January 3rd and 4th Manly-Sydney-Christchurch-Invercargill

January 3rd Tuesday

Manly-back to Sydney!

Today we spent our last morning in Manly and it was once again beautiful weather.  After breakfast we headed to the beach, but decided to go to the harbor side/calm beach.  The kids had a blast swimming and looking for fish and jellyfish.  They made lots of friends, including a family who moved here from Texas a few years ago.  Their daughter Natalie was very friendly.

Tara and Gabe at Manly Beach.

Gabe/aquaman!

The kids are searching for sea horses which live along the netting.

We also saw lots and lots of fish.

The kids playing with their new friends.

After cleaning up and eating lunch we got ready to move back to Sydney.  We had a shuttle van pick us up and take us back to the Holiday Inn Old Sydney Rocks.  We got checked in and Gabe and Dad walked over to the Harbor Bridge for one last look.

Hauling are luggage up to Old Rocks Holiday Inn.

Gabe from the middle of the Sydney Harbor Bridge.

After that we walked down George St. to the Rocks Cafe where we had tasted Kangaroo meat earlier in the week.  Tonight we tried crocodile!  It is illegal to hung wild crocs, but they have farms (just like with cows) for this kind of meat.  It is a very flaky, almost fishy kind of meat without the fishy taste.  

A crocodile burger-tastes flaky like a fish without a strong fishy taste.

Tara eats fish and chips at the Rocks Cafe.

We headed to the Royal Sydney Botanical Gardens and Domain.  We saw lots of interesting art, trees, flowers, rocks, and of course, cool sights of the city and harbor.  The highlight was Mrs. Macquaries chair (it’s just exposed sandstone rock cut into the shape of a bench-carved by convicts!).  It offers excellent views of the harbor!  We walked back by the Opera house and had gelato at our favorite place before heading to the hotel.

Gabe on a ruin within the Royal Botanical Garbed Sydney.

Government House, Royal Botanical Garnden.

Sculpture in the gardens.

Brody hanging out in a cool tree.

Two monkeys.

Brody, Sydney Harbor.

Gabe stands in front of a cool tree.

Three kids in a park.

Tara found some horse sculptures.

As we walked around the Botanical gardens we saw lots of cool views.

Three cave dwellers.

Double Trouble!

Tara jumps for joy!

January 4th  Today was a travel day.  We flew from Sydney to Christchurch and then hopped on a propeller plane to Invercargill.  The boys enjoyed seeing the propeller plane.  We landed and found that we had a 12 person van waiting for us instead of the minivan we ordered and are used to.  Apparently, this is all that is available.  It is really large and annoying, but we have no choice.  We had the first casualty of our trip-Dad’s coats are somewhere in Sydney along with my fleece Hawkeye gloves.  We lost two hours coming from Sydney so by the time we checked in and ate, it was pretty late.  The office manager from Winton, stopped by the airport to meet us which was nice.  The bad news is, the doc currently staying in our place is not yet out.  This means we have to stay in hotels for four more days!  Ursula is getting nervous about her medical interview tomorrow in Dunedin and everyone is really tired.