Sydney, Anna Bay, Katoomba

More airports!

Our airbnb in Sydney was a super cute old building, just a short walk to Coogee beach!

Headed to the Opera House!

Hello, tiny family.

James and the Giant Peach in the children's theater!

Exploring in the Royal Botanical Gardens.

Josh couldn't resisted some tree climbing himself.

Australian white ibis enjoying his view.

Went to one of the wildlife parks and got to see this cutie up close-he is 18 months old, and while most of the time you will see koalas just sleeping, he was eating up a storm!

This is his mama taking a nap-she has a tiny joey in her pouch, only a few months old.

More of the young guy.

Kangaroo feeding!

Look at those long legs.

There was also a little joey in this mama's pouch-we did see a tail and a leg, but no face.

Just walking around, strutting his stuff...

We then headed up towards Newcastle, and stopped a chocolate factory and had high tea.

YUM!

So many goodies.

Next stop was Anna Bay-we stayed at a holiday park that had a bouncy pillow, as well as a pool-they girls all tried the pool but almost immediately came out, then to the hot tub, which, per report, was only slightly warmer than the cold pool.

The holiday park was right on One Mile beach.

Gorgeous spot, with giant waves!

Swimsuits and sweatshirts is where it's at! It is winter in Australia, so temps have been in the 50s.

Playing on the beach before heading to the pool.

Cold pool!

Rainbow lorikeet-so fun to see crazy colorful birds in the wild.

Went to the Tilligerry Habitat (a nearby area that does have a wild koala population) to see if we could spot any-but Steve here was our only koala that day.

Kookaburra!

Lots of fun climbing to be had.

And seriously, the most picturesque little swing.

Magda and Lu did a lot of dancing down the trail, they are getting quite good.

And more tree climbing-in the horizontal version!

Galah, aka rose breasted cockatoo-so many pretty birds.

Headed up/over to Katoomba in the the Blue Mountains-driving through the Wollemi National Park, which was gorgeous and apparently is a great drive for motorcycles-so many! We stopped at a great cafe for lunch-lu's hotdog turned out to be two dogs in one bun, times two. Turns out she didn't finish it. :)

Had some fun looking for souvenirs, trying on turtle masks, and hats-too bad we can't fit them in the luggage, the girls look pretty great in the hats!

So cute!

Sulfur breasted cockatoo, just chillin' in town.

Jumpy park-a hit for all of the children.

Such a view from the airbnb.

A stop at the Three Sisters, overlooking the Jamison Valley. Though I feel like one could argue for a 4th, much smaller sister...

The legend goes that the three sisters, Wimalah, Meeni, and Gunedoo, lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe. They fell in love with three men from the neighbouring Nepean tribe, but marriage was forbidden by tribal law. The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so decided to capture the three sisters. A major tribal battle ensued, and the sisters were turned to stone by an elder to protect them, but he was killed in the fighting and no one else could turn them back. So stone they stay.

Yes, it was chilly.

Four sisters and a Josh at Three Sisters!

Then we headed back to Sydney for a flight to Bangkok in the morning. Can't wait for some sun!