Australia - part 3

For our final adventure in Australia, we went to the Blue Mountains, about two hours west of Sydney.  We stayed in Katoomba at this amazing hotel that sat right on a cliff.

The view from the back of our hotel.

The garden outside our room.

We spent the majority of the day Sunday hiking.  There were trails all along the cliffs and we could hike down into the valleys and to the bottom of some waterfalls.  A few of my favorite pics from this day:

Australia - Part 2

On Thursday, while I was teaching, Jared went to Bondi Beach.

We got a pass for public transportation that included trains, buses, and these ferries that we took to the beaches.

Jared did a walk along Bondi and saw 4 different beaches.

On Saturday, we went on a whale watching tour.  We did get to see some, but they were difficult to take pictures of.  Then, we went to the see the opera The Force of Destiny by Verdi.

We ate dinner in a restaurant at the bottom of the opera house with these views.

Just before the opera

Inside the opera. The curtain was very detailed.

Australia - Part 1

We left for Sydney on a Sunday evening and arrived at 6:00 am Tuesday morning.  Luckily, our hotel already had a hotel room ready for us.  

This is a picture from our hotel room.  The building in front was right across the street from us and the opera house is in the background.

The area we stayed in was called The Rocks and was very cute, with older buildings.  Some streets were cobblestone. There were stairs everywhere between buildings with walkways connecting streets. 

After we checked into the hotel, we tried to keep moving so that we could adjust to the time.  We first went to a wildlife park with Australian animals.  The koalas were my favorite. This one had a baby on her front.

We also walked around Darling Harbor.

The next day, I spent some time preparing for my course, but when the rain stopped, we went to Manly Beach and did a walk that took us along the beach, through some national park, and to a cliff that overlooks the entrance to Sydney harbor.

Manly Beach

Walking through the national park

From the cliff overlooking the entrance to the harbor

On our walk back into town