A Canuck Down Under

Stregg

A Canuck Down Under




Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney » Mosman March 1st 2011

As zoos go this is a pretty good one and has the best view of any zoo I have been to (I think this makes it 3?) but it is very expensive! $43 for an adult! I guess that isn’t too bad for Australia but compared to the Greater Vancouver Zoo ($17.85) it is crazy! The food in the park is ridiculously priced and REALLY bad! Not worth the money, we should have brought a picnic. We didn’t see any of the ‘shows’ but saw all the animals and got to pet a crazy looking turtle named Russel and a wallaby who’s name I didn’t get. We spent 5 hours at this zoo and saw it all, except for the Red Panda that seemed to be hiding someplace.... read more
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Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Melbourne July 17th 2010

Day 157 We had breakfast at a place over the water in the Docklands, it was very yummy. Then we went shopping to Bridge Rd which is where all the outlet shopping is... I bought a chai latte and we wasted 3 hours. Then we went back to Costco and bought everything we wanted, like our new GPS so we can find our way around. We did some shopping in Harbour Town and I got some new clothes (2 sweaters, a top and a dress for $40!). We went across the river from Federation square for dinner and I had a great apple salad and Ryan had spaghetti bolognaise. Day 158 We waited in line for about the same amount of time that we spent in the Tim Burton Exhibition, ½ hour. What was there was ... read more
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Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Melbourne July 16th 2010

Having grown up going to the Vancouver Aquarium at least once a year the Melbourne Aquarium was a bit disappointing. It had it’s highlights: The Penguins soooo fun to watch and the giant Rays. But this is a small all indoor Aquarium. Some of the displays were pretty pathetic, some of the jelly tanks had two or three jellies in them, there is a better jelly tank at YVR! But we had fun watching the penguins swim and fight with each other and enjoyed the curved tank of rays and sharks that you walk through. After the aquarium we walked down to Federation Square which has a large public space and a huge old train station. The Square is a great open space, surrounded by restaurants, exhibitions and bars. Apparently they have performances going on all ... read more
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Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Melbourne July 16th 2010

What idiots thought that a 6am flight to Melbourne was a good idea? With no sleep we left the house at 4am and drove to the Newcastle Airport. We went through security and then watched as people put there drinks in drink trays and sent them through the screening at security! Here we are with our 100ml bottles in 1L bags going through and people are bringing coffee? Crazy! So we got to Melbourne, took the Skybus to Southern Cross Station and stopped at a coffee place for breakfast on the way to our hotel. Shockingly they didn’t have a room for us at 8am on a Sunday! So we left our bags with them and walked down to the Docklands. We wandered around shops that weren’t open yet in the Harbour Town shopping centre. We ... read more

Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Newcastle July 1st 2010

We rented a car so we drove up to Nelson's Bay and out to Nobby's Head and everywhere in between.... read more
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Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Newcastle March 23rd 2010

I miss the strangest things from home. Like frozen juice. They don’t have frozen juices here! Do they realize how hot it is here? Frozen lemonade would be really nice! Don’t even get me started on the lemonade they do have here, Mr Clean anyone? Mmm refreshing. I miss ginger ale. They have dry ginger ale here, which kind of tastes like Canada Dry but made with rotten ginger. I miss bagels. The few bagels I have found here taste odd, kind of sour. I miss tomato sauce in a can! The grocery store here, Coles, sells their “brand” of tomato sauce but they are the only ones, and it comes in a jar, which is fine, but they have been sold out for weeks! How am I supposed to make pasta sauce? I miss my ... read more

Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Newcastle March 20th 2010

Today Regan and I went to the Stockton Sand Dunes. Which you would think are in Stockton, that’s what we thought. Nope! They are about 30 minutes north of Stockton. So these dunes are the largest in the southern hemisphere and the move about 4 metres north every year. Strange. You think they could put a big fan at the north end to make them stay in one spot. So at these Stockton Sand Dunes not in Stockton you can go on 4WD tours and camel rides. We thought at first a camel ride would be cool but then we figured after 5 minutes you’d be thinking “I can walk faster than this and what is that smell!?” So maybe take a pass on the camels. We didn’t do any 4WD tour either because we are ... read more
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Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Newcastle March 17th 2010

So this time last year it was snowing! Now it is sunny and about 30̊. Although my Birthday did go from being in the Spring to being in the Fall (or Autumn as they call it here) so I think I traded down. For my Birthday Regan (Ryan’s sister) drove up from Sydney, a 2 hour drive. The 3 of us went to a park called The Blackbutt Reserve. It is a free national park, you have to pay $5 for parking for the whole day but someone gave us their ticket. So it was free fun for all. The Blackbutt Reserve has Koala Encounters every day at 2pm (these are $3.50 per person) where you get to pet them and take pictures with them. So we got to the park around noon and we wandered ... read more
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