ANZ Day 3: Sydney (12/23/2012)

We didn't quite meet our wake-up goal again today, which left us wondering if we could fit the aquarium in before boarding the ship. We had asked for a late checkout the night before, so we knew we had a little extra time, but would it be enough?  We decided to go for it! We were so excited to see the Solstice out of our window when we woke up! We cruised (ha!) through breakfast and began our walk to the bus stop (getting smarter every day).  We thought we could start checking in at 1pm, but when we walked past the ship, we realized we could drop our bags off now (10:00) and check-in at 3:30!

Change in plans! We hurried back to the hotel and quickly finished packing everything up.  A very kind family helped us carry our bags down the stairs (there are all these staircases connecting streets in this part of town - it's pretty cool!) to the dock area.  We were able to check in everything but M's backpack & my bag, which held most of our valuables.  That felt good, and gave us more time at the aquarium!

This time we only stopped to buy a mug and some sunglasses (I forgot mine).  The aquarium was fun!  We saw sharks and lots of coral!  

 

A shark!

 

We found Nemo!

This might be a Dugong.  I can't remember for sure.  Ii was eating a head of lettuce and I just remember thinking it looked like an underwater vacuum!

 

Yikes!  Another shark!

This one has scary teeth!

 

There were so many of these reef tanks - I know it looks like a poster in this picture, but it's not!  It was really beautiful.

 

Lady shark?

 

Little Blue Penguins (courtesy of K)

 

Glowing Jellyfish!

 

I wouldn't want to meet this guy in a dark alley.

 

A giant crab!

 

A crazy fish sitting on a shelf.

 

There were also some huge crabs & lobsters and lots of Dorys!  After the aquarium, we walked across the harbor for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe.  We walked across the Pyrmont bridge to get back to the bus and were so lucky that just as we were crossing, they closed the bridge for a demonstration!  

This electric bridge swings open and shut in only 45 seconds to allow tall ships to pass through.  So cool!  

Once back at the dock, we got all checked in, hand-sanitized and headed to our cabin.  It's small, but sufficient. They've made pretty good use of the space.  

Our balcony is nice & we currently have a view of our hotel and the harbor bridge. We can feel the ship moving and are a little uncertain about how it's going to feel on the open sea.  The kids (and us!) are so excited to explore so we decided to get out and look around.  We opted for dinner in the buffet, which was fine, and checked out the Fun Factory.  The kids talk about Fun Factory with excitement, but haven't actually asked to go back.  M and I think it's a little sad. They talked to us about how we could leave the kids there for the whole day while we went on a shore excursion. No thanks!

After a little more exploring (and ice cream sundaes), we decided it was time for bed.  We got to meet our stateroom attendant, Danny, who is from India.  He pulled the bunk down from the ceiling & the kids have decided to take turns sleeping up there :).  

Yay for Sydney and yay for the hotelo boat!  By the way, C informed M today that in the language of China and Australia it's pronounced "hotel." ;)

ANZ Day 2, Sydney (12/22/2012)

We had a little trouble waking up this morning. Sydney is 3 hours ahead of Shanghai, which isn't earth-shattering, but is enough when 8:00 feels like 5:00. :) We did finally make it out of bed and down to breakfast! After the excitement of using the conveyor belt toaster, we headed out for "Sydney Wild Life" to see all kinds of native animals. 

We got a little distracted on the way, stopping in some souvenir shops.  We also needed to pick some things up at a grocery store, so we ran in to make sure they had what we needed & planned to come back on the way home.  By the time we walked the mile or so to our destination, we were hungry!  We opted for fish & chips - yum!

We had a great time seeing the animals!  K was most excited about the Koala (not to be confused with the Ko-wallaby), but the lizards were a big hit too! We did not get to pet a Koala as he was too far up in his tree when were there. C was happy just to know that one of the Koalas was the same age as he is.  I liked the Kookaburras, but sadly, they never did laugh for us.

 

This bird is a Cassowary.  It looked more like a pretty dinosaur to me!

 Kangaroo or Wallaby?  (Don't look at me - I have no idea!)

 

This is the same Koala in both pictures.  I am not stretching the truth to say I was so lucky to get this picture of him (above) awake!  He seriously picked his head up and looked around, then slumped back over (below) like someone who was drugged in an old movie!

 C took this picture using the timer on his camera.

Crickey!  That's a big croc!  (Can you hear my super-cool Australian accent?)

K took this picture.  The reptiles were a bigger hit than I expected!

 

Sleepy wombat.

*Special Note: There are other, more spacious, outdoor animal parks in Sydney.  This one is pretty much downtown, sitting next to Darling Harbour.  The animals at Sydney Wild Life have all been rescued from poor conditions or a difficult situation (one of the koala's only has one eye!), and couldn't survive in the wild.

 

It was further along in the day than we anticipated when we finished up with the animals, so we decided to save the aquarium for tomorrow.  We walked further down along Darling Harbor to a free playground at Tumbalong park that the kids loved! There was a tall wide metal slide with a big canopy overhead so the slide didn't get hot in the sun!  C and K were practically glowing with joy!  Or maybe that was just the sun starting to soak into their skin :).  

We were happy to rest our feet.  We were all pretty hot after all this and were craving another McFloat.  Too bad we had to visit 3 McDonald's to make that happen!  We were also able to stop at the grocery store (Cole's) on our way back.  Thankfully we remembered that someone had told us about a free bus that runs along George street (where we were!) to a stop near our hotel!  Along the way we also saw a men's clothing store (Lowe's - quite a bit different from the Kohl's & Lowes we're used to!).  We made a quick stop in our room when we got back & headed up to the pool before going out for dinner. This time, we ate at an Italian place.  Yummy, but definitely more expensive than the street food. We were ready for bed after this long and exciting day!

Snow in Shanghai!

There's nothing like a little snow to make it feel more like home.  Last year we only saw the little pellet snow (see the picture of our dog, below), so this is a real treat for us!

Directions

There's this phrase that M and I have a running joke about.  It's one you should never use in China:

You would think...

Nevertheless, I find myself using this phrase all the time as I continue to try to wrap my head around how things work here.  You would think that if you open Google Maps and type an address, a real, legitimate address, into the search field, you would find it!

Not so, I tell you.  I have tried over and over again to make this happen here in Shanghai and I have to say there must be something I am doing wrong because it never works!!!!

Today I tried to look up a neighborhood and see how far it is from the kids school.  Since I couldn't pull it up using the address, I decided to use the right-click option "Directions From Here."  I chose the school as "Directions To Here."

This is probably the best route, right? Not the major highway going between the two?  There might be a few houses or walls in the way, but no worries.

I think the curve is for getting on the highway, which makes me think maybe the route is offset, but I can't really make sense of the rest of it.  "Directions From Here" aren't really from "Here?"  Who knows!  One thing I do know: there is no limit to the foolishness of "You would think" here in China.

No Limit.

ANZ Day 1, Sydney (12/21/2012)

We made it to Sydney and are already having a fabulous time and spending all of our money (it's so expensive here)! Our hotel is across the street and one street over from the cruise ship terminal. Right now there is another ship docked there, but ours comes in tomorrow!  We can see the ship from our room.

  
Yesterday after we checked in and took a peek at the rooftop pool(!), we walked around The Rocks, the district our hotel is in, then ate some food from a street fair (yay for safe street food!).  Here is the view from the roof:

 The Central Business District (CBD)

 The Rocks

The Harbor Bridge

Circular Quay

After that, we walked through Circular Quay and over to the Opera House. After a quick look around there, we walked through the Royal Botanical Gardens.  I had told the kids we were going to a park and they were very upset to find out that there wasn't a playground.  K even said, "This isn't a park!  This is just a garden!"  It's funny how we distinguish things differently.

C took this picture of the Opera House up close.

  This parrot was just hanging out in the garden!

 

We did ultimately find this rock thing that was clearly meant for climbing on and stopped to play.  The kids called it "rock village" and it wound up being a favorite part of their day.  

 

 

 

After the garden, we stopped at McDonald's for a McFloat on the way back home.  Before heading back up to our room, we strolled through a street market less than a block from the hotel where we visited with a guy selling puzzles and bought K a headband that might actually keep her hair out of her face!

It is interesting to note that today is the first day of Summer here in Australia.  It starts tonight, actually.  So our family is having a crazy seasonal experience, going from fall to spring, spring to summer, and when we head back to Shanghai, summer to winter!  Wild!

Maybe even a little more wild is this summertime pipe/succulent Christmas tree we passed in our walking around today (picture courtesy of C):

 Happy Holidays!!!

You might be in China if...

You might be in China if...

... someone cuts in front of you in line.
... there are dirty, wet shoe prints on the toilet seat on the airplane.
... there is a questionable pool of liquid on the bathroom floor.
... someone cuts in front of you in line.
... you are served a meal on your domestic flight and the choices are rice or noodles.
... you can barely get out of your airplane seat for all the shoving.
... there is a large unknown liquid spill on the luggage conveyor belt that passes you over and over again (once with a suitcase on it).
... everyone tells you your daughter is beautiful while they touch her face and hair.
... you walk past four ktv/karaoke rooms by the hotel bar.
... someone cuts in front of you in line.
... your hummus comes with a generous 1/4" layer of oil on the top.
... your hotel room has an ash tray in it.
... the breakfast buffet includes pork buns, sushi, and crispy chicken claws.

You are definitely in China if these all happen in one 24-hour period!

If this 24-hour period happens to be within days of a dream out-of-China vacation with no plans to leave again for 5 months, well...  it's going to be a long 5 months.