Fitzroy Falls/Kangaroo Valley

Saturday, June 1, 2013

After the Black Belt Run, Sydney had to be a school for a rehearsal for her big concert at school in a week.  Since she was gone for most of the day, the five of us headed to the Southern Highlands.  The kids wanted JoAnn and Dana to go up Macquarie Pass, the really curvy road.  At the top, we stopped at the old cheese factory that has shops before heading to Fitzroy Falls.

Fitzroy Falls

They are looking at the falls.

You can see the tail feathers easier in this pic.

Dagan kept trying to touch the ceiling above the path.

 The waterfall had lots of water today.  You can tell that it has been raining.  Right next to the lookout platform, there was a lyrebird scratching in the dirt.  It had really beautiful tail feathers.  Dagan wanted it to speak because it can mimic any sound it hears.  He was making quite a few different noises, but the bird wouldn't imitate him.

One view of the Lyrebid

Enjoying our meat pies and the view

The Meat Pie Shop

Next, we were off to get JoAnn and Dana their first meat pies.  Adam and Dagan have been wanting to try the meat pies in Kangaroo Valley.  Dagan had watched a tv show that talked about them when we first got here.  We curved our way done into the valley.  The store was in the middle of this beautiful valley with not much else around.  The sign on the store stated it was established in 1880.  The inside was really quaint.  We tried 5 different types.  Adam and I liked these pies better than all the others we have had.  Dagan likes the ones at Robertson's the best.  He likes lots of gravy. 

We had to follow the same path we took to get here on the way home.  After riding the curvy road to the top and back down for a fourth time, JoAnn, Dagan, & I had had enough.  We were more than ready to get out of the car for a while.

Belt Exam/Black Belt Run

 Friday, May 31, 2013

Sydney was able to spar with her friend, Emily during the exam.

Dagan Ninja crawling

Dagan with Master Walker

Sydney with Master Walker

Sydney and Dagan had their last belt exam today.  They both earned their green belts.  This is the belt that both kids wanted to earn before we head for home, so they are both happy and proud of themselves. This time, we think Dagan's group had it a little easier than Sydney's.  Dagan was pretty happy about this.  Master Walker poked fun of Sydney's push-ups again.   He told her she needed to get a half inch from the floor because she must have had a blank look on her face when he said get a centimeter from the floor.  She just laughed which is good because knuckle push-ups are still difficult for her.

Off they go!

Saturday, June 1, 2013

They started by the lighthouse.

They are coming down the hill.

They turned the corner for the last stretch.

The group after everyone had finished.

Today was the Black Belt Run for Zen Dan Kwan.  Dagan wanted to do it, so we told Sydney she was running, too.  He was excited about it.  Sydney not so much.  Adam and Dana took them up to the lighthouse to start.  JoAnn and I stayed at the apartment.  They literally run right next to our home on the bike path, so I was able to get some pictures as they came down the hill and headed towards the Dojang.  Dagan finished a little ahead of Sydney.  Sydney finished the 2.5 km in 12 minutes 20 seconds.  Dagan didn't ask for his official time, so we only know that it was a little faster than Sydney.  The both did a great job!

Dagan's Jump Rope for Heart Day

 Friday, May 31, 2013

Look at those skills!

Dagan loves getting his picture taken.

Yeah!  He smiled!

Today was the jump off for Dagan's school for Jump Rope for Heart.  We went to the assembly at the end of the day.  Each class performed their jump roping skills for the school to a song of their teacher's choice.  They had been practicing their skipping all month and wanted to celebrate as a whole school.  For the last act, the teachers came out to perform.  The kids really liked this part.  Adam and I are always amazed at the music that is played at school.  We like the songs, but don't think they would be allowed to be played back home.

The teacher's act - the male teacher was Dagan's teacher last year

HARS Museum

Sunday, May 26, 2013

This morning we went to Berry.  There are a few cute stores Sydney and I thought JoAnn would like to see.  We bought a couple of jelly rolls from the quilt shop.  Now, we can practice making a quick quilt top when we get home.  The guys got coffee and wandered around until we were finished.  Then all of us went to the Donut Van to get some warm donuts.  YUM!

Sydney in the Canberra

Dana in the cockpit of the Canberra

View of one of the hangers at the museum

After our donuts, we headed north towards Wollongong.  Dagan wanted to stop at the HARS Museum which is an airplane museum on our way back.  This museum provides you with a tour guide because it is located in a functioning small airport.  There were two airplane hangers full of planes, and our guide provided lots of great information about them.  During our tour, we went outside the hanger a couple of times to watch a few planes take off and a helicopter takeoff. 

Watching the helicopter take off

The helicopter is ready for take off and the plane is in the air.

We see this plane fly over the over by our apartment.

Sydney and I in the Connie.

JoAnn & Dana in the Connie

JoAnn in front of the CAC Sabre

Dagan looking at the hand signal on the jeep.

The goal of this museum is to be able to fly all the planes in their museum.  Unfortunately, a few restoration projects are too extensive, so they will not be going into the air.  Fortunately for people visiting the museum, this is a good thing because we were able to get into a few of these planes. 

Sydney in the cockpit of the Neptune.

Dagan in the front seat of the Neptune.

Dagan & Adam in the back of the Neptune.

I am crawling over the wing in the Neptune.

The kids favorite was the Neptune.  Dana, Adam, and I went in, too.  It was rather tight.  We had to crawl into the front open space, the cockpit, and over the wing to get out the back of the plane.  It was something we definitely hadn't experienced before. 

Featherdale Wildlife Park/Blue Mountains

Saturday, May 25, 2013

We saw a baby kangaroo as we entered.

Tawny Frogmouth

Dagan patting a kookaburra.

Posing with the koala.

Adam patting a koala.

This wallaby took Dagan's cone.

The four of them by the animals.

We went to Featherdale Wildlife Park on our way to the Blue Mountains.  It was another neat wildlife park.  They had a lot of animals in a compact space.  The wombats were very active which Dagan was excited about since these are his favorite.  They also had a lot of different birds.  One of my favorite was the tawny frogmouth.  Their feathers look like a tree trunk.  There was another one that sounded like a chime.  It made a really loud clear sound.  They had more wallabies here than kangaroos, so we fed the wallabies.  The food came in ice cream cones which was a great idea because there isn't any garbage this way.  They had an animal called a wallaroo.  We learned that it is a cross between a kangaroo and wallaby.  A kookaburra was sitting on the ground in one place, so we were able to touch it.  It puffed up its feathers, but otherwise left us alone.  There were quite a few koalas at this park and about half of them were awake.  It is fun to watch them when they are awake.  One of the cages had a mother with a baby sticking its head out of the pouch.  It was really cute.  They also allowed you to pat a koala and get a picture with it.  The kids were excited that Adam finally got to touch one.  We always enjoy being at a wildlife park.

A mommy koala and her baby

The wallabies wanted JoAnn's food.

View of the Three Sisters

View from one of the lookouts

A family picture

Part of the 240 steps

Wentworth Falls

After going to Featherdale, we headed towards Katoomba in the Blue Mountains.  Unfortunately, we discovered the hobbit restaurant had closed, so we went out to the Three Sisters Lookout for lunch and to enjoy the view.  When we were here with my parents in January, it was foggy, so we were not able to see much of anything.  Today was a clear sunny day.  We could see for miles.  The haze coming off the mountains does appear bluish in color.  The information we read stated this is because of the eucalyptus trees.  We stopped at the information center to get a map of the other lookout points in the area.  Since it was 3:30pm, we only had a little bit of time before the sun would set.  The lookouts provided a few more views of the three sisters and a couple of falls.  At one lookout we were able to see Wentworth Falls.  Dagan and I hiked a little ways down the mountain to get a better view.  We were able to see the falls much better from here.  It was really beautiful. The description of the trail was easy with some steps.  Dagan counted the steps on the way up.  He counted 240.  We both want to know how many steps equate some and easy.  We had a fun day, but were ready to head home.

Waterspouts

Thursday, May 23, 2013

These were the sprays of water we saw before the funnel clouds..

The funnel goes all the way down to the water.

It was a stormy day.  About lunchtime, Adam looked out at the water, and we could see these spouts or sprays of water.  As we were watching them, dark clouds rolled in, and we could see the clouds forming small funnels that went right down to the water.  This was what was causing the spouts or sprays of water we could see.  It was neat to see, but a little creepy.