Hard to believe that July has come to an end which means back to the books for both of us!
The last three weeks since our last update have been amazing! Brent and Wanda flew in on the 12th for what would be a very busy and extremely fun holiday. The first day they arrived was spent lazing around but that wouldn't stop Leah and Wanda from doing a little bit of shopping; shocking I know! Monday morning we got down to business. We flew up to Brisbane early in the morning, wandered around downtown for some lunch before we caught our flight up to Proserpine, which would eventually get us to our final destination of Airlie Beach.
The first day in Airlie Beach was spent walking along the boardwalk
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along the edge of the ocean and soaking in the 25 degrees and sunshine, which hasn't been seen here in Sydney since late March. The next day we hopped on a cruise boat and toured around the Whitsunday islands. We went to Whitehaven Beach for a couple hours of sand-lounging on one of the top 10 ranked beaches in the world... just beautiful! We ventured over to Hook Island for some snorkeling and a view of the inner coral reef and the trip ended with margaritas on Daydream Island at sunset.
We headed down to Brisbane for the weekend. Of course, we made a stop at the Queen St. mall.. Brent and I checked out the sports stores then grabbed a schooner while the girls did the loop. We wasted no time and the next day we travelled down the Brisbane river and headed out to the
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Pacific Ocean for some whale watching as they migrated north. We saw two for sure, maybe three, each blowing water 10 feet in the air and showing off their fins for all the gazing viewers. The next day, we were back on the Brisbane river, only this time we headed the other direction to the Lone Pine Koala sanctuary. What a scene this was! Kangaroos just lying around waiting to be pet and fed, all the birds you can imagine and koala's were everywhere! Leah and I got our picture taken with one as I held it which was very cool!
As fun as the trip up north was, the reality of school came crawling back. I headed back on the train first thing Monday morning so the Taylor trio did some touring in the city and then hopped on the ferry over to Manly Beach! On Tuesday they all joined me on the train down to Wollongong to check out the small city and a lovely fish and chips dinner on the water. Brent and Wanda were forced to occupy themselves for the next couple of days while Leah and I were both in school but they kept themselves busy visiting Leah's campuses, parts of the city, and the Blue Mountains, and the weekend would be one to remember! Friday we went to the Opera House to watch a Beatles cover band
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perform with the Sydney Symphony... what a show! Saturday morning, Brent and I faced our fears as the four of us climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge to take in the best view of the city! We got pictures to prove it too! As if the bridge climb wasn't enough, we punished ourselves furhter by partaking in a 6km hike from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach; the sunset clifftop ocean side view was sensational, and we would eventually end up joining Leah's friend Molly for her birthday celebration. The weekend would be capped off with a trip to the Hunter Valley for some wine tasting and touring around the villages, which was a very relaxing way to finish off an action packed weekend. And as is always the case, all good things come to an end. Brent and Wanda headed back to the airport Monday morning while Leah and I headed back to school to kickstart our second semester down under! Sad to see them go, but glad to get into our routines again and get back to business.
Trusting all is well back home!
Love and miss you all!
Jeff and Leah