Daniel Family Vacation...plus me

View from Mt Wellinton in Tasmania

Me with a Wallaby!

Wineglass Bay

The church at Port Arthur

Port Arthur

Cascade Brewery

Me with all my crap

Breakfast with Scott

On Bondi Beach, pointing to our building

Sydney skyline

Katy’s family arrived early morning on the 16th. We went over and met them at their hotel and then walked around The Rocks, Circular Quay and around the Opera House. Then we took the fairy to Watson’s Bay and had fish and chips. We also walked up to The Gap (a big cliff over the water) where you can see the North and South heads.

That night we went to Darling Harbour to have dinner and watch the fireworks show. And I ate kangaroo for the first time! It was really good…kind of tastes like steak but with a little more flavor. Yum! But kind of sad that I ate one before I saw one, oh well.

The next day, Katy’s family came down to Bondi to see where we live and go to the beach. I think they were a little scared of our building and how small our room was but they loved the roof, of course. We hung out at the beach for awhile and walked around the shops on the main street. They went back into town late afternoon but Brooks, Laura and Mark came back later to go out with us and our housemates. We went down to the Beach Road Hotel bar and it was a really good time.

On Monday I stayed at the house and let Katy and her family have family time since I’d be the 3rd wheel (or 7th in this case) for the rest of their trip. I had lunch with Scott and Wes and got some packing done. Katy came back later on and we hung out with everyone from the house since it was our last night. Knowing how I felt about moving in there at first, I can’t believe how much I’m going to miss it. Luckily some people will still be living there when we get back to Sydney in August so we’ll get to see them again and hopefully crash at the house before we leave to go home.

Saying goodbye the next day was sad. We had breakfast with Scott but then had to hurry up and clean our room and get all of our stuff together to go to Tasmania. Our flight was early afternoon and we didn’t get there all that late, but it was still already dark when we arrived. And cold!

Katy’s mom booked a bed and breakfast for the first couple nights we were there. Definitely an upgrade from our former living conditions. It's going to suck going back to hostels after staying in nice places. It will be like when all the little kids from Slumdog Millionaire got to go to the Oscars but got sent back right afterwards. But I will enjoy it while it lasts.

Tasmania is a pretty place. A lot more "country" than Sydney, but that goes without saying. The first day we were there we went on a tour of the Cascade Brewery. I should be able to start making my own beer soon with all the brewery tours I've been on this trip. The tour was about the same as the Monteith's one we took in New Zealand but the beer didn't compare. If you ever have a chance to have Monteith's, take it.

As an unofficial stipulation of me tagging along on their family vacation, I have been and will be taking all of their potential Christmas card pictures, which I don't mind at all. It just gets a little awkward when someone walks by, sees me taking a picture of the whole group and then offers to take the picture so I can be in it. "Umm, well I'm not exactly...we're not...I'm not actually....ok, thanks!"...as I uncomfortably join their family picture. That happens at least once at every location. So fingers crossed, I might make the Christmas card if one of those pictures is good enough.

Day two in Tasmania, we went to Port Arthur which was their main prison back in the day. We took a tour of the grounds and walked around all the old buildings. It was pretty much it's own little settlement with a church and school for the guards' kids. It kind of reminded me of New England but the fall leaves might have had something to do with that.

The next day we drove about 2 hours out of Hobart to the national park where Wineglass Bay is. Wineglass Bay is one of the main places Tasmania is famous for and is also one of the most photographed beaches in Australia. It was a pretty long uphill hike to the look out point but worth it. And we finally saw some Wallabies out in the wild!! Yay! They were really cute but I was a little scared of them. That night we went on a Penguin Tour down by the water to see the penguins come in from the ocean. They were SO cute. The tour was less than an hour but that was just fine because it was freezing cold out.

Right now we're in Melbourne. We got here yesterday and have just been walking around the city getting oriented. We went to one of the open air markets this morning but it didn't have much stuff we were interested in. I don't think I need any leggings made to look like jeans or superman belt buckles at the moment.

Ok I think I'm finally caught up, whew. It wasn't as detailed as usual but I'll get my act together and start posting more often like I used to.