And the travels continue. What a fantastic trip we had to Singapore and Australia. We had Christmas in Sydney and New Years in Cairns near the beach. We couldn't have had a better trip.
Singapore- It was a hot 80 degrees when we got there, a perfect change from Beijing's 10 degrees and coal filled air. We met Brad there and he brought the kids zhu zhu pets, which they loved. Did some sightseeing on the double decker bus and went to the Night Safari. Singapore is great, very western and English speaking. We stocked up on things from the Gap and groceries that we can't find here.
Next we went to Sydney- great city. Australia is very much like the US, which we really appreciated. Lauren kept saying it made her miss the US. Everything in downtown Sydney is so much closer than I thought. We took the tour of the Opera House, took a city tour, went to the zoo where we saw the koala and kangaroos, and ate at some great restaurants. We went to Darling Harbor on Christmas Eve where we got to see fireworks. Santa came to visit in the hotel and the kids played with their toys before we headed to Bondi beach that day. It was really pretty, but pretty chilly and windy, so we didn't stay too long. Next we flew to Ayers Rock (Uluru) a city which I think is probably like our Grand Canyon. We had an Aboriginal guide take us around the rock, made some authentic dot paintings, and had wine at sunset in front of the rock. It is desert, and was very hot, but we made time to ride the camels and to swim at the hotel. Todd had some trouble sleeping, thinking that we were going to have some uninvited reptile guests in our room, but it was fine. Next up was Cairns, which is a beach town near the Great Barrier Reef. We took a boat out where Todd did some scuba diving and snorkeling with Lauren. Lauren really surprised us, she loved the snorkeling and kept swimming away on her own. A big change from last time we went, she kept saying the fish were trying to eat her toes. On New Year's Eve, we could see the fireworks right from our balcony, they were really good. We also took a scenic train to the rain forest where we went to a wildlife preserve and Lauren got to hold a real koala! She was so proud. Marshall on the other hand, was too little to do it, which did not go over so well, but he was aloud to stand next to Lauren and pet it. We also got to feed kangaroos there. To get back down, we took a sky rail. It was SO HIGH, scary. It took us about 40 minutes to get down, but it was really beautiful.
Our last city in Australia was Melbourne. We went to the aquarium, the waterfront, and some shopping centers (including Target, yeah!) We also had a driver take us the Yarra Valley Winerys for the day. (It's not wrong to take kids to a winery, is it?) Actually here, it is very common for kids to be there. Many of them had playgrounds and thing for the kids to do. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and it made us so happy to be there instead of the cold, snowy weather in Beijing. We flew back to Singapore for 2 more nights, before heading back to Beijing, where we came back to a really cold house (heat is broken) and 2 very thankful cats who really missed us.
It was such a fun trip. The kids did great and really got along well. It was a trip of a lifetime.
