Just wanted to let everyone know that we returned safely from our journey in Australia. We had a great time there, but it still feels good to be home. I start school again tomorrow, and I’ll try and get back to “regular” posting on this site soon! Thanks to everyone who emailed while we were away - it’s always nice to here from everyone!

We finally have wifi again on the eve of our long return trip to Canada. The time has flown by so fast, and we wanted to get the photos posted before returning.

After leaving Noosa, we took an overnight bus to Airlie Beach. We spent a couple of days there, visited the National Park, Shute Harbour, and enjoyed some relaxing days.

Our sailing trip in the Whitsundays was definitely the highlight of our stay here in Australia. We were very lucky to have fine weather and to be upgraded to an awesome ship - the Pacific Sunrise. It was five-star all the way, especially the food and we wished it could have lasted longer than 3 days. We were able to do some snorkeling on the fringe Great Barrier Reef which was spectacular. We met lots of great people and was a great way to relax. Hill Inlet and Whitehaven Beach provided some awesome scenery as you will see in the photos.

Cairns was our next stop - but it was really just a stopover for heading up to Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Rainforest National Park. The waterfront Lagoon was very impressive and a great place to watch the sunrise before heading out on our journey north. We stopped by the Flecker Botanic Gardens on the way as well.

Cape Tribulation was a fantastic ending to a fantastic trip to Australia. The rainforest was a nice change from the beautiful beaches we had been experiencing (although Cape Tribulation and Cow Bay also had spectacular beaches) and the air was really refreshing. We rented a car and were able to stop at some places along the way - Kuranda, Port Douglas and Mossman Gorge. The rainforest walks through the Daintree National Park were beautiful. It was their dry season so the humidity was only 60%! The exotic fruit tasting and the Daintree Ice Cream Company were two of our favourite treats in Australia.

We board the plane tomorrow and will be home soon! You can see all the photos here.

Sorry for not posting new photos for a while. Wifi is becoming a little harder to find now (and a bit expensive when we do find it). So we have three batches of photos this time!

After leaving the Blue Mountains, we flew up to Byron Bay and the beautiful beaches. We took a surfing lesson one of the days - Amanda had a bit more luck than I did - but neither of us will be surfing superstars anytime soon! The first morning there, we woke up for the sunrise. I know there are “a lot” of pictures of the sunrise, but we just couldn’t narrow them down any further. We liked all the pictures too much!

After Byron Bay, we took a bus up to Noosa and left on a Fraser Island tour the next morning. The weather wasn’t the greatest, but we had a really good group and made the most of it. We still got to see most of what Fraser Island had to offer - just not the bright blue skies and warmth we were hoping for. Fraser Island is almost completely sand with many fresh water lakes and rain forests.

We returned from Fraser Island and had a couple of days in Noosa. Lots of relaxation and a great walk through Noosa National Park. Many more beaches and “ocean life”. Next we are off on an overnight bus to Airlie Beach and a sailing trip through the Whitsundays Islands.

You can see all the new photos here.

Amanda and I continued to explore Sydney. We headed down to the harbour front and took a ferry over to Manly Beach. We saw the main sights of Sydney - again, some may seem the same as some of my other photos, but it was nice to do these things together. That night, we saw the play Romeo and Juliet at the Opera House Drama Theatre. Great way to spend our last day in Sydney before heading out to the Blue Mountains.

You can see the pictures from Sydney here.

We’ve been in the Blue Mountains for the past couple of days. The weather has been great (a little chilly and windy at times). Katoomba is a small mountain town 2 hours by train from Sydney. The fresh mountain air was immediately noticeable and quite refreshing. We are celebrating our one year anniversary here and the cool part is that Katoomba is home to the Three Sisters. We thought this was fitting seeing as we got married near the Three Sisters in Canmore one year ago.

You can see the pictures from the Blue Mountains here.

Next we’re off to Byron Bay and then working our way up the East Coast of Australia!

Today Amanda and I headed out for the Coastal Walk from Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach. I had done the walk earlier in my trip, but it’s such a beautiful walk that I didn’t mind at all doing it again with Amanda. (It was obviously much more fun this time as well!) So, some of the pictures might seem like repeats - but these ones are all from today. Beautiful weather again for the trek!

You can see the pictures here.

Amanda arrived safely in Sydney today! I only had to go into the hospital to give a talk about my research from my project back in Calgary for an hour today. I gave Amanda a tour of the hospital (the outside at least) and then we walked to the University of New South Wales - it’s a beautiful campus. The pictures that we took of the campus (only 2) don’t actually do it justice.

You can see the pictures here

Sorry for not posting any new pictures for a while. The past two weekends, I attended two Australian Rules Football games. I heard someone describe it as “aerial ping-pong” and that’s not far off. While I am starting to understand the game, it’s still a little puzzling to me as to why this was ever invented as a game in the first place! It’s sort of a weird mix between soccer, rugby and netball! But the people here love it and it sets a great atmosphere at the stadiums. The first game I saw was at Telstra Stadium at Sydney Olympic Park. It was the Sydney Swans taking on Collingwood. This is apparently a big game here in Australia and there were about 60,000 people there! Unfortunately, Sydney lost so the stadium atmosphere was not at its best by the end of the game. Last night’s game was at the Sydney Cricket Ground. It’s a smaller venue and a smaller crowd, but the Swans pulled off the victory over Freemantle and the atmosphere was great! Following the game, everyone rushed the field to celebrate and to play “Kick to Kick”. I can’t think of any other pro sports leagues where the fans are encouraged to rush the field and hang out following the game.

You can find see the pictures here.

I went for a walk along the coast today for the afternoon from Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach. The weather was great and lots of people were out and about. The walk is fairly easy with a few hills to go up and down as you can see in the pictures. It took me about 90 minutes to walk back, and longer on the way there as I stopped more to take in the sights.

You can see the picutres here.

I headed over to Sydney Olympic Park today to catch a pair of rugby games. The feature game was the Wests Tigers versus the Sydney Roosters. The Tigers play out of Telstra Stadium (the Olympic Stadium) so they were the team to cheer for. In the pictures, it may not look like many people are at the game - but the stadium is huge and attendance was announced as 19,360! The home team Tigers won the game. I think I may actually now understand the basics of rugby and I wonder why it hasn’t caught on more in North America - it’s a really great game!

Before the game, I went to see the Aquatic Centre. It was cool to see all the bleachers by the pool and realize that back in 2000, they were packed to see the world’s best swimmers. I know I now live in Calgary that was also home to the Olympics, but I think it’s because I remember the 2000 Olympics more than the 1998 Calgary games that made seeing the Sydney Olympic Park so interesting.

You can see the pictures here and I’ve also included a video file below of the final few seconds of the game so you can get a feel for the crowd.

I got away from the hospital a little early today. Actually, I was “told” that I should go home so that I could go to the beach since it was such a nice afternoon. So I headed down the hill on foot for about twenty minutes and came to this beautiful place! The beach is called Coogee Beach. It is also a short distance from the famous Bondi Beach and they are connected by a coastal walk that I plan to do this weekend if the weather stays good. As the sun was going down, I grabbed some fish and chips from a place along the beach walkway called “Chish and Fips” and sat by the water. After sunset, I grabbed a latte for the walk back.

You can see all the pictures here and there are a couple of videos below. The videos are nothing fancy, and there is a lot of wind noise, but you’ll get the idea!

Seeing as today was my first full day in Sydney, I figured I should do what anyone would do - be a tourist! I took the bus into Sydney for the afternoon and explored the waterfront, saw the Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House, caught some Jazz at the Darling Harbour Jazz Festival, walked through the Botanical Gardens, and took a ferry around the harbour. Not bad for an afternoon! The weather was fantastic with not a cloud in the sky all day as you’ll see in the pictures. I know you would think that you could only take so many pictures of a bridge and an opera house, but I took lots! I couldn’t decide which ones to drop, so I posted most of them so bear with me! Tomorrow is my first day in the hospital here so I’m looking forward to that. More to come!

You can see all the pictures from my day here.

Just thought I’d let you all know that I survived the long flight to Australia and have gotten settled in High Cross Park Lodge - where I’ll be staying for the next 4 weeks during my elective. It is right across the street from the Children’s Hospital where I’ll be working so it’s very convenient. There are also lots of cafes, shops, groceries, etc. nearby making it really easy to get things so far.

My room is small, but functional, and there is a shared kitchen that I have access to as well. The weather is not very good here today - only about 12 degrees with wind and rain. Tomorrow’s forecast is looking better so hopefully I’ll get some good pictures of my surroundings before I start at the hospital on Tuesday. I can probably use the day of rest today due to the weather anyways after all the traveling and the 16 hour (or 8 hour depending on how you look at it) time change!

You can see more pictures of the lodge here.