Chasing Sunsets in Australia

Traveling through Australia has been quite an adventure. First impressions is that it is a lot like the US in some ways with crazy marsupials like kangaroos and Koala's everywhere, as well as bright colorful birds. And you can even eat kangaroo. It is a long way between places and the outback is as red and desert looking as you would guess from pictures. Uluru was spectacular at sunset and sunrise. The sunsets here are red orange and pink with vibrant blue behind, amazing. The big cities have a lot of character and all have big gardens somewhere in them with beaches too. We are now headed up to the Great Barrier Reef. Here are some excerpts from e-mails of what we have been up to. I will edit them to make more sense when I get to Colorado.

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We flew into Melbourne and spent a few days with some family friends Ken, Ann and Angus. We even got to watch a footy (Australian Rules Football game) in the Telestra Dome. We checked out the city and even wandered down to St. Kilda. Then we took a flight to Alice Springs and got a rental car and headed to Kings Canyon, the Olgas and then to Uluru. It was spectacular. We also visited the Alice Springs Reptile Center.

We are back from Uluru and the red center and took off from Melbourne today to head down the Great Ocean Road. It is very beautiful and sunny here. We will be in Adelaide in a day or two. Judy is doing the flowers for another wedding on Saturday. We may see some kangaroos & Koalas in the crater of a volcano today. And the views of the ocean are great. The sea cliffs are amazing.

The drive up the Great Ocean Road has been beautiful. We even saw some koalas in the wild as well as some kangaroos and parrots, and emus. We went to Tower Hill which is the crater of a volcano today and hiked around. Along the Great Ocean Road we have seen lots of coast, surfers, and sea cliffs. We stopped last night near a formation called the 12 Apostles. We are now driving up through the Grampion Mountain Range. We should be in Adelaide tonight or tomorrow depending if we stop off at some caves. Tomorrow is also a National holiday here called Anzac Day (like our Memorial Day).

We got to Adelaide and spent a night with Judy and then 2 nights with Cath and Andrew in Adelaide. Yesterday we went to the museum and the main market in town. Then today we relaxed a bit and then went to the Cleland Wildlife Park where we got to feed kangaroos and wallabies and to hold a koala. Last night we went out to dinner at Windy Point restaurant with Cath and Andrew and nick and Ryan tried eating kangaroo. Then tonight we had a party with all the nurses that Cath works with to watch the finale of the Australian show "So You Think You Can Dance" It was amusing. Tomorrow we head out towards Mungo National Park. We are hoping that it doesn't rain on us as there has been quite a bit of rain the last few days here. Then we are headed on towards Sydney.

We headed out of Adelaide stopping off at the Pink Lakes on our way to Mungo Naitonal Park where we saw lots of roos and a long white sand dune called the White Wall of China. We are headed to the Blue Mountains tomorrow on the way to Sydney.

We have arrived in Sydney. We are staying with Sarah and will go check out some beaches and the harbor today. We are going out to dinner with Sarah's parents tonight in Kings Cross. On Sunday we will fly out to Cairns and Nick will head back to NZ. Ryan and I arrive back home on May 18th at about 11pm in Denver (ATA Hilo - Oak May 18th 8am-4pm then Oak-Den 7:25 pm - 10:45pm). Before that we will be leaving from Sydney on May 12th to Fly to Hawaii (Jet Star Mon May 12 17:55 - May 13 7:40am). We will write more about our adventures later.