www.Betsy and Terry.fun

June 5-13 Australia - Oz is Awesome!

Day 1 - Seoul Airport

Day 2- Sydney to Fortser - Tuesday, June 6, 2006

We flew out of Manila at 12 AM and landed in Seoul, Korea at 7AM. We had a long layover and finally left Korea at 8 PM. We landed in Sydney at 7 Am on Tuesday and rented our van for our week long road trip up the eastern coast of Australia. Driving on the left side of the road was challenging for Terry at first, but he soon became a pro.



First we drove to Manly Beach for breakfast and a look at the Backpackers accommodation we had reserved for our stay on Sunday and Monday nights. We liked the Manly Beach House, so we confirmed our reservation. Our next stop was an animal preserve in New Castle.

Kangaroo and Emu

Koala

Wallaby
Peacocks

We continued our drive up the coast to Forster (Foster) and found a nice motel. We enjoyed some fairly good Mexican food before getting a good night's sleep. Here were beautiful cliffs and a cool saltwater pool that had been built on the beach . It had a sand bottom and sea water was filtered into the pool at high tide.
Day 3 - Forster to Brisbane- Wednesday, June 7, 2006

We continued up the Pacific Coast Highway to Byron's Bay before driving into Brisbane and finding a great little Bed and Breakfast Inn call Thornbury House. We went China Town for dinner and internet cafe connection.

Surfers in Byron Bay, Australia

Day 4 - Brisbane to Agnes Water- Thursday, June 8, 2006

Our first stop today was at the Glass House Mountains. These mountains were formed by lava plugs which are near volcanoes, where lava forced its way out, but never erupted.

Cuckaburro sitting in an old gum tree

Another Cuckaburro

We continued our drive and made it to Agnes Water at 5:45 just in time to get signed up for our boat trip out to the Great Barrier Reef. Whew! Not having a working cell phone has been a challenge. We were so far out in the boondocks that I doubt a cell phone would have worked. We found a great condo for rent on the beach and had a yummy dinner at the resort's restaurant. The moon was almost full and we sat on the completely deserted beach to watch the stars. It is completely amazing how many miles and miles of unoccupied water front property we have seen. The few homes and hotels we have seen near the beach are set several hundred yards back from the coast. Australia is the size of the Continental US without Alaska, but has a population of only 20 million people. It feels completely unpopulated in many of the places we have visited.

Day 5 - Agnes Water- The Great Barrier Reef - June 9, 2006

The Spirit of 1770 - The trip to the reef took 2 hours and it was really rough.

Ready to dive!

While Terry, Maggie, Sean, and Lauren went on their first dive, Allison and I took a glassbottom boat trip to Lady Musgrove Island. After touring the Island, we went snorkeling and right away saw two sand rays. We had seen some turtles from the glassbottom boat so we were determined to find some. We finally did see one. It is so cool to be so close to these amazing animals!


There are hundreds of these sea cucumbers which filter the sand and make it beautifully clean and sparkling white.

Terry was able to get a case for his camera so he could take underwater pictures.

Maggie
Lauren

Sean

Awesome Day!

Day 6 - Saturday, June 10, 2006

We left Agnes Water bright and early on Saturday morning. We drove back down the coast and stayed at a small town south of Byron's Bay, called Billini. We stopped early so we could find an internet cafe, but the only one in town closed at 5 along with almost all of the restaurants in town. It was a rainy dreary day so I guess the town just closed up early. We found a cozy little hotel pub with sandwiches and live music. The internet will wait another day - We have now gone 3 days with no google, aim, or email-----eeeeekkkkk! Panic attack! Withdrawl from internet is not a pretty sight, especially when 4 young adults are having it at the same time........

Day 7 - Sunday, June 11, 2006

Today, again, we left very early to get miles behind us on our way back to Sydney. We drove through a major Koala natural habitat area. I saw a couple of them high in the trees, but by the time you see them, you are past them and it isn't possible to get off of the road to take a better look.

We were able to stop in the wine valley and tour Wyndam Winery, the oldest winery in Australia. So Cool! The wine tasted great and we bought several bottles, trying not worry about trying to transport it back to Manila. As we were driving on a small deserted road on the way to the winery we saw a herd of Kangaroo! It was so cool to see them hopping through the fields!

Kangaroo in the wild!

Blurry Kangaroo

Grape Press

Barrels of Wine

Miles and miles of grapes

We arrived back in Sydney by 7 PM and settled into the Manly Beach House. It is a great little backpacker's accommodation. The managers were wonderful friendly people and we felt very much at home here.

After settling in we set off to find dinner on the boardwalk, unfortunately it was now about 9 PM and restaurants tend to close at 9 and bars stop selling food. We found a little pizza place that allowed us to go buy wine and bring it in. It was delicious!

Day 8 - Monday, June 12, 2006

We were up early and on the ferry across Sydney Bay to see the Opera House, The Harbour Bridge, and The Rocks and Quay.

We walked all around the Quay (key) area and climbed up as far as we could on the Harbour Bridge. To travel across the top of the arch you had to spend $200 each and join an expedition where they strap you to pulleys. We chose to walk across the pedestrian path next to traffic. It was still a magnificent sight!

After seeing these magnificient sights, we walked around the Quay to see the governer's house and botanical gardens. There were some incredible trees.



Then we took the train to Chinatown to shop in Paddy's Market before catching the ferry back to Manly Beach. The full moon behind the Opera House was breathtaking!