Bryan took them hiking up on Mt. Coot-tha on the first afternoon they were here. Instead of just driving to the top to see the city from the lookout he made them hike to the top to see the view. We then prepared a typical Aussie BBQ for them in the evening. They learned how to clean and peel fresh prawns (just out of the ocean within the last 2-3 days.) We also made shrimp on the barbie for them to enjoy.
On our first full day we loaded up the cars and headed south. We stopped off in Boonah, QLD, so that everyone could have a turn riding in a Boonah Glider. A glider is a plane that doesn't have an engine. A tow plane pulls you up to 4-5,000 feet and then you (along with a certified pilot) glide back down over the next 20-30 minutes. Steph and Justin were able to enjoy this thrill before the weather got bad so Bryan and I had to reschedule for another day. At noon we then headed toward O'Reiley's so that Justin & Steph could see and experience a rainforest. We enjoyed feeding the birds (at least some of us did!) and also enjoyed hiking through the treetops walk on the suspension bridges. After leaving O'Reiley's we headed to Currumbin to stay at Sand Castles resort for the next three nights.
We enjoyed our apartment at Sand Castles. There was a beach right to the back of the resort that we walked on to go see Elephant rock and every morning we had TONS of lorikeets come to our balcony (wanting food) to wake us up. It was beautiful!
We then spent a day touring the beaches in the area. We first went to Coolangatta beach. We started at Point Danger, Snapper Rocks, and Rainbow Bay and hiked down the coast and spent awhile watching the many surfers in the area. We then moved up the Gold Coast to Surfer's Paradise. At Surfer's Paradise Justin, Steph, and Bryan got in the ocean and braved the waves and had fun drinking alot of salt water. Everyone also had fun playing in the sand with Evan . . . building sandcastles and playing soccer.
On our third day we traveled down to Byron Bay in New South Wales. Byron Bay is the eastern most point of Australia. We had a snorkeling trip scheduled and Steph and I were scheduled to snorkel first. We took a boat out to the Julian Rocks State Marine Park where we were able to snorkel for about an hour. The current was strong but we were able to see some great fish. We saw several leopard sharks that were about 5-6 feet long (they don't bite), two eagle rays, and lots of colorful fish. We spent a long time trying to spot the resident sea turtles and finally found one and it swam right up next to us - amazing!! Bryan and Justin then snorkeled after us in the same location.
While we were snorkeling Bryan, Justin, Evan, and Kaden took a long hike up the coast to the lookout points over Byron Bay and to the lighthouse. It was a long hike and pretty steep but there were wonderful views to see along the way. Steph and I were then able to do the hike while the boys all napped in the car after snorkeling.
Stay tuned for more vacation pictures of our time with Steph and Justin in our next post!
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