In the morning, we checked out of the hotel, dropped off our bags, and found a place to eat lunch. We found a nice sushi restaurant near the Thai place we ate previously. After lunch, we returned to the hotel, got our bags, hailed a taxi, and headed to the White Bay Cruise Terminal. It would have been convenient if the ship had been leaving from Circular Quay, but the taxi ride wasn’t too long and only cost $35 from Kings Cross. Ship check-in was a bit delayed due to a computer problem, but the process was much smoother than Costa.

As the ship makes its slow journey to Melbourne, we took the opportunity to relax and overeat. I’m definitely going to gain weight on the cruise. The food is just so much better than Costa.

In the morning, we drove north toward Sydney along the Grand Pacific Drive. Along the way, we stopped at the Sea Cliff Bridge and several other scenic viewpoints. At our last viewpoint, we saw some adventurous individuals preparing to paraglide off the cliff. Sadly, we had to leave before they launched because we had to return car to Avis around noon. We dropped off the car in Kings Cross near our hotel.

In the evening, my second cousin Caity and her partner Ian graciously treated us to a fabulous dinner at Ms. G’s, an Asian-inspired “New Australian” fusion restaurant in Potts Point. The food was delicious; it was the best restaurant meal we’ve eaten in Australia. The last time I saw Caity was when she was 8 years old, so there was a lot for us to catch up on. It was great to see her again and to meet Ian.

We started the day with an awesome breakfast at our B&B, The Pommy Tree in Canberra. After eating, we visited Parliament House. Parliament was in session, but we didn’t have time to see it in action. However, we did accidentally stumble upon a viewing area for a committee hearing on Ebola. We stayed for a couple minutes before becoming bored enough to leave. Our next tourist stop in region was the NASA Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex, which is most famous for relaying Neil Armstrong’s first words from the moon. The giant satellite dish is impressive, but the visitor center is not and the complex is probably not worth the long drive for casual tourists.

On our drive to Wollongong, we made several stops along the way. Our first stop was the Minnamurra rainforest, but unfortunately it closed at 4:30pm and we arrived at 4:50pm. Our next stop was the Kiama blowhole, a rock formation at the ocean’s edge that shoots up water like a blowhole. Unfortunately, the blowhole was not very blowy today, so we continued to Bombo beach and then Minnamurra beach for some quick sightseeing. Finally, we arrived at our B&B for the night in Bulli.

Our first tourist stop was the incredible National War Memorial in Canberra. The upper level of the memorial has a Vietnam Wall-like list of names of people who died in conflicts in which Australia participated, an eternal flame, and a shrine. The lower levels contain an extremely impressive museum that documents the history of those conflicts. There are interactive displays, old warplanes, helicopters, informative videos and posters, and a very large collection of wartime artifacts from several wars. It’s probably the best museum we’ve visited this trip.

Our second stop is the National Zoo & Aquarium. The zoo houses a large collection including lions, tigers (Bengal & Siberian), a giraffe, a shy koala, emu, kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, wombats, monkeys, bears, and otter among other animals. While it doesn’t have as many Australian animals as Featherdale, the overall size of the collection is much larger and the grounds are more impressive. Valerie signed us up for the Zooventure add-on during which we got to feed meat to a tiger and a lion, throw food to otters, feed a carrot to a giraffe, hold snake, and have a bear lick nutritious paste off our palms. Overall, the National Zoo is probably one of the better zoos I’ve ever visited. (The aquarium was not particularly impressive.)

For dinner, we returned to Dickson for an Australian take on Indian food. While expensive (as everything in Australia is), it was quite delicious.

In the morning, Fiona dropped us off at a nearby Avis so we could pick up our rental car. Driving on the left side of the road was surprisingly easier than I expected, but there were still a few hiccups. Luckily, Valerie would flinch whenever I got too close to the edge of the road or another vehicle. I’m really glad we got a GPS. Not only does it tell you where to go, it also tells you where speed cameras are located and NSW is full of them.

Our first touristic stop of the day was Featherdale Wildline Park. It contains an impressive collection of Australian animals, including koalas, wombats, kangaroos, tasmanian devils, and flying foxes. Most of the koalas were unapproachable (I hear they can be quite vicious), but the staff let us take a picture with one of the tamer ones. We also bought some kangaroo food for $1 and fed some wallabies.

After the park, we drove to Canberra and checked into our B&B. We stopped in downtown Dickson (a suburb of Canberra) for some dinner. Dickson has an impressive collection of pan-Asian restaurants. Unfortunately, most of them were closed because it was a Monday, so we settled for an inexpensive Korean restaurant with okay TripAdvisor ratings.

Glenn and Fiona drove us up to the Blue Mountains. From a distance, the mountains have a slightly bluish tint. Glenn says that the bluish hue is caused by a chemical released into the air by the many eucalyptus trees that grow upon the mountains. We stopped at several scenic viewpoints along the way. Australia is a truly beautiful country (and I’ve only seen a tiny part of it).

One particularly memorable stop were the Leura Cascades, a series of small waterfalls followed by much larger waterfall. We hiked the trail down along the stream, taking pictures along the way. Valerie was initially frightened that she would be bitten by mosquitos along the way, but later revised her fear to include some kind of Australian biting fly.

We were all hungry from the hiking, so we stopped at a favorite local eatery for lunch (or dinner or whatever Australians call the mid-day meal). Unfortunately, they were full, so we found a nearby French restaurant that was notable for its particularly non-descript dish names such as “piece de boeuf.”

Our drive continued into Katoomba where we saw the Three Sisters, a formation of three adjacent pillar-like rocks. Glenn, Valerie, and I hiked a bit to a better viewpoint of the Sisters and the top of something called the “Giant Staircase.” Perhaps earlier in the trip Valerie and I would have attempted to descend the staircase, but by this point in the trip neither of us was in good enough shape to do so. Thus, Valerie descended a couple flights of stairs for a picture and then we returned to the parking area. From the top, we could see Scenic World, which offers a touristic mine car ride down into the old mine shaft as well as a gondola to somewhere in the adjacent valley. We decided against taking the death-defying descent into the mine shaft.

In the morning, Glenn took Valerie and me on a nice scenic drive along Lake Burragorang culminating in a visit to Warragamba Dam. Glenn says that visitors used to be able to walk along the top of the dam (similar to Hoover Dam in the US), but after 9/11, new security measures disallowed it. Tomorrow, there is some sort of dam celebration during which people can once again walk on the dam, but we’ll be busy visiting the Blue Mountains.

The highlight of the day was the Fernandez family gathering. I finally got a chance to meet so many of my relatives living in Australia including several of my grandmother’s siblings, their children, and their families. We ate a feast of Indian food while discussing the family, Australia, and current events. It was great to meet and talk to everyone who came and hopefully some of them will come to visit us in the Bay Area in the future.

Our second day in Sydney, we didn’t know what to do, so we fired up TripAdvisor to look up some of the recommended attractions. Our first stop was a Thai restaurant in Woolloomooloo for lunch. Afterward, we took a long stroll through the Royal Botanic Gardens and adjacent parks toward Circular Quay. We were surprised to find many small exercise groups working out in the park. (I’ve seen groups of people exercising in parks in America, but never in quite such a high concentration.)

Eventually, we headed back to the hotel from which my uncle Glenn kindly offered to pick us up and drive us to his home. (Technically, I think Glenn is my first cousin, once removed, but I’m not an expert on such things.) He took us on a scenic drive through the city and across the Harbour Bridge. I didn’t realize how long the drive to the suburbs would take in traffic and, in retrospect, Valerie and I probably should have taken a train out of the city to avoid adding so many hours onto Glenn’s drive home from work. For the next few days, we will be staying with Glenn and his wife Fiona. Tomorrow, they will be hosting a grand get-together of the New South Wales based family members.

For dinner, we met Bluebell and Callum at a local Italian restaurant since they will be unable to make tomorrow’s gathering. It was great to see them and to share stories.

Today, we flew from Melbourne to Sydney. Compared to Male Airport, Melbourne Airport is a well-oiled machine. The queue for the Qantas counter was short and there were plenty of self check-in kiosks and automated bag check stations available to service passengers.

After arriving at Sydney, we took a taxi to our hotel in Kings Cross and dropped off our bags. After a quick break, we took a train to Circular Quay to view the famous opera house, our first tourist sight. Next, we boarded the ferry to Manly to meet my second cousin Chris. The ferry ride offered great views of the harbor. We arrived in Manly about 2 hours before Chris, so we strolled down the coastal footpath and admired the scenery. Chris picked us up and drove us to a restaurant serving “the best ramen in Sydney”. Afterward, he dropped us off at a gelato shop serving “the best ice cream in Sydney” (which is also the #1 rated restaurant in Sydney) near our hotel.

Later on, we learned that Kings Cross is known for being a red-light district in Sydney. Interspersed with the trendy restaurants were strip joints and soup kitchens. However, on the whole, the area seemed fine and not at all dangerous.

Last night, we went out looking for dinner after the bus returned around 11pm. Unfortunately, most restaurants were closed (either because it was Monday or because it was late). Luckily, we stumbled upon a Pie Face that was open until at least midnight, so we stuffed our faces with meat pies and fruit pies.

We woke up this morning around 11am and went back to yesterday’s schnitzel place for breakfast. Our plan for the day was to take the free City Circle tourist tram around the city and see the sights. After taking the tram around half the city, we got off near Flinders Street Station and walked to the trendy Federation Square. We continued in that direction for a while toward the Memorial Shrine, stopping to take a picture with a statue of Sir “Weary” Dunlop. By the time we made it to the Botanic Garden, the visitors’ centre was closed, so we just wandered around the gardens for about an hour before heading back to the Central Business District (CBD). Unfortunately, the free tram stopped running at 6pm, so we walked up the hill to find some dinner and return to our hotel.