Australia

We are gonna let these pictures tell the story.

So it’s wedding day at Hunter Valley and it’s pouring rain! But, I need to jump back in time to the start of our trip.

Our flight was delayed leaving Abu Dhabi by a couple hours. Seems there was some issues getting out of Beruit. So our 10pm flight didn’t leave until almost midnight. When we checked in we tried to get an upgrade to business class. They weren’t able to do that, but they did move us up to the front of general seating. Unfortunately, that’s where they put all the young couples with children….yes, we had four kids under two in the row in front of us….for 14 hours!

After takeoff they actually served dinner! Gail and I both fell asleep and missed dinner. Other than the screaming kids, the flight was good and we got into Sydney around 7pm and our hotel just before 9pm.

We hit the ground running the first morning. It was just Gail and I so we wanted to see as much as possible. We had purchased a pass that got us access to the aquarium, the top of Sydney tower, the Wildlife World and a hop on, hop off pass for the harbor ferries. We hopped off at a place called Watson Harbor-Dawson Bay. We hiked up over the hill and was staring at the open ocean. The Waves were crashing on the sandstone cliffs. It was very cool!

Sydney is a beautiful city! With over 70 harbors and beaches, national parks and gardens, there is always something to see and do. They built up Darling Harbor area for the 2000 Olympics, it is a great place to chill. It’s very expensive though!

That night Rob and Kayleigh got in. It was great to see them and we went out for a pint to celebrate. In the morning the rest of the family showed up and we were off site seeing for the rest of the day. The Botanical gardens are beautiful, everything getting ready to bloom, bats hanging in the trees, and the Cockatoo that roam freely. Gail was even stocked and given a little love bite from one aggressive/loving cockatoo. The Sydney Opera house and the Harbor bridge are an amazing sight to see, never thought I would see in person.

The next morning we packed up and headed to Manly Beach, which is a very cool little community that’s a 30 minute ferry ride from Sydney. It was a great place to walk around and shop, and had an awesome beach! Cody, Adam and Ryan rented surf boards and gave that a shot.

The next morning we headed up to wine country. The drive was around 2 ½ hours and was beautiful. The vegetation is so different here from what we our used to. Hunter Valley is beautiful! Vineyards everywhere! We’ve spent the last four days tasting wine, eating cheese and visiting with the family. We even found a little time for jogging (1st outside run since april or may)so cool. No shortage of Kangaroos here! once you start looking, you can find them in most fields, even had a couple right outside our bungalow in the rain, they were a highlight for me.

Monday, we did some winery walking and stopped at 3 beautiful vineyards for some tasting, and of course we bought several.

On Tuesday we all packed up and headed to Newcastle. We spent the day playing on the beach and body surfing. A game of American Football broke out, and I’m happy to say that there were no serious injuries.

Wednesday the family split and Adams family went up north further to Juliette's family ranch to do wedding stuff. So the 6 of crammed into our purple ford falcon and went on a Winery tour at Tyrrell's Wines, one of the oldest family owned since 1858. Very fun and informative, and yes we bought wine! Managed to stop at a few more and found one that made chocolate, yummy.

On Thursday we rented tandem bikes and did a big loop of the area with Rob and Kayleigh. Stopped at a couple more, had a light lunch, tasted a little, and yes bought more wine. Bummer that it’s raining now. We were hoping to get a morning ride in, no such luck.

At last, it's wedding time, the rain clouds parted about 2:30 for the 3:00 arrival of the bride. What a beautiful wedding, with a reception following in the Hunter Valley Gardens. The bride and groom looked amazing, such a lovely couple. We are so happy we were able to come and share in their special day. Cody was a best man, and of course looked very dapper! Hard to believe with all the pictures we took, we actually missed a true bride/groom photo. No worries, our Niece Nichole and her husband Jordan did the photography and I'm sure they will be great.

Saying goodbye to the family once again, just as hard, not really sure when we will be seeing most of them again. Kayleigh and Rob joined us for a cold and windy day at Bondi Beach, I'm sure I'd have loved it had I not been freezing...only about 52 today. Off to the airport early to drop the kids as they head north to Brisbane, and we wait 4 hours for our 14+flight home.

Long and uneventful, that was our flight, now safe and sound back home in the desert at 7am, 95degrees never felt so good.

gooday