Carvalho Nats Casual Birding Outing

This birding section is for Uncle Tom :) Black swans

Lorikeet Spoonbills in the background Pelicans

Emu
Cape Barren Goose Tawny Frogmouth- really does look like a frog. Peacock

Kookaburra

Shearwater aka Muttonbirds ('cause they taste like mutton)

Emperor Penguin

Sydney, New South Wales

Sydney is a beautiful city. We had mixed weather - some days were great, others were cool and rainy but all in all it was a fantastic week. Our friend Vicki was in Sydney on business so we spent the first couple of days with her.

Bondi Beach, just outside of Sydney is one of the most famous stretches of beach in the world, we had an amazing beach day for it. We had lunch at Icebergs on the top floor of the building in the first picture. The building is the Icebergs Club, its name comes from the fact that its members swim in the ocean year round and the restaurant is quite upscale, we beachbums were a little out of place next to the socialites but it was yummy nonetheless.

Just a couple of fun pictures of the kids....

The Sydney Opera House truly is an iconic, beautiful work of art. We must have taken 100 pictures of it from all angles at all times of the day, here are just a few:

We had dinner at the restaurant in the little part on the right hand side, it was really nice. This picture is taken from the Harbour Bridge.This is a view from our hotel that captures both the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.Even the giraffes at the Taronga Zoo have view of these two beautiful landmarks.This is taken from inside the Opera House, we went on the tour and even got to watch some of the ballet rehearsal.

On our last day we went to Manly Beach which is a 30 minute ferry ride across the harbour, it too was beautiful and we had a great day for it. It was the perfect way to end our trip. This is a rock pool carved into the shoreline, the water is ocean water.

Cairns, Queensland

We had a fantastic week in Tropical Cairns. The weather was 32C and sunny every day. We decided just to relax and enjoy the summer weather so the only day trip we did was to the Great Barrier Reef. The fish were so vibrant (the pictures just don't do them justice) but the coral itself was even more beautiful than I remember it being. The bonus of the whole trip was that no one got seasick! Here are a few pics from the reef.

The reef trip we took was actually to Michaelmas Cay which is a little sandy island. We decided on this one so that it would be better for the kids, rather than being cooped up on the boat they could play on the beach, it was really beautiful. The first picture is from a distance, the second is on the Cay.

Our hotel had a pool with warm water literally just outside the door. No one else was ever in it so it was like our own private pool. Ian's swimming is getting so good- he can swim front crawl across the pool now. Lexi also loves the water, she splashes and is now putting her face in without trying to drink the pool.

Although Cairns is tropical their aren't really any beaches so they built a giant pool on the waterfront called the Lagoon. It's amazing- gorgeous blue water overlooking the ocean. It is shallow at all the edges and only 1.5m at the deepest part. It's surrounded by grassy areas and a deck for sunbathing. We spent a ton of time there too.

We're in Sydney now with lots on our "to do" list so we'll update the blog as our adventures continue.

Hobart, Tasmania

We had a fantastic pizza dinner in Salamanca Place, a great little area with a bunch of shops and restaurants, with Kevin and my cousin Hillary at the start of our Hobart stay. They have been travelling around Australia (literally) since February. (The kids are both passed out in their respective strollers). Hillary got to meet Alexa for the first time - both of them were pretty excited, they had a nice long snuggle together!We took the 1hr15min roundtrip hike up to the Wineglass Bay lookout in Freycinet National Park, there were amazing views of white sand beaches and turquoise waters. We were even rewarded with a wallaby sighting at the top. Everyone we passed was super impressed that our three year old was making the trek (that's what hockey players do you know). Just for the record, the picture below is from another walk in Freycinet- I actually carried Lexi for the long hike :) Although Cam did have a 35lb weight on his shoulders for part of the way up.

On Thursday we went on a boat cruise around Bruny Island just south of Hobart. We had beautiful weather for seeing the cliffs, caves and sea birds. We also saw tons of seals on the rocks. Unfortunately no luck with the dolphins and whales. The picture of the boat coming between the rocks isn't ours obviously but we threaded the same needle about 5 minutes beforehand.

On our last day in Tasmania we went to the Bollorong Wildlife Conservation Area and got to feed the kangaroos and see a ton of animals found in Tasmania. Afterwards we followed the Convict Trail to Port Arthur where the jail for repeat offenders was located. Some of you may remember (I don't) that there was a massacre here more recently- 1996 - where a gunman opened fire. The buildings are mostly in ruins but really neat to see.

Finally, no blog of Tasmania would be complete without a picture of a Tasmanian Devil....

Melbourne, Victoria

We arrived in Melbourne for our first week in Australia in the middle of a heatwave- 30-35C every day. Great for going to the beach and exploring the city. We went on a bus trip to see the Penguin Parade on Phillip Island where hundreds to thousands of little penguins come ashore every night to the surrounding countryside to nest. It's a pretty amazing sight. We saw lots of other wildlife on the same trip as you'll see in the pictures. The baby kangaroo in his mummy's pouch was supercute- almost as cute as our little koala!

The next day we rented a car and went on a roadtrip of the Great Ocean Road, it's listed as one of the top 10 road trips in the world in many travel guides. The scenery is breathtaking. The longest running international surfing competition is held at Bell's Beach every Easter.

While in Melbourne we even got to see the Santa Claus Parade-Cookie Monster and Thomas the Train were crowd favourites.