Tuesday January 29th - New Zealand 9:02 p.m.

Hello All,

We are in New Zealand now. Much different then the big City of Sydney. Our hotel is in the their downtown, but so much smaller than Sydney.

Yesterday - Monday, was a wonderful day. We started our day at 8:00 a.m. took a tour of "The Rocks" along the Sydney Harbor. Then walked around the cute little shops and cafes'. After that we boarded a ferry for our 2 hour coffee cruise along Sydney Harbor. Can I just say that was the most spectacular view of the city. I cannot even put it into words how gorgeous the sites were. We even saw were Russell Crowe is staying and Nicole Kidman has a home on Darling Harbor. After our Cruise we got off and caught another Ferry to the Taronga Zoo. Once we got there we had to take a gondola to the top of the hill (or mountain as what it appeared to me) to enter the zoo. We spent about 3 hours there - we saw many different animals including the Koolas. Sooo cute. The temp was about 85 and sunny - perfect. Once we got the ferry back to Sydney Harbor, we had to board another ferry to get back to Darling Harbor so we could eat dinner. Marlene and I had a wonderful dinner along the harbor - I had Salt and Pepper Soft Shell Crab - OMG - wonderful.

Today, we arrived in New Zealand about 5 p.m. Once we got out of the airport, we went right to the Antarctic Centre were we learned about the Anartctic. They even had a simulation of how cold the wind chills got - we put on heavy coats and got in this ice room and felt the temp go down quickly. Pretty cool. Well that is about it for now. Tomorrow is a free day so we are going at our leisure. Please send us your comments. We would love to hear from you. Take care and hope all is well back home :-)

Sunday January 27th - 2:23 p.m.

Hello All,



We had a fabulous night last night in Sydney during Australia Day. We ate down at Darling Harbor along the water front. After dinner Marlene went back to the Hotel as she was pooped from the long day. Carl and Vinny if you are reading this - I did have a Fosters Beer - as promised :-) and I enjoyed (them) very much!!! I have a picture to prove it. I hung out with my new friend Mary - we walked along the harbor until the festivities began. I have never seen so many people in one place. There must have been 2 million people gathered for the fireworks - I am not even kidding. We were shoulder to shoulder. The fireworks were amazing. They shot them off on the water and lasted at least 30 minutes. I have some great video too. Mary and I left after the fireworks and walked back to the hotel.



Today we started out the door at 8:15 a.m. and went to the Sydney Opera House for a grand tour. What a Sight. We took a group photo and tour around inside and around the area. After that we went to Bondi Beach - OMG - it was B E A U tiful. The water was so blue lots of surfers too. We didn't get much time there a quick lunch on the beach. After that we went to another place to learn about Opals, and of course to purchase. I bought a very nice necklace - - not to expensive but very nice. It was very interesting learning about Opals. This afternoon we have the rest of the day free. Marlene is back at the hotel resting and I am at a place called Global Gossip. It is much cheaper than the hotel prices. To give you an idea on how expensive things are here - I bought 2 double A Batteries today and they cost me $6.95 FOR 2!! Crazy. Some of the convenience stores were selling them for over $15 for 2 - yikes!!! Tomorrow we are going on a coffee tour cruise on the harbor and then we have the afternoon free. Marlene and I are planning on going to the Sydney Zoo. I am really looking forward to that. Things are very different here - the views are spectacular and a very foreign feel. Our hotel overlooks downtown with a wonderful view. So many tourists as well. I may not get a chance to write again until we get to New Zealand. Tuesday we leave here very earlier to catch another plane to Christchurch, New Zealand. Lots more fun stuff in store for us. Marlene says hello to all and we both miss you all dearly!

Friday January 25th - 3:30 p.m.

Hi All,

Today was a fun day! We started out at 8:45 a.m. took a bus to Kuranda and took a skyrail or Gondola up through the rainforest - what an amazing sight to see. We also got to see a waterfall while walking through parts of the forest. It has rained all day - but how perfect could that be while touring the Rainforest right. The skyrail went up 1,788 feet - FUN! We also got to learn about the culture of the aborigians (sorry I think I spelt that wrong) - very fasinating. I have lovely pictures of our day, but it is expensive to get on the internet in the hotel, so I will post later when we find a cheaper place :-) Time is flying by. Last night we ate dinner at the hotel and I had Grilled Jew Fish with sweet potatoes and roasted beets - the beets were actually very tasty. Tonight we may just stay at the hotel and enjoy happy hour at the bar and have dinner in the restuarant as it is still raining... After dinner there is supposed to be a great band in the bar so we may stay for that - or go to the casino... Tomorrow we tour the Flying Doctors and learn about that. Then fly to Sydney in early afternoon. Things are quite expensive here too. The language is funny here - for example they call Breakfast Brekkie and for diapers they call them Nappies. I'm loving the accent.... Well ta ta for now.

Thursday, January 24th, 2008

Hello Everyone,

Well we made it to Cairns, Australia (pronounced Cannes as we were quickly corrected by locals). The trip was long and exhausting as you can imagine, especially since we missed our connecting flight from LAX to Sydney. Long story, but we completely missed the flight since we had a 4 1/2 delay in Denver (for many different reasons). We ended up spending the night in LA in hopes of getting another flight to Sydney the next day. By the grace of god (we were told all flights were booked due to the Australia Open) and our travel agency, we made a 10:30 p.m. flight out of LAX on Monday Night. The trip was very long and exhausting - 14 1/2 hours and the plane was so tight - we didn't sleep a wink. We arrived in Sydney on Wednesday at about 8:30 a.m. with a connecting flight to Cairns at 1:00 p.m. arriving at about 4:30 p.m. Cairns time. We were never so glad to see a hotel room as we were on that day and shower and change into clean clothes (our luggage went on without us). So happy to finally get to our destination after spending 12 hours in a airport and planes the first day, and another 14 hours in an airport/plane the next day and another 1/2 day on the 3rd day - whew. Crazy!!! We only missed one day of our trip, so our adventure really began today. We went to the Great Barrier Reef - took about 1 1/2 hour boat ride to get there, but the water was so rough - never experienced that in my life and for the first time - can I just say Sea Sickness. OMG - - I would have never thought I would have experienced that, but it was rough - when we finally docked it took me about an hour to start feeling better and I got in the water - so wonderful and we took a tour in glass bottom boat to see the beautiful Coral reef. I have pictures and will post if I can find the time. The afternoon was amazing, and yes I got a little sun burn on my face, but not too bad - temp is probably near 90 and humid.. We are loving it!!! Everyone on our trip is so super nice and a few crazy ones too - and the locals are very friendly. Our hotel room, because Marlene is a VIP with GCT, overlooks the Coral Sea - amazing view.... Tomorrow we take a park tour and a sky rail of some sort I think. Our day ends about 3:00 p.m. and our evening is free. Marlene wants to hit downtown for dinner and the casino. It should be another fabulous day. We leave Saturday to go back to Sydney for the next few days. I will write again when we experience Sydney. Talk to you soon and feel free to write a comment - I miss you all :-)