Australia Day - Manly Beach

Today was Australia Day- January 26.  It is sort of like our 4th of July, but not as big a deal, so maybe more like Memorial Day.  They get a 3 day weekend and go to the beach, have boat races and lots of  markets.   It is obviously a family holiday.  We decided to take the ferry to Manly Beach and see the sights.  At days end, we came home and Josh prepared a typical Australian Barbie- the meat shown above is sort of typical.  It was lots of food and very delicious.

But, back to the beginning of the day.  Last night the 4 of us babysat the 2 kids; we kind of had pretty good odds on them.  Jim looked up the lyrics to "Tie Me Kangroo Down" on the internet.  We then sang and danced our way through it; the kids had never heard it.  So, this morning we gave our program to their parents who also had never heard the song.  We were a hit!!  We are thinking about going on the road.  The song came out in 1960- thus is why we all remembered it.

All of us waiting for the train at Beecroft as it is just arriving..

We got on the ferry at the Ques which is where the bridge, opera house and our ship will dock and took a half hour ride to Manly Beach.  This is the Harbour Bridge. 

The Opera House from the ferry.

Great view from the ferry and a beautiful day!

Manly Wharf

Having fish and chips beach side.

This sign was on the beach.  Raquel and Josh had never seen this before.  There were people swimming and surfing.

Grace and Marty are not going to swim with sharks.

Australian Day!  The 4 medium sized stars are the southern cross (in the southern hemisphere sky);  we don't know what the other stars represent.

We all got tatoos - Jim is getting his on the ferry - notice the people watching.

Marty showing off her's in a beautiful setting.

Josh is taking the picture - we were all Australian today!

Just to let all our faithful followers know - tomorrow we get on the ship to cruise to New Zealand.  We get back to Sydney February 10th.  While on the ship we only have expensive internet.  That means we will still take pictures and notes, but no blog.  We will start up again after we get back to Sydney and fill you in on the 2 lost weeks.  Those of you in the midwest - keep warm and know that even though we miss you we do not miss the weather.  

G'Day mate and "see" you in 2 weeks.

Almost perfect day

We piled into 2 cars and drove about an hour to Whale Beach. The sun was shining, the weather was warm, perfect blue sky and warm ocean water.

The lifeguards use chalk boards to tell you about the beach conditions.  This first sign says this is not a kindy - they shorten everything - what they mean is this is not a day care (kindergarten) and we aren't going to watch your children.

this sign told us about the strong waves.

Grace and Lance boggie boarding.

Grace

Lance

Dale also took on the surf.

Cynthia and Josh - ready to go out and give it a try.

She almost went down, but is holding on for dear life.

There she goes.

Blue Bottle Jellyfish (Portuguese Man-of-War) were on the beach and in the surf.  There sting (small barbs on a tenacle) and is treated first with hot water and then ice.  First Grace and then Lance were stung while in the water.  First aid was given and there were no issues after a little ice.  

Warning!

Jim and Cynthia on the beach.

Dale and the kids working on Snoppy who was sunbathing on the top of his house.

Raquel and Josh went out for the evening and the 4 of us babysat.  This was a little craft time.

Raquel out and coming in.

Marty on her board.

Doctor and General Mills tour

The day started with Dale headed to the doctor for a sore throat he had nursed for over a week.  His Dr. visit went quite quickly; he got the drugs he needed to be headed toward mending.  Marty and possibly Josh have sore throats tonight!  Marty stayed home with the kids; they all got in the pool and played outside. For lunch, we had authentic meat pies- "steak, steak & onion, steak & mushroom and steak & mashed potatoes and sausage".  It was bought at the local bakery and delicious.  Late afternoon we put on our lovely uniforms and Josh gave us a tour of the General Mills plant.  They make Old El Paso taco and tortillias shells and Betty Crocker baking mixes.  It was so interesting and fun to watch the process and robots and learn about what Josh is in charge of and what goes on in this Australian factory.

For dinner we went to Frangos- a Portuguese restaurant.  We had whole grilled chicken, tomato rice, garlic potatoes and Greek salad.  Another wonderful meal and just so much fun to be with family and friends.

Museums and Shopping

Today started out with the Ports and Kenyons heading into the city to do some shopping and museum sight seeing.  We gave Raquel and family a little break from us.  When our train arrived we found the Marble Bar, built in 1895 with marble arches and paintings, and decided to meet up there at 4:00.  The guys were going to the Australia Museum and Marty and Cynthia shopping.  Dale took this picture of St. Mary's Catherdel and it was built in 1868, but the spirals weren't added until 2000.

Dale found this basket made by the Aborigines.  It resembles a sting ray.

Butterfly art

Painting on bark about 40" x 22" size.

Bomerangs - the only 2 that do return are in the middle.

Kangaroos made from tile pieces... Speak, Hear, See No Evil.

Huge dinosaur skeltons were also in the museum.

The museum was doing a special exhibit on Alexander the Great that the guys really enjoyed.  They spent 6 hours in there with no food or drink.  They loved every minute of it.

Meanwhile the gals went shopping and got some lovely things.  They made sure they were back to the beautiful Marble Bar by 4:00 to meet the guys for a nice drink.  However.....

They entered the bar and told the waiter they would order when their husbands arrived which would be in a minute.  She brought them water while they waited.  At 4:20, Marty went ourside to make sure they weren't waiting there and looked up and down the street for them.  She went back and told Cynthia no sign of either.  So they sat, drank their water and tried not to think about what happened to them.  Since none of us have cell phones that work here we had no way of communicating with each other.  At 4:40 Marty went out again, and again, no sign of them.  They decided at 5:30 Cynthia would have to go pick up a purchase she had made and Marty would wait for them.  They really had no idea what to do.  At 5:00 the panic button was almost totally pushed.  At 5:05 in walk the men of our dreams!!  They acted like everything was fine.  "do you know what time it is?", they were asked.  "Yes, a little after 5".  "What time were you to be here?"  "4:45 or so".   "No, you were to be here at 4:00.  The bar opened at 4 and we pointed at the sign and said here at 4 so we can have a drink before an early dinner."    They looked at each other, hung their heads and were speechless.  They were then told all the horrible thoughts that their lovely wives had going through their heads on why they would be so late - they forgot something and had to go back for it, they had gone somewhere and it was further than they had thought, they were in an accident, one of them had a HEART ATTACK and of course there was no way to get ahold of us.  No cell phones, no text, no nothing - just like in the old days.  Oh what a beginning to an evening.   The waitress came up and asked us if we would like to order.  We said we were very ready and she responded "You have been waiting a long time."  That is when Cynthia said, "we were having wine, but the guys were eating crow."  She didn't understand that so we explained it to her and she said she would have to tell that one to her dad.  Sounded like he had eaten some crow in his life.

The bar was very dark, but very elegant.

After the guys ate their crow, we started our walk to Darling Harbour and Dale stopped to take a picture of the QVB (Queen Victoria Building).

Reaching Darling Harbour

A beautiful fountain

Having dinner at The Watershed - fish and chips, chicken parmesan, hamburger with beets and pineapple and chicken 'schnitzy".

The view from our table - see the duck again.

Our meal

The monorail that will soon be torn down.  Only tourists use and it is too costly for that.

We took the train home and on the way Marty noticed something on the back of Dale's shirt.  Yes, a seagull got him 3 times at dinner and he didn't know it.  We would say "_ _ _ _

happens" and the Aussie that had been watching said it was good luck.  His name was Craig and we had a nice conversation when we all got off the train together. The ending of another fine day.