As you all know by now, I love Australia. Sydney is my favorite city in the world and any chance I get to go, I will take it. In November, to celebrate my 38th birthday, my younger brother Jeff and I headed down under, which was the the third visit for me and the second visit for Jeff. Thanks to frequent flyer miles and hotel points, we got a five star vacation at a 1 star price...except for Ayers Rock and there's more to come on that later. After traveling in our first class pods, we arrived in Sydney relaxed and and ready to vacation. Jeff's luggage, however, chose to spend the night partying in San Francisco and headed to Sydney a day later than we did.
We spent our first week in Sydney just soaking up the sun and hitting our favorite spots. Best restaurant in Sydney - Pancakes on the Rocks. I applaud any culture who chooses to put ice cream on their pancakes. Of course, it is possible that Jeff and I do not have refined palates. Anyway, if you ever find yourself in Sydney we recommend you head here for the best pancakes ever.
One of my favorite things to do was to walk through Circular Quay and into the botanical gardens.
After Sydney we headed to Surfers Paradise. We stayed once again at a Marriott and had a great view from our room of the pool, the river and the ocean. We arrived at the same time as the "schoolies" - think spring break with 16-18 year olds. Fortunately, we were are on the far end of Surfers Paradise so we didn't encounter too many problems, as long as you don't count the spitting contest of the boys in the room above ours.
As a splurge for my birthday, we decided to fly to Lady Elliot Island and do some snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef (don't you just love the self portrait to the left). This was, without a doubt, the highlight of the entire trip.
I think my favorite part was swimming with the sea turtles - I felt like I had joined the movie Nemo. Jeff's favorite part was the huge Moray Eel that we encountered. If you find yourself headed down under and have to choose one thing as a must do, this was it. There will be more to come on Australia but since I started this posting at least a month ago, I figure I should put it up as is :).
2 comments:
Griffin loves the sea turtles! Of course, finding nemo, was his favorite movie of all time.
You underwater is my favorite picture, it cracks me up. Mom
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