Monday, November 2, 2009

Love in Grey and Yellow: …the Hotel Lobby in Australia

So after the After Party, Mr. Joey and I enjoyed a lovely Sunday with our families, spent Monday packing and opening presents and on Tuesday jumped on a plane to Australia.

I was a little worried Mr. Joey wouldn’t make it.  My flights for works average about 22 hours one-way, so Australia wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.  He thinks trips to see his parents in South Carolina are too long. 

Thankfully he survived and even though he wasn’t the happiest camper, the flying was totally worth it.

I’m sorry that I don’t have too many pictures to share from our trip.  They were lost when my computer died.  I did manage to salvage some though.

We started our trip in Sydney.  We stayed at the beautiful Sofitel Hotel (thanks Priceline!) downtown just minutes away from the Opera House and Harbour. 

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We did the usual seeing the sights, riding the ferries to lovely neighborhoods, checking out all the awesome shopping.  One of our favorite things was going to see Aida at the Opera.  MIL Joey gave us tickets as a shower gift.  The show was AMAZING!  I still can’t believe we saw an opera there.

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The view as we walked up to the Opera House.  We’d be poor if we lived in Sydney.  I’d always want to go to the opera.

Two other really great things we did while we were in Sydney at the beginning of the trip were visit the Powerhouse Museum of Science and Design and the Sydney Fish Market.  The Powerhouse Museum had some really cool design exhibits that we loved.  The Fish Market was an odd choice but a friend said we had to go there for at least one meal.  It’s the second largest fish market in the world but you could smell it way before you can see it.

Mr. Joey discovered a new love for grilled octopus.  I know, sounds weird but they were so good!  Actually, everything was ate there was delicious.  Hands down the best seafood I’ve ever had and living in Seattle, I know seafood.  Everything melted like butter in your mouth.  We went with a Grilled Seafood Plate for 2 and got about 10 different seafood delights to sample.  I wish we had made a second trip to the market!

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Seriously, the octopus is good!

After Sydney, we hopped on a plane headed north for Cairns.  Shouldn’t all honeymoons include tropical weather and time by the pool?  We spent about 3 days on land exploring the area, hanging by the pool and of course eating more seafood.  We spent 2 days and 1 night on a liveaboard ship that does snorkeling trips.  It was sooooo coool!!!  Everyone was super friendly, the water was warm and the Great Barrier Reef was way more than great.  It was stunning.  One of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen!

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The light areas are where the reefs are really tall making it seem shallow in the water.  Again, I wished I had more pictures. :(  We saw a giant clam as big as I am, lots of beautiful fish and coral and even a few sharks.

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They lowered the dive deck into the water at night and snorkelers could put their face into the water while sharks swam by.  Um, yeah, we passed on that.  We went on a total of 6 snorkels while we were there.  I really loved that we did this.

Next up, we head for dry land.

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