Late last year my parents came to Australia for a visit of one month. This was their first, but hopefully not last, visit. Understandably they were not looking forward to the 20+ hour flight but, upon arrival in Sydney, they admitted they actually enjoyed it.
Shortly after they arrived we travelled to Canberra's 'Floriade' with Bob and Rie Natalenko.
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| Thousands of tulips at Floriade |
Whilst in Canberra we visited Parliament House. Below is a picture of Mum, Dad, Rie and Bob inside Parliament.
We visited Black Mountain and went to the viewing platform of the
Telstra Tower. Mum and Dad are standing in front of a model of the
tower in the reception area.
Here's a few pictures of Mum and Dad during their stay in Sydney
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| The Opera House and Harbour Bridge |
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| Chinese Gardens, Sydney |
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| Chnging the points on the Zig Zag Railway, Lithgow |
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| Zig Zag Railway, Lithgow |
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| Featherdale Wildlife Park |
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| Ded feeding a Wallaby | |
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New Zealand
During their stay my parents wanted to visit New Zealand so, with Taras and myself, we headed to the South Island for just under a week. We flew to Christchurch, scene of the devastating earthquake earlier in the year (2011). Unfortunately the City centre is all but destroyed and a cordon stops you entering what was once a beautiful place. Several smaller quakes have since hit so re-building the city is proving difficult to say the least. We stayed for two nights here exploring before flying to Queenstown.
Here's a couple of pictures from Christchurch.
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| Christchurch Botanic Gardens | |
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| Mum and Dad in Christchurch Botanic Gardens |
Upon our arrival in Queenstown we picked up our hire car for the rest of our stay inNew Zealand. We covered many hundreds of kilometres and spent at least five hours a day driving. I have to say that whilst the driving was tiring, at no point did I feel under pressure from other drivers, unlike in Australia and the UK. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking, the people were very friendly and we stayed in some fantastic B and B's and hotels.
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| Mum, Dad and me aboard a boat on Milford Sound |
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| Scenic Milford Sound |
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| Milford Sound | | | | | | |
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| Seal at Milford Sound |
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| Mum, Dad and Taras on the balcony of our hotel in Queenstown |
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| Dad taking a well earned rest after a day sitting in the back of the car! |
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| Mum and Dad at the waterfront, Queenstown |
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