The Forrest's Go Down Under

Wow. Ok, it has been far too long since I have updated so this one may be pretty hefty.
Where to start...
On Dec 17th I met my parents in Melbourne to begin the month and a half on travel which has now turned into random chaos!
I spent two weeks travelling with Maureen and Doug all over Victoria driving the Great Ocean Road up to Sydney.
The Great Ocean Road is phenomenal (or so I have heard). After three days of driving along, I am pretty sure that we watched as Australia shot right through the drought. We couldn't see a thing and the weather was pretty meak, but at least the windshield wipers got put to good use!
After the Great Ocean Road the weather started to pick up (sort of) and we headed over to Phillip Island to watch a Penguin Parade...it was UNREAL! 12oo of the smallest penguins in the world made their way up to shore to rekindle their love with their partners...they mate very similarly to humans (so they are somewhat monogamous!!).
After that we also headed to a Koala Sanctuary which was awesome because you got to see Koalas within feet of you. It really made our extended drive to the island seem somewhat mundane since we had taxed on at least another hour to the trip to stop for wild koala sitings every couple of yards. However, as my Mum would say, it was great to see them actually "in the wild", which is true. Although the sanctuary was awesome, it sort of felt like we were cheating a bit!
Our trek continued North up to Lakes Entrance where we spent Christmas and Boxing Day. At risk of sounding too cliche, I will mention, but very subtly, that we actually did "throw some shrimp on the barbie" for a Christmas dinner. In my new found Vegetarianism, I refused to eat the roast Kangaroo that my parents assured me was "fantastic". I had seen enough lying dead on the road to be completely turned off by the idea of actually eating one.

Christmas Day was fun...different...but fun. You never realize how symbolic snow can be at Christmas time until is just isn't there anymore. Although, Santa must have put wheels onto his sleigh or something, because he definitely dropped off a couple of new bikinis which I am most thankful for! The rest of Christmas Day consisted of my Dad and I teaching my Mum how to play Frisbee on the beach...let me just say...it is still a work in progress!

Boxing Day was unreal too. We rented a little putt putt boat and took to the lakes for a little journey which turned out to be much more than we hoped for. After cruising around the lakes for a while we noticed that our boat was surrounded by a pod of six dolphins! We followed them for quite some time as they played around us in the water...it was really amazing.

After Lake's Entrance we headed further north to Wollongong (an awesome little city with an unreal beach front). We stayed there for a few nights and enjoyed tons of Barramundi (a new obsession of Maureen's). There are heaps of people that skydive in Wollongong so we were witness to heaps of landings as we tanned at the beach...may me miss Queenstown, that's for sure!

We also saw the Tien Temple in Wollongong, which is the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. The place was spectacular with amazing carvings, sculptures, and aura. I could have spent years in there, and it really made me question my own religion and values. The Buddhists definitely have life and how to live it figured out, that's for sure.

After a relaxing time in Wollongong, the journey to Sydney had us all a little frazzled. We found our accommodation--which can be described in completely different ways depending on what Forrest you ask! Personally I was not opposed to the very hostel like "Strand Hotel", and I thought the bullet holes, dusty ceiling fans, and muggy smell were all just a nice accent (so nice in fact that i went back for seconds!). Although it was a little dated, the Strand offered us the ideal location from which to start our days. It was really close to the city centre and made it easy for us to get from place to place.

We spent the next couple days in Sydney travelling around and seeing the sights. The Harbour Bridge, Opera House and Manley Beach all blew my mind. Sydney is a happening place with heaps to see and do however nothing could compare to the New Years Eve fireworks over the Harbour Bridge. I have never seen anything like it. At one point there were 10 sections of fire works all going off surrounding us completely....it was fantastic, and perhaps so much so that words just don't quite do it justice.

After New Years we needed a getaway from Sydney so my parents and I headed to the Blue Mountains. There we were able to hike through the Jenolan Caves and see a couple of really awesome lookouts (Hussains was an unreal view of the valley).

After heaps of travelling it was time to go back to Sydney and meet Katy and Joel and bid farewell to the folks. It was super sad to see my parents go, but comforting knowing that i had the chance to be able to have a trip of a lifetime with them!

Note: Pictures to come.