Our 30th Wedding Anniversary

Yesterday, May 16, was our anniversary. It doesn't seem possible that we have been married for 30 years! Valley Community Presbyterian Church in Beaverton, honeymoon in Hawaii...seems like about 5 years ago. But a couple of great things have come our way during these 30 years, namely two beautiful girls. Kristin and Katy are the best and I can't wait to get home to see them! Kristin has added another member to our family, our son-in-law David, and we are very proud to have him as a member of our family, too. We are extremely lucky to have such a wonderful family and extended family as well. We love you all!!!
We had a great anniversary dinner at a reataurant called Altitude, on the top floor of a hotel with a gorgeous view of Sydney Harbour, including the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. It was a great way to celebrate.

The dessert was really good, too!!!!!

Back in Sydney

We returned to Sydney late Friday night, the 6th of May. On Sunday we took a ferry up the river to Paramatta. It took about an hour to get there, and the river kept getting narrower and narrower. We got off the ferry, had some pizza and a beer, and got back on another ferry to get back into Sydney. On the way home we got to see some city lights, since it was dark by then. Very pretty.
I have started to pack up a little this week! I am coming home next week, May 18. Dave will be staying another month here in Sydney and will be doing some travelling. I am looking forward to getting home and seeing everyone and going back to work and tennis! Hopefully my ankle will keep getting better, it is still sore from my fall a couple of weeks ago.
Our plans for the next few days include dinner tonight with Eaton folks from Seattle, dinner Monday night with Australian co-worker of Dave's (it is also our 30th anniversary!),organ concert at the cathedral on Sunday and maybe a trip to the Blue Mountains on Saturday with Dave, since he has not been there. The weather here has gotten quite a bit cooler, with highs around 60, lows in the 50's and windy. Probably doesn't sound too bad to everyone back home! It hasn't been raining, just colder. It could be pretty cold in the mountains over the weekend.

Lady Elliott Island, Great Barrier Reef

On Friday, after Dave's work was finished in Brisbane, we took a day trip from Brisbane to Lady Elliott Isalnd, which is located at the southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef. We were picked up at the hotel at 6:30am, drove to an airstrip called Redcliff and then boarded a 12-seater, single prop plane to get to the island. The island itself is pretty small, with the runway going all the way across it! Oh, and the runway was not paved, it was all grass. Pretty bumpy on the landing, needless to say! The only thing on the island is a "resort", not very high class, but if all you want to do is snorkel and scuba dive, it's perfect. And I really do mean, if that's all you want to do!!! There is absolutely nothing else going on there. So if you're looking for snorkelling and solitude (including no cell reception), this is the place for you.

Our airplane at the airstrip

Our plane on the "runway"

View from the deck - as you can see we got some rain

Here's the deck off the dining and bar area

The overnight accomodations!

This is the beach right out the door of the guest rooms

On the way back to Brisbane

It was a very fun trip! Again, just meeting the people was fantastic. Our tour guide, Ugee, spoke to us in English and then to the rest of the group in Japanese. He kept saying Dave was a good swimmer, so he took him out snorkelling farther than the rest of the people to see the sea turtles. The people that work out there just love to snorkel and dive. It was great!

Brisbane City & Lone Pine Koala Santuary

Great weather today! We started out in the city with our tour guide, Mick, and only 5 people total on the tour.  As we drove throught the city, Mick gave us great commentary on the city and some of the buildings. One of our first stops was at St. John's Cathedral, an anglican church, built in a mixture of French and English Victorian Gothic Revival styles.

These 2 sets of windows are called the Australia / USA Friendship Windows. They were installed after WW2 to commemorate the USA's involvement in helping to protect Australia during the war.

This is a smaller chapel within the main church

The church was actually built in stages, beginning in 1901, and ending in 2009. Most of the sandstone used in the building is from Brisbane and the stone-vaulted ceiling is the only one of it's kind in Australia.

This photo was taken from Kangaroo Point, across the Brisbane River from the city. The Botanic Garden is right in front on the river.

Another view of the city from farther down along Kangaroo Point

Next we boarded a ferry from outside of the city and travelled into the city to the South Bank area.

The Story Bridge

After lunch at South Bank ( I was too busy eating to take any pictures! ) we headed out to the Lone Pine Koala Santuary. It was established in 1927 to increase the koala population, because before that it had been legal to hunt koalas for their fur, and the population was dwindling. There are lots of other animals living at the santuary as you will see.

A Wombat

Dingos

I asked a couple of Australians why these dingos looked so good. They look like really nice dogs! They said that in the wild they are a lot more scruffy looking, and that the zoo dingos are obviously well fed. They said that, in the wild, if campers make the mistake of feeding them, they are in deep trouble!

Emu

A couple of little Crocs

Lace Monitors

Blue-winged Kookaburra

Kangaroos!!!!!

This guy just cracked me up! Just chillin'...posing for the camera!

I was looking for a female with a joey, but could not find one. Darn!

And now for the KOALAS!!!!!

Aaawwwww! Aren't they cute?

Next I watched a sheep dog show and a sheep shearing. The dogs were so talented! They didn't let those sheep get away with anything. The first 2 dogs were the ones that rounded the sheep up out on the fields.

The second 2 dogs actually walk on top of the sheep and bark to get them to move.

Shearing the sheep

Wow, he's skinny now!

City view from Mt. Coot-tha

From Mt. Coot-tha, view to the west. The Great Dividing Range is behind the mountains.

Brisbane City Botanic Gardens

Well, it was totally tropical weather today in Brisbane. It started out clear and sunny this morning, and quite warm, probably close to 80 degrees. But by 2PM it was a torrential downpour with thunder and lightening! Boy, did it remind me of living in Florida!!! It cleared up some and then about 4:30 round 2 of rain, thunder and lightening started. It was a good thing I made it to the Botanic Garden before it started raining.

Walking though the mangroves on the river side of the garden

School kids playing soccer in the gardens, complete with their uniforms

The Gardens were beautiful! Hopefully I will have good weather tomorrow for my city tour/koala park trip!