Final Day with my Parents

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Dagan running into the water

Sydney, Dagan, my mom, & my dad at City Beach

My mom enjoying the beach

Sydney watching Dagan

The three of them were trying to get their feet wet.

Today is my parents last full day in Australia.  They are working on collecting all their stuff and getting it organized.  It was rainy this morning, so we relaxed.  This afternoon, we went to the beach.  The water level was up on the beach, and the waves were huge.  It was fun to watch them crashing onto shore.  Dagan had put on his swimsuit, so he could get a wet.  As we were enjoying the waves, the lifeguard came by and told us that there was no swimming today due to a yellow film on the water.  She said it was runoff from the creeks and could make you sick if your head went under the water.  Dagan hadn't gotten in any further than his waist, so he should be fine.  It was nice to be told what was in the water.

The waves crashing

This evening we went out for a nice dinner at the Harbourfront Restaurant.  It has a great view of Wollongong Harbour.  It was a great way for my parents to end their trip. 

Berry/Kiama

Monday, January 28, 2013

It was our first truly rainy day.  We've been pretty lucky with the weather while my parents were here.   Sydney and I wanted to take my mom to this knit store in Berry.  I convinced Adam to stop in Gerrigong along the way.  I wanted to try to go to another aboriginal center, but it was closed.  Sydney didn't want to go here, but we ended up going to a bead shop that was next door.  She was rather excited.  It is amazing how a good bead shop can make it all right in her world!

Sydney's owl patterns

When we got to Berry, the knit shop unfortunately was closed for the public holiday.  We wandered for a little while and ended up finding a quilt shop.  Sydney found two owl patterns she liked.  We helped her pick out some fabric.  She and my mom are going to make it together after we get back.  My mom also got a tip on how to make a quick quilt top out of strips of fabric or jelly rolls.  I think Sydney and I are going to go back a buy some jelly rolls, so we can learn how to make it.

The little blowhole is to the right.  I took the picture from the car.

We drove to Kiama and had lunch at the Little Blowhole Cafe.  It had really good food.  Then we went to see the little blowhole.  We ventured out into the rain.  It was neat, but we were getting pretty wet.  The big blowhole was next.  The waves were not going in the right direction, so it wasn't shooting up water as high as it could, but it was still impressive. 

Bombo Headlands

View of the big waves the surfers were riding in Kiama

I wanted to see two different rock formations near Kiama on the way home.  The first one is called the Bombo Headlands.  My mom, Dagan and I went out in the rain again.  We had to walk a little ways.  We saw the rocks from a distance.  Dagan and I think we need to go back another time to explore them.  On our way back to the car, we watched some surfers fly across the water in the big waves.  Dagan thinks that looks like fun!  We were rather wet at this point. 

Cathedral Rocks

Our last stop, was to see Cathedral Rocks or catheter racks as Dagan said.  They looked neat, but we didn't venture out of the car this time.  We were ready for home and dry clothes. 

Southern Highlands

Sunday, January 27, 2013

We went into the southern highlands today. The kids wanted my parents to go up McQuarie Pass. It is a really curvy road up the escarpment that has a couple of three point turns.  On the passenger side, you can look down the edge of the cliff.  Part way up, we went into the clouds.  It looked really neat.

We stopped in Robertson at the Cheese Factory. We looked around for a while. Adam and Dagan found some comfy chairs, and Dagan said they were "chillaxin". We went into Moss Vale next. Adam showed my parents where the offices and manufacturing facility for the company he works for are located. They were glad to see it. The kids not so much.

The "girls" at one of the lookouts.

The clouds over the escarpment

Don't they look a little eerie?

Afterwards, we took my parents to Fitzroy Falls.  There was not as much water flowing today as before due to the lack of rain, but it was still pretty.  The escarpment was partially covered with clouds.  It looked eerie.  The kids and I took my mom for a short hike.  They wanted her to go down the rock steps and get to the bridge.  We were lucky and were able to see a lyrebird along the way.  Adam and my dad went back to the visitor center and listened to a man play the didgeridoo.

Our happy camper

One of the sets of rock steps

Me and my mom

Mom and Dad

We finally got a picture of the 6 of us.

The Knight's Tower

My dad, mom and Adam walking on the structure.

When Adam was jogging it would really shake.

Everyone was hungry at this point, so we backtracked to Robertson's Pie Shop.  We had savory pies for lunch with hot chips and some sweet pies for dessert.  Then we went to the Illawara Treetop Fly Walk.  My dad got a ride down to the start of the walkway.  The rest of us met him there.  My parents enjoyed the view and seeing the trees close up.  Dagan still didn't want to walk to the end of the cantilever.  It moves just a little too much for him.  When we got back to the building there was an echidna.  Now we have seen two in the wild.

The boys taking the courtesy car back to the top.

Adam took Dagan out on the cantilever.

This is as far as Dagan wanted to go.

The echidna

View from the Knight's Tower

My parents had asked Adam if they could go back to see his completed office, so we went back after our walks through the rainforest.  Adam had a little work to complete, so we hung out, played hangman and relaxed while he completed his job.  We had dinner at a place near his office before heading home.  We had a jam packed fun day!

Australia Day

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Today is Australia Day. We learned last night from Master Walker that on January 28, 1788 the first fleet came here from England.  I need to learn some more about this day to understand the history better.  It reminded us of the 4th of July. Wollongong had a big day planned. There were activities scheduled all day, a carnival, food/craft tents, and fireworks.

Pagoda

Picture of the fantasy animals on the roof.

Front of the main shrine

We went to the Nan Tien temple first before joining in the fun.  We took the guided tour. We learned a lot. This temple is the largest Buddhist Temple in the Southern Hemisphere. It was built in the 1990's. We visited different parts of the temple.  In some areas, we were allowed to take pictures and in others we couldn't. There were five different statues of Buddha in the main shrine.  They chose to use five instead of one because each one represented a different aspect of Buddha.  In the museum, we saw a really intricate carving out of wood (it took three people five years using only a dental drill to complete it), very old teapots, and pictures/words inscribed on a human hair and egg shells with a sharpened piece of rice. We needed to look at the inscriptions through a magnifying glass.  They were amazing. I wish I could have taken a picture. In some of the paintings in the temple and growing outside, there were lotus flowers. Lotus flowers have special meaning to Buddhists.  In the pond where the lotus flowers were growing, Koi fish were swimming around them.  They were fun to watch.  The lotus flowers grew a lot taller than I expected they would.  I figured they would sit on the water like lily pad flowers do, but nope they grow a few feet high.  We enjoyed seeing the temple.

lotus flowers

My surfer and rugby player

Eating our dinner

Bumper cars

After we got back from the temple, we took the kids to the carnival. Unfortunately, they didn't have wristbands for sale for the rides. We had to buy tickets.  Fortunately, Sydney and Dagan were able to use up all their tickets. They went through a mirror maze (too easy), on a twirly ride, swings, a giant slide (the one at the Wisconsin State Fair is larger), and the bumper cars.  The bumper cars were strange because they made everyone go in the same direction.  Aren't you supposed to smash into each other?  We got dinner at one of the tents and ate on the street. We had more fun people watching than anything else.

twirly ride

swings

giant slide

The "smoke" off the fireworks covered the full moon.

The four of us were playing May I.

One of Dagan's photos of the fireworks.

Dagan took pictures of all our hands.

We still had a few hours until the fireworks, so we headed for home. We played cards until 9:00pm when they started.  Thankfully, we could see them from our balcony.  Dagan had fun taking pictures of the fireworks. We went to bed soon after the fireworks were over. We could hear people having a good time outside for a while into the night.

Another photo of fireworks

Orange Belt Exam

Friday, January 25, 2013

Today Sydney and Dagan had their belt exams. They both made their beds and ate a good breakfast to start the day out right. This is part of preparing for their evening belt test.  They went to a movie with my dad this morning. Then we went for lunch at the farmer's market.  My mom and I wanted to try the Turkish gozleme.  We decided this wasn't the best idea.  I didn't finish mine.   Neither of us will be ordering it again.

Sydney with her certificate

Dagan, my dad, and my mom

We headed to the belt exam early. Dagan and Sydney wanted to prep for their test.   Dagan's group went first.  He did very well. He put forth a lot of effort and answered the oral part correctly. Sydney did well, too.   She needs to work on her push ups a little; otherwise, she knew her pattern and oral material.  Both were proud to earn their yellow belts. They were glad my parents were there to support them.

Dagan with his certificate

Sydney, my dad, and my mom

Sugar Cube

Thursday, January 24, 2013

One of our favorite restaurants.

My mom had a peri-peri chicken waffle.

We went out for lunch today at the Sugar Cube.  The kids had taken my parents there last week for waffle pops (waffles on a stick).  They saw they now had savory waffles, so we decided we wanted to give this type a try.  They make it like a calzone with a variety of meat and cheese fillings.  They were pretty good.   My mom and I liked them more than my dad. Sydney had gotten a sweet waffle, and Adam and Dagan decided to go somewhere else.  The savory waffles didn't appeal to them.

Sydney had a waffle with white chocolate and ice cream.

This afternoon, my parents went to the museum in town. They thought it was interesting. I think they are seeing a lot of different types of things while they are here.

Rainbows

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

We've had a quiet two days.  We had a storm roll through this afternoon.  We played lots of games. After our busy weekend, we seem to need a day or two to recover.

The rainbow was too big to take a picture of the entire thing.

Sydney looking at one end of the rainbow.

The other end of the rainbow

This evening Adam and I went to see a movie.  While we were gone my parents, Sydney and Dagan went out for ice cream.  On their way home, they saw a rainbow.  When they got back to the apartment they took some pictures.  They were excited telling us about it because they could see not only the entire rainbow, but a second one. 

Dagan took a picture of the sunset over the escarpment.

The rainbow went right through the freighter.