The next day we went to the Powerhouse Museum where they had an exhibit of Lord of the Rings props and costumes. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed but we saw the costumes of most of the important players, including their swords and props. We saw scale models of some of the sets, and framed drawings from the conceptual artists.
The rest of the museum focused on innovative science, technology, and design. One of our favorite exhibits was about conservation, from which we learned that our westernized lifestyles are extremely wasteful. There are so many options to help us become more self sufficient and consume less such as recycling, half-flush toilets, solar energy, wind energy, and recaptured water to name a few. We hope to implement some of these systems in the future considering our area of Texas is badly in need of conserving water, and in general we all consume too much.
Our next stop was the aquarium where I have to say the best parts were the shark tanks and the coral reef aquarium. There is so much beauty hiding beneath the oceans and these experiences allow you to walk beside, above, and below all the life we rarely witness.
Sharks
Hitchin' a Ride
A Close Look
Reef Aquarium
For St. Patricks day, we went to a pub and had a steak and some beer as we played trivia. I don’t even think Walter (my brother the trivia king) could have pulled us out of that trivia hole...it was highly biased for Europeans. We started off good naming all ten of the celebrities partially pictured, missing only one (they wanted Sporty Spice’s real name). And it went slowly down hill from there...name the body temp (Celsius of course), name these pictured logos (only 3 or 4 were American), and an assortment of rugby questions that I can’t even remember. Needless to say, team Noguess had no clue and came in last place.
The next day, we contacted our next hospitality hosts John and Karen Hall and found out that we were in for a weekend trip to the blue mountains. They took us to a huge produce market that had all kinds of fruits and vegetables that seemed to stretch for miles. When we reached the blue mountains, we went to some botanical gardens and learned a bit about the local flora and fauna. Later that night we arrived at their families home where we had a close encounter with alpacas and saw some kangaroos in the wild.
John and Karen at the Three Sisters
After a good nights rest John’s brother Tony brought us fresh, delicious fruit muffins and then dropped us off at a trail head for a three hour bush walk. We walked down step after step passing by waterfalls and breathing in the wonderful eucalyptus trees that surrounded us. We stopped for lunch in the most beautiful picnic spot in the world where two waterfalls converged into another beneath, and bold cliff faces wrapped around, embracing us in a huge bear hug. We hugged the cliff face back as we descended into a valley and proceeded around the mountains and up some incredibly steep stairs. Overall is was an exhilarating experience.
Our Lunch Spot
Behind the Waterfall
The Stairs Go On Forever
On the way back to Sydney we got to cuddle some cute puppies that John and Karen had bought while we were on our bush walk. We shared another wonderful meal and we had a great night’s rest to prepare us for our trip the next day to Bangkok, Thailand. But before we left, I had to get one last look at an art museum.
One Of My Favorites
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