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 ....