We saw the ALL BLACKS ~Check that off the Bucket List :)

After putting an All Blacks game on my bucket list years ago, I finally made it to a game! The New Zealand All Blacks played the Australia Wallabies on August 17, 2013 @ the ANZ Stadium in Sydney. Like the great fake Aussies we have been all year, we bought some Wallabies jerseys and cheered em on as they faced the epic All Blacks. It was an absolutely incredible night… beer gardens and all kinda of ethic food stands before the game. The ever impressive HAKA in REAL LIFE! The awesome game, and then drinks and a hilarious ride home on the train with a few thousand of our closest friends :) 

 Our seats were fantastic! 

Best. Night. 

CITY 2 SURF....World's Largest Fun Run!!!

CITY2SURF

We took a bus full of kids and hit Sydney for the City2Surf Fun Run... iti s a 14km run from Sydney CBD to Bondi Beach. We left early Saturday afternoon and got into downtown Sydney around 7pm. It was awesome to be able to take our country kids to the big city; we even had one student who had never been there before! It was a great and sometimes hilarious experience as our kids navigated Sydney's CBD, the 85 000 people at the race and all the other City things we don't have in Cooma :) 


The race itself was AMAZING! I am sooo glad we were able to partake in it. We got to the starting point for our group about 45mins early and just took it all in. Many busy streets we have previously walked in Sydney were shut down and there was wall to wall people everywhere. When we actually started the race it takes about 2-3 kms before you actually run consistently as you have manoeuvre around all the people. In the first few kilometres I ran past Elmo, Big Bird, about ten bands, and countless other people lined up cheering and singing. This continued for the whole race; it really makes the time fly by! There was even a residential area near the end and little kids lined the sides of the road with homemade cookies and other treats for runners. Adidas sponsored some amazing big screens along the way with music and messages from famous athletes. There were LOTS of people dressed up and running which was AWESOME! The sights along the run are not to be missed either, you get to run along the edge of a marina with beautiful sail boats, at the top of one of the hills you can look out and see the Sydney Bridge, and the last leg of the race brings you into beautiful Bondi Beach. It was insane; a totally incredible experience! 

All ready to go! 

Silly.

Look at the mass of people... NUTS!

85, 000 people leave behind a lot of cups...

I found some SMURFS! About 30 of them!! 

Hello Sydney Bridge :) 

Adam killed it with a time of 79 minutes. I took a bit longer and came in at 108 minutes; if someone had said to me five years ago I would be able to take my lil back on a 14km run I would have thought they were nuts which made being able to do it here even more special. 

After we finished the race we got all the kids and waited for a bus and train back to the hostel to shower before heading home. It took us two hours to navigate the people and the transportation and get back to the hostel. We got some food and hit the road! It was a long 4 hour drive back after running that far but we made it.. with a few stops and driver changes and a lot of water and treats! 

GORGEOUS SUNSHINE... Winter Holidays PART 2

Day Eight: I HUGGED A KOALA! 
AND I jumped up and down like a little kid. I also almost cried. Then I talked about it all day. And then I made Adam take me back to the Koala petting area two more times after to visit them again. Ooops. This was also after I spent half an hour watching baby wombats. I have a problem. 

I digress... 

So after we left Brisbane we hit the Australia Zoo. This is the Zoo owned by the Irwin family; it was originally a Reptile Park owned by Steve Irwin's Mom and Dad. He married Terri Irwin and the park grew into the amazing zoo it is today. They have huge enclosures at the park, many native animals and are building and expanding other areas as well. The profits from the zoo go into supporting, helping and saving animals which is pretty amazing. We even got to visit the Animal Hospital that they have opened there as well. It is open 365 days a year 24/7. It was such an incredible place. 

We were really lucky because the day we were there was the last day of school holidays and so the whole Irwin family was there. Bindi sang some songs, and Terri and Robert came out and did the Croc show with Bindi. 

We loved watching the Wombats. There was also a bunch of babies running around!! So cute :)

First time at the Koala area...

In case you don't get how HUGE he is... check out the next picture... 

She's about my height.. MASSIVE TORTOISE!

Second time at the Koala area!!

BABY Rhino :) 

BLACK SHEEP!! 

And the THIRD time at the Koalas...

Adam's new buddy.

Finally found a sign with SHEILA on it...

 Day 9 and 10: Noosa

We drove to Noosa and were welcomed by GREAT weather. We walked around, had some lunch at the AWESOME surf club and shopped a bit. We went to Despicable Me 2 at night; great end to a pretty incredible day. 

View from the Surf Club 

When we woke up the next day, the weather wasn't as nice so we went for a hike up to Hell's Gate. It was INSANELY windy but the view was awesome. On the way back into town, for the first time ever, we saw a koala in the wild and a SNAKE. He was massive and just hanging from a branch 10 feet or so above us. We finished off the day with a beach run, a swim in the outdoor pool in the rain (people thought we were nuts!) and some incredible Thai takeaway. 

Day 11: Surfer's Paradise!
 When we got up, we drove to Surfer's Paradise and checked into the Crowne Plaza hotel. Our room was GREAT! It had a jacuzzi tub, a king size bed and lots of other great luxuries to end our trip off with. We walked along the beach, shopped a bit and went out for a great Italian meal at Mario's. 

Day 12: MovieWorld! AWESOME!!! 

We hit MovieWorld.... and managed to get the whole park done in one day. 
1.  Green Lantern Roller Coaster (Really upside down with just a LAP belt?)
2. Superman Roller Coaster (0-100km in 2 seconds! EEK! But so FUN!)
3. Arkham Asylum Roller Coaster (Feet dangle... nuts!)
4. Ice Age 4D Show!
5. Food Break :) Burgers and Fries!
6. Batman Show (With a car just like in the new movies!)
7. Car Stunt Show (Cars rode on their sides, and jumped from one building to another... well sorta.. I was tricked!)
8. Scooby Doo Roller Coaster (Really well done... I was terrified haha) 
9. Wild West Rapid Falls (Backwards Drop!)
10. Superman's 3D Shooting Game (Adam kills it!)

It was a great day... so distracted by acting like little kids that we did not take any pics. 

Day 13: SeaWorld! Another AWESOME day! 

We hit SeaWorld and just like yesterday got through the whole park! 

1. Fish Detectives Seal Show (Really well done!)
2. Dolphin Show (Wicked!)
3. Dinosaur Island
4. Penguins!! 
5. Shark Tanks
6. Swimming Polar Bear! 
7. Touched Rays swimming in the water. 
8. Jet Rescue Roller Coaster
9. Viper Roller Coaster
10. Spongebob 3D Film
11. Ropes Course
12. Jet Stunt Extreme Show (Saw a cool Water Jet Propulsion machine. It was insane!!)
13. Parade 

We ended the day with a great meal at Finnigan's Irish Pub and got a good night's sleep before starting our journey home! 

Day 14 and 15: These were our driving days back... 

Needless to say we had a long way to go back home but it was totally worth it!!