When Sharks Attack

The Aquarium
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I once heard that "everyday brings new blessings." The night we, as a family, took the overnight bus to ‘Sydney’ was not one of them! But like real troopers my family pulled through. We banded together and we were able to arrive safely in one piece, if not a lot worse for wear. We were tired, irritable, cranky, hungry and fairly disheveled.... Trina was busy trying to find, "The 28 little elves that pooped in her mouth." It was 6 am...We settled in...And tried to get some sleep that was desperately needed... Sydney could wait...

Just like jaws, but smaller
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We awoke, 5 hours later... Things were vastly improved. Our spirits had lifted....We were happy- not only happy to be there, but happy enough to no longer want to hurt each other. Sydney began to look and feel like a much better place to be.... We were ready for the next 5 days...

Day 1

Sydney Harbour Bridge
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The Sydney Aquarium-

After walking for nearly an hour, we finally made our way to the only aquarium we had ever been in. Not really expecting much was actually one of the coolest things that I have seen. Who knew that seahorses are really as lazy as that? I just imagined them swimming around, frolicking, laughing, making friends, hanging out... No they just sit there! Quite boring...I was beginning to suspect they were fake or dead.

Now the sharks! I wasn’t prepared for having them swim around you while you were in an underground tunnel.. It was very much a ‘Jaw’s Experience.’ With only a little encouragement on my part and I was able to get Trina to reenact what it would be like "When Sharks Attack." We have it on video... I began to suspect at this point that people thought we were crazy...

Mom at the botanical gardens
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Day 2

Sydney Harbor Cruise-

Have to do it once
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We decided that it was time for mom to overcome her fear of water and booked ourselves onto a boat cruise around Sydney. We made sure the yacht was fair sized to prevent mom from going AWOL the morning of the cruise. We were surprised when we boarded and it was only the 3 of us, 2 Irish women and the 2 crew members. We had the yacht that seats 200 all to ourselves for the morning. We spent 2 hours on the boat, just cruising around, checking out the sights(Sydney Harbor Bridge, Opera House, Circular Quay), basking in the sun, drinking some drinks. I can think of way more unpleasant ways to spend a morning...

View from the gondola
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That afternoon, we took the opportunity to walk around ‘The Sydney Botanical Gardens.’ Arriving out of season we were disappointed that the majority of the flowers were no longer in bloom. But, the gardens itself were amazing. Very easy to see why so many people make it a point of interest when visiting. The place was huge!!! We walked around until our legs and backs hurt and until we couldn’t take the hunger pangs any longer. A really nice place to have a picnic if you were able to escape the thousands of bats that populate the park and the parrots that tried to steal our lunch right out of our hands. Those cheeky little bastards got a little to close for comfort. I’m sure it is not in ones best interest to have a parrot ‘plot’ on the next best way to get your lunch. I’m sure his plan involved a lot of ‘eye pecking’. Could just be that me and Trina are scared of birds because when we were young mom and dad used to tell us, "Watch so the chickens don’t peck your eyes out!." It stayed with us... We discussed the potential need for therapy on both of our parts!!!

Jenolan Caves
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Day 3

Bondi Beach-

More...
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One of the most popular if not overrated beaches in Australia. Could be that when we saw the beach for the first time it was cold and rainy, with the potential for some serious eye damage due to the sand flying in our eyes and to the ‘grotesquely overpopulation of over muscular men’. There comes a point when, ‘It is time to stop working out the top of your body! Your legs are beginning to look like they may need a little work too...." And you guessed it.... More Dior oversized sunglasses....

More...
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Next lunch...... Finding a cute take away seafood restaurant, we proceeded to have the worst lunch of our lives. Not to bad if you can overlook the grease that spilled into your mouth with every bite you took and the fact that the deep frying oil has been in there for a questionably long time! We couldn’t finish... and made a pact to not talk about the meal again or to have seafood again in the near future or.... ever...!!!

Day 4 and 5

We decided that we needed to escape the city and took a train 2 hours out of Sydney to the only place in Australia that remotely looks like Canada and the Rocky Mountains. We made the most of what limited time we had by booking ourselves into a one day tour of the ‘Blue Mountains’ and ‘Jenolan Caves’. With the ‘Sky Train, Cable Way and Sky Railway’ we were able to view one of Australia’s most famous mountain range, ‘The Three Sisters.’ Learning that mom is not a fan of heights only made the day that much more interesting...She only had slight difficulty with the glass floor when we were 500 meters above the falls and mountain... Can honestly say we became quite proud of her for trying all these new things....She only needed a bit of encouragement and gentle teasing on Trina’s and my parts!!!!

We finished our day with a walking tour of the ‘Jenolan Caves’, a huge underground network of hidden limestone caves. More than a little intriguing since when the light hits the stalagmites it looks more like caves made of small diamonds. Only down side is the potential for claustrophobia due to some tights spots... Tried not to think about it too hard, but it becomes difficult at times when you think the walls are caving in and that you are running out of air...

This was the last tour we did as a family before having to once again say goodbye. The next morning we went our separate ways as I boarded a plane to New Zealand and mom and Trina returned home. After spending so much time together it was hard to see them go, but knowing that I will be home in 2 months made it a little easier. (If only a little!)