Picture Updates

Finally, some pictures. Check all previous posts.

12/29

Today we are exploring the Hinterland around Bellingen. We are hiking up to a waterfall and then this afternoon we are going canoeing on the river. Tonight dinner at the Pub. We have real internet access here so we will finally get more pictures posted.

12/28

We headed south today, stopping in Byron Bay – another great beach town. We climbed up to the lighthouse and walked out to the eastern most point in Australia. Then to the beach! The boys went diving through the waves again until they got caught in a sudden downpour. We took that as a sign to head south to Kathy’s friends, Dave and Des, for the next few days. We had a wonderful evening with a fabulous meal. Their house is in Bellingen which is a little bit inland (the Hinterland, as they say in Australia).

12/26-12/27

After flying into Brisbane, we made it to our Beach Shack after some creative navigation. (read: we were lost) However, once we read the directions it all came together – funny how that works. We spent the day at the beach and the boys were diving in the waves for what seemed like hours. They loved it. It is warm here too, just not as humid. Later in the afternoon the boys had a cricket lesson. Scott listened in because he is determined to figure out how they score cricket. Kathy and I have no interest in how they score cricket so we hit the beach shops. That evening we stayed in for a game night and Will smoked us all!

12/25

Christmas Day! Swimming in the pool and then a nice buffet lunch at the Shangri-La Hotel. After a nap (good food and wine!), the boys went swimming in the lagoon.

12/24

We went to Hartley’s Crocodile Farm. Saw a lot of crocs and some koalas. It was very warm and humid. The boys were melting in the sun. We ate dinner at Outback Jacks in Cairns after cooling off in the pool. At dusk, the fruit foxes (bats) come out. They have wing spans of about 2 feet.

12/23

Internet access is very sporadic. I will get some more pictures posted as soon as I can. We spent today at the rain forest village of Kurunda. Rode a Sky Tram gondola up and then took an old train back. We spent a great deal of time in a wild bird exhibit. A small parrot tried to eat the button off of the top of Will's baseball cap.

12/22

Scott and Will heading out to sea!


Mary Jo and Kathy enjoy the reef.


Life is good after dramamine.

Today was our big adventure of snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. The trip out to the reef took a little over an hour and it was a bit choppy – well, actually really choppy. Everyone but Scott (Ironman) started feeling queasy. The boys had their first experience with sea sickness and learned some of the Australian slang for vomiting. (who says this isn’t a learning experience?) When Brett’s face turned even more white than normal, we ran for the sickness bags. About half the passengers on the boat got sick. Kathy and Mary Jo did not get sick, but sure felt like it. Then, in a moment of clarity, Kathy bought us all Dramamine and low and behold, the advertisements are correct – we were cured! Once we arrived at the reef it seemed to calm down and the snorkeling was great. We stopped at 3 different places along the outer reef. Thanks to the miracle of modern medicine we all spent a lot of time snorkeling and thoroughly enjoyed it. All those years of swim team have paid off because the boys had no problem swimming out in the ocean. At the second stop while we were out in the water, we look at Will’s mask and it is full of blood! Trying not to panic we get him back to the boat – just a bloody nose. But the funny thing is that Will and Mary Jo stayed on the boat and Scott went back out and just then he saw a shark – the smell of blood must have lured him. Everyone is wearing these lycra wet suits in case of jelly fish so it’s kind of hard to tell who’s who when you have your mask on. At one point, Kathy was swimming with a family of 4 and when they all came up out of the water for a break and started speaking French, she realized she was with the wrong family! Despite all the little side shows, it was truly a great day. We saw several sea turtles, a devil ray, a reef shark, and many colorful fish. The reef is as advertised, quite impressive.

When we got back to our apartment and Scott figured out how to get us an internet connection, we find out that Seattle has turned into the frozen tundra and our water pipes had frozen. Thanks once again to Kim and her Dad (did I mention we had already elevated him to Sainthood?) and Stacey Grund our water pipes and house are fine. Thank you guys!! I am really thinking we got out of Seattle at the right time…..

12/21

We arrived in Cairns (pronounced Cans) to a glorious warm day of 90 degrees. Cairns is about 3 hours north of Sydney and is a cute little beach town. Qantas is now Will’s favorite airline, they served us fudgesicles. After checking into our apartment, the boys went swimming in a salt water lagoon. It was quite crowded. We walked through town and ate dinner at the local brew pub. We will be staying here for 5 days.

12/20

After a great night’s rest, we got up and going. The boys wanted to swim again and Mary Jo headed out for a run by the harbor. We took the train into the city and hung out in “The Rocks” area of Sydney. Very cool. We had lunch and walked around by the Wharf. We saw a contortionist street performer and walked through the Saturday market. We toured Susannah Place – one of the oldest preserved houses in Sydney. Very interesting. We stopped for a beer at the pub across the street and then walked home across the bridge. All in all a great day.

12/19

We arrived in Sydney at 4:00pm (7pm 12/18 on Thursday Honolulu time). The flight was about 10 ½ hours but seemed to go quite fast. (Really!) We cleared customs at 5pm and Kathy was waiting for us in the terminal. We took a taxi to her apartment and the boys immediately went swimming in her apartment pool. Helen stopped by for a drink and a chat. The weather in Sydney is a little cool, about 68 degrees! I guess we are missing the fine weather in Seattle. We walked around Kathy’s groovy Milson’s Point neighborhood and went to eat dinner at a fun pizza place. We were all starting to feel the effects of travel and went to bed by 9:00pm – deep breathing by 9:05!

12/17

We arrived in Honolulu at 12:30pm and made it to our Hotel on Waikiki at 2:00pm. We were all hungry so on the recommendation of the bellhop we went to the local coffee shop for a late lunch. It was overcast but warm. The hotel was right on the beach so the boys went for a swim and played on the beach quite a while. There was a light rain but it was still warm. Mary Jo went shopping! The hotel had an adorable group of elementary school age kids singing Christmas Carols in the lobby. We walked around the Waikiki area and picked up a few supplies for our long flight the next day. We were all tired so we went to bed early.

12/18

Our flight to Sydney was scheduled to depart at 8:15am. We left the hotel at 5:30am and ran into a small problem as the entrance ramp to the freeway was closed. Fortunately, we just followed the traffic and got back to the freeway. We flew on Jetstar Airways which is the regional, no frills airline for Qantas. After checking in and walking to the end of the earth to our gate, we discovered that none of the shops (read Starbucks) were open. It was sure a long walk for Scott to go back and find an open one. If you have ever been to Hawaii you know that things run a little slow there. The flight departed at 8:30am.

12/16

We left our house at 4pm planning to get to the airport by 5pm. Traffic was horrible. We arrived at 5:30pm – thanks to Kim’s dad, St. Carly. Fortunately the flight was delayed until 7:30pm. We had a minor problem checking in when our tickets would not allow any checked bags to register in the Alaska Airlines computerized system. After 30 minutes and a little rise in our stress level, they finally got it to work. We arrived at LAX and took a shuttle to our hotel.

Lodging

This is where we will be staying near Brisbane, 12/26-12/28.

http://www.casuarinabeach.com.au/

Apartment in Cairns, 12/21-12/26.

http://www.201lakestreetapartments.com.au/

Pre-Trip Info

The Schafers will be spending the holidays this year Down Under! Hopefully we will have time to keep you updated on our trip.

We depart Seattle on Tuesday night December 16th and arrive in Sydney on Friday afternoon the 19th. I knew flying to Sydney would take some time, but 3 days? Actually we are overnighting in LAX (Tuesday) and Honolulu (Wednesday).

We will be spending time in Sydney, Cairns, and Brisbane, and then driving back to Sydney.