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Australia

a travel blog by The Wilde Family

This is the first big trip by the Wilde Family for over a year - One month in Australia! And no you can't come and steal our stuff; we did a house exchange. And yes we also feel we got the better deal!

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Great Barrier Reef

South Mission Beach, Australia

At last Shaun finally gets to sink into the Great Barrier Reef to see his beloved fishy friends!We spent the day on the Calypso dive boat about an hour from the mainland. Karen and Chris saw some wonderful fish when snorkelling. We spotted Nemo and Dory and also saw a huge sea cucumber, some parrot fish and four blue starfishes to name but a few.There were also some rather large barracudas swimming on the edge of the reef which thankfully did't get too close. Karen thought she saw a shark, but apparently it was a sucker fish!
Sally floated on a woggle near to the dive boat and saw some tiny black and gold fish. She also had close encounters with some big fish as the boat crew fed them right next to Sally!


Later that evening we sat on the beach and shared a bottle of wine with the neighbours, watched the moon rise and followed it up with a BBQ.

Sally also managed to lose and swallow (again!) one of her milk teeth. So we will need to write a note to the Australian tooth fairy to let her know what happened. We will let you know the outcome tommorrow!



permalink written by  The Wilde Family on December 23, 2007 from South Mission Beach, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia
tagged GreatBarrierReef and EddyReef
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Christmas Eve

South Mission Beach, Australia

Well it is Christmas Eve which feels pretty strange when you are sitting in this heat. Today Shaun received a pass out to the Great Barrier Reef to see his friends in the sea. At long last he swam with a shark!!

Sally is pleased to report that the Ozzie tooth fairy came and left her $2 which is apparently the going rate for a tooth down under.

Karen had some really fun things to do today, namely shopping, washing and ironing - yippee (not!).Not to mention checking Santa's list to see whether we'd been naughty or nice! Chris and Sally enjoyed a bit of down time and watched a dvd whilst the sun was REALLY hot. Once the shade covered the pool they jumped in for the rest of the afternoon - Karen watching on sweating with the iron in hand!

During the afternoon we listened to the weather reports and they explained that there was something unusual upsetting the weather fronts. Apparently Santa's sleigh was on the way! He had also logged his flight path with air traffic control and they showed how far he had got from the North Pole. Luckily for us in Australia he stops here early on in his travels!

We even had a visit from Santa in the afternoon the local firemen gave him a lift and he came around the streets of Mission Beach giving sweets to all the children.

In the evening we decided to check out one of the local restaurants and went to the Greek Taverna ( which also served Malaysian food). Karen ordered a Chicken Laksa and proceeded to break out into a sweat! Chris and Sally ordered lemon chicken and rice. Once eaten, Sally then fell asleep in the restaurant!

We also left out a pressie for Santa, which included a freddo bar (on an icepack) a stubbie and a carrot for the reindeer.

permalink written by  The Wilde Family on December 24, 2007 from South Mission Beach, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia
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Christmas Day

South Mission Beach, Australia

Well the big day has arrived and Shaun and Karen thought they may get a lie in as the children had seemed so exhausted the night before - how wrong they were!! At 6am precisely Chris ran down to inform us that Santa had been - luckily for us Isabel had written a lovely note to tell Santa to still deliver presents here and he did! ( Thanks Isabel). Chris was really lucky and received a Nintendo DS with some games. Sally received an IPOD nano already loaded with her favourite music!! She has been entertaining us with her singing already this morning!?!

All the family received gifts from our exchange family. Shaun received a Mission Beach stubby holder ( a beer holder for those not in the know!). Karen received some Australian made soap with the Mission Beach butterfly on it. Sally received a cuddly Cassowary (which received an ahh! all round!). Chris got a book on Australian wildlife, so he will know all about the creepy crawly critters by the end of the holiday.

We phoned up the family in Cornwall to let them know that Santa was on his way, it was only 8.30pm so they still had a while to wait - tee hee!! Shaun also phoned his Mum and Dad to wish them a Merry Christmas. That's all for now as we still have the rest of the day to enjoy. A nice swim in the pool followed by prawns and barramundi on the barby to follow!

The weather remained hot, beautiful and sunny for the rest of the day. Shaun cooked us a lovely dinner starting with prawn cocktail and chips and dips. We followed it up with a selection of chicken, rissoles, barramundi and homemade burgers. As you can see by the picture Shaun got a little hot under the collar whilst cooking.

We cooled off in the pool in the afternoon and got soaked by the "splash monster" aka Chris! In the evening we popped on the air con and watched Eragon. Drank lots of beer and wine (coke for kids), and went to bed happy.

permalink written by  The Wilde Family on December 25, 2007 from South Mission Beach, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia
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Spider

South Mission Beach, Australia

This is a special entry just for Andy. We have a couple of these beauties in the garden and they are called (I believe) St Andrew's Cross spiders. There are about 3" across. Nikki (Andy's wife) would have to peel him off the ceiling after seeing one of these :) .

permalink written by  The Wilde Family on December 25, 2007 from South Mission Beach, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia
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Boxing Day

South Mission Beach, Australia

When it rains here it REALLY rains!! We spent the day relaxing indoors (hoping that the rain would stop - it didn't!). Still we played some games at the table and the children played with their Christmas presents.

Not much else to report!

permalink written by  The Wilde Family on December 26, 2007 from South Mission Beach, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia
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Kuranda Scenic Railway

Cairns, Australia

Chris says "We went on a skyrail other a big rainforest on big hills and saw lots of birds. There was two stops before the last stop there was a bored walk on the first stop with a massive tree 37m high the next stop had the amazing barron falls".

Sally says "We went to the birdworld Kuranda we saw sun conure,Blue and gold macaw,Indian ringneck parakeet,Nicobar pigeon,Barbary dove,Scarlet macaw,Lution ringneck,Tri-coloured munia,Java sparrow,Zebra finch,Star finch,Crimson finch,Galah,Red-tailed black cockatoo,Rainbow lorikeet,Metallic starling,Magpie lark"

Before we went to the parks we had some lunch Shaun and Karen enjoyed their first Kangaroo burger which was really tasty.

The trip back down on the Kuranda Express was hot and sticky, but we had some fantastic views on the way back to Cairns. The children enjoyed counting the 15 tunnels that had been hand dug through the mountains.

When we eventually arrived back at Mission Beach we stopped at the pasta restaurant for dinner. Then headed home after a very long 13 hours for a quick shower and bed.

permalink written by  The Wilde Family on December 27, 2007 from Cairns, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia
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Day of rest (for some!)

South Mission Beach, Australia

Today is our last day at Mission Beach as we are spending the next 10 days travelling around. Shaun managed to get another pass out to go diving, the children played in the pool and wrote some of the blog on Kuranda. Karen lazed around and did absolutely nothing - wishful thinking! Once again the washing and ironing beckoned, as did the packing. It didn't help that she managed to lock some clothes in the tumble dryer and still can't get them out!! Luckily one of the neighbours has offered to dry some things for us if needed. The other plus being Sydney has got lots of shops, and after all his diving trips Shaun has agreed to let Karen have a retail therapy session whilst he babysits!Watch out credit card (and baggage allowance - may have to leave one of the children behind!)

The rain has held off for most of the day but the wind is getting up, aparently a cyclone may be brewing for the weekend - just as we leave for Sydney thank goodness.

Whilst out diving I got to play with large grouper (which liked having its belly tickled) and some small shrimp decided I needed a clean. On the way back a storm whipped up and many people on the catarmaran got quite ill (not helped, I think, by me tucking into my lunch as I was hungry after diving).

permalink written by  The Wilde Family on December 28, 2007 from South Mission Beach, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia
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Cairns to Sydney

Cairns, Australia

Well today was spent packing and travelling from Cairns to Sydney in preparation for the New Year celebrations. The flights ran smoothly and we checked in to our hotel in Darling Harbour in time for some dinner.

We ventured out to Chinatown and surprise surprise ate some chinese! Not a lot to report as we were all shattered and went to bed early.

permalink written by  The Wilde Family on December 29, 2007 from Cairns, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia
tagged Cairns and Sydney
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Exploring Sydney

Sydney, Australia

We woke up rareing to go and after breakfast of waffles, ice cream and maple syrup we set off to the boats in the marina.

We thought we had come across a bargain ticket of $55 for a 3 day pass all around Sydney, unfortunately it turned out to be $68 for 1 day!! Still we set off for a cruise around seeing all the sights of Sydney, the Opera House the Harbour Bridge, Watson's Bay, Shark Island to name but a few. We hopped off the boat at Circular Quay and explored the oldest part of Sydney "The Rocks". We bought some goodies at the market, sat and listened to a live band whilst enjoying a well needed drink.

The weather here is not as sticky and humid as it was in Cairns, but it is still HOT.

We ventured over to Luna Park, a little bit disappointing as both children were not quite tall enough to go on some rides. The ones they could ride were met with looks of NO WAY, being far too babyish!! Shaun bought a pass and was able to accompany them on some of the faster rides - so that helped ease the initial disappointment.

We caught the last boat ride back to Darling Harbour and once again ventured to Chinatown for (you guessed it!) Chinese - this time we chose a locals restaurant and the food was much nicer. Chris had fun eating duck and veg wrapped in a lettuce leaf - making his usual mess along the way!By the time we had finished food it was 11pm, good practice for tommorrow's big night. So it was home to bed for all.

permalink written by  The Wilde Family on December 30, 2007 from Sydney, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia
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New Years Eve (Part 2)

Sydney, Australia


We booked tickets at the Taronga Zoo so that we could watch the fireworks from a good Vantage point and the views were well worth it and because it wasn't too crowded we all got a good view as we got to sit in the amphitheatre that overlooks the harbour.Word of warning to anyone wanting to do this in the future. The ferry terminal is chaos and you get little info on when things are running (if they are at all). It took us 3 hours to get to Taronga instead of the usual 20 minutes, as we missed the last (allegedly) direct ferry.

There were 2 sets of fireworks a smaller display at 9pm (for the kiddies) which was amazing. There were 6 sychronised displays throughout the city and the music was played through the radio so we could all listen to the music that went with the display.

The main fireworks at midnight also used the bridge as the centrepiece, along with the 6 other locations, and went on for 12 minutes. It was spectacular and a real sight to behold.

We met up with Shaun and Sally from back home and had a joint celebration with them and just had to have our photo taken with the flag in!

We had booked a taxi but it was a no show, so we started on a VERY long walk home! We managed to flag a taxi down and eventually arrived home at 3am.The children were very good throughout and Shaun, in a rather drunken moment, promised them some extra pocket money for good behaviour!!

Despite the journeys to and from the zoo we would strongly reccommend the fantastic views and lack of crowds - a really great memory from our holiday.

permalink written by  The Wilde Family on December 31, 2007 from Sydney, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia
tagged Sydney and Fireworks
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