Saturday, January 24, 2015

Starting our Sydney Adventure - Day 1 Blowholes and Dugongs

We booked ourselves in to a 2-night stay at the Hyde Park Inn in Sydney and planned our driving route. Now that we have bought a car (2007 Toyata Corolla automatic), the roads are ready to tackle!

We knew that we wanted to see the sights of Sydney and do some exciting kids attractions - and since we already have our token koala and kangaroo pictures - it was time to get a snapshot of the Sydney Opera House and complete the trifecta!

On our way is a nice little town, Kiama (derived from an aboriginal word which means "the place where the sea makes a noise"), which has an impressive "blowhole." We stopped to check it out and get a short video clip of the noise and result of past volcanic activity.




Bryce and Liam posing for the camera


Some local galah birds were around


Checking in to our hotel room. Sweet digs!

After checking in to our hotel room, we headed out on a walk to Darling Harbour, as we had pre-booked our tickets to the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium to check it out. On our list of MUST SEES was a platypus, little penguins and the dugongs ("sea cows") - which ended up stealing our hearts - and oh yeah, the sharks!


Wait a tick.....Those aren't looks of terror and impending doom....


Lots of up-close encounters


The little penguins!!! Finally a photo up close:)


Bryce learning about little penguin life cycles (from a hologram)


Liam easily took 60 photos in the aquarium (not sure where he gets that from....)

So, the highlight for all of us (I think) had to be the 2 dugongs. There was an entire section dedicated to these amazing creatures and Liam got quite enthralled by the conservation efforts (we had to wait while he finished reading the posted info. plaques about their dwindling numbers). "Mommy, it makes me upset when animals become endangered"



Smoochin' the dugong statue


Learning about sharks on an interactive touchscreen center


After the aquarium, we headed back out onto Darling Habour to scope out a dinner spot.


There was a huge kids area nearby with water obstacles, climbing towers, 
slides, ziplines - all for free!


Need this in our backyard (for great night sleeps!)


Our 10 year anniversary dinner at Nick's Seafood Restaurant on Darling Harbour
 (Liam took this great pic!)


The kids were pretty well-behaved and enjoyed being a part of a special dinner


Different kinds of snack options here...


Next up...Day 2 - Botannical Gardens to Bondi Beach 

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