Australia February 11th - March 6th 2017

On the 11th of February we Lexie, Josh and I headed back to Australia for 3 weeks to catch up with all our friends and family.

Our trips

Andy drove us up to Logan airport on the morning of Saturday 11th February.   We had had a snow storm the day before we were due to fly out and left over a foot of snow on the ground.

We of course got to the airport ridiculously early so had a lot of time to spare.  We spend some time watching the airport deal with all the snow.  It was quite fun watching the convoys of snow ploughs going out.

Obligatory airport selfie thanks to Lexie

guess who got stuck carrying all the bags?

Australia 2017 - Day 1

We made it to Australia with no issues, but it is a really long trip.  We stopped by Mels house on the way home to say hi to all the cousins etc before heading home to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Of course the first thing we did was head for the train set.

Josh finally got to drive the new engine that Grandpa made for him.

Grandma's not very interested in the trains....

Driving the Hogwarts express

The Garrett gets a run.

Lexie unloading sheep from her train

After lunch we headed down the back for a bit of bushwalk.

Josh forges ahead

Lexie and Grandma climbing trees

A scribbly gum tree

Josh twisted his ankle - poor little man

But he forged on none the less.

Hot work! everyone needed a break on the way back

Australia 2017 - Day 2 and Day 3

Day 2  - was a rainy old day in Sydney so just used it to catch up.  Took a short walk across the old railway bridge at Como and caught up with friends Meaghan and Margaret at the pub after dinner.

Day 3 - Train trip into town

We caught the train from Loftus to Milsons Point - changing trains at Town Hall on the way.
From Milsons point we walked down to Watt's playground at Lavendar Bay.

Fun for the little kids and the big kids

From there we made out way around to Wendy's secret garden.  A garden that is filled iwth little paths and lanes with all sorts of things to discover.  We had a ball running around in here for quite a while.

 playing peek-a-boo?

Lexie discovered a bunch of fairy houses

Morning Tea in the secret garden

We then walked around Lavender Bay to Luna Park.

Luna Part is a small amusement park just below the harbour bridge on the North Shore of Sydney Harbour.  We were planning on going on a few rides but unfortunately it was closed on a Wednesday - How silly is that?  So we had to content ourselves with taking silly photos with the huge face that is the entrance to the park.

From Luna Park we were able to take the Ferry back to circular Quay.  But rather than just go one stop on the ferry we caught the ferry going in the oposite direction and went right around to Darling Harbour and back to the Quay.

Ferry ride F4 from Milsons Point to Darling Harbour and back to Circular Quay

Waiting at the Ferry Terminal at Milsons Point

Our Ferry, Charlotte

 

View looking back at Lavendar Bay where the secret gardens are

View looking back at Luna Park

Sydney under a dark cloud!

Going under the bridge

Coming into Circular Quay

 After Lunch at a food court behind the Paragon Hotel in Circular Quay we went over the customs house where they have a model of the entire city of Sydney under a glass floor.

Then walked around to the Opera House.

Checking out what it is made out of - ceramic tiles.

Then headed home on the train.

For dinner we took the kids out for their first trip to Sizzlers - what a blast from the past.