On January 6th we took off for our next adventure. In the next 31 days we will be visiting China (for one night), Australia, New Zealand and Bali. We are excited!
We flew into LAX in a rainstorm that was severe enough to keep planes from moving out. After sitting on the tarmak for 90 minutes we literally ran to the International Terminal and were the last ones on the 14.5 flight to Guangzhou, China. The hotel we booked there was across the street from the enormous, modern, state-of-the-art airport. The hotel was pretty spectacular in it’s own right!
The departure boards looked different than usual:
After a good night’s rest, we took off for Melbourne (pronounced Melbun) and never felt a titch of jet lag from there on!
We met our friends, Randall and Tamina Ridd at the hotel, rented bikes and immediately went to the grounds of the Australian Open Tennis is played (one of the great perks of being here at this time of year). We wandered around the grounds watching people warming up o the courts here and there with great anticipation of the matches that we would be able to see after our 13 day cruise.
Do you think we these two are excited enough to be here?
Wandering around the streets of the great city of Melbourne, we realized that there is a “Covent Garden” in every big city:
Cruises are so fun. No hassle, just take directions and go with the flow! We did conduct a get-aquainted sessions on the bus rides to and from this fun animal park where we got to play with lots of kangaroos, including baby ones!
We loved the koalas…
Wombats are nocturnal animals and very rare but this cute one came out from his cave to say hello. As you can see he is quite famous:
But my favorite is the Tasmanian Devil! I was dying to see one when we were in Tasmania but couldn’t find one anywhere. When I saw those red ears and sharp, piercing eyes I got it. They do look like little devils! They run around like as though there has just been an earthquake and are looking for cover.
And then it was off to the cruise!
3 comments:
ian will be so jealous you saw a tasmanian devil! love seeing pictures and reading about your adventures! seems like you've been gone and so far away for so long!
Were you at Healesville Sanctuary? Glad you enjoyed all of our gorgeous animals! We live just an hour and a half further along in the countryside!
I wish I knew you were in Melbourne, would have loved to have met you - I have followed your daughters journey for many years now (Shawni) and yourself. I hope Melbourne gave you some wonderful memories.
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