Sydney, Australia

Our wonderful adventure to Australia continues! We arrived in Sydney (or "Cyndy" as Presley and Canyon refer to it) on Thursday April 10. We stayed at the charming Russell Hotel in the heart of the Rocks district. On our first night, we took a stroll around and stopped in at the Lord Nelson, the oldest hotel in Sydney, where Mom enjoyed a Quayle Ale (named after Dan Quayle).


On Friday, we took a city ferry to the beautiful Manly beach that is lined with Norfolk Island pines. The kids enjoyed playing in the water and getting buried in the sand! In the afternoon, Mom and the kids took a stroll along the amazing Sydney Harbor Bridge, climbing to the top of the Pylon towers! And in the evening, we enjoyed the sunset by the opera house and watched the lights of the Sydney bridge come up. An amazing sight!





On Saturday, we enjoyed another great day along the ocean front. We started the morning with a bus tour that dropped us off at Watson's bay where we enjoyed spectacular views and a nice cliff top stroll by "The Gap".



We spent the afternoon by the famous Bondi and Bronte beaches. We again played in the sand and watched the surfers. We enjoyed an amazing lunch at Nick's Bondi Beach Pavillion and completed the afternoon with a nice walk along a path that winds along the cliffs to Bronte beach. A great and relaxing day!

Blue Mountains, Australia

After 4 days in Melbourne, we flew to Sydney and drove to the beautiful Blue Mountains, a spectacular wilderness area just 90 minutes outside the city. We stayed at the Jemby-Rinjah Eco Lodge, a very cool place with self contained wooden cabins set deep in the bush. The cabins had wood burning fireplaces that heated our cabins and every morning there were wild bird feedings that brought beautiful birds to our hands and heads (literally).





During our visit in the Blue Mountains, we were blessed with several amazing, amazing rainbows. And on one extremely rainy day, we explored Lucas Cave (an amazing maze of stalagmites, stalagtites, and lacelike rock) at the Jenolan Caves Park.



We also visited Katoomba, where we took a ride on the steepest railway in the world and saw the famous Three Sisters rock formations. At Echo Point, Canyon made friends with an aboriginal, from whom he bought and learned to throw a real boomerang!!

Down Under in Melbourne Australia

The Pergandes arrived in Melbourne Australia on Friday, April 4th to visit the Menzies family. Grandma Harriet was also visiting the Menzies at this time. We had an absolute amazing visit! Daddy got to practice his guitar with the experienced Uncle David, while enjoying David's home brewed Australian beers.



On Saturday, we ventured to Phillips Island. The kids enjoyed playing in the surf, where Presley and Hannah got rolled over by some incoming waves. We also visited the Nobbies, where we walked along the causeway and were lucky to see real baby miniature fairy penguins waiting for their parents to bring food back from the ocean.




On Sunday, we ventured to Healesville Sanctuary, where the kids got to get face to face with Austrailan animals like the koala, kangaroo, tasmanian devil, and the very pointy echidina ("Ouch" says Canyon).


And no trip to Australia would be complete without a trip to the doctor. On Monday April 7th, Canyon "fell" off a "surf board" in a local park and broke both his radius and ulnar. Canyon has the ultimate souvenir from Australia!

Maple Syrup Making

Our family headed to Murphy's Landing in Shakopee this weekend for their Maple Syrup making festival. The kids got to tap the trees, fill their buckets with sap, and pour it into the cauldron to burn down. The best part was tasting the finished product. The kids also got to play with old fashioned toys and ride on horse-drawn carriages. It was a beautiful day before our 10 inch snow storm on March 31st!