Roadtrip: Gladstone to Sydney (Day 6-7)

Roadtrip: Gladstone to Sydney
It's about a 20 hour drive from Gladstone all the way down to Sydney, so we had to take quite a few pictures from the road. Eastern Australia is absolutely beautiful. The eucalyptus trees grow right up next to the road and are really pretty. 

Natalie's first time driving on the right side of the car.

A lot of places in Australia are named after Aborigine words, so their signs are often very odd.

Everything in Australia is expensive, except for McDonald's ice cream. $0.30!

Driving to Sydney. (Still)

Goofy looking tree. 

810 KM to Sydney (only about 500 miles, with road work every 5)

The road to Sydney felt a lot like the Pacific Coast Highway in California. Except there were signs that said "Give Way" instead of yield, and the ocean was on the wrong side. 

Watch out for Kangaroos!

Koala Monitoring.

Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia (Morning Day 8)

Taronga Zoo

I apologize for all the pictures but we really enjoyed this zoo. Definitely one of the highlights of our time in Sydney. There were big exhibits were you were in the pens with the animals, and  I've never seen more active animals in a zoo. 

First Koala Sighting

Koalas look like living stuffed animals. So stinking cute!

Hello!

This was a VERY friendly Wallaby that we suddenly found ourselves in a cage with. When we started taking pictures, he was about 10 feet away. Natalie had to move back because he kept coming closer and closer, we thought we were going to get attacked!

Hey guys, whatcha doin'?

Sydney Skyline from the Zoo

Check out the opera house. Such a pretty view!

Tazmanian Devil

KANGAROOS!!!!

This is a kangaroo doing what kangaroos do. Apparently they sleep a ton, and when they're not sleeping, they're laying down. Lazy bums. 

Mid hop!

EMU

Can you believe they let this guy just walk around? He looks like he could do some serious damage!

Wombat. A lot of the Australian wildlife look like enormous rodents. Especially these guys (ROUSes anyone?).  

 Quokka, kinda like a wallaby.

Koalas!!
For the low low price of $17.95 you can get your picture taken next to a koala, but you're not allowed to touch them, so what's the point? We figured this was close enough.

If this video will ever load, it's of a koala moving from one tree to another. Which we were lucky to see because these guys sleep even more than kangaroos.

 

Echidna 

Penguins

Pretty, Big, Fish

Lots of Pretty, Big, Fish

Elephants

Bird Show: Condor

The End

Sydney, Australia (Day 7-9)

Sydney, Australia (Days 8-10, Taronga Zoo on Day 9)

We wrapped up our trip in Sydney, and how can you go to Sydney and not go to the Opera House?

Harbor Bridge right before the show. 

Driving on the Harbor Bridge. There are quite a few toll roads in Australia (especially around Sydney), and we asked for an e-pass which automatically pays the tolls for you... but we're pretty sure they didn't give us one. Oops. Oh well, we tried!

Sydney Opera House

Inside the theater seeing the Ballet: Onegin

Leaving Sydney...

The guy behind me is pretty excited to be leaving too. 

Window seat: The only way to travel! The flights weren't that bad, we slept most of the way to Australia, Natalie didn't sleep as well on the way back, but I didn't have any problems. The hardest thing was getting used to the time difference, which means we went to bed at around 8:00 every night and got up way too early.