Dad and Karen "Down Under"

You know you are a long ways away from home when it takes people 30 days to cruise to see you! That is what my dad, Bill, and his wife, Karen, did. They boarded the Sun Princess in Seattle, Washington, and cruised all the way to Sydney, Australia, via many ports of call. They arrived on October 24th. Kyle and I drove to Sydney to pick them up. It was an emotional greeting as I knew it was a trip of a lifetime that they came on to see us.

Our 6 days together went fast. The first night, we served them a traditional Aussie dinner. Mike put snags (sausage) on the barbie. Actually an Aussie bbq has a variety of meats unlike at home where we would serve one type of meat. We had enough meat to last their entire visit! Mariah is holding the pavlova we made for dessert.

We took them to the touristy Koala Park so they could pet a koala and feed a kangaroo. You can't visit Australia without seeing a koala and a roo. We toured the wonderful town of Port Macquarie and saw Lighthouse Beach. On the way home we stopped at a traditional old pub for an Australian beer. It overlooked the river and the big white pelicans.

The next night we had a sundowner (drink) and nibbles (snacks) with our Aussie friends. This was a nice highlight of their time with us. We had many giggles (and drinks) as we learned new Aussie words and phrases. Our embarrassing moment came when we tried to sing our national anthem and couldn't remember the words. They put us to shame when they were on their feet singing their anthem perfectly.

We showed them all around Old Bar. We spent two half days relaxing at the beach. They got to watch Kyle surf. They also saw Mariah and Jakob play touch footy. One night we went to the bowling club for a drink. Maybe my dad had two. Remember, Aussie beer is stronger than ours.

When it was time to go, Mike drove them to the train station in Taree. The train took them to Sydney where they stayed a few days before flying back to the U.S.A. We were glad that they could be a part of our adventure "Down Under".