Malin's have arrived!!

Josh's parents, John and Carlene, arrived for their first time ever to Sydney, Australia on Sunday, January 8th! They were such troopers and I couldn't believe how well they did on the super looooooong flight they took to get here! They were here for 2 weeks and we were able to show them all around Sydney! They plan on coming back to visit a couple more times, so we didn't feel like we had to cram everything in at once, which was nice. After they arrived, they came to our house, showered, and we headed off to church. We then took them to the Sydney fish market where they could try their first fish of Australia! This is the place to go - it's probably some of the best, if not THE best, fish we've ever had!!!! It was AMAZING! We then came back home where they had a little time to swim in our pool and have an early dinner before heading to bed. We needed to keep them up so they could get adjusted to the time change!Some of the boats docked by the market.

One small part of the market
One of the main platters we all shared. Even Grace loves fish here!! Lance enjoys the Dory fish - it IS a good one!
Loving having Grandma around!!

Final day in Melbourne

We flew out the evening of Dec. 31st back home to Sydney. We had most of the day to hang out in Melbourne, so we decided to go check out the Melbourne Museum. It was so much fun and highly recommended! They had an Aboriginal section where we learned more about that culture, and they even had a craft for the kids to make their own masks! They also had a "rainforest" you could walk through from below the ground up and learn all about the layers of the earth, insects, bush fires, etc. in Australia. There was a children's section with LOTS to do and all of the other parts a museum usually includes: dinosaurs, animals, ocean life, culture from when Australia was founded up through today, science, history, and so many other things. I found it very fascinating to learn about what life was like in the "1950's" for example. It's always in American terms, so it was fun to see it from the Australian perspective. Anyway, we had a great day before heading off to the airport. Our original plan was to stay and watch the amazing fireworks display after we landed in Sydney by the Opera House, but it was just WAY too late and we had all had a very long, fun filled week! We had also heard that after the fireworks were over (midnight), it could take hours to get home from the city with all the traffic. We couldn't imagine getting home at 3 AM after the trip we had just had, so we decided that's what we would do next year! We have two more to look forward to! Welcome in the new year - 2012!!Being a shark and a mermaid in the children's section
Lance made a kangaroo puzzle
Australian coat of arms

Showing off the masks they painted

End of Day 5

enjoying a couple we picked out to try!! We did dessert first this night - the kids loved it!
look at them drooling over all the cakes and sweets in St. Kilda!!!
These are some statues that were in one of the gardens we walked through. We have no idea who these people were, but the kids wanted their pictures taken with them!! Ha!

Day 5 in Melbourne

Our final full day in Melbourne, we did a little more sightseeing around the city. We took the trolley downtown and walked around the main street and Chinatown. We ate lunch in the Italian district and then played at this great park that we found right next to the Melbourne museum! We then took a taxi over to St. Kilda, which is on the ocean. We walked along the beach and then ate dinner at one of the cafes. We were all exhausted at this point and took a taxi home for an early night in. It was a very fun and enjoyable day!The super fun park!
Eating lunch in the Italian district
In front of Chinatown
Waiting for the trolley to arrive and being silly!

Candle making!

We let the kids dip their own candles. They really enjoyed it and even learned the importance of dipping certain colors before other ones, so you get that beautiful rainbow effect! ;)

We had a wonderful day learning all about gold mining in Australia in the 1800's! We headed back to Melbourne that evening to crash at our hotel!

I was a little stressed about possible "burnage"

Visiting the gold mine

We were able to take a tour down into what once was an actual working mine. They have even preserved a section that one family had dug completely on their own using shovels! So amazing and so crazy! I can't imagine that kind of a life.
a view of the town
checking out the old mining cars
They even had an old bowling alley where we took our turns giving it a go!! It was a long alley!

Checking out the town

The kids went to "school" and even had to write their name using an ink well! They had the teacher correct it and both received an A+!!

ringing the school bell
we learned how they used to make wagon wheels

Sovereign Hill

We had fun walking around town into the different shops to see what life was like back then.

We found gold!
Now we get to take it home!
An up close shot, so you can see how much we got!! ;)

Sovereign Hill - Day 3

We woke up the next morning and headed for Sovereign Hill (which was about half way back towards Melbourne) - it's one of the original gold mining settlements in Australia, that's been recreated for "tourist" purposes. It's a similar idea to Living History Farms (in Iowa), but a lot bigger. It was SUCH a fun day and the kids had a blast spending the day in the "1800's"!

We went "panning" for gold and, yes, we actually found some gold that we kept and took home with us! I'm pretty sure the total amount was worth less than a penny - Ha! - but the kids thought it was GREAT! (clearly, as you can see by the pictures, we had NO idea how to do this! A lovely gentleman that worked there helped us out a little!) ;)


visiting one of the old Chinese markets
On our way to Sovereign Hill, we had to pull over and get a picture of this sign. Really, how often do you get to see that?!! So cool! Koala crossing!

The end of the road...

We had to kind of rush our last few stops because we were all getting tired, it was getting late, and we still needed to get to our hotel in Warrnambool. Being along the southern shore, it was quite windy and as the sun was setting, it was beginning to get a little cooler. It was amazing to witness the sunset on the rocks. They looked like they were made of gold. We were in awe of God's creation. This completed our Great Ocean Road day.

This is at Bay of Islands


Yup - done and cold - it was a long, fun day!
This was called The London Bridge, and actually it used to be completely connected, but the open part fell off in 1990. Can you imagine witnessing that?!
This little rock formation was called The Arch - hmm...makes sense! The waves and water all around all of these was so loud and high. You can see why the constant beating against the rocks created these unique formations over time.

Loch and Gorge

One of the stops was at a place called the Loch and Gorge and it was beautiful! It was one of our favorite stops. We walked down into this gorge where the kids climbed on some rocks and played in the sand a little. It was beautiful the way the sun was shining in on half of it.
view of the entrance
climbing on the rocks

cool pictures with the sun and shadows