Lady Elliot Island II

Wanted to share some more pics of Lady Elliot Island. It was so relaxing and we quickly got into a lazy routine of beach combing, scuba diving, snorkeling, island tours, and sunset watching.

Picture of our building. We were Reef Unit 13- the room on the far right side.

On our first morning we all went on a Reef Walk together. The tour guide, who happened to be the tour guide for everything, led us around the reef at low tide. We were able to step right off the beach onto the reef, but had to be careful not to step on any coral, sea cucumbers, sea stars, or sea urchins. It was a bit of an obstacle course, but amazing to see these things right off the beach. At high tide there were a lot more fish in the area, and some snorkelers reported seeing turtles out there too.

A sea star we found on the reef walk.


R and a piece of coral found on the beach.




R petting a sea cucumber.


A blue sea star.


A spiky sea cucumber.
R and a pink piece of coral.

C with a piece of coral he found that looked like a shark.
Brain coral.



C being goofy. He could sit on the beach for hours picking up pieces of coral and pretending they were animals, vehicles, and (unfortunately) weapons. I think he was pretending this one was a mask.


Another type of sea cucumber, we were not allowed to touch this one. Something about the feathery things on its head- I think it was able to sting.
The boys on the beach.
More pictures still to come.

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Lady Elliot Island

We heard about Lady Elliot Island from a woman at Legoland. We were standing in line and starting talking about Australia. She mentioned that she had been there and had spent a few days at this little island. Luckily it was easy to remember, since our nephew's name is Elliot. As we were planning a trip to the Australian east coast we looked into it and decided to give it a try. We are so glad that we did, it was absolutely beautiful.
We got up early that morning, flew to Brisbane, rented a car and drove three hours to Hervey Bay.
We flew out of Hervey Bay on a very small airplane. R was a little nervous on the plane. He kept saying over and over, "This is fun, Mommy.", but it was more of a question than a statement. Then he fell asleep (I think it was a coping mechanism).



We landed on a grass runway and were greeted by the tour guide. He showed us our rooms, took us on a quick tour of the resort, gave us the rules about the coral, and a quick lecture on which creatures were dangerous.

C near the reception building.

We were soon down at the beach, which was right outside of our room. The beach was covered in dried up coral, which R loved throwing into the water. I think his mission was to return all the coral back to the ocean- he worked endlessly at that task the entire time we were there. There were also tide pools to explore and the education center had viewing tubes to use. The tubes had a clear piece of plasic on the end, so it was like looking through a pair of goggles into the water.

C with his viewing tube.

A crab we found in the tide pools. We also found some hermit crabs that evening.

R would collect coral in his bucket, then throw the pieces into the water. He was so happy.
We had gotten to the island around 4:30, so after exploring a little it was time for dinner. There was only one place to eat on the island and they had a buffet dinner. They were good about providing vegan meals for us. The kids ate a LOT of peanut butter and jelly that week, but they didn't seem to mind. Kids prefer the same foods over and over anyway.
That night we all went to bed early, since we had gotten up at 3 am to make our flight.
I have a lot more pics of Lady Elliot Island but have to break it up over several entries. And I am being a bit harassed by the grandparents for photos, so I need to get this out. (I think I have spoiled the grandparents with photos- the photo expectation is very high!)
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Great Barrier Reef

I will be on a brief blogging hiatus. We are headed out on a holiday to the Great Barrier Reef, Australia Zoo, and Sydney. The first stop is Lady Elliot Island, an island surrounded by coral at the south end of the reef. We are planning on reef walks at low tide, glass bottom boat tours, fish feeds, and snorkeling. We cannot wait.
Lots of pics when we get back!
Rachael

Our Backyard

It has been a pretty slow week. I am showing you pictures of our backyard. This is actually the 10th floor terrace of our apartment building. After R's nap we will often go down here to let the boys run off some steam. They have been bringing their suitcases with them, because if you know my boys at all, you know they love things with wheels. Since we don't have bikes, scooters, or push toys here they make do with their wheeled suitcases.

The terrace has lounge chairs, garden paths, private grilling areas with tables, and a great view.

Pics of the boys working off some energy.

Did I actually wear them out? Not likely.

The sunset that night.

I promise more exciting blog posts are coming up.

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Good on'ya mate!

Just wanted to share this pictures. I took it a while ago after my sister and I picked out this hat for my dad. I had to get a picture of C in it before my sister packed it to take home to him.

BTW "Good on'ya mate"- means "good job" (doesn't really apply to the picture- but I just liked how it sounded.)

Other fun sayings we have learned-

"How're you going?"- "how are you doing?"

"No worries"- "no problem" (we hear this ALL the time, and have actually started saying it)

"Don't crack a wobbly"- "Don't throw a fit"

We have had to learn to say the Australian word for a few things, just so we don't get looked at like we have three heads...

Instead of bathroom or restroom- we ask for the "toilet"

Instead of the elevator- we ask for the "lift"

Breakfast they call "brekky"

Flashlights are "torches"

Cribs are "baby cots"

Stores are "shops"

And we have yet to try vegemite, although a container of it has been sitting in our cabinet for weeks. We are just not that brave.

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Children's Garden

The Children's Garden is going to be closed for the rest of the winter, so we made sure to visit one more time. We had a gorgeous day for it, 65 degrees and sunny.

The gate for the vegetable garden. I love how it is made from garden tools.

The boys enjoyed digging in the empty garden bed. We have not really spent any time in the vegetable garden, it was interesting to see how many vegetables they can grow in the "winter".

Digging in the garden. At one point I asked C if he was ready to go to the other garden. He said, "Actually I am having a lot of fun just digging."





The rest of the vegetable garden.



The boys on the "Magic Pudding" statue. It is a statue celebrating the book "The Magic Pudding", a famous Australian children's story. This reminds me a bit of the ducks in the Public Garden in Boston.

R loves this swirly track- he would happily run around it over and over.
The boys in the fountain. There were lots of kids there in just their underwear or diaper playing in the water that day.

R playing in the palm tree forest. R and me. C took this picture.
The boys playing by the stream.

We ended the morning with a picnic. We were so lucky to have such a gorgeous day for one last visit to the Children's Garden.
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Puppets in Federation Square

This week and last week were winter school holidays for the kids in Melbourne. Every place we went the past two weeks had special activities for kids. In Federation Square this week they had puppet themed activities. They had larger than life puppets wandering the square, puppet shows, puppet themed movies, puppet crafts, etc. We spent a couple mornings in the square taking advantage of all the activities.

R and C waiting for the puppets to make an appearance.

The strangest thing had to be these large puppets wandering the square. There were two seagulls, a snail, and an elephant. These were not your friendly Disney-type characters. They seemed to enjoy scaring the children, and there were many toddlers leaving the square crying. C and the older children seemed to enjoy teasing the puppets and being chased. R preferred the safety of my arms or the stroller.

These seagulls started fighting by hitting each other in the head with their beaks. They fought for a while, until one fell down. C said, "Did he kill him?" I said, "No, see look, the other seagull is going to help him up." as the seagull leaned down. Then I watched in horror as the one seagull pretended to eat the other one. C looked a little worried, so we ran off to find the snail.

They also were stealing food from people eating at the cafe. The man in the brown coat is trying to ignore them.
The snail- this guy really scared R. He had gotten brave and gone up to it and it started chasing him. He ran to me as fast as his little two year old legs could carry him.
I am convinced that Australian kids aren't as pampered and protected as American kids, as I seemed to be the only parent a little bothered by the non-Disney like puppets.

After seeing the large puppets we went to either a puppet show or movie, depending on the day.

C and R hanging out in the Atrium at Federation Square watching Babe.
Overall the puppets were fun. They were great for school aged kids, and fun for little ones from a distance. At least all the activites were free and a great way to spend a few mornings this week.

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