Day 17: CNS --> SYD --> DFW --> MLI

Well, all good things must come to an end.  Today we made the looooooong trek back home.  Up at 4:30 for a 5 am transfer.  3 hour flight from Cairns to Sydney.  Once in Sydney we trekked all over trying to connect to our international flight.  Our flight from Sydney to Dallas, apparently, is the longest in the world.  15.5 hours...which ended up being 16 - for some reason we arrived 30 min late. And as they say, everything in TX is bigger...must include the lines at DFW as I've never seen passport lines that long.  Good thing we had a long layover as we were in lines for about 2-3 hours...not kidding.  Grabbed some lupper (lunch & supper) at TGIFrday's and then just chilled at our gate.  One last little flight from Dallas to Moline, a mere 2 hours.  We were greeted by some very happy parents at the airport - lots of cheers & hugs & tears!
Airports & I are on a love/hate relationship.  There are many happy moments...and some sad moments at airports.  It's always bitter sweet to see the kids sooo happy to see their loved ones...you grow pretty attached to them over the course of a 17 day trip.  Such great memories we have made over the last few weeks...memories that will last us a lifetime!

Our amazing TD, Adam, looking spiffy in his Team Iowa shirt!

Kids & Adam at the airport

Off to Sydney we go!

Farewell Cairns - we had a blast!!

Sunrise over Cairns

Ready for take-off on the longest flight in the world - Sydney to Dallas - a mere 16 hrs.

Yep, we're excited for this route!

'Merica - home of the free refills & ketchup!!

I have many thanks to hand out...
--Thanks to my mom & dad for the airport shuttle, and for taking care of things at my casa while I was away. Sorry your travel-obsessed daughter is never home...
--Thanks to the moms & dads who made this trip happen for their kids - you can never go wrong with the gift of travel...while scary to let go, remember that awesome feeling when they come back!  :)
--Thanks to the 3 M's:  Mike, Molly & Mary!  What a blast traveling with you three!  I love your zest of travel...especially with kids.  Not everyone is built to travel with teenagers and you three were amazing!  Mike & Molly - your 1st time... Mary - lucky #7. Hope there is more in your futures!
--Thanks to the amazing people at EF!  You all really helped make this a trip of a lifetime!  We loved Cairns and are so grateful to have gotten to go up there! What an amazing tour - top notch!
--Thanks to our amazing Tour Director, Adam!  Your good-nature, chill attitude, passion for adventure & love of everything Aussie made my kids fall in love with your country!  I love all the stories you shared, the anecdotes you told, the videos we watched (Beached Az; Sam Kekovich), the songs you taught us (that are forever stuck in our brains!), and also to your parents who so graciously allowed us into their house & showed us their macadamia nut operation!  Thanks just doesn't cover it all...
--Thanks to the kids who absolutely made this trip a blast!  I love your quest for adventure, your curious natures, your good hearts, your laughs & smiles...especially at your 4 am wake-up knocks, your love of life, your jumping skills (Eddie??), your go-with-the-flow way of being, your positive attitudes, and your awesome singing skills.  You will forever have a special place in my heart.  I wish you all the best at college - will be weird not seeing your faces next fall, but you're off to bigger & better things!  Make sure to keep in touch!

Well, that's it for this summer's successful student trip!  Next year we're doing Greece for Spring Break and Spain/Portugal in June, and an Adults-Only Italy/Sicily trip in July...join if you want!  The more, the merrier!
As for me, I've luckily got a few more personal trips up my sleeve this summer!  Thanks for reading the blog!  It was always cool to see how many people read our blog while we were sleeping!

Until next time....
~steph :)

Day 16: GREAT BARRIER REEF

WHAT A DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!  To quote a little girl as she got out of the water "This. is. the. best. day. of. my. life."  I think the PV kids (and adults) would agree!  The GBR is everything you think it is...and more.  We took a catamaran out to the reef this morning.  Best advice - take some dramamine before you get on.  The water is pretty smooth here in the cove, but once we got out past Fitzroy Island...ka-bam!  Waves!  Boat was a rockin'!  We docked next to a pontoon...which is best described as a quanset hut/airplane hanger with picnic tables.  They have a huge area roped off and it was free snorkeling amongst the bueys.  There were glass-bottom boats & a semi-submersible boat you could ride in. Big buffet lunch.  Good stuff.  The weather was ABSOLUTELY perfect.  Barely a cloud in the sky!  We rented an underwater camera so will upload those pics after they burn them to a CD for me - Eddie wins for best pic - great shots of a turtle!!  After about 4-5 hours out there, we headed back to port and then back to the hotel.  We all had an amazing time out on the Reef today - pretty much a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  :)
We have another early departure tomorrow as we fly from Cairns back down to Sydney, then to Dallas and then finally Moline. 
Such a great adventure we have been on - ready to come home, but only probably to grab some more clothes and head back out again.
I'll post pics later!
See you soon!!
~Steph :)

Ready for our Reef adventure!

Eddie & the underwater camera ready for fun!

Sunscreen is a MUST!!

Selfie :)

Woot woot!!

Our modified jumping pic

Selfie :)

Tired after a loooong day on the Reef

Making new friends on the boat

Last ice cream...love our Magnums!

New BFFs:  Norm, Duckie, & Cedric...just missing George!

Day 15: Cairns & Kuranda

Well, we made it up north safe & sound yesterday.  Internet is a bit more difficult to access at this hotel as there is no Wi-Fi...
It's MUCH MUCH warmer up here in Cairns - a nice relief after the torrential rains of Sydney.  We dropped our bags off at the hotel, changed into better clothes, and headed off to Kuranda.  Kuranda is a village nestled up in the hills outside of Kuranda.  We hopped on a skyline gondola to take us up to the village. We stopped a few times along the way to check out some overlooks of the gorge below and the waterfalls.  Once in Kuranda, we had free time to wander.  The streets are lined with little shops & vendors...but not tacky nor pushy about buying things.  We grabbed some German brats for lunch and just meandered thru the streets.  Got some ice cream.  Girls got weaves in their hair...it was a pretty amazing day!  We took the train back down to Cairns. It was a 2 hr ride down and was breathtaking.  Wound us thru the hills, stoppped to see the waterfalls, and just chug-a-chugged us down the mountain.  Dinner was right along the bay and then the kids went for a quick swim in the cool pool before retiring for the night.
Tomorrow we're off to the Reef - super excited!!
I'll post pics later of today's action.  Got a great jumpin' pic involving lifeguards!  No worries - no one drowned :)
~steph :)

On our way to Kuranda...this is just after Olivia got attacked by a wild turkey.

skyline to Kuranda

Showing off their hair wraps

strike a pose, there's nothing to it...Vogue! Vogue! Vogue!

this is how we do it in Kuranda

Ice cream buddies :)

Scenic overlook stop on our train ride down from Kuranda

Eddie put all his women to sleep.

Cairns

Cairns with our new lifeguard friends

Day 14: Sydney--Round 2

Today was our free day in Sydney and thankfully the rain held off for us.  Because our Duck Boat burnt to the ground, EF gave us a free tour of the Sydney Opera House.  Soooo cool to see what it looks like on the inside.  After that, we took off & headed to the aquarium – that Sydney aquarium is amazing.  We spent 2 hours there exploring – even got to see the platypus!!  Grabbed some lunch and then wandered into downtown Sydney.  Kids went off for some shopping fun. Kathryn’s cousin joined us as well.  I went & met a friend I hadn’t seen in years.  We all met back up & caught the bus back to the hotel.  As it’s Courtney’s 18^th birthday, we had to celebrate with cake!!  Now I’ve got five 18 yr olds!!  J  Said good-bye to our Texan & Puerto Rican friends as they are going to Hawaii tomorrow and not with us north.  Headed back to the hotel to pack for our 6 am flight. Sorry this is short, but it’s late and we have a suuuuper early shuttle to catch in the a.m…4 to be exact.

Off to get some shut eye – we’re off to Cairns tomorrow!!

~steph J

My PVHS Roamin' Spartans!!

Fun at the Aquarium

Happy 18th, Courtney!!

Day 13: Sydney!!!

What an enjoyable day in Sydney we had today!  Despite the rain and being soaked to the bone, we saw almost all of Sydney today.  We did a city tour via the bus all around town in the a.m.  Went out to Bondi Beach, stopped at a bunch of look-outs, & got great shots of the Opera House & the Bridge.  We stopped at the Opal Museum (sigh…birthstone…I resisted…), grabbed some lunch, and took a boat cruise of Sydney Harbour…in the rain.  We were dropped off in Darling Harbour and visited Sydney Wildlife Park before dinner.  It’s a mini-zoo, but after visiting Currumbin, it’s not as cool…good, but not as interactive.  After dinner we did a quick walk over the bridge and got some great shots of Sydney at night, all lit up.  It was an early night for us, but after traipsing all over the city in the rain, we were exhausted.  Tomorrow is our free day and we’re hoping the weather holds out…but we’re not optimistic.  We’ve got a few back-up plans for tomorrow, weather dependent.  Sydney is really a lovely, fun, vivid city…which is hard to see thru the raindrops.  Praying for good weather tomorrow…

~steph J

Team Iowa & driver Troy & Tour director Adam at the Gap

We love Sydney!!

Rain, Rain...Go Away!!

Even Eddie got some ups !!

Such a great looking bunch of people!!

Boat Cruise

Out for an evening stroll...Eddie got a new umbrella!

Day 12: Life is a Highway...

Today was a loooooong day on the coach, making our way to Sydney.  We were up early and on the coach by 7:30 as we had about a 9 hour trek south. Our first stop was a new one – our Tour Director’s parents own a macadamia nut farm and we stopped at their place south of Coff’s Harbour for a quick visit about macadamia nuts, how they harvest them, etc…  Was really cool as I really didn’t know they are native to Australia.  The bigger & better ones don’t necessarily come from Hawaii but from Australia. 

The main part of our day consisted of riding in the coach.  We played songs, watched some shows, played a scavenger hunt game, and took some naps.  We arrived in Sydney with enough time to check in and then head to the Sydney Tower and go up and see the city all lit up.  The weather didn’t cooperate as we made our way to dinner.  Pretty much downpoured on us on our trek to dinner.  Needless to say we were pretty happy to see our coach show up to drive us home.

We’re all praying the weather holds for the next two days in Sydney, but it’s not looking promising.   So if you all could help us out by doing the non-rain dance, we’d appreciate it mucho!

Better head to bed as we’ve a busy day touring all of Sydney on Sunday!

G’night!

~steph J

Adam showing off the macadamia fields

Kids jumpin' for joy at the farm

Lunch stop

Snack break - LOVE us our Magnums!!

Vultures when it comes to free Wi-Fi

Our Welcome to Sydney rainbow!

View from the Sky Tower

My drowned rats after our walk to dinner

Pics all uploaded

Finally got a huge block of internet time so I could upload pics, so went back and did Days 6,7 and 10. 

Enjoy!
~steph :)

Day 11: Koalas & Kangaroos

Woke up this morning & were greeted by some lovely rain clouds.  We packed up the ‘coach’ and headed south. Our first stop was Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary where we got to hold Koalas and get our pics taken with them.  Then, we got some time to wander around the Sanctuary and got to feed kangaroos. It was a bit drizzly while there but we still had a good time seeing the wildlife.  The Emu was a bit too friendly with Eddie – think he made a new friend.  Our next stop south was Byron Bay, a hippie little town on the coast.  The girls & Molly got dropped off separately as they went to take surf lessons.  The rest of us headed up to the lighthouse, Australia’s most eastern point.  A bit drizzle still, but cool to see. For free time in Byron Bay, we hit the Hog’s Breath Café while waiting for our surfers to finish.  Said they had a good time.  None are experts, by far, and were pretty exhausted afterwards.  Back on the coach we went for about a 3+ hour drive to our evening’s destination…Coffs Harbour.  It’s just a pit stop as we push on down to Sydney.  We’re staying at what seems to be a lovely resort, but we arrived in the dark, so really have no idea. J  We have an early wake-up call tomorrow to spend the entire day on the coach, about a 9 hour drive down to Sydney, so may have to get creative with our pics tomorrow.

~steph :)

Courtney & Happy Jay, the koala...who peed on her!

Time to pet & feed the kangaroos.

Eddie's new friend, the emu...who is lying at his feet..

Lighthouse fun...in the rain...

Eddie jumping sans girls...