Dec 20th - 27th
04 Jan 2005

Dec 20th -> Crikey!
Australia Zoo, home of Steve & Terry Irwin was our big event today. The sea otters were just like water-ferrets. What cool, fun critters! I thoroughly enjoyed their show. We went through every nook & cranny in the park. Tasmanian devils, Rainforest birds, Giant tortoises, wombats, koalas, kangaroos. Right up close and personal. Kangaroos have short soft hair, whereas the koalas have more coarse hair. Kangaroos here though are thought of much the same way Americans think of deer. There is an overpopulation, so hunting is encouraged. It's odd to think of an animal that is on the nation's coat of arms as being culled.

Dec 21st -> Big things ahead
From Byron Bay we decided to head back to Tweed Heads to go to the BIG Avocado. Also arrived in Coffs Harbour (yes, I know it's spelled wrong) at the BIG banana on it's 40 birthday. Saw a big Prawn, Big windmill (I'm not sure this actually applies, but oh well), and a big bunch of bananas. This was one of the first nights that we stopped before sunset. ah, our drives are getting shorter. excellent.

Dec 22nd -> Port MacQuarie
Got a picture of the Big 8 ball.

Dec 23rd -> Newcastle
Big Bowling Ball, Big Axe, and Big Oyster

Dec 24th -> Sydney
Had a great breakfast & waited for a chiropractic appointment at 2pm. Worth every minute of the wait. Had been feeling horrible, bad headaches and backaches for weeks. Felt like a million bucks for atleast a week. ;) Made it to Sydney & found our hotel room without any trouble. Greg and I opened a present each at midnight.

Dec 25th -> Xmas
Santa brought Greg and I gifts! I can't believe he found us all the way down here. He forgot to wrap them though... how odd. ;) The weather here was rubbish, rainy, cloudy, gross. I thought someone told them we were coming? We didn't have the daiquiris on the beach as planned. Instead we met up with Nichola (my friend from grotty fish hell) and went for a drive through the Blue Mountains. Didn't see much as the entire area was fogged over.

Dec 26th -> Boxing Day, Tsunami disaster
Boxing Day marks the beginning of the Sydney to Hobart sailing race. Greg and I got a prime spot to watch the action. Unknown to us, the race was actually planned to start about 5km further towards the ocean. We saw the sailboats in the distance, but missed all of the action. It was a nice and sunny day, perfect to take the ferry to Manly Beach. Got some lovely pictures of the opera house & bridge from all angles.

Dec 27th -> Last day of vacation returned the freedom-mobile after 4454km. enjoyed the absolutely hilarious movie "The Incredibles." Jim hitched all the way from Nimbin to Sydney & stayed with us.