In case you had not heard, we made it home safely. I have had several requests for a final post covering the rest of our holiday in Australia. Ask and you shall receive (and your probably going to get more than you wanted). Before I begin the riveting tale of the last leg of our journey there are a few details from New Zealand that I left out. Ok, really there is one major detail. As we were finishing our rafting trip Mom was getting out of the boat holding a couple of oars, slipped on a rock, tried to catch herself, stumbled some more, but eventually went down elbow first into the water. I was too far away to assist her so I watched helplessly from the shore hoping that she would manage to keep herself from falling. Unfortunately this fall did some pretty severe damage to her already injured Achilles tendon. For those of you that know Mom you know she is a trooper. She got crutches from a hospital in Auckland and crutched herself around for the rest of the trip. She had surgery on the 11th to attach a tendon from her big toe and is doing well (minus the fact that her cast is “heavier than crap-her words not mine). I’m sure she is thrilled that I shared this story with everyone but hey it is all a part of our holiday memory.
 |
| She got special treatment at the airports. |
Melbourne…
Half of us got to Melbourne around 5:30 on the 27th. We checked into Victoria Hall Hostel. It is undergoing some construction but it was clean and fairly close to downtown. We walked around downtown a bit and then Amy and I had sushi from Sushi Sushi. Eric, Mom and Dad arrived around 10:30ish. The next day we all road the free trolley around town and did a little sight-seeing. That evening we went to Little Creatures for some cider. The lay out and menu were different than the Fremantle location but it was still fun. That night Amy, Eric and I went to a local brew house to play pool with 3 guys from London. The pool table and pool balls were all smaller than we are used to but we made due.
 |
| Pipsqueaks at Little Creatures |
The next day Amy, Eric and I went to Yarra Bend. When we went to the train station we asked a worker where we needed to go. He pointed and said we needed to go down stairs. So we went where he pointed but the escalator was coming up. There were stairs on both sides so we started down. On our way down we passed one man walking up. At the bottom of the stairs we realized that we were walking right into the men’s restroom. Needless to say we headed back up the stairs. It was a good laugh.
At Yarra Bend we rented a row boat which was quite entertaining. It was a fun day outside the city.
 |
| After we found the down escalator. |
 |
| Row, row, row your boat... |
 |
 |
| The oar kept popping out mid row which knocked Eric over because he was rowing with such force. |
The rest of the evening we walked around downtown.
Eric and I found an quiet little Indian food restaurant to have dinner before we finished packing our bags. The next morning we all had our bags packed and were waiting downstairs for the shuttle bus that we had scheduled the day before. A shuttle showed up but it was the wrong one. The guy at the front desk had called the wrong shuttle service. Luckily, the guy at the front desk this morning was very helpful. He got us a maxi taxi and reimbursed us. So we made it to the airport. Thankfully we had planned to get there early because there was quite a line of people. And because there were so many people they were waiving the extra baggage fees which meant none of us had to pay for checking an extra bag or being 9 kilos over weight. That brings us to our next stop…Sydney.
We arrived at our rented house in Bondi Junction mid-afternoon. After sorting out rooms we wondered down to the bus station to head towards Bondi beach. We had lunch at a pizza place and then spent the rest of the afternoon people watching…I mean relaxing at the beach.
This brings us to New Year’s Eve. All you need to know is that there were heaps of people. And also that Eric, Amy and I walked 3.5 miles in about 48 minutes to get home from the harbor. We needed the space after spending so long with so many people.
 |
| Mom and Dad on their bench. |
 |
| Early in the day. |
 |
| Afternoon-evening time |
 |
| Moments before the fireworks. Okay, I don't know that for sure but this is what the rest of the night was like. |
On the 1st we took the Manly ferry to Manly. No, I didn’t mis-type it actually is Manly. We went to Oceanworld and Manly Beach. We also had a look from the tower.
On the 2nd we headed to the Blue Mountains. It was an interesting train ride as Eric and I had to stand for the entire 2 hour ride. But it was well worth it. The Blue Mountains are beautiful as you will see below.
 |
| Photo by Eric Pritz |
 |
| Photo by some random guy |
 |
| The Three Sisters |
The morning of the 3rd Dad, Eric and I climbed the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Talk about a great view of the city. After that we met Mom and Amy at the Fish Market for lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon at Wildlife World and the Aquarium.
Sadly, we had to pack our bags for the last time. Our trips home were fairly uneventful. Unless you count the guy in Fiji that had $400 worth of alcohol poured out at customs or me accidentally walking into the men’s restroom in L.A. or Eric walking into the women’s restroom in KC (what is it with us and restrooms??). I made it home on the 4th around 11 pm. My body was still on Australia time and I ended up staying up until 3:30 am. I got up around 10 am so I could get to the airport to pick Eric, Dad and Mom up. I ran into a little problem when I went to move Eric’s car out of the way, it wouldn’t start. So I had to put it in neutral and push it back far enough for me to back my car out. But I got them (and their luggage) picked up.
Well, I think that about covers it. That was my adventure on the left side of the road.
