We got to the ferry just in time for the next launching to Watson's Bay. On the ferry ride we got excellent views of the Harbor Bridge and the Sydney Opera House.

We did lunch at Doyles Fisherman's Wharf along with all the other tourists. The fish and chips was a little soggy. I think Nena and Marilou were more impressed with their order.

After lunch we took a short walk to the Gap Bluff trail of the Sydney Harbor National Park. Here we had really good views of the Watson Bay shoreline. We returned through the park and then returned on the ferry.

From there we took an uber to St. Mary's Cathedral. Did a quick look inside because they were seating people for a special Mass. Then we walked across the street through a park area with an interesting fountain.

From there we took a taxi to the central business district near our hotel to see the the Queen Victoria Building. It is a heritage-listed late-19th-century building that was constructed between 1893 and 1898. The building fills a city block bounded by George, Market, York, and Druitt Streets. Designed as a marketplace, it is now a shopping center.

Inside there were plenty of stores. Near the center is a huge clock designed by Christopher C. Cook that was apparently added around 2009.

At the lower floor we stopped on our way out for some pictures of the huge Christmas Tree. Then the girls had to try the chocolate selections at Haigh's Chocolates. Apparently, it is a well-known source of chocolate gifts. They pretended to purchase some gifts there.

I knew we weren't very far from the hotel since I walked that vicinity earlier, but knew it was up a steep hill. Neni knew an easier way back that Marilou would be able to navigate. She took us to an entrance to a metro station. Once inside we took escalators and eventually ended up at the station exit on the block of the hotel. Wala.

She then showed us some sheep. They have daily demonstrations of sheering sheep. Then to a penned in area housing several kangaroos and emus as well as other freeloaders.

We were then supposed to go to the Blue Mountains for a two-hour hike. When the tour company read Marilou's health assessment of herself, they suggested we do an alternate tour that included a drive with pull-offs to view the mountains, so that's what we did.

At the first stop we could see a smoky shade in the distance which the guide said was from the oil of the trees similar to the smoke impact of the smoky mountains in Tennessee.

At Echo Point Lookout see saw the Three Sisters Rock formation. I don't think the three sisters view lived up to expectations.

At Govett's Leap we could see a waterfall that drops 180m off the side of the cliff. We were given sandwiches here for lunch while the young couple hiked down to the falls.

Lastly we visited the Mt Tomah Botanic Garden. We were given an hour to meander through the gardens before we started our return ride to Sydney. We found a trail of signs noting the historical persons involved in botany and the introduction of various oriental plants to European gardens.

Saturday, Dec 14^th

Today Neni met us after breakfast for lunch with her family. First, we went to The Wildlife Sydney where we viewed native species of Australia. While there we met one of her daughters and husband.

From there we took taxi to the Malaya Restaurant. We waited outside for the rest of the group to arrive before they led us to our room. I think there were 11 of us in total. We had a huge selection of foods to choose from. I think they ordered the "Signature Banquet". I didn't think to take a picture of the set-up, but thought I got group picture outside when we finished eating.

Leaving the restaurant, we headed to the Sydney Opera House to get closer views of the building. On the way we stopped at a vegetable market in Market City. I think Marilou was looking for a certain fruit. I think we took the rail system from the market to the Opera House.

We then crossed the street to the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. There were plenty of interesting flowers and trees in the park.

Leaving the park, Nemi, brought us to the Rivareno Gelato Store. It was packed. I guess it's a go to place. We got Gelato cones and ate on a table outside. I think we were at Shop 4, 33 Barangaroo Avenue, Barangaroo, Sydney.

We were now close to the area I originally walked to on my first day in Sydney, trying to find a place to convert money. She knew how to enter a building and took us to the top for another view of the city. She then asked if we wanted to take a taxi back to the hotel or walk. I knew it wasn't that far, but it was all up hill. She knew a trick. We went to a nearby rail station and we took escalators up to the station entrance next to the hotel.

Sunday, Dec 15^th

We were able to eat the morning breakfast and check out early for our ride to the domestic airport provided by Audley Travel.

Our Jetstar flight was a 1 hour 20-minute flight from 9:10 to 9:30 am because they are an hour different in time. The checking in was easy. We just showed the reference number from our itinerary and everything else fell in place. Upon arriving at the Gold Coast airport, we got an Avis rental car and started an interesting/complicated drive to O'Reilly's Rainforest Guesthouse in the Lamington National Park. Driving on the wrong side of the road was additionally complicated by the narrow roads included on the route. The final miles in the park were very steep. At numerous places it was one lane and often made 270 degree turns.

We checked in at O'reilly's main desk then went to the room to settle in. Marilou had to check out their store. We needed an adapter to their 3-prong outlets. On the way we saw the feeding of the birds that you can buy seed to do at the store. We got sandwiches for our lunch. They didn't have any adapters in the store.

Later we had dinner at their main dining room. I got the lamb rump whereas Marilou got a steak fillet. Australian prices seem high until you remember that their dollar is really only 60 cents. Marilou was able to borrow an adapter from the main desk guy.

Monday, Dec 16^th

In spite of it raining pretty steady I decided to do the Tree Top and Mountain Garden Walk that starts near the main O'Reilly's building. I had a water resistant poncho. The rain was strange: it would be sunny for about 10 minutes, then drizzle for about 10 minutes, then pour down rain for the next 10 minutes, then repeat.

Near the entrance to the walk, I saw a brush turkey and later on the walk I saw the rare Albert's lyrebird, as well as additional turkeys. Along the trail leading to the elevated part were many informational signs about the wildlife and trees along the path.

Leaving the elevated walkway I soon reached the entrance to the Green Mountains Gardens. Within the gardens I found a plaque on a large stone marking the spot where the plane wreck was found for the Stinson Air Disaster of 1937. I wasn't aware of the events there but figured that was why the airplane display was near the entrance to the resort. When I got back to O'Reilly's I looked closer at the plane display and read about the events.

I think we ate leftovers from last night for lunch. We were visited by some of the red birds that wanted us to share with them.

The intermittent rain continued, but I convinced Marilou to try the Elabana Falls hike. I asked the concierge about driving down to the picnic area to start the hike in order to avoid the elevation changes involved in the hike. He convinced us to start at the end of the parking lot and following the trail from there. So that's what we did.

As we progressed down the hill, I kept thinking we're going to have to climb back up eventually. With the rain continuing we had to be careful on the trail. Lots of good views of the various tree formations.

The view of the falls was spectacular so we stayed there for a while. Decided to try the path back to the picnic area for our return trip. Like the dude said it wasn't as well marked/maintained and we had to be careful crossing the water flows on the way.

Since I didn't park the car down there, we still had to go up the hill, but at least it was on a roadway. Not a well maintained roadway, but somewhat paved.

Back at the room we were visited by several different species of birds. We tried out the hot tub. Later we went back to the Main Dining room. Grilled pork fillet and garlic shrimp each cost $52. That's Australian dollars, but our total was still $85 US.

Tuesday, Dec 17^th

Today we need to do the drive several hours back through Brisbane then continuing to the Glasshouse Mountains National Park. If I had planned a little better, we could have left early and spent some time in the coastal towns. Instead, we were entertained by some birds in the morning, before checking out and starting the drive. Marilou did the bird feeding exercise but used crumbs from our leftovers to feed the birds.

We then repeated the windy trip back down the mountain, through Brisbane and further north to The Glass House Mountains National Park. We stopped for lunch at the Glass House Cafe before finding the entrance to the Glass on Glasshouse cabins. We had to call a phone number to get the combination for the gate. A lady met us at the parking spot and gave us the key to the cabin. We found out the buildings are called glass house because all the walls are glass. The inside walls offered little privacy too. Looks like the design is for honeymooners not acquaintances/friends.

After stowing our luggage, I started taking some photos of the mountains. Since it kept repeating drizzling, raining, then sunshining in intervals of about 15 minutes. I got several differing shot views.

When the sun was out, I walked back along the entrance road to take some pictures of the kangaroos that were browsing down the hill along the way in. I also got photos of several different types of birds.

There was a Lookout a little further down the road. So, when the weather appeared to clear up we set out there. I stopped a few times along the road out to show Marilou the Kangaroos.

At the lookout were signs that named the various peaks, a fire watch tower and a walking trail. When we started down the walking trail, we disturbed a kangaroo that was foraging next to the path.

We were gifted with a rainbow, but my camera wasn't so good at capturing the colors.

Wednesday, Dec 18^th

Today the plan was to eat breakfast at the Lookout Cafe then look for Beerburrum for an easy hike. On the road out we again got some photos of kangaroos and flora.

Unfortunately, at 7:30 am the cafe was still closed and it didn't look like anyone was even getting ready to fire up the ovens so we decided to continue to Beerburrum and find breakfast there. Somewhere we zigged when we should have zagged, but we found a McDonalds for breakfast and some other customers there who were able to program Marilou's phone for our destination.

When we reached the entrance to Beerburrum we decided to do the Soldier Settlers' trail. Not too far along was the Beerburrum Cemetery which has some interesting headstones. Further along the trail were interesting looking trees, but the trail had several water crossings from all the rain that made continuing to walk it difficult. Eventually we decided to return to the glasshouse.

In spite of the pouring rain, we decided to find a restaurant to eat dinner at. The best we could google was the Glasshouse Tavern. In spite of using the navigation system it wasn't that easy to get to. We eventually parked across the street in a mall and ran through the rain to get there. It was different in that we were seated with a menu and told to place our order for food at one bar and for drinks at another. No real waitressing involved. We got our chardonnays and I ordered the smoked lamb shank. Both were good.

Thursday, Dec 19^th
Today we had to catch a 9:50 flight to Bali Ngurah Airport and it was an hour and a half drive, so we got an early start packing the bags. It was raining pretty hard so I put the ponchos on the couch so that we could wear them out. When I took the luggage to the car it had stopped raining and I forgot the ponchos there. I had the normal problem getting the door to lock, but finally was successful and left the key at the parking slot.

We found the airport ok, but struggled finding the rental return area. Marilou eventually called them and got help. We still took the wrong exit on the round-about, but eventually found the place. There were no Avis people there and I found out I had to return the key inside the airport.

While halfway through the security process, I realized I left my jacket in the car and my phone was in it. I ran back to the lot and got my jacket and phone, then returned to Marilou in the line to the x-ray phase.

We got breakfast there and caught the Virgin Australia flight that got us to Bali around 2:30 in the afternoon. That concluded the Audley Portion of this vacation.