Danley Family Travels

We got up very early again, and we made our way to the train station in Berry and took the train to the airport in Sydney. We had to change trains in Wollongong from the little 2-car diesel train to the bigger electric city train. We were able to get an earlier flight to Melbourne, so we got there an hour and half earlier--that was nice!

After we got to our hotel and rested a bit, we went to a store to get groceries. The store was in an underground mall-- that was pretty sweet. Ted stayed behind and sun tanned on the outside terrace. Then we hung out and watched some T.V, and got ready to go to dinner.

Our hotel was near Chinatown, so we decided to have Chinese for dinner. We found a great little restaurant that looked like it was a local favorite. It was really good. After dinner, we decided to wander around the streets. We found lots of shops and people. We ended up at Flinders Station, the biggest train station in Melbourne. After that, we headed back to the hotel. We were exhausted!

Tuesday the 9th, we got up and had breakfast then got ready to go to town. Ron took us to Berry,which is ten minutes away from their house.

On the way there we saw sheep farms, wineries, buffaloes,and horses. The roads were winding, and the speed limit was about 80-100 km.

The town of Berry is a very cute, and they are very proud of their gardens (yards). As we got into the town we saw the very busy main road, where the trucks were zooming past us. First we went to go find something to eat, we found a bakery and we asked them what exactly a meat pie was and they said that it was meat in a pie crust. We ate in the back room and they were amazing.

There were many little shops, mom and I went to go look for hats. While Ted and Dad found the surf shop and the local pub.
We wandered around town and then when we were done shopping we went to a park and waited for Ron to pick us up.

On the way back we stopped at the local Treat shop and got some chocolate and other treats.

Robyn and Ron live on the Shoalhaven River and have a beautiful home and guest house. We are so fortunate to have this wonderful place to stay while we recover from our jet lag! We have beautiful pictures and will post as soon as possible.

The flight over was non-eventful, but very long! I think that we all slept for most of the time; Ted and Amanda kept themselves busy with their i-Pods, movies, and reading. There was a time during the last bit that I wished that we had those beds that are in first class, but it really wasn't bad!

You could keep track of the flight via the video screens. They had all of the information on there with a map, and the statistics; speed, altitude, outside air temperature, time of arrival, and time to destination.

Oh my! We have a backlog of posts to do! After the telecommunications system crashed for 1/2 of the country of Australia, we are finally back online! No kidding.

Where do we start...

We arrived at Sydney airport at around 9:30 on Sunday morning. I think we were all dazed and confused, but there was Robyn, Ron and Yves there to meet us!

We piled into two cars (thanks so much Ron and Robyn) and headed off to Shoalhaven Heads, NSW. Ron and Robyn live about 2 hours from Sydney in a very beautiful part of the country. It is rolling hills right next to the Pacific Ocean.

On the way, we stopped for coffee at a park and there was a big white bird (cockatoo) above us in a tree. We only see those types of birds at home in cages. They fly free in Australia!

I wish that we could show you the pictures we took, but I'm still having problems downloading. As soon as I can, I will get them posted.

The alarm rang early this morning and we headed off to the airport at 4:15 a.m.! After a harrowing drive in following a crazed UPS driver, we arrived safely! The flight to LAX was uneventful--I think we all were asleep before the plane pushed back from the gate!

After we landed in LAX we picked up the rental car and headed off to see the sights! We drove to the Hollywood Hills to see the sign and took a walk on a trail that overlooked the valley. It was a semi-clear day with the temperature hovering around 72 degrees. We took a quick tour of the area and saw the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Grauman's (sp) Chinese Theater, Sunset Blvd, Wiltshire Blvd and then headed west to Santa Monica.

Our theory was to keep everyone moving, so we took a walk from the Santa Monica Pier down to Venice Beach, always a very interesting place.

We're now holed up at a Starbucks on the 3rd Street Promenade charging the camera and thought we would post some of our thoughts and pictures. It's 6:30 p.m. and it seems like 3 a.m. Can't..type..anymore.... More later when I can see straight!