Visitors & Holiday Fun!

Hi again everybody!!

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

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

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

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

Holiday Update

Hi Everyone!

We've been on holidays for two weeks already; hard to believe how quickly it's gone! Seems like not that long ago Leah just wrote her last exam and I had my last day of placement, but our time down under continues to go by so quickly. Our holidays have consisted mostly of some much needed relaxing, which included a fair dose of sleeping in, lazing around and watching movies and tv.

On top of all the relaxing though, we made sure to do some sort of adventure to explore this country. This past Wednesday (July 8th) we signed up for a day tour of the Blue Mountains, which are about 90 minutes west of the city. We caught our OzTrails bus around 8.30 and headed out. Along the way to the mountains, we made a couple of stops at Olympic Park and the Napean River, which is where the kayaking and rowing events took

place during the 2000 summer Olympics.

After a quick stop for some refreshments, we made our way to one of many national Australian Parks; in this park we saw quite a few different animals, but none were more fun to watch than the mob of kangaroos we saw! Altogether there

were 6; 3 females, 2 males, and one joey in the pouch of one of the females. Because they are so used to having vistors stop by, we were able to get pretty close to them and take some great pictures and just really appreciate the view of these wonderful animals!

After the kangaroo visit, we made our way into the mountain village of Leura. Much like Banff, Alberta, Luera is loaded with tourists, shops, cafes and of course that fresh mountain air. In and around Leura, our tour guide (Scott) took us to a few different lookout points to view the mysterious

rock formation in the Blue Mountains known as The 3 Sisters, but unfortunately due to heavy fog we

were not able to get a good view of them that day, which Scott indicated was quite common; part of the reason why they are so mysterious. But that did not ruin the fun and adventure of touring the

Blue Mountains. A stop at Scenic World was worth the trip; upon our arrival we took a gondola ride close to 500 metres down the mountain side into the Temperate Rainforest in the valley. There are several walkways to take you through the rainforest to look at all of the different kinds of trees and

animals and take in all the sounds of nature. After the 15-20 minute walk, we hopped aboard a train that travels only 450 metres, but goes up 250 metres, averaging about a 45 degree angle the whole way making for some good home video!

After leaving Scenic World, it was time to head for another lookout where lies the biggest waterfall in Australia. While the volume of water massively lacks in comparison to Niagra Falls, the 350 metre drop sure is nice to just look at. This stop was the final of the lookout points, but that wasn't the end of the sightseeing. An hour long ride back into the city was spent napping by most of the tourists (including myself) but a day trip would not have been complete without what was next to come! We hopped on a ferry to head back into the port at Circular Quay,

which of course means we got to ride the water underneath the awe inspiring Sydney Harbour Bridge and beside the Opera House, which is even more of an amazing sight to see when all the lights of the city surround it; a really nice way to finish off what was an amazing day.

It's Saturday night here, and Brent and Wanda are currently in the air on

their way to Sydney! Leah and I are both very excited to finally have a piece of home come and enjoy the experience we've been having for the last six months. We're very excited to entertain, see more of this wonderful country and enjoy the rest of our holidays!!

Hoping all is well with everyone back home and looking forward to telling you all about our trip in a few weeks time!

Jeff and Leah