Hunter Valley Gardens

While we were in the Hunter Valley we stopped by the Hunter Valley Gardens and walked around for a few hours. It's an amazing place, and we got lots of pictures. They're on the photo site in the 'Hunter Valley Gardens' album.

Critters

I've been here for four months and I haven't seen a wild kangaroo ... until now! Saw little bunches of them all around the Hunter Valley. There are pictures of them in the 'Hunter Valley' album.

Whale Watching

We went whale-watching out of Sydney Harbor this past Friday. As you can see, the day could have been better for Myra, but we saw lots of humpback whales, including one mother-calf pair that hung around for over an hour. It was a really windy, rainy day and the water was really choppy most of the time, but I still managed to get a few good pictures of the whales. I'm posting those on the photo site under a new album called "Whale Watching." Click the link near the top left.

Skydiving

While we were in Cairns I got the chance to do skydiving. We flew up to 14,000 ft in a single-engine airplane and jumped out. The experience was amazing. It only feels like you're falling for the first few seconds. After that you're going as fast as you're going to go and you feel like you're floating. The air really blows on your face hard, leading to some really funny pictures. Some of them are embarrassing. I would post them, but my ego's not letting me. For now I'll keep them on my computer. The rest are posted on the photo site. Go have a look.

Bushwalk

Yesterday I went with Greg and his kids on a bushwalk from Cowan to Brooklyn. It was about 11 km and had several really steep rocky climbs. There were some really nice views from the tops of the hills. There are new pictures from the hike on the photo page. Click the link at the top left of the page.

Lots of new pictures

I'm uploading a whole bunch of new pictures from spring break. Go to the photo link and check out all of the new albums.

Ayers Rock

I spent the first three days of spring break in Ayers Rock. That's in the middle of the outback and close to Uluru, the big monolith you see in all of the postcards. There were a lot of fun tours to take out there. I walked 10 km around the base of Uluru, hiked through a canyon in the Olgas (the other big rock formation in the area), and rode camels through the bush on a sunrise tour. The only thing I didn't get to do was climb Uluru. They had the climb closed down because the temperature was above 35 degrees C. There are lots of pictures, and I hope to have them posted sometime tomorrow. The one beside this post can be a preview.