Our Last Days on Holiday In Australia.

The last few days in Australia were a bit of a blur - trying to pack and enjoy the sunshine at the same time !

I think we spent the time mainly next to the pool, on the beach and at the botanical gardens.

Here is the hotel - this is the side with all the stunning views - we were in the third floor from the TOP - very high up!

Proof that my little boy can now hold his breath underwater - here he is underwater in the hot tub. and here he is jumping into the pool, he was having so much fun in the pool by the time we left.

Anna-Kate and I doing handstands in the pool - we were just having a day of fun ! Little Miss Anna-Kate jumping int to the pool ....

Greg getting arty - here is Croccie -

After all the swimming we went to the beach and had a lovely ice cream each ! Here are some of the photos of the sea and seagull -

Here is Anna-Kate waving at us all !

The last day - we went back to the botanical garden as it was lovely there,

Here we all are enjoying the garden and the sun, Luke looking at the fish - love that you can see his reflection in the water.My little monkey climbing on the play equipment,

We saw a water dragon (I think)

On the way back to the apartment to pack.

Leaving Australia - thank-you for a lovely two weeks - who knows we might be back very soon !

Tuesday and Wednesday in Australia -

Today we had a quiet day - Greg went into Brisbane to see an agency about work. We stayed at home to have a lie in - then just spent the morning next to the pool. Greg came back around lunch time and we went to a local park - for a walk, there was som interesting play equipment there - here is the see saw, and there was a sliding type of monkey bars -

Wandering about the playground were these birds loved their tail plummage -

In the pond there were ducklings - I thought this strange for winter but maybe they can breed all year round in the warmth of Brisbane?

My 2 little monkeys (and Greg) found a lovely HUGE tree to climb - Went back to the apartment for a swim then supper.

On Wednesday Greg went back to Sydney for his second round of interviews, we saw some window cleaners - I wouldn't do their job for anything !

We had a strom that night - well just lightening - no rain or thunder - here is the storm building - and the one photo I was able to take of the lightening -

Australian Zoo, Steve Irwin Zoo.

We decided to go to Australia zoo on Monday as most of the Australian schools were back at school - so it would just be the tourists going.

We had an early start as it was quite a long drive - but an easy drive - all open roads. As soon as we arrived there were animals out and about - here is Luke holding a crocodile.

Lunch - not for us - for this huge crocodile !

There were warning signs everywhere - telling us to be careful,

Of course there were lots of crocodiles about - as it is winter they were a little 'slow' still wouldn't want to bump into one though !

We were very lucky and got to feed the elephants - here is Anna-Kate feeding the elephant (you have to trust me - she is wearing pink tracksuit pants). Here is Luke feeding the elephants, you can see Anna-Kate walking off in the background.

After feeding the elephants we went over to the crocoseum to watch an animal demonstration.

The show began with a beautiful display of different birds - the flash of colour here is a large type of parrot - all lovely reds and blues. They had even trained a stork to fly in from another area to us here it is landing - as they need a long take off area the bird had to walk off the 'stage' Here comes the star of the show - I can not remember his name but it almost had a bite of Steve Irwin.

Here he is in action -

After the show there were snakes out and about - here is Luke touching one - you can see Anna-Kate's hair on the side - she was interested but not too interested !

We stopped for lunch then - at lovely tables huge pieces of wood,

Then we went to feed the kangeroos - some lovely German ladies gave my 2 some food to feed them -. My 2 enjoyed being with the kangeroos -

After the kangeroos we found the elephants -

There were lovely statues scattered about the zoo -

To get back to the beginning we had to go through the kangeroos again, Here is a nice pic of my two - hanging about with a giant tortoise ! And posing with the Irwin Family -

On the way home I had to get a picture of this 'mountain' it looked as if someone had just put it there !

A big bridge we went across-

It was a lovely day out. I can not believe it was 2 weeks ago - time does fly ! Chat soon XXXX

Our First Weekend in Australia.

On Saturday we went to a Botanical Garden fairly close to where we were staying. It was very peaceful - and would be a lovely place to have a picnic or BBQ. There were huge ponds, wooden walks, play parks and a sensory garden.

Oh and some fountains to - here we are posed in front of them !

I love this photo of my two - Luke is eagerly looking at the fish and Anna-Kate is posing for the photo ! Luke was very excited about seeing all the fish - as you can see croccie came with us for the walk. There were some beautiful flowers around the Gardens - including this familiar one (to us South Africans!) We even had it in our garden when I lived at home with my parents! There were some statues of Australian animals around the Garden too -

I had to take a picture of the pineapple growing - don't think I have ever seen one growing !

I think that this might make a nice quilt - something to think about anyway !

Sunday we went back to the rainforest - this was another section and it was not so high - much more flat .... Here is Greg next to another big tree -

And here is my little model ....

We even saw a parrots nest - it was very big and very high up !

Hubby was very good at taking photos this holiday - so I have proof I was there !!! Here is one of me and Luke together.

Two arty shots of the wood / trees -

My 2 little monkeys - acting like ummmm monkeys -

We came across a lovely quiet stream and an even quieter pool -

All in all it was a lovely family weekend. Chat soon XXXX

Day Four .... of the Australian Holiday.

Greg had to go to Newcastle - just outside of Sydney for his first interview today - so we had to entertain ourselves. We spent the day next to the pool and on the beach - it was a hard life LOL !

Here is Anna-Kate on the beach - enjoying the sunshine. The tall building on the beach front was huge - apparently according to locals it is the second tallest residential building in the world. It has 76 floors I think and you could go up in a lift to a glass viewing ledge. Surprisingly I turned that offer down - I have a horrible fear of heights !

Anna-Kate and Luke worked hard on this sand castle - they had hoped that the sea would fill up their moat !

Back at home in the swimming pool - Luke becoming braver with his noodle - we had to bring the noodle home he became so attached to it !

Sunset as seen from our apartment window.

Day Five in Australia - Greg had to go to Sydney today for more job interviews so we spent Friday next to the pool and on the beach.

Here are Anna-Kate and Luke enjoying lunch by the pool.

According to Luke it takes 7 minutes for your food to empty from your tummy so we didn't have long to wait until we could swim again !

Anna-Kate relaxing after a busy day on her bed !

Chat more tomorrow ! XXXX

Day Three in Australia - our first rainforest walk.

We decided to go for a walk in the Tamborine Mountains today - near to where they filmed 'I am a celebrity - get me out of here' . There were lots of scary heights and I had to keep reminding Luke not to run too far ahead of us! Luckily the path winds so if he were to fall he would land on the path - here is a pic I took - I was on the path above the boys.

Having a break on the hike - the weather was lovely, sunny but not too hot to walk.

Anna-Kate hanging around on a root of a tree she could swing on it !
This was a lovely tree - absolutely huge - here are my family at the base of the tree.

My arty take on the roots - love the colours of the tree... Another of my favourite arty pics taken in the rain forest,

A waterfall - look how tall the trees are - we were high up ! The views were breath taking.

We stopped for lunch at a lovely picnic spot -

On the way home - Greg stopped to buy some avocados from the side of the road.

Day four to come later ! I hope you are enjoying the Australian updates.

Chat soon XXXX

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.

Today hubby and I decided to go to a Koala Sanctuary. The day was sunny and Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary was beautiful.

Here is Luke with the river behind him.

Greg took a picture of me and Anna-Kate as well ....

Obviously there were loads of koalas there - they are very sleepy creatures.

A peacock joined us for lunch - there were lots of birds enjoying crumbs accidentally dropped!

Some more koalas -

Luke and Anna-Kate were able to hold a koala. We bought lovely photos of them holding the koala. The koala which Anna-Kate held took a liking to her plaits!

After the koalas we visited the kangeroos and wallabies - the 2 children loved being able to stroke them ! And they both took great photos of the animals themselves!

We saw a lot of mummy kangeroos with the joeys in their pouches very interesting.

Here is a photo taken by Anna-Kate of me, Greg and Luke.

Chat soon folks - have to get going for the day here back home XXXX

Our first view of Australia.

This is our first view of Australia - from the aeroplane. It was sunset here, but we arrived in Brisbane at about 11pm. We had to catch a taxi to a hotel we stayed in over night.

This is the front of our hotel - we stayed on the other side though with beautiful views over the river. We could see all the way to the Tamborine mountains.

On our first full day in Australia we drove from Brisbane to the Gold Coast. Arrived at our hotel. Then popped down to the local shopping centre as we were self catering. After the shopping, we walked down to the beach. This was Greg's (and all of us) first time to paddle in the Pacific.

We obviously had to swim in the swimming pool before making dinner and relaxing in the apartment for the evening.

Our first sunset ....

I am back - sorry it has been so long !

We had a lovely time in Australia. I just had to pop in to share a photo with you. This picture was taken at a Botanical Garden not far from the hotel we were staying at.

It was a lovely day. More to come later !