Day 57 – Canberra

 
We went to the National Dinosaur Museum today. You’ll remember from our trek along the Dinosaur Trail in outback Queensland that Ryan loves dinosaurs:

Ryan enjoyed himself although Kylie and I were a little disappointed. It wasn’t as large or diverse as we had expected, but they did have some cool dinosaur bones and replica statues:









Did you know that it wasn’t a dinosaur if it flew or swam?!?!

Afterwards we went to Questacon, the interactive science museum where we found some more (and better) dinosaurs:





They had some really great exhibits that you could see and/or touch including tornados, earthquakes, lightning strikes, mirrors that change your appearance and even a guillotine simulator:



Ryan had a play around in the kids area where he was driving some vintage cars around and filling them up with petrol:



How would a trip to Canberra be complete without a drive around Parliament House?



Accommodation - Medina Executive James Court

Quiz Question #65 – In which year did the current Parliament House officially open?
 

*Quiz Answers – Week 7*

 

Quiz Question #50 – How many species of Rhino are there?

Answer #50 – There are 5 species of Rhino – 3 are on display at the Western Plains Zoo – the Black Rhino, the White Rhino and the Great One Horn Rhino.

Quiz Question #51 – How tall are giraffes when they are born?

Answer #51 – Giraffes are born up to 2m tall!!

* * * * * *

Quiz Question #52 – Who were the first European explorers to successfully cross the Blue Mountains?

Answer #52 – Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth were the first European explorers to successfully cross the Blue Mountains.

* * * * * *

Quiz Question #53 – What is the nickname for the Sydney Harbour Bridge?

Answer #53 – The Sydney Harbour Bridge is affectionately nicknamed ‘the coat hanger’.

* * * * * *

Quiz Question #54 - What is the difference between a highway and a motorway?

Answer #54 – Apparently nothing, other than the British refer to them as motorways and the Americans refer to them as highways.

* * * * * *

Quiz Question #55 - New Zealand is made up of two main islands - the North Island and the South Island. On which island is Auckland situated?

Answer #55 – Auckland is on the north island of New Zealand.

* * * * * *

Quiz Question #56 - Which is taller - the Sydney tower or the Auckland tower?

Answer #56 – The Auckland tower is taller, apparently the tallest building in the southern hemisphere.

* * * * * *

Quiz Question #57 - What is the name of the well known, if not strange looking, New Zealand bird, which is also their national icon?

Answer #57 – This cute little fellow is called the Kiwi.
 

Day 56 - Canberra

 
We left Sydney this morning and headed down to Canberra. It was rather cold on the drive down, 13 degrees for most of the trip.

As we were driving we came across a truck with a Beechworth Honey advertisement. Kylie’s cousin produces and sells Beechworth honey and we’ll be visiting them at the end of the week in Beechworth:



We came across the Big Merino Sheep in Goulburn and as I was going back to the car after taking the photo I walked behind it and got a rather interesting shot of it.





This afternoon we went up to Black Mountain to look at the views over Canberra from the Telstra Tower:





Afterwards we went to the National Zoo where we saw plenty of animals including: lions, tigers, giraffes, zebras, wombats, koalas, peacocks, emus, kangaroos, penguins, cheetahs, bears, otters and lemurs:









Although we didn’t get to feed them, we did get up fairly close to the giraffes:



What did Aunty Kate say?

Accommodation – Medina Executive James Court

Rest Stops - Goulburn

Quiz Question #64 – Who was Australia’s first Prime Minister?
 

Day 55 - Sydney

 
Stone the flamin' crows!!

A famous line from the affable Alf Stewart, the only remaining original cast member from the hit Australian soapie, Home & Away.

We went for a drive down to Palm Beach today, best known as Summer Bay in Home & Away.

My sister Leah absolutely loves the show. She has every episode (yes, all one thousand odd) on DVD and we promised her we'd drive down there and get some photos for her:







While we were at the 'Pier Diner' they were filming a scene with Alf and the two main police officers, Charlie and Angelo. I zoomed in so you can see Alf (on the left):







They have quite a production going there with heaps of crew, equipment and trucks to boot:





Although most of the Summer Bay signage wasn't on display, they did have the sign up at the Surf Club, another one of the main scenes from the show:



Accommodation - Uncle Adam & Aunty Kate - Kings Park

Quiz Question - In which year did Home & Away first commence screening on Australian television?

 

Day 54 - Sydney

 
We had a relaxing day today, watched a few movies, did some washing and repacked the suitcases and trailer after our trip to New Zealand.

Ryan enjoyed playing around in the backyard with the puppies again:





It is so nice to be driving a normal sized car again!!

Accommodation – Uncle Adam & Aunty Kate - Kings Park

Quiz Question - In which year was construction of the Sydney Opera House completed?
 

Day 53 - Sydney

 

Today is our last day in New Zealand, well morning actually as we're on the lunchtime flight back to Sydney. One last look at the Sky Tower before we left for the airport.



The drive to the airport only took 30 minutes unlike the drive from the airport which took about 90 minutes....

The flight back was pretty good and this time they had the 'personal in flight entertainment system' which basically means we got to watch our own movies or play games, and in Ryan's case, watch The Wiggles!!

We had no trouble getting through the airport back in Sydney, in fact we got out the front door 5 minutes before the plane was scheduled to land, and we didn't leave anything behind this time!!

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to New Zealand (other than the potent stench in Rotorua) and we think we'll probably go back again when Ryan is a little older.

Ryan is glad to be back to play with the puppies:



P.S. I'm not allowed to mention Aunty Kate's cooking 'incident' where the plastic container she was using in the oven to cook the meatballs for our dinner melted through the food....

Accommodation – Uncle Adam & Aunty Kate - Kings Park

Quiz Question - Which is the largest city in New Zealand?

 

Day 52 - Auckland

 

We slept in this morning as we were sore and tired from yesterday's, well, you know.

After almost a week of cool and overcast weather the sun was out today and we had a pleasant temperature of 25 degrees for most of the day. We decided to drive to Mission Bay where the beaches and water sports are enjoyed by the locals:







We had a nice walk along the shoreline and saw some great views back over the city. Not as adventurous as yesterday but enjoyable none the less:







Ryan is like a bloodhound when it comes to playgrounds and he found one in St Heliers Bay just before we headed back into the city:







The sun doesn't go down until 8pm so we got to have dinner looking out of our window over the city:





P.S. The "you know" was a reference to the free fall simulator and lack of sleep from the stench. Shame on those who thought otherwise!!

Accommodation - The Sebel Suites

Quiz Question - What is the time difference between Darwin and Auckland at the moment?

 

Day 51 - Auckland

 
What an amazing day of contrasts today. We barely slept last night as the smell found a way into the hotel room. Ryan kept waking up every half an hour from about 2am until about 5am when we all fell unconscious for a few hours from the smell.

Most of you probably think that I'm exaggerating, but I'm not. I literally vomited from the smell this morning while packing the car (sorry for the mental image). Last night we decided that we would leave Rotorua a day early and return to Auckland after a few activities that we came here to experience.

First to the sky diving, or free falling to be more accurate, on the free fall simulator at Agroventures. Kylie and I both spent 90 seconds (the standard) on the simulator experiencing sky diving. While it doesn't seem like it, 90 seconds is actually quite a long time when your body is being pummelled by winds blowing at hundreds of kilometres an hour!!

After a 5 minute crash course to learn the techniques we jumped on, flew around and had a few spins and twists courtesy of the instructors. It was absolutely amazing and we are glad that we gave it a go even though we were a little nervous to begin with.







The wind messes with your face in the photos. Check this out (I have been strictly forbidden from publishing an example of Kylie by both Kylie and Aunty Kate):



Ryan was a bit unimpressed that he couldn't try (minimum weight limit of 25kg so you don't blow away) so he had to settle for practising inside instead:



Straight after the free falling simulator we went across the road so that I could try the Zorb, which is an eleven foot high ball that you sit inside and roll down a hill.



I tried the Zydro option which is a zorb with a few buckets of (warm) water thrown in with you. They say it's like a cross between a water slide and a roller coaster and they're not wrong. It was a great experience if not bloody freezing when I got out!!







We've finally found some of those elusive sheep, having come across several paddocks full of them. It must have been too cold for them yesterday!!



We drove back to Auckland this afternoon (and for the record we didn't get lost once). We're staying at The Sebel Suites and it is a flashy hotel compared to where we've stayed the last couple of nights. We're staying on the top floor and have a good view of the Sky Tower out of our window.

Accommodation - The Sebel Suites

Rest Stops - Cambridge, Hamilton

Quiz Question - Which city is the capital of New Zealand?