as time flies by...continued

Well, "later" became 3 days later.

More highlights:

• We took the bus into Perth last weekend. It's $8 unlimited travel for the whole family all day. We went to Kings Park which has beautiful gardens and great walking paths. Of course we met some interesting people (one guy who had lived in the US for a bit) and Rob got in a philosophical talk with this older man about raising children and about how he doesn't believe "in fairies or that there's anything out there". Then we went into the city and saw a really fun street performer and poked about a bit. Much different than the crass pirate performer, that we saw in Fremantle the previous weekend, who was telling the kids to "shut-up"!
• I took Pieter to his new kindy class yesterday. It is actually a kindy/pre-primary split class (4-6 year olds) which I think is a good fit for him. He was very welcomed there and got to play with playdough and do a couple of the academic activities. He loved it! He made some new friends and was very keen on going there again this morning. Unfortunately, he won't go back until the Wednesday (Oct. 14) after term break. Now I just need to work out the logistics of how to be in 2 places at one time on Monday and Wednesday mornings and afternoons. Did I say that this was all-day kindy??!!
• This morning there was a big fat kookaburra on our back lawn! I think he was the crazy loud bird that woke us up at 5:00 am doing some serious tropical bird sounds outside.
• It's when I am driving the car that it hits me most that we are in Australia. It is so strange to be driving on the opposite side of the road. When I drive down the street I realize that I really am in a completely different country. It's becoming more natural and I'm very rarely using the windshield wiper in place of the turn signal and for the most part I go to the correct side of the car to get in and drive. I don't believe that parallel parking will ever be in my future here:).
• Our prayer group skyped with us yesterday morning (their Tuesday night) at 7:00am. It was so good to see everyone and sing "Our God is an Awesome God" with them.
• I had to tell the kids that they could not have "a play" this afternoon because they have already accumulated way too many friends (yay!) and have begun to expect a play everyday after school.

Thanks to all of you for thinking of us, keeping in touch, sending the kids letters (Pieter is dying for a note in the mail), praying for us and skypeing us.

*pix in order: Rob and kids waiting at bus stop for Perth; the Mushens (and Little Truff) on top of the DNA tower at King's Park; a green and red kangaroo paw - the state flower; on a suspended bridge at the park with Swan River in background (we live south of the river); Ella and Amelie trying to act like a tree (?) with Boab Tree.

Lots of love, Marileen

As time flies by...

I just can't believe how fast time is flying and that we have already been away from RI for an entire month. Also, my plan to update the blog 1x per week is not working out too well.

Anyway, our time here continues to be amazing and we continue to be blessed by so many. The highlights from the past 10 days include:

• more tea with friends - you'd think that we are up to our eyeballs in tea, but if most of you remember, we Mushens love our tea! And yes, for the most part, it is actually tea that we're drinking :)
• we had 14 US people (from Rob's job in Newport/Seattle/D.C.) over for dinner! They all followed each other here and arrived at the same time. I made a huge chicken curry dish with Risotto and cucumber salad (thanks for the recipe Liz!). I actually made too much if you can imagine. I had some great help from Bob Sabelli cooking dinner and the girls made homemade apple crisp with "Uncle Ted". I think Amelie probably snuck a third of the apples saturated in sugar while (she thought) we weren't looking. We decided that Rob is the better entertainer and we are better at hiding out in the corner by the stove.(sound familiar UMASS roommates?) and cooking. It was a great night and the kids also enjoyed being around fellow US folks. Actually, Amelie and Pieter were out on the trampoline when John Barber came out to say "hello". He gave Ams a kiss and then she went back out on the trampoline - boingg boingg - and said "Now I'm not homesick anymore because Narragansett is here!" And honestly, she has not mentioned being homesick again.
• I had my own introduction to exercise in Australia. My friend Janelle invited me to go for a run with her while we both pushed the jogging "prams". She told me she had a spare. Well, I have not pushed a child while running since before Amelie was born (back with Kristin Riley and Jen Chabot)! Thankfully her jogger was very lightweight, but unfortunately East Fremantle is VERY hilly! I held my own for a while but then begged Janelle to walk for the last huge hill. She was gracious and took pity on me, but in the end it started to rain so we had to run home anyway. I was extremely sore in areas I forgot existed for the next several days.
• Ella and her friends at school have created a large snail habitat in a tree at school. There are a lot of snails here. They've named them and given them each their own royal status. Ella now has pet snails in a jar at home and has been researching them on the Internet. The anatomy of a snail is actually quite interesting. Yesterday Ella's friend Olivia came over and I overheard them reading about snail reproduction on the Internet: "Snails are either hermaphrodites or they can mate with another snail..." They continued to read on about conception. I wasn't sure if this was considered x-rated reading material or science. I had to let go of my overprotected mom nature and let it be science. Hopefully Olivia's mom would agree.
• The weather has continued to be very unpredictable. I have been very spoiled the last week because Rob has been using Bob Sabelli's car and I've gotten to use ours. Now, when it looks like rain we drive, much to Ella's dismay. We do continue to walk to school as much as we can.
• Pieter and I went to Ikea yesterday! Need I say more?
• I'm signing Pieter up for a kindi (preschool) program which will start after the term break. Term break begins Friday and goes until October 13th. We haven't made any definitive plans for this time, but they are in the making.
• We booked our Christmas Holiday to New Zealand!!!!! It is Dec. 25th until January 14th. We will meet my brother Mark and his girlfriend Erin up in Auckland and then see them off and on during our trip. Around the first of January we will stay with my cousin Jenny who lives in the South of the North Island for a couple of nights. We then go to the South Island for the rest of our trip! We are trying to decide whether we want to go the motorhome route or not. Hmmm? On the 14th we will fly to Melbourne to see my Uncle Sam (my dad's youngest brother) and his wife and then fly back to Perth on the 16th. We can't wait!
• Last week the girls had "Sports Day" at their school which is basically field day the way it was when I was a child. All day track and field activities. The parents come with lawn chairs and food and stay all day as well. It was a great day and the girls had so much fun. They divide the entire school into 3 factions and you are assigned to this at the very beginning of the school year: Red (Winsor), Green (Osborne) and Yellow (Fraser). Families are always in the same faction. The girls are in Winsor. All year long when you are caught being good you are given a faction point which gets added to your total team points. On Sports Day, the kids all wear their faction t-shirts and they are divided into the 3 teams for the day. Most of the events are done by age, but at the very end they had a huge relay race where they took the fastest girl and boy from each year (preprimary to year 7) and each faction and put them in their faction team. The relay went from youngest to oldest and it was just so great to see this "intergenerational" team working together. Everyone got lots of ribbons and they had their faction color slushies at lunchtime. I must tell you that Winsor lost and I guess they've been on a 19 year losing streak. Yellow/Fraser always wins. Why do they put the new kids in the losing faction :)?

*the pictures from top to bottom are: Amelie with her sugar coated apples; cooking for our 14 people in our kitchen - laughing because Ella is harrassing the one Yankees fan there; Ella with her good friend Olivia; Amelie with her friend Mia (obviously a fellow thumb sucker - check out the bite!); Ella with friends Tara and Jessica winning 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in running on sports day.

I have to get the girls from school and wake Pieter up. I'll do more later.

Fitness in Australia Episode 2: "A Bit of Sport"

(Nice Church Friend called "Phil"): Hey Rob, couple of blokes getting together for a "bit of sport" on Wednesday...pick you up at 0615?

(Flabby Boy): I'm sorry, did you say 0615...as in A.M.? Perhaps you meant 0615 in Rhode Island?

(Phil): No, c'mon mate, it'll be fun...we're all a little foggy that early.

(Rob): At that time, I will not even be conscious. By the way, will this involve swimming by any chance?

(Phil): No, just a little cardio...see you Wednesday.

...flash forward to the morning of Wednesday....and yes, 0615, A.M., in the morning, very early...

(Phil) Rob, meet Mac, he used to be a mountain bike instructor in Colorado, he's going to be in charge of warm up

(Rob) O Good Lord, pls let me see my family again

(Mac) Ok boys, we'll start off with a jog around the oval, then a quick circuit routine: 5 chin ups, 10 knee-ups, 20 push-ups, and 30 squats

(Rob) Once?

(Mac, laughing) No mate, until you can't do anymore (or you puke)

(Rob) Why do I keep signing up for this...

...flash forward to the end of 5 repetitions of the above....

(Mac) Nice work boys. Rob, how'd you go? Rob, Rob has anyone seen him?

(Phil) I think he's over there calling 000 (Australian version of 911)

(Mac) Oh boy.

(Mac) Ok Rob, ready for a little ultimate?

(Rob, gagging) Uh, ya, I actually love ultimate, buy I can't feel my fingers

Long story short, we then proceeded to play a version of ultimate with 5 players that's sort of like knock-out in basketball...except the winner just switches teams so the game never stops.

It was the longest hour of fitness I've done in a long time....but I'm realizing (slowly) that I may actually leave this place in pretty good shape. Because, no matter what the weather, time of day or fitness-level...these guys (and gals) love the outdoors and they love to play sports.

GAME ON!

week 2 in East Freo

Well, we had another incredible week here in Australia. Last weekend we drove up the coast and finally got to put our toes in the Indian Ocean. It was surprisingly warmer than I expected. Don't get me wrong, it was freezing, but kind of "late June in RI/MA" freezing. The water is a beautiful blue-green and the beach just goes on and on forever. Driving up the coast made me think of Highway 1 in California with the coast and vegetation. We wound up at this place on the coast called Hillary's Boat House. There are tons of shops, AQWA (western Australia's aquarium) and a big pay-as-you-play area that had 20 trampolines all together in one big area as well as all kinds of other equipment. You pay $8 to jump on your own trampoline for 12 minutes. The kids each had their own and practically touched the sky. They also had this funny blow up thing along the restaurants where 2 people each stand on their own perch and try to knock each other off with these big blown up columns...hilarious. Ella and Amelie did it and had a blast. First Ella knocked Amelie off and then Ella graciously got "knocked-off" by Amelie. We had tea with friends that afternoon and walked down to the Swan River. Ella and their son, Liam, wrestled and raced each other all afternoon. I don't know what that was all about, but they had a lot of fun doing it.

Sunday was Father's Day. So Rob got another well-deserved father's day celebration. He is an amazing father and has been such a support to his psychotic wife over the past months of preparations and meltdowns. I drove for the first time on the opposite side of the road to go get some baked goods for breakfast. It took ALOT of concentration. The blinkers and windshield wipers are switched so I spent a lot of time turning with the windshield wipers on (and it wasn't raining). We had a nice breakfast, got ready for church and still had a few minutes to jump on the trampoline before we walked to church. It was very refreshing to be leaving the house peacefully on a Sunday morning. Amelie and I went out to do some errands as a distraction. She has really been missing all her family and friends back home and needed a little one-on-one time with Mommy. She has decided that next time we go away for a year we should go to Newport so that we can still be close to home. We had a really nice time out until she fell in love with a "furr real" pet in K-Mart and was devastated for the next 1/2 hour that he couldn't come home to live with us. Maybe I should've just gotten it for her...???

School started up again on Monday. Did I already say that school uniforms rock?! We've had a lot of rain this past week and our wonderful, down the street neighbor, Lindy, offers to drive the girls or pick them up from school when it's raining. On Monday we walked down the street to pick up Ella's friend, Tia, to come to our house. We were invited in for a quick cup of tea and as we were getting ready to leave the sky opened up. So...we stayed for quite a bit longer. Fortunately Tia's little sister, Sienna, is in Amelie's class and Mia, also in her class, was there for a "play" so everyone had a great time. I had to call Rob to come pick us up after work. The trials of having just one car. Lesson: always bring your umbrella and raincoats this time of year in East Freo. The weather changes really fast.

Tuesday Amelie came home from school with a gold slip for being "courteous" and having "lovely manners". We are so proud of her. She definitely does have the loveliest manners of them all.

Very early Wednesday morning, before work, Rob went and did a boot camp work-out and played ultimate frisbee with some guys form church. Rob's planning to expand on that experience in his own blog entry. Pieter and I went to a play group at the church also on Wed morning. We had fun there singing lots of new songs, making a craft, running around and meeting some new people.

Thursday Ella and Amelie were each having a friend over after school and all day it poured and the wind was insane. Pieter and I had to pick up a couple of things at the grocery store, by foot of course. We got soaked and our umbrella wouldn't stay right side in. It was so funny hiding under trees and building overhangs. In the end, I had to call Rob to come home early so he could pick up all the kids from school! Lindy could not fit them all in her car. It was so cute listening to Jessica and Charlie (Charlotte) speaking in our house after school with their lovely Australian accents. They all had a great time despite the rain.

Friday morning was all school assembly and Amelie's class was responsible for putting on a skit. What are the chances of our destined-to-be-a-star child's class being honored right as Amelie arrives. They sang bits of many known (and unknown) songs that went through the sounds of the alphabet and some combo sounds (ch, th, sh, etc...). Amelie, of course, learned ALL the words in less than 2 weeks and was happy as a clam up there in front of 500 people. At the end of it all, each teacher gets to pick a child or 2 to award a Merit Award. Well, Amelie's teacher chose her because she has adjusted so well to her new classroom. She got called up to the front, along with the other honorees, received an award from the principal and stood on stage to be applauded. Amelie is off to a great start at school! It was really very special. These assemblies happens every fortnight.

Pieter and I went to the Toy Library with Janelle and Abby (2). At the toy library you can check out 3 toys for a few weeks and then return them. What a great idea! Then we went to Target. It's very different from our Target, but has the same bulls-eye logo. It's easy to leave this Target NOT spending $100.

Friday night we had Bob Cibelli, a colleague/friend of Rob's from RI, over for dinner. We had a great time and the kids had fun hanging out with a fellow American. 7 other US colleagues of Rob are coming over for dinner on Monday.

Today we finally had sunshine...yipeeee! Rob had to go to work for the morning, so the kids and I hung outside with the bikes and played. Pieter and Amelie nurtured Baby Alive (poor Pieter) while Ella played with Pet Shops. Once Rob got home we went to a different beach in Fremantle. It was very windy so we brought our 2 kites which we had fun letting way out. There were people down there kite surfing and windsurfing really fast. Amelie found a dead seahorse on the beach that was about 5 inches long! How amazing is that to find a seahorse at the local beach?? We were all so excited. On the way home we stopped at The Oval in East Fremantle where they were having the high school championships for Aussie rules Football. This is an amazing sport where there are 16 people on the field for each team at a time. They wore no equipment and they are constantly in motion. The field is oval and it is HUGE! It seems to be a combination of football, basket ball and soccer. Pretty much anything goes, as far as I can tell.

The kids continue to love jumping on the trampoline and we are enjoying where we live. Rob is loving his job and has been listening to a lot of 60 minutes and books on tape to and from work. I'm having a great time hanging out with Pieter and doing a little bit of exploring. We live a nice, simple life which is exactly what I was looking forward to.

I will post photos to go with these stories tomorrow. It's bedtime. Sorry I haven't emailed much. We've been arranging our Christmas/summer holiday vacation in New Zealand!

Lots of love and miss you all. Marileen

Fitness in Australia Episode 1: Swimming Lessons

(Cruel Aussie called Bernie) Hey Mate, since you're new here, what say we head up to the pool at lunch time for a few laps? Heated pool, wakeless, hardly anyone there...whaddya say?

(Naive Yank called Robbie) Um, sure....(can't really swim, but when in foreign countries, I always try to impress people clearly more fit than me).

(Cruel Aussie): Oh, by the way, its a 49 meter pool, ya-know, because if it were 1 meter longer, they'd have to let the public in (and have a lifeguard, that might save your skinny neck when you inevitably begin to gag on super-brominated water)

(Naive Yank): Uh, how far is a meter?

(Cruel Aussie): Don't sweat it mate...no worries...she'll be right (blah, blah)

I'll spare you the details on the rest, but the only good part is that the pool was heated, which made it a nice place to float on my back after two laps, while I frantically sucked air into my screaming lungs, and then crawled across 4 lanes, the wrong way, (including one occupied by some grandmother with a mask and snorkel who'd already swum 47 laps)...and climbed up the kiddie ladder to safety!

Rule number # when it comes to Aussie Fitness: Don't swim with them!

The craziest story ever!

On Wednesday our cleaning lady (we have a cleaning lady...yipeee!) was due to come at 12:30. When she showed up, she introduced herself as Caron and we started to talk. She asked me where I was from and said that she had been to the States several years ago. She had been to New York(?) and Cape Cod(!). I asked her where she'd been on the Cape and she couldn't really remember except that it was very beautiful. I asked her what she had been doing on the Cape and she said that she was a pyrotechnics performer and was at some festival. I said that my stepfather was a juggler on the Cape. Then I asked her if she had maybe been in Hyannis or Mashpee or Falmouth and this triggered her memory that she had been at the Mashpee Street Performers Festival and stayed with a guy named Allan and his wife. Allan (my stepfather) is the organizer of this festival and it was my mom and Allan's house that she had stayed at back in 2001!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here is this woman on the other side of the world, who comes into "my" house to clean (just happens to be our landlord's cleaning lady), and it turns out that SHE has slept in the house where I grew up and knows my family. I still cannot believe this. As soon as I spoke to Allan and mentioned the pyrotechnics part he remembered the name of the group that she used to be a part of. Coincidence? No way!

Later that afternoon we went for tea at our neighbors down the street and had a great time. They have a trampoline (I think everyone here has one) and a zip line. Lindy and her husband, Joe, gave us lots of ideas for things to do around here and trips to make. Joe is an animal enviromental guy and does a lot of education things for kids and said he'd take us on a night walk to check out the nocturnal life here. Lindy used to be the "bus driver" for the walking school bus, but it currently doesn't exist anymore as no-one is stepping up to do it and she just went back to work full time. The next morning we actually "picked up" her girls and they walked to school with us.

Yesterday/Thursday, Amelie got an invite to play at Rebekah's house and we are invited over for tea this afternoon. Like I said, people are so warm and friendly here and have helped to make the adjustment so much smoother. Tonight we're going into Fremantle to get Anna's :) birthday present at the market and have dinner. Tomorrow we're all taking the bus into Perth to check out the sights.

After this post, we will probably give you a weekly update instead of boring you with the day to day details.

posted by Marileen

Settling into life

I am determined to get this blog caught up. Monday, August 31st was Ella's birthday. I'd been able to find some birthday banners the day before that we could hang up for when she woke up. We started the morning with tea, rusks and strawberries. A family tradition that we have carried on from my Dad. The kids did tons of bouncing on the trampoline.

At 1:00pm we had a date to go meet the principal, Lisa, at Richmond Primary School. We walked to school, a 17 minute walk. We always need to stop a lot because Amelie gets very "itchy". I don't know what happens to her, but her ankles, hips, face, nose, etc... all start to itch when she has either has to walk long distances or get her hair brushed...hmmmm? Anyway, Lisa was very warm and kind. She showed us all around the school. The school has kindy (preschool) all the way through year 8. The classrooms are in a U-shape with all the doors going outside to a central grassy area with tables. There are 2 classes for each grade. Amelie is in year 1 with Mrs. Cuthbert who seems very nice. Her regular teacher, Mrs. O'Niel, has been out for the past 8 weeks with a broken knee. The kids had made her a welcome card, which they all signed, and have been studying the USA anticipating her arrival. Amelie scoped out a girl with "curly hair who seemed really nice." She decided she wanted to be friends with her. Next we went to Ella's class. She has Mrs. Weston (last year Ella had Mrs. Westkott!) who is a very nice, fun lady. They also made Ella a welcome card and have been studying Narragansett. They had a printout picture of the coast guard house and tower on their white board! Then they all sang Happy Birthday to Ella. Yes, I got tears in my eyes, being the sentimentalist that I am. Liam had also brought in a birthday card for Ella. All so incredible. There are 4 kids in Ella's class that live on the same street as us.

We came home and had cheesecake (Ella's request). The kids jumped a lot more on the tramp and then we (they) had steak for dinner (also Ella's request). By the end of the day, the kids could barely move anymore from all the jumping.

The next morning (Tuesday) was the first day of school, which was kind of ironic as Narragansett was also starting on Tuesday. At all public schools here the children wear uniforms. Richmonds uniform is a goldenrod colored polo shirt and some sort of navy blue on the lower half, whether it be leggings, jazz pants (yoga), sweats, shorts, skorts or skirt. It makes mornings really easy not to have to think about clothes! We left the house at 8:15 and school runs from 8:45-3:00. They were very excited and had no trouble staying at school.

Pieter and I went home and had a low-key day and were back to pick them up at 3:00. We got an invite to tea for the next day from a girl named Samantha from Ella's class. They live 7 doors down from us.

Rob also started work this day and had a good day getting settled there and is excited about his new job.

Sunday, August 30th

We woke up after a good night's sleep and had a great breakfast. Then we got ready and walked to East Fremantle Baptist Church, which is a 7 minute walk away. Their service starts at 10:00, which was very doable. It's a small church with people of all ages, but primarily they are in their 30s and 40s. Andrew started a series on Song of Songs that day. He did a great job with it and it was funny to watch the teenagers twisted faces during some of the things he said. Andrew is a great, engaging and practical preacher, while sticking to biblical truths. Very cool. We sang a bunch of contemporary songs and then the young kids went to Sunday School. Ella didn't want to leave at the end because she was having too much fun playing soccer with Liam and all the other kids.

Rob dropped Ella and me off in Fremantle to do some shopping for Ella's birthday, food shopping and to buy Pieter something other than pink sheets. Not the best town for shopping. Ella decided that Australia has bad toy stores, but I think it was because a lot of places were closed on Sunday. We had a fun time, never the less, and decided that she would get 2x the amount of presents next year.

Have we mentioned what a great kid Ella has been? She was very isolated and confined to the Mushen household prior to us leaving the USA with all the "sickness" that was going around. She barely got to see her two best friends at home, Anna and Sidney, and we were leaving for a year! But somehow she just got it and NEVER complained. In Sydney she just rolled with everything and walked EVERYWHERE and now it's her birthday tomorrow, we got her one present and we are her party. She didn't mind! I love this age.

Sydney to Perth and Oakover St.

On Saturday, August 29th, our Virgin Blue flight was due to leave at 12:10 pm. We got to the airport and checked in our bags. Mine was way overweight (surprise, surprise) and we had to pay $190.00 (australian) for the few extra pounds. Yikes! Anyway, going through security they don't make you get rid of your liquids...yay! You might think that would scare some of you for security reasons, but it was here in Sydney that someone finally detected Ella's blunt scissors that she used for crafting on the airplane. Boston and San Fran hadn't noticed them. When we got on the plane, the flight attendant (Angela) said "Hi Ella, Amelie, Pieter, Marileen and Rob. Once the service is over, during the flight, I will paint your faces if you like." Apparently, they do that so that they don't sit in the back and "stuff their faces." Ella had hers painted as a tasmanian devil (of course), Ams got flowers, and Pieter was a teenage mutant ninja turtle. It was a 6 hour smooth flight.

When we landed in Perth, Rob went to get his permanent rental car. It turned out to be the only electric blue Ford in the lot. It was horrendous. He went back in and got a light grey Toyota Tarago (minivan), kind of like back home. Andrew, the pastor of our new church, and his son, Liam, also came to pick us up... all the 6,000 bags, I mean. It turns out that Ella is in Liam's class and the girls and he hit it off right away.

We stopped by Andrew's house. His wife, Janelle, made us a lasagna and had bought us all kinds of food. When we got to our house, Mike and Jenny Deeks (friends that Rob had met at church) had also left us a bag of food! Mike and Jenny showed up a few minutes later to welcome us. Then our neighbor, Sara, aka "Mrs. Doubtfire", brought us a fruitcake. We felt so welcomed and blessed right away.

It's cold here right now (58-62 degrees). We were freezing when we arrived. They don't do home heating well here. There's a large heater in the family/kitchen/dining room, but that is completely separate from the rest of the house. The kids beds all had flannel (Pieter slept in pink gingham - we had to fix that quickly), but Rob and I had freezing cold cotton. We seriously considered taking a blow dryer to the bed...Mia style.

Our home is a long ranch with 12 foot high ceilings. It's 80 years old with lots of character. It has 3 bedrooms, 1 large office, master bath, toilet room, bathroom, mudroom and then the above mentioned living area. Amelie and Pieter are sharing a room which is working out very well. Outside we have an in ground pool, in ground trampoline, big wooden play house, monkey bars, swings, see-saw (wip-wap), balance beam, and deck. We are hooked up. I don't think the kids will ever want to leave here.

A day at the Taronga Zoo

Sorry that we have been out of touch for so long. We're going to do some catching up of what we've experienced over the past week. I can't believe all this has happened in just a week. We forgot to share our fun day at The Taronga Zoo with you all. Last Thursday we took the ferry over to the Zoo, a 7 minute ride. Once off the ferry we hopped on a gondola and rode OVER the zoo. We got to see a 2 month old baby elephant from up there. Rob thought it would be fun for the kids (and us) to do a 90 minute private tour of the Australian Animals with special guides. Our guides were 2 woman who brought us back into all these areas that were strictly for "Gold VIP" tours. We got up close to koalas (their policy was no petting) and to pet snakes, lizards, kangaroos, an emu, a possum, and a wallaby. It was amazing. Ella finally got to see her tasmanian devil, that she'd been dying to see. The platypus, however, was playing hard to get and would not show his little fury, egg laying self. We stayed at the zoo until it closed and took the ferry back with the sun setting behind the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

posted by Marileen