Trip to Australia

It was a treat to be able to go to Australia this past February. I was even there for my birthday. I haven't celebrated my birthday in Australia for at least 10 years!

We stayed for two weeks, which is a lot shorter than I had planned my next trip to be. I figured if it took me four years to get there, I would stay at least a month. But things didn't work out that way this time, which turned out to be okay. I was worried that we would waste the first week overcoming jet lag...but amazingly enough, we didn't. We all got right into the night and day routine - including the kids! I couldn't believe it. Another common occurrence is that we get sick after that long plane ride. This didn't happen either! I couldn't have been happier.

There are a few highlights I'd like to share, probably too many for one post. I'll just share a few at a time....

The two highlights for today are from a couple of day trips we took.

The first is the Blue Mountains.

My sister and I decided we must to go to the Blue Mountains. We decided this before I even arrived in Australia. Since the trip was only two weeks, we had our calenders out and planned things over the phone and email.

The Blue Mountains are absolutely beautiful! See...


It is a place we remember going to a number of times as kids. Our parents would take us and we would spend most of the day walking down the giant staircase, all the way to the bottom. Once we got there, we would often ride the scenic railway back up the mountain. Back then the scenic railway was a rickety old, open air car, that went up the steep mountain backwards! It was like a ride at a theme park...at least to a kid it was.

I was excited to share this experience with my own children.

After we arrived and gasped and cooed at how gorgeous it was, we found the giant staircase......oh dear..... it was quite a bit steeper than we remembered. And each step was huge! My four year olds' little legs really had to stretch to get up and down those. We decided to start and see what happened. It was obvious we would not be making it to the bottom! It didn't matter though, the view was spectacular, and just being there was half the fun anyway.


We went a good distance, moving aside to let others by, and resting every now and again. Then we turned around and went back up. I had to lift my son up a few steps. But me made it! Most passers by commented on the kids...it was fun.

Once we got back to the top, we had a nice picnic. The sun was shining and I was happy.

The ride home was a sleepy one for me. We had the windows open in the van and I couldn't hear anything over the blowing wind, except the distant chatter of my daughter talking to her Nana. They were sitting closer to the front of the van and I was all by myself. My son wanted to sit by his Aunty and my husband was in the very front keeping my Dad company. My brother-in-law was in back seat. All was peaceful, at least for me, my Mum said my 7 year old pinched her! Not good!

I would wake up on and off and check my pocket calender again. Counting up some important days....

Once we got home I couldn't stand the suspense anymore and asked my sister to take me to the store. There I got a pregnancy test and found out the happy news that we are expecting a baby.

A nice, and surprising, end to the day!

I said I would share two day trips, but this is so long, I'll save the other one for later.

If you want to know more about the Blue Mountains click here

You can also see the scenic railway here. Apparently it is the steepest inclined railway in the world.

The three tall rocks you see in the picture are called the Three Sisters. I really enjoyed seeing those, since I remembering being intrigued by them as a child. My seven year old was too. She really want to go to "a sister". And we did get to walk over a little bridge and sit right under one.

If you ever make it to Australia, I highly recommend a day trip to the Blue Mountains. It's beautiful country.

Image from flickr by Tr1xx