PKB

Monday, January 31, 2011

City Slickers

The fam spent a day exploring the city of Sydney and basking in the hot sun.

We started off by meandering our way through the Botanical Gardens. These are right on the harbour. They're huge and so pretty!

and full of bats! Lots of them! Kind of gross, but kind of cool? I guess?

We had a picnic lunch next to the water and then headed off to....

the Opera House!

No visit to Australia would be complete without the Sydney Opera House right?

Right!

The Botanical Gardens lead you right there. Perfect.

. Are we measly American tourists who just walk around the Opera House?

Oh Pahlease! Of course not.

Opera House Tour- here we come!

I was so glad that we ended up doing this. It was amazing to actually be inside. Check out the views...

(this is the set-up for the Premier's {US translation: State Governor} new years party that would be the next night)

We learned that the architect wanted people in the Opera House to be able to feel like they were on a ship in the habor. That's why they used glass everywhere and have the Opera House 'sails' up top. This picture was taken from the 'bridge' of the ship.

Here's the exterior of the place. The architecture is stunning folks. My jaw is still dropped. Right here, right now.

Did you think that the sails were a smooth pure white?

False!

They're tiles of varying colors in a chevron pattern.

We learned so much from our tour guide and even got to go into each concert hall. (there are 3 total...yeah news to us too!)

Such a good time and so informative. It was amazing to be inside the building and to learn about the architect, the history and the little known facts of the Opera House.

After the Opera House we plunked down outside for a little relaxer.

Don't mind us, we'll just enjoy the view.

It was off to Manly next...but that'll be another post!

The Peruccas in Oz

-December 30, 2010-

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Ready or Not

I'm ready to blog about everyday life.

Oh but I'm not ready to skip these photos though...

so deal with it.

I warn you, there are ~~heaps~~ tons! (pardon my aussie)

Ready or not...here they ALL come!

We made a little road trip to Canberra with the fam. We had to give them a little bit of Aussie culture to send them back home with.

It was a short stay, but it was a good one. We ventured through the embassies, stopped at the War Memorial,

and QUESTACON!

Mom saw my previous blog about it, and decided the family needed to have a whirl.

Good choice Mom.

We all tried the giant slide...or attempted to try it...

Hear those screams? Yup, that's our Jocey. I love how she's frantically trying to get back up with her legs. :) She never quite made it down, but she made us laugh!

The next day we were off to Jervis Bay. The first time I came to Australia (little 16yr old kaylee), I went to Jervis Bay with my mom and the Pettits. It was beautiful. We loved it and wanted the whole Perucca clan to experience it.

Why do we love it? Oh, just the birds folks! Ha, but they're amazing! Rainbow Lorakeets everywhere. They were there just like last time...

And they were just as crazy as last time.

Landing on our heads. (even when we weren't holding any fruit)

Trying to nibble the beads of Mom's shirt.

and biting our ears.
Seriously. Like kamikazes guys!

It's worth all of it though.

Right down the hill from our Lorakeet party was the beach.

These beaches are the cream of the crop. Some of the whitest sand in the world. It truly looked like paradise. There were even dolphins swimming about 20ft out, right next to swimmers! We lova, lova loooooved it!

(the hubs has a hard time opening his eyes...he struggles)

Oh and did I mention that Phil's parents and Rachael joined us for our excursions?

We loved having them with us. They lead us through all the back-roads from Canberra to Jervis Bay and yes dear friends, we saw our fair share of dirt roads through the outback and road-kill.

Kanga road-kill.