New Zealand Day 1

Here we go! Off to a new continent and 2 new countries!

Technically, we should call this post New Zealand Day 1-3. We boarded a plane on May 31 just before midnight. Then we travelled on a plane through the night. After a short layover in San Francisco, we climbed on a much larger plane. This ride lasted 14 hours, and the all the boys slept a little, but Mom did not. We watched a dozen movies between us, and while we were in the air, June 1 passed. That was day two. Somewhere in the air, we crossed the International Date Line, which made it June 2, so that was day three!

We put plenty of books on the Kindles, so our boys read a ton in the airports!

We sat together on all of our flights which was wonderful!

Whatever day it was, we arrived in Sydney with about nine hours to explore. We got lucky and they allowed us to check our bags and Seth’s car seat onto our evening flight, which saved us around $75. We still ended up wearing our backpacks all day, though. After getting rid of the suitcases we got on the subway and rode into the city. It was around $10 per person each way to ride into the Sydney Opera House and spend some time downtown. 

We are in Australia! So exciting!

We rode the train to and from the Opera House. Do we look exhausted? 

We ate at McDonald's and there was a pigeon inside just walking around inside like no big deal. 

The opera house was amazing sitting right out on the end of the peninsula. We took a tour, which lasted for an hour, and was really fun. We learned that the opera house is an open venue, meaning that anyone can schedule it at anytime for any event. So if you wanted to have your birthday party there, you could rent it out. The architecture was so cool, too, and the building itself was much more massive than we expected. The boys did great on the tour, even though it seemed over their heads, and afterward they were all really positive about the tour. We got to visit the two large theaters and one smaller one as well as walk through most of the hallways and observation areas. The side that faces the ocean is designed to feel like a ship, so you stand out on the bow and look at the ocean spread out before you.

The harbor and bridge were so beautiful. 

We were so excited when we first hopped off the train and saw downtown Sydney. 

The Sydney Darling Bridge is almost as famous as the Opera House.

The boys were really excited about the Opera House.

The weather was nice and warm while we were in Australia.

The Opera House is not what we expected. The design is so complex.

We had fun looking for things in the ocean by the Opera House.

The tour had headphones, and the boys were excited for that. 

The architecture is beautiful inside, too. 

There are huge windows overlooking the harbor inside the Opera House. 

This is where the symphony plays.
The rings hanging in the ceiling can be raised or lowered to help with acoustics. 

Mom loved the Opera House!

We walked down from the opera house through the Botanical Gardens that had dozens of types of birds. As we were walking along the shore near the pier, Mark spotted a stingray in the ocean and the boys also thought they saw some pufferfish. Further along we saw cockatoos, magpies that are quite different form ours, and many other birds. The park was really huge, and we ambled around for several hours. Dax found a four foot long eel in the fish pond, which shocked the boys.

We saw tons of new birds.

We were taking a picture by this huge tree when a new bird flew by. I love this picture, even though it looks staged.

The botanical gardens are right in the heart of Sydney.

These are crested pigeons, which have a funny haircut.

We spotted this gallinule in Austrailia, kind of like the one in Florida we saw.

The gardens were beautiful.

Here is the huge eel that Dax spotted! 

The boys were troopers since they had only slept a few hours.

We did spot a sting ray in the ocean by the Opera House which was awesome!

We also spotted puffer fish! We love seeing new animals. 

We were getting hungry and tired, and our heavy backpacks were weighing us down, but we made it to a museum called the Museum of Australia. It was a lot like the Natural History Museum in Washington, DC, and the boys loved looking at the animals, seeing the dinosaur bones, and exploring. They even got to hold a walking stick in the children’s section of the museum.

Dax was horrified by this display.

Acting like dinosaurs. Everyone is starting to get silly from lack of sleep!

Seth liked the extinct creatures.

Mark loved the bird section, of course!

Dad was the first to hold the walking stick.

Seth loves to hold animals. 

Mark let him walk up his arm.

Dax holding and touching animals is a big deal. He was so brave!

Finally we caught the subway back to the airport. We got there plenty early, especially since our bags were checked. Since it was an international flight, we’d planned extra time, so we had plenty of time to wait for the plane before we made our last short flight.

The Christchurch airport was nearly deserted, so we had no trouble finding Dad's brother and his wife. The boys weren’t too sure how to act, but their Auntie gave them each a hug, and they warmed up immediately. The boys recognized them from pictures, so that probably helped. We arrived at their house about a half an hour before midnight, and it was very late before we got settled. We were grateful for the first night of sleep in nearly two days, though.