in Katoomba we had to figure out how to get to Scenic World. Lucky for us, the bus was around the corner. We had to wait about 5-10 minutes for the bus but it was only a 10 minute ride to Scenic World.    Читать далее

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  • Kristine SchroederTrans-Pacific CruiseKristine Schroeder

    Scenic World

    12 октября, Австралия ⋅ 🌬 72 °F

    We made it to Scenic World to see the wonders of the Blue Mountains. You could easily see the Blue Mountains for free but as we are not from Australia, nor do we have a vehicle, we felt Scenic World was a good bet for us as it would get us to see many parts of the Blue Mountains.

    Did it cost a lot? About $150 AUS. More than I'd like to pay but it had some cool features.

    Up first - an aquarium! Yes, kids - we went to an aquarium in the Blue Mountains and you'll never guess what we saw....
    ....
    ....
    ....
    ....
    Dinosaurs!!!!

    Were they real? We don't know 😜 maybe

    There was definitely a dino theme at this place.    Читать далее

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  • Kristine SchroederTrans-Pacific CruiseKristine Schroeder
    Like Jurassic ParkIt is windy, can you tell?Three SistersKatoomba Falls

    First ride - Scenic Skyway

    12 октября, Австралия ⋅ 🌬 72 °F

    This place has 3 "rides". First up we did the scenic skyway.

    It is like a team that takes you across this huge valley. It is 380 meters across and 270 meters high. It takes you to the other side where you can walk out towards Echo Point and see the Three Sisters.

    We opted not to walk all the way to Echo Point because we got on this place at about 1pm and the rides stopped at 430pm and we wanted to make sure we could see as much as possible. Plus it was incredibly windy. Uncomfortably windy, at times. We went to some lookouts and took photos. Then we walked the opposite way to see the Katoomba falls. Really cool. They said the waterfall has never stopped flowing.

    We saw a lot of white cockatoos flying around. Those were pretty fun to watch as their coloring stood out from the greenery. Which, by the way, was beautiful. The skyway itself wasn't even that scary. Mildly but not really. We rode looking out one side on the way there and then rode the skyway back and looked out at the opposite side.

    It was a relatively quick ride. Worth it though!    Читать далее

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  • Kristine SchroederTrans-Pacific CruiseKristine Schroeder

    Second ride - Scenic Railway

    12 октября, Австралия ⋅ 🌧 64 °F

    Our second ride we took was the scenic railway. This was an epic ride. I could ride this one all day. Every day. It has a feature where you can choose how you want to enjoy the ride. Laidback, normal, or cliffhanger. It was dependent upon the degree of your seat. We opted for cliffhanger.

    This ride was only 90 total seconds but it was fun. It had a 310 meter descent and it was 52 degrees steep.

    To say it was steep was kind of an understatement.

    Originally, John Britty North bought the land at the bottom of the cliffs in 1877 to look for coal and shale. He made the railway as a means to get the coal and shale up to the top.

    For six pence, visitors could ride the 12-passenger car. The workers would charge on weekends and holidays for visitors to ride up and down in the car in order to make extra money.

    Once at the bottom, we used their walkways to walk around. It was a literal rainforest at the bottom. Lo and behold we found more dinosaurs. Can't escape those guys. We also saw a magpie and Erik might have seen one of their elusive marsupials, but we aren't sure. It was quick whatever it was that he saw.

    There was a statue that I tried to snap a picture of. This old lady came up and stood there waiting on her husband who was 30 seconds away. I asked if I could just take a picture of the statue and she said, "no no", and made me wait for her husband to come over and sit on the horse statue. There were only two times I wanted to punch someone today and she was the first time.

    There were so many ferns in this forest. You count the nubs on the fern to figure out how old they are. They also had gum trees where the bark would flake off and look like hair. They had smooth bark trees and millions of vines.

    It was dramatically cooler the further down the path took us. At first it felt nice but then it became too much and Erik pulled out our jackets. Thank goodness for the jacket, but shorts were not boding well for me.

    There were so so many people here. I'm certain it's not even peak season for them...

    We walked almost the entirety of the path down below. We skipped a small section because it would take us back to the railway and we wanted to take the next ride back to the top.

    Must make another post with more photos of this place.    Читать далее

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  • Kristine SchroederTrans-Pacific CruiseKristine Schroeder
    In an emergency break glass to unlock box and save yourself ???
    His free popcornCockatooMagpieFree coin purse

    Third ride - Scenic Cableway & Close Out

    12 октября, Австралия ⋅ 🌧 57 °F

    The third ride was fun also but not really exhilarating. Nothing like the railway. We packed in like sardines and rode it up.. this one has a 510 meter descent.

    Once at the top, we thought it would be fun to do the railway again. We got in line - at the very front! We realized it was taking much longer to come back up. Apparently the doors were not opening so they told us we could go to another ride or wait while it was fixed. We opted to wait. The people in front of us chose not to wait and they left. Now, this is when I wanted to punch someone again. There was a couple who was in line for the second row. She just takes a step down in front of us as though she is going to ride up front while her husband rides in the second row. What the heck? Not letting it damper my mood, because we were going to have to wait a whole ride anyway and I'm not sure I want to be put in jail in Australia. One of the main guys for the ride started to ask us questions about different aspects of the park and he would give the person who answered correctly some kind of prize. He asked how long the ride was and as I videotaped it I answered 1.5 minutes. I got it right haha.. I won a little Australia coin purse that I am pretty confident I will gift my beautiful daughter.

    Karma always comes back around and unfortunately we stood too close to the victims. They shut the ride down for the day. It was almost 430pm, when they stop allowing rides. We went to the gift shop to look around. There was this lady at first services with her two sons and husband who was not happy that they shut the ride down. She wanted some kind of compensation and it must've been monetary because she started writing up a statement to be sent somewhere.

    Erik being the master negotiator and strategic thinker he is, opted to just ask for a free bag of popcorn since it's not like we could come back another day. They asked the head honcho and he agreed. Erik was very polite about it and I think that helped out because there were a few families who were not happy and causing chaos. Erik asked in the nicest way and they obliged.

    Free bag of popcorn to chomp down on ✅

    We proceeded to the lookout at the top and there was this white cockatoo. We gave it a piece of popcorn and then sheepishly saw the sign that said not to feed the birds. Whoops.. We also saw another magpie.

    It was basically freezing by this point and right at 5pm when the place closes, anyway. 55 degrees or 60 or whatever was chilly with the very cold breeze that came in brutally. We sat at the bus stop and waited a good 10 minutes waiting to head back to Sydney.    Читать далее

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  • Kristine SchroederTrans-Pacific CruiseKristine Schroeder
    Had to check out the paper
    Hot chocolateDouble cheeseburger with chipsFish and chipsTropical mango sparkling drink

    Train ride to Katoomba

    12 октября, Австралия ⋅ 🌧 55 °F

    Once the bus dropped us off at Katoomba (a 10 minute ride, max), we decided it would be too late to eat when we got back to Sydney. Erik turned his phone on (which had been off most of the day because his battery) and he turned on his hotspot for me. I texted the parentals who had made a reservation at a Brazilian steakhouse at 7pm. We were never going to make it back by then so I told them as much. It would take 3 hours to ride back. They decided to go without us, good call! I bet the food they ate was amazing. I can't wait to hear all about their days adventures.

    Well, now we needed to eat somewhere. There was a fish and chips place open just a few hundred feet away. It was drizzling outside so we gave it a shot.

    I ordered fish and chips and a hot chocolate. Erik ordered a double cheeseburger with chips with a mango soda thing. Oh my goodness. The food came out and it was not warm. It was scalding! I hated it and I loved it all at the same time. Loved it because it warmed my insides but hated it because I couldn't eat it as it was burning my mouth. The fish was HUGE, the burger was HUGE. We easily could have shared one order of chips (fries for my American friends 😜). It was all very good. I'll say it was my second favorite fish and chips ever. Number one being in London.

    It was raining even more when we finished so we got the umbrella out and headed for the train station. There was a 25 minute wait for the train so we sat in the waiting room where it was much warmer than outside. We stayed in there until about 5 min prior to boarding and then headed outside. To my surprise, about 5 or 6 cockatoos were hanging around the tracks. I wish we had cockatoos hanging out in AZ as if they were like pigeons.

    We decided we might want one more day in Sydney. We originally thought Sydney would be too much for us but it reminds us of London and we kind of want to explore some more and maybe check out the zoo and the museums and maybe see Rent at the Opera House. We extended our AirBnb for a whopping $65 for one more night and then ordered up our RV for the 14th.    Читать далее

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  • Kristine SchroederTrans-Pacific CruiseKristine Schroeder

    Last train, Gelato and Goodbyes

    12 октября, Австралия ⋅ 🌙 64 °F

    The train ride to Circular Quay was bright. I don't know why they have the lights on. You can't see anything outside of the train car.

    Outside of that, the ride was quick.

    We made it back to Circular Quay and asked the parentals if they wanted to meet for gelato but they declined the offer. They ate at a Brazilian steakhouse for dinner so I'm sure they are stuffed to the brim with their wagyu and other delectable foods.

    Erik and I went to get gelato instead. I had one scoop of Venetian coffee and one scoop of espresso on a cone. Yummmmm. I love coffee ice creams. The lady serving the food asked if I didn't want to sleep tonight haha. Erik got the Dubai chocolate and the gianduia cremino in a cone. Seriously good gelato!

    We sat down on a short wall at the wharf while we ate the gelato since it was melting almost immediately.

    Then we wobbled our way to the Marriott to meet the parentals. Dad came down to escort us up in the elevator. You need a key to go to different floors. Once inside we shared stories of our day's adventures. Dad and Smom went to the wildlife Sydney zoo and the aquarium. They both sounded like a great time.

    Dad has a shared drive that he will add his photos to and then I'll add mine to them.

    I am very grateful to have spent this time with both Dad and Smom. Dad retiring is a huge accomplishment.. granted he has retired from jobs a few times. Man is collecting pensions at this point 😂 it is still a big deal to retire and all I could ask for is for him to find something to retire to (that is not a job). Find some hobbies and spend these well deserved retired years doing things that make him happy. Continue to see the world. Travel. Eat the foods. Explore. Do all the things that you couldn't do because you were working. Life is too short to not do what you want to do. I really am happy to spend as much time with my dad as I can. I have two favorite men in my life and he is one of them. Spending time with Smom is always a good time. She is a great compliment to my Dad. She is fun and we have so much in common. I love getting to know her even more and getting to know her relationship with my dad even more. For instance, I didn't realize every Friday night was movie date night for them..how fun!

    I'm not just saying all this because they read these posts 😆 I mean it all!

    Safe travels back to California! Thanks for asking us to tag along on this Trans-Pacific adventure with you. Sharing your world with you makes ours that much sweeter.

    Love you both!

    Erik and I are back at our Airbnb. He is quite the grumpy grouch right now. His sickness is worse in the morning and in the evening. I had it too not too long ago so I can empathize real well. Hopefully some sleepy meds and some NyQuil will do the trick for him.

    Time to lay out our plan for tomorrow. We want to do the zoo and a museum and maybe we can squeeze the aquarium in there, also.    Читать далее

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  • Kristine SchroederTrans-Pacific CruiseKristine Schroeder

    Sleep, shower and breakfast

    13 октября, Австралия ⋅ ☀️ 64 °F

    I went to bed at about 130am while Erik went to bed at midnight. He feels the worst first thing in the morning and late at night. He might have snored all night 🙃🫠

    I woke up at 745am and then woke Erik up at 8am. We showered and ate breakfast. I had another yogurt and Erik had some cereal.

    He is taking a work call right now but hopefully we can get out of here soon. We have a lot to do today.

    Parentals left this morning and had a fairly easy train ride to the airport. That makes my heart happy. They head out on their 15 hour flight to Vancouver in just about half an hour.

    While we slept, Easton sent us some messages. 2.75 inches of rain last night. Thank goodness for that son of ours. He moved some vehicles that were danger close to the water from the wash. I wonder if he stuck his kayak in the wash this time, too 😆 lots of rain but our friends out in hidden valley seem to have lakes or puddles but no major issues. Whew, thank goodness. 🙏    Читать далее

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  • Kristine SchroederTrans-Pacific CruiseKristine Schroeder
    Tree kangaroo
    Tasmanian devilEastern brown snakeDiamond pythonWallabyWombatCassowaryKangarooMore kangarooAnd more kangarooCrocodilePlatypusEastern water dragonBilbyMagnificent tree frogWoma PythonQuollKoalaMore koalaAnd more koalaMore crocodileAnd more crocodileTasmanian devilsWallabyPlatypusKangarooKoala

    Wildlife Sydney Zoo

    13 октября, Австралия ⋅ ☀️ 70 °F

    We started our day walking to the Wildlife Sydney Zoo. It was about a 20 minute walk to get there. It's in a cute little place. We purchased tickets at the kiosk as it was $5 cheaper per person. We paid for 2 attractions. One being the zoo and one being the aquarium.

    First, the zoo.

    We arrived right as the zoo opened. It was almost like walking into a haunted house with its long walkway. It just kept going and going. Finally we saw some animals. This zoo sits right on the corner of a harbor and they have to pack a lot into a little area so the animals are on several different floors.

    We saw Australia's big 5! It was well worth it. Both of our favorite animals at the zoo were the koala, the kangaroo, and the tasmanian devil.

    The koala were our favorite because they just hang out in the trees, sleeping. I envy that life haha. You are not allowed to hold koala here.

    The kangaroo walkabout they had was fun, also. Some of the kangaroos were up and about eating. They moved very slow. I felt bad because they don't have a lot of space.

    The wallabies were much quicker and seemed to have a larger area.

    The tasmanian devils were running around. They are bigger than I expected.

    The cassowary is a weird looking bird. It was sitting the entire time we were around it but he was close so that was nice. Really big bird.

    There was a quoll that had the markings that remind me of a deer.

    The crocodiles were cool but I would not want to be in the wild with one.

    The platypus tried hiding. He hid from the camera really well but he did sneak out so that we could get a small glimpse of him. I wasn't able to capture him by photo but we saw him nonetheless. They are much smaller than we expected them to be.

    The wombat is quite the opposite. It is HUGE. Much bigger than we expected. He was up and walking when we first got there but by the time we were able to get closer to him he had settled into his little den.

    The snakes were fun to watch. At least for me. Erik hates snakes. I loved watching them coil up. Would I like them in the wild? Nope. I'll keep my distance.    Читать далее

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  • Kristine SchroederTrans-Pacific CruiseKristine Schroeder
    Eel
    SeahorseTurtleSlipper LobsterCuttlefishNemo! ClownfishLionfishBull whaleNurse sharkDudongRayPenguinsPretty coral and fishJellyfishTurtleRayBlack tip reef shark

    Sea Life Aquarium

    13 октября, Австралия ⋅ ⛅ 72 °F

    Next up was the sea life aquarium, right next door. Convenient.

    Just like the zoo, the aquarium was a bunch of walkways. Up down and all around. The difference in this attraction were the tons and tons of kids. So. Many. Kids.

    Our favorite animals were the sharks and penguins.

    After you enter, and make your way through some walkways, you see some aquariums.

    There were starfish, eel, anemone, clownfish and a variety of other fish. The eel is creepy looking. The anemone were beautiful. I really hope we see some more like it in these Australian waters. We won't make it up to the great barrier reef but I've read of some nice spots that are on this coast.

    We saw some seahorses, epaulette sharks, wrasse, triggerfish, surgeonfish, and a starry puffer. The puffer was big. It appeared to have some teeth and it just wandered about the aquarium. He looked uncomfortable in my opinion. Haha

    We saw a turtle with the longest neck I've ever seen . It did not match its body. We saw lungfish. The lungfish can breathe through their gills and they can take in air from above.

    We saw some coral lit up under some UV lights. Beautiful how they fluoresce.

    There was an area where you wash your hands and you can touch some coral and starfish and sea cucumber. We did, of course.

    We saw slipper lobster, more wrasse, clownfish, anemone, cuttlefish, scorpion fish, hula fish, and a lionfish. We also saw butterfly fish , damsels, and snail,

    We walked through some tunnels and saw a barramundi. We also saw bamboo shark. We saw one bamboo shark eating another bamboo shark. We thought maybe they were playing but the other shark was not moving. Perhaps that's what they do. I don't know.

    We saw a dugong. What a wild creature. The staff was playing with it. They would drop this piece of equipment at the bottom of their cage and it would retrieve it for them. They eat a lot of lettuce.

    We walked through even more tunnels and saw rays, smaller, grey nurse sharks and a wobbegong. The grey nurse sharks looked mean but I'm sure they are not.

    We then went to ride this little water boat ride where we went through the penguin exhibit. It was cold but it felt good with all the walking we had done. The ride was really short. Then we walked out of the ride and saw the penguins even more close up. One was walking around but mostly they were just standing there or laying on rocks and what appeared to be eggs. They had one penguin swimming around by itself. Wonder what he did to get free time or a time out.

    We walked into this room with mirrors which disoriented me at first. They had jellyfish in tubes. They were lit up in different colors: pink, green, orange.

    We walked through more tunnels where we saw black tip reef sharks similar to what we saw in Tahiti. We also saw more rays and a turtle. There was one ray that was gigantic. Much much bigger than we saw in Tahiti.

    We closed out our aquarium visit by ordering food and a drink.. I got banana bread with chocolate chunks. Erik got a ham and cheese croissant. We also got mango and raspberry slushie. Yum.

    The aquarium was a great visit. I also recommend this. I think all of the kids running around had both of us on edge. We needed to get away from them haha..

    The only kids I want around are my own. Goodness, I wish my kids were here for the zoo and aquarium. They would have loved it..    Читать далее

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  • Kristine SchroederTrans-Pacific CruiseKristine Schroeder

    Next up, walking to the Australia Museum

    13 октября, Австралия ⋅ ☀️ 66 °F

    We wanted to see the Maritime Museum but it would've taken 30 minutes to walk over to it and we wanted to see the Australia museum, which was in the opposite direction.

    We decided to skip Maritime and start our walk (20 min) to the museum. The walk was rather pleasant. We walked over to Hyde Park, snapped photos of the statues and fountain at the park and the church and this aquatic thing that you can walk over.

    If I haven't mentioned it, this city is really clean and feels very safe.    Читать далее

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  • Kristine SchroederTrans-Pacific CruiseKristine Schroeder

    Church, yes of course

    13 октября, Австралия ⋅ ☀️ 64 °F

    Our feet. 😭😭 So why do we decide to go to the church across the road? Because why not?

    St. Mary's Cathedral. You are beautiful. We walked inside and took a seat at one of the pews. We sat here for about 10 minutes just looking around. Many people walked in and were obnoxious tourists. They didn't even try to take in what it was they were standing in. I am much standing spiritual than Erik is so I sat there thinking about many things to include how grateful I am to have this experience.

    After sitting there for a while, we stood up and walked around inside. It was quite a long building. I can't even imagine what a service in this building would be like.

    I enjoyed the art that depicted Jesus' death condemnation to the point He died on the cross. Erik did not enjoy it because it stopped there and didn't have any about His rising. Right as we were walking out there were two girls walking in. One was dressed like Wednesday from the show. The other looked like a female version of Beetlejuice. I actually didn't feel their attire was appropriate for a church setting. 🙄

    My photography is not the best because it is a church and it always feels weird taking pictures inside of them so I try to be inconspicuous.    Читать далее

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  • Kristine SchroederTrans-Pacific CruiseKristine Schroeder
    Koala
    Sir Hercules and a rider, 1870Turtle skeletonObsidian spear headsMaskAntarctica sledDingo!BugsBoomerangBody masksT-RexT-Rex skeletonSperm whale skeletonBanded ironGold in the shape of AustraliaErik and the largest gold specimen ever found

    Australia Museum

    13 октября, Австралия ⋅ ⛅ 64 °F

    Our feet are tired, at this point, but we push through.

    We go inside and the entrance is free but they have this attraction to see the "Relics" which just appeared to be Legos. We opted to not do the attraction and just see the museum.

    It started off with a lot of taxidermy, skeletons, indigenous or aboriginal art and artifacts. My favorite pieces from this first area were the Australian animal taxidermy and all the bugs because they remind me of my friend, Kristina. She would have loved them! I took a ton of photos to show her later.

    They had an area with cool obsidian spears , zulu shields and boat models.

    We took a break and sat down for about 10 minutes. Our feet. 🦶 🤕

    When we started walking around, we stepped into a room of birds. They had taxidermy of all the birds. All of them. I didn't seem to take any pictures of them, but there were a ton.

    The next area was about T-Rex and some dinosaur. They had crafted a life size T-Rex. You do not know how big this creature is until you are next to it. Thank goodness they no longer exist. We saw lots of dinosaur fossils. The dinosaur room was a bit hectic . Kids were running rampant.

    The next area was about minerals. All the minerals. I found quite a few I enjoyed.

    We finished the museum and I was parched so we opted to head out.    Читать далее

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  • Kristine SchroederTrans-Pacific CruiseKristine Schroeder
    Fish and chips
    Kangaroo burgerTruffle friesKangaroo burger cut openCarmel crunch cake

    Food and DRINK

    13 октября, Австралия ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F

    I am thirsty by this point. So thirsty I am certain I could die if I don't have something soon. Yes, I'm being dramatic... I was a bit cranky. I let Erik have most of the slushie earlier because his throat hurt. I only had a little bit and we opted to travel light today and thus forgot to bring water with us. Rookies.

    We sat down at Hyde Park and looked for a place to eat. We couldn't find one so Erik said let's just do walking and look for something. 😑

    I went along with it. We walked. And walked. And walked. The places we saw did not meet our needs. Either too expensive or too much of a bar. Finally we found a chair, sat down and looked for something more specific. Erik found a cafe at the Rocks. 10 minutes away. Okkkkaaayyy. Let's go.

    We walk and walk and finally make it. They seat us outside and what sweet relief!!!

    The waiter is Hungarian and very nice. I ordered a kangaroo burger and truffle chips. Erik ordered fish and chips. We got a chocolate shake and a coke, but actually spent most of the meal drinking the tap water. If that doesn't tell you how dehydrated we are. We agreed to share our meals with each other 50/50.

    The kangaroo burger was not gamey at all. It was really good. It was slightly dry but it was good. It had some beet paste of some sort and tasted delicious. Erik's fish was much smaller than the one we had in Katoomba but it was still really delicious. The truffle fries with garlic aioli was exactly what I needed. The milkshake was too runny. The coke was perfect. We also received plastic straws which is unusual since most straws are paper around here.

    The waiter talked to us a bit about Sydney. He said it is very clean and has little crime. He then asked if we wanted dessert. We looked at the menu and they had tiramisu. Man oh man. The waiter recommended this caramel crunch cake that mirrors the tiramisu in many ways. Great recommendation. The caramelized nuts were tasty.

    Dinner was expensive, but it is expected in Sydney. I see a lot of grocery shopping the next few days.    Читать далее

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  • Kristine SchroederTrans-Pacific CruiseKristine Schroeder
    Ha! Pedestrian crossingUhm... HahaHello Crocodile Erik 😍

    Bridge walk

    13 октября, Австралия ⋅ ⛅ 61 °F

    We had a nice foot break and decided we needed to get to the Sydney Harbor Bridge tonight.

    About 15 minutes away. Why not? Theme of the day.

    We meandered our way to the bridge. This city has perfect signage in terms of finding where you need to go.. I'm a millennial so I Google map everything. Erik is ancient so he goes off where the northern star is in relation to Capricorn 😆 just kidding! He is actually annoyingly (in a loving way) good at finding his way.

    We found the bridge stairs and after walking up too many stairs, we walked to the South Tower to take pictures.

    Then we decided to walk halfway across. Would you believe it was not windy at all? Odd, right? I expected a lot of wind but it was quite calm. Chilly, but calm.

    We found the halfway point which is marked with a yellow metal thing on the ground. There is also a small bench at that location. Super small. We took some photos and headed back to the South Tower to take more photos since it was darker out. We watched the scenery for a while and then headed back to the airbnb.

    We heard some commotion as we were walking down the bridge stairs and saw some guys playing soccer. We watched for about 5 minutes .

    Then we really started back to our place. We walked through the Rocks and found some neat areas that are showcased as they show off the original aspects of this part of the city. Very cool.

    We found a convenience store and we walked around inside of it. We like to see the different things different areas sell. So many Tim Tams here in different flavors but Erik says we are traveling tomorrow and can buy it later. He is right.

    We kept wandering closer towards our Airbnb and like Sydney pros, we found our way without Google maps. Bosses.

    We decided to go into the souvenir shop next to our Airbnb. Just to look around. Everything is expensive so we are hoping when we get further outside of Sydney that things will get cheaper.

    We finished our day with 18830 steps.    Читать далее

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  • Kristine SchroederTrans-Pacific CruiseKristine Schroeder

    Morning!

    14 октября, Австралия ⋅ ☀️ 63 °F

    This AM I woke up at 740am. Erik slept until almost 8am. He woke up really congested. Not more than usual, but not less, either. Poor guy. He snored a lot and between his snores and these really noisy vehicles outside, I woke up about every 20 minutes. We keep our window open because the weather outside is cool and feels good when you sleep. On the flip side of that, it also brings in the outside noises. Which are plenty.

    We are doing a load of laundry in our Airbnb that we should have started last night. I hope it's done in time. We have about 70 min before we need to head out.

    I think we decided to take an Uber (or didi) to get the camper because of all of our bags and there isn't public transportation for the last leg of a trip to get out there. We would have to walk 25 min, with our luggage.

    So, this morning we are showering (and it was hair washing day, since I'm not sure when I'll be able to wash it again - we are getting a shower in our campervan but we have to be at a place that has water hookups) and then we are heading to get our campervan.

    We weren't sure whether to go North or South of Sydney. There is a cool Buddhist Temple South but the water is about 5 degrees colder. I don't know if I'm ready for that since all we brought with us were thin skins for jellyfish. We are going to talk to the campervan people to figure out which way to go. I need to go snorkeling at least once.

    We are going to be back in Sydney on the 14th. Probably Uber to a hotel after dropping off the campervan. We intend to stay at a hotel close to the airport. Can't believe we only have 5 days left.

    For breakfast we have cereal. I ate all the yogurt. I haven't tried the cereal because it looks pretty intense.

    Just got word, that the parentals are officially home! Yay!    Читать далее

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  • Kristine SchroederTrans-Pacific CruiseKristine Schroeder

    Laundry & Didi

    14 октября, Австралия ⋅ ☀️ 70 °F

    Note to self .. do laundry the night before. We started the washer and it showed 3.5 hours. Just to wash. What? Then we did the dryer and it showed 2.5 hours. That seems a bit ridiculous. Needless to say, we didn't allot enough time for these all day laundry machines. Our clothes are still damp. Luckily, we can air dry them on a clothesline in the camper van. Erik put them in garbage bags and we are hoping for the best.

    Time to Uber (we are using Didi which is another type of Uber) to the campervan place.

    Erik ordered our Didi. There was some confusion on where to go to meet him but I guess as we were staring at our phones trying to figure it out, he was across the street honking and waving at us 😂

    The driver is from Sierra Leon. He is very nice. He drove us through this underground tunnel that is quite long. I can see how beneficial it is to put your major highway underground so that you may build your infrastructure without restrictions. It's not all underground but we spent a good 10 minutes underground.    Читать далее

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  • Kristine SchroederTrans-Pacific CruiseKristine Schroeder

    Aldi & Karloo Pool

    14 октября, Австралия ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F

    We checked out our new ride for the next couple of days. The campervan is exactly the size we needed. We took pictures of any damage to the van and headed to our first stop: Aldi down the road to fill our fridge.

    Driving on the left is really odd. It doesn't always seem weird until cars are on the right coming towards you. Erik is doing really well. He goes over the line on the left sometimes but better him driving than me.

    If you ever go to another country, check out their grocery stores. It's always interesting to us to see what they sell. We bought more than enough to fill our fridge and a little to fill the freezer. Then we found some small rope and hung up our wet clothes.

    Next, I made sandwiches and we had an ice cream bar.

    Then, I found a place about 30 minutes away that had a "short" hike to this watering hole, or pool as they called it.

    On this drive, we began heading South and further out of the city. We saw our first ever koala crossing sign. It did not come with koala.

    We made it and parked at the Heathcote train station. The path to the pool was just around the corner. We started our walk. It is 2.5km, a hard trail, and supposed to take over an hour to complete.

    At first, it was nice and cool and we were under the shade of the trees. Then the rocks became bigger and the steps to get down them were tougher. We stopped a few times to search for wildlife. We passed by a bunch of kids that looked to have camped out down the trail. Honestly, we didn't think the trail would ever end. After what felt like ages, we finally found it.

    There was a couple in the water up to their knees. Erik and I found a place to sit down in the shade. Some big lizards came by behind us. Okay what we thought were big. This other group of kids came down the trail and told the couple in the water that there was a lizard on their bag. That was not a lizard. I'm fairly certain it was a komodo dragon... (edit: it was a lace monitor lizard). We ended up seeing two of them. One of them had a little black bird that kept by it and would yap at its tail.

    We checked the temperature of the water. Nice and chilly.

    Then, we decided to head back. Going back was much quicker than going down.. although, we had to do a lot of uphill and over big boulders so that wasn't fun. It took only 45 minutes to go back up.

    The komodo dragons (edit: lace monitor lizard) made it all worth it.

    Quick stop at the train station bathroom. I had to pee so dang bad. Erik told me to just go on the side of the trail. Absolutely not. If it were not a heavily trafficked trail, I would have considered it .

    Then we got in the camper and opened some doors because the clothes we have drying gave a bit of a musty odor.

    We sat down for a good while and then decided our next adventure. Stay tuned.    Читать далее

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  • Kristine SchroederTrans-Pacific CruiseKristine Schroeder

    Beaches and Sea Cliff Bridge

    14 октября, Австралия ⋅ 🌙 63 °F

    We opted to drive South toward Wollongong. We decided it would be nice to do the scenic drive to see the Sea Cliff Bridge.

    It was a beautiful area with the bridge.

    Then we drove down a way and saw a beach to pull into. Sharky Beach. We walked down to the water and then over to these tide pools. We hoped to find critters in the pools but there were not any. There were people surfing, and at least a few people who didn't wear wet suits.

    We walked back to the camper and realized we needed to find a place to chill for the evening. We drove by some spots that were questionable as to whether we could stay there but then Erik said we could stay at rest stops so that is where we are now.

    We are boondocking it. We only have one small battery for this vehicle so we didn't want to use too many features. I opened the tablet and we watched balloon boy while we ate the healthiest dinner ever... Not really.

    Chips and salsa
    Banana chips
    A few dates
    And tiramisu

    Who are we? This is how people become diabetic haha. We don't know how to feed ourselves! Just kidding. We bought stuff to make pasta. Tonight is not the night for it.

    Now the show is over and we are laying on the bed. The rest stop on our side of the street is pretty much just a pullout. The building is on the other side of the street. Could we drive 5 minutes down the road and 5 minutes back to be on that side? Yep. Are we going to? Nope. Cars are driving by but it's ok. We are exhausted.

    It might be time to go to bed, soon.    Читать далее

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  • Kristine SchroederTrans-Pacific CruiseKristine Schroeder

    Slept the day away

    15 октября, Австралия ⋅ ☀️ 70 °F

    Erik didn't fall asleep until after 3am. His cough and throat were bothering him. I fell asleep almost immediately. The sleep wasn't the best, though. He didn't really want to wake up until 1030am. I was already awake playing on my phone.

    The cars outside were noisy but I could have gotten past that. The cushions we are sleeping on are probably just mildly better than straight wood. It's ok though. Just meant a lot of tossing and turning all night.

    We ate some croissants with tiny slices of chocolate, oranges, and iced coffee milk (is it iced coffee or is it milk? We don't know). Now we are trying to figure out where to go to next. We will likely hit up the Willagong area. They have a lighthouse and some beaches. Then we will probably head over to this huge Buddhist Temple . Motto of the week: because why not?    Читать далее

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  • Kristine SchroederTrans-Pacific CruiseKristine Schroeder

    First things first - a lighthouse

    15 октября, Австралия ⋅ ☀️ 70 °F

    When in Rome, err.. Australia. We made our way to Flagstaff Point Lighthouse on Wollongong. It was a lovely drive (of which I didn't have to drive!).

    This place was absolutely beautiful BUT they have a world triathlon starting tomorrow so it was packed full of people from across the world. Parking felt like it would be impossible but my handsome husband found a great place to park.

    There was a beach not too far away. Pretty long and not very busy. We didn't go down to it. Instead we walked around the corner where we were at and checked out the lighthouse.

    Walking along the path close to the lighthouse, we checked out the ocean and the rocks below. Wouldn't you know, there are humpback whales! I took some videos and photos and then we walked to the other side of the lighthouse.

    The location itself was called Flagstaff Hill or Point because a flagstaff was erected on the headland. It has military barracks back in 1829 and in 1834, 300 convicts constructed the harbor. In 1890, when threatened of an attack by the Russians, a 5.3 tonne 6" gun was mounted.

    That was quite a sight to see. There was a hole where we believe the gun was mounted. We took a few photos and then walked down to where people were practicing swimming for their triathlon. Well, not exactly where they were but to where we could see them swimming. Then we saw a pace car and a bunch of people on bicycles coming down the road in the distance. Couple that with all the runners and you can imagine how packed it was.

    We sat there for a little while people watching, and watching the fish in the harbor. We also watched two different dogs swimming. Their owners would throw a rock or dirt ball into the water and the dog would swim towards it.    Читать далее

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