2004 Sabbatical Photos

Clark, Jana, and Christopher all traveled to Austalia and New Zealand for 7 weeks.  Here are some of the photos from our voyage.

We flew from Portland to LA to Sydney, Australia on January 19, 2004.  One of the first places we visited was the Sydney Aquarium.  They have a really nice Great Barrier Reef Exhibit.

We went on a small group tour that took us to view the Blue Mountains. Before we were even out of town, our "bus" broke down.  We had morning tea at the gas station while our old bus was towed away. The Blue Mountains have a blue haze caused by the eucalyptus vapors in the air.  There was only a faint blue tint the day we were there.

Our tour let us get up close and personal with some wild kangaroos. Yes, wild. We were NOT at a wildlife park.

This is the steepest railway in the world (52 degrees)

Street performers at the quay. There is also a really yummy gelato place. And the sticky date pudding at the City Cafe is fabulous.

We took a Sydney Harbor cruise. We took this photo from the boat on our way back to the semi-circular quay.

We rode the train to the Koala Park outside Sydney. Christopher got to feed the koala. We all got to pet the koalas and Clark got to pet a wombat! I'm sure he won't be happy that this photo is included on the internet!!! The Koala Park had many different types of native animals and birds. Below is an echidna, a kangaroo, and double-wattled cassowary (Christopher's favorite).

Nose to nose with a small red kangaroo.

Christopher enjoyed watching the cassowaries eat the tomato halves in a single gulp.  VERY exciting.

My little koala. Isn't he cute?

One night in Sydney we ate dinner at Lillipilli,  an Aboriginal resteraunt. The waiter allowed the boys to try out the didgeridoos.  Clark had a spicy wallaby stew, Jana had emu steak, and Christopher dined on crocodile nuggets. YUM YUM!

We took the ferry to the Sydney Zoo. Where else in the world is there a zoo on a hill where you can enjoy the city skyline, zebras, and giraffes all at the same time??? Below is the view from the ferry on our way back to our hotel.

We happened to be in Sydney for Australia Day. It is much like 4th of July in America. We walked along a huge street car fair, enjoyed entertainment at Hyde Park, learned some circus tricks, even enjoyed fireworks at Darling Harbor. A very long, enjoyable day.  The cars were Christopher's favorite.

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