Dolphins and Tidal Pools at City Beach

Thursday, January 17, 2013

The dolphins are in front of the freighter.

Can you see the tail?

We got one dolphin jumping.

This morning as I was eating breakfast I noticed something in the water.  At first, I thought it was surfers, but then realized it was dolphins.  We used our spotting scope to get a good look at them.  We watched them until they swam out of view.  About 5 minutes later, they came back.  Dagan, my mom, and I walked quickly down to the beach.  We were able to watch them in the water from shore.  It was really neat.  The funny thing was yesterday my mom was asking when we had seen dolphins before and why we don't now.  I wasn't sure if they migrated with the whales.  We hadn't seen any for a few months.  There were probably about a dozen dolphins swimming around.  What a great way to start the day!

Dagan and I were taking pictures.  One of us got this one.  We both like the reflection of the sun on the water.

Our dragonball

For lunch, we went to Jasmine Rice for Thai food.  It was delicious.  My dad wanted to try a dragonball for dessert which is fried ice cream.  All of us decided it was interesting.  We just couldn't figure out what was in the outside coating.

After lunch, we relaxed in the apartment.  It was pretty hot outside, so we decided to head to the water in the evening when it would be cooler.   My parents are enjoying our balcony.

Mom enjoying a book.

Dad getting in a nap.

a view of Wollongong

 The kids and I took my mom to the lighthouse and tidal pools after dinner.  It was a very pretty night.  We took the walking path there and walked on the beach on the way back.  We saw lots of crabs because we were able to walk on rocks that are usually covered with water.   We'll have to come out again in the evening.

Climbing to find another good spot.

Enjoying the view

A couple of the many crabs we saw tonight.

Look at his face.  Something good must be in that tidal pool.

Doesn't she look like a camp counselor?

The three of us heading for home

I wanted a picture of the sunset and the three of them.

Dad's eye

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Dad's swollen eye

Dagan's reaction

Sydney's reaction

We ended up having a pretty quiet day.  My dad got a little too much sun yesterday on the golf course (and maybe a bug bite), so his eye was very swollen.  He could barely see out of it.  He stayed in the apartment all day.  We tried a few home remedies on him.  He had cucumbers, tea bags, and cold compresses on his eye throughout the day.  Plus, he took some meds.  By evening, it was a little better.  Sydney and Dagan could barely stand to look at it.  They both made funny faces of revulsion.  Adam thought he should be called "Winky" because it looks like he is winking.  Adam also thought my mom should have pulled her punch a little.  Needless to say, we were having fun with it.

Dagan was showing him the "Winky" look.

In the afternoon, my mom, the kids, and I went to the beach.  We were only out for 1 1/2 hours with lots of sunscreen and still got a little pink.  It is amazing how careful you need to be in the sun here.

Wollongong Golf Club

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

This morning we walked to the mall.  My dad wandered a little, and then got a coffee at BJ's coffee shop while my mom, the kids, and I walked up the hill to Dagan's school.  He was able to show my mom the school grounds.

Sydney, my mom, Dagan, & my dad on the 17th hole.

Sydney

My Dad

My Mom

The view from the 3rd tee box.

Dagan

After lunch, we headed across the street to Wollongong Golf Club.  We rented golf carts to make it easier.  We decided to play 9 holes.  In order to play 9 holes at this golf course, you play 7 holes, and then jump to holes 17 and 18.  Hole 5 is at the turn.  It is a little strange.  I had a funny thing happen on the golf course.  When I teed off on the 2nd hole, I hit a seagull that was flying by.  Its feathers went everywhere.  No, I did not kill it, but it couldn't have felt good.  I think I had a once in a life time shot.  It was a beautiful sunny and cool day. We had a nice afternoon.

Blue Mountains

Sunday, January 13, 2013

We were up very early today.  We left our apartment at 7:00 am to head to the Blue Mountains.  We wanted to get to Scenic World when it opened.  I had read a few reviews online that stated the tour buses arrive around 10:00 am.  We wanted to miss the crowds. 

Scenic Railway

Sydney, Mom, and Dad on the railway.

Adam, Kristin, and Dagan on the railway.

Once we got to Scenic World, we decided to get the discovery ride pass.  This allowed us to ride all the rides both ways.  We started with the scenic railway.  It is supposed to be the steepest in the world.  We went down 52 degrees.  It was a challenge to get in it.  As it started, they played the music from Indiana Jones.  We dropped very quickly.  We decided to ride it back up right away.  We just changed seats, so we could sit in the front car.  It was actually the last day the train would be running for a few months because they are constructing a new one.

The Three Sisters are behind us under the clouds.

My Dad on the boardwalk in the rainforest.

The Three Sisters

Dagan, Sydney, and my Mom

Next, we rode the scenic cableway.  It took us to the forest floor.  On the way down, we were able to see the Three Sisters rock formation.  There was a boardwalk through the rainforest.  Dad walked with us for a little ways, and then we continued on.  It was a beautiful walk.  Many of the trees were labeled as well as abandoned mining equipment.  I can't imagine getting into this area to mine.  It would have been very difficult.  The first part of the loop was downhill, so we had to go uphill on the way back.  It was a steady incline with a 75 stair climb at one point.  Sydney counted them for us.  We rode the cableway back up to the top.

Should we have left them there?

The last ride was the scenic skyway.  We unfortunately couldn't see much because a cloud had settled on the mountain.  We were glad we had seen the Three Sisters on the other ride.  We could hear the waterfall, but could not see it. There was a glass floor in the middle of the skyway.  We could see the clouds and the trees once we got close to the building.

Looking through the glass floor into the clouds and tops of the trees.

Our booth has this roof above it.

Adam did some research while we were on the skyway and found a fun place for us to eat lunch.  It was called the Common Ground.  The inside looked like it could have been a hobbit's home.  It was really neat. 

We squeezed 6 of us into this booth.

After lunch, we went to an aboriginal cultural center.  None of us were impressed with it.  It was way too touristy.  It was really just a gift shop.  We decided to try a different one on the way home.  After driving around for a while, we found the center, but it was closed, so we decided to head home. 


We had another fun day.  Tomorrow, I think will be a lazy day for all of us except Adam.  Someone has to work.  HA!

Grand Pacific Drive

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Our apartment is in the cluster near the ocean.

Mom and Dad at Mount Keira.

We picked up the 8 passenger vehicle last night (a mini van).  We are already for our adventurous weekend.  We decided to head up to Mount Keira first.  There is a great view of Wollongong. Dagan showed my parents where our apartment is located, the lighthouse, the stadium, etc.

They are looking at the cassowaries.

Mom feeding a kangaroo.

Dad petting a kangaroo.

Next we headed to Symbio Wildlife Park.  The kids wanted my parents to feed kangaroos.  Many of the animals were moving around.  We saw lace monitors, koala bears, kangaroos, emus, cassowaries, kookaburras, much more.  It was overcast which was nice because it is supposed to get into the 90's again today.

Feeding the kangaroos.

The koalas were active.

A kookaburra in the tree.

A red gum tree

 After the wildlife park, we got on the Grand Pacific Drive which is a tourist route you can take down the coast.  We stopped at the boatshed in the Royal National Park to get some lunch.  The cockatoos were flying around, and we saw a kookaburra in a tree.  The kids want to come back and try out the water tricycles another time.

The cliff in the background is where people were jumping.

 We continued through the park and stopped at Wattamolla in Royal National Park.  Adam and I had stopped here when we came in May.  It was absolutely packed.  There were people everywhere.  The crazy part were the people jumping off the cliffs.  It was probably 50 feet high.  Adam and the kids really wanted to give it a try, but we hadn't brought along our swimmers.  We watched the jumpers for a while before following the path down to the water.  The kids and I walked on the rocks along the water.  The sun was out at this point, so it was rather toasty.  We watched some more jumpers before heading on the tourist drive again.

These are some of the rocks near the water.

One of the hang gliders

The Sea Cliff Bridfe

After winding our way through the national park, we stopped at Bald Hill.  It is an overlook with a great view of the Sea Cliff Bridge and the coast.  It is also the place were the hang gliders take off.  There were a few hang gliders getting ready go.  It was fun to watch them.  It looked very easy.  Sydney would really like to do this. 

My mom and I on the other end of the Sea Cliff Bridge.

At this point, we were all glad it was dinner time.  We met a family from Kansas City at the Scarborough Hotel.  Mike is from a town not too far from where my dad grew up, so they had fun discussing western Kansas.  This restaurant has a great view.  We sat right at the edge of the cliff with the ocean for as far as you can see.

We didn't make it home until close to 8:00 pm.  We had put in a long day.  We relaxed a little before calling it a day.  Tomorrow would be another packed day.

Lunch at Wollongong Harbour

Thursday, January 10, 2013

My parents looking out into the harbour.

We decided to go out for lunch today at Wollongong Harbour.  Dagan has been wanting to try out this restaurant called Bombora because it has a waterfall in it.  We were hoping to catch the free shuttle over to the harbour, but it ended up not coming to the stop we thought it would, so we walked the whole way.  Sydney was able to show my parents her school because we walked right next to it on the way to the harbour.  Everyone but my Dad had some type of fish for lunch.  We need to convince him to order the fish and chips next time.  After lunch, we walked down to look at the pelicans and the fish market.

You can see the swimming area behind Sydney and my Dad.