Bruce & Sheila's Outback Adventure

May 25- Back to Adelaide

Sheila Humphrey — Tue, 23 Jun 2015 23:47:40 +0000

We packed up our things & off to Adelaide for our final few days in Australia. We drove down to Cath’s moms place & stayed for a couple days.

We climbed to biggest rocking horse in the world.

May 24

Sheila Humphrey — Sun, 24 May 2015 01:37:25 +0000

Hi family & friends. We are heading back to Adelaide today to spend our last few days exploring the area. We may not have WIFI access but I will post as soon as I can.

Bruce & Lizzy playing in the back yard.

Born & Jo over for a visit one evening. Good laughs were had by all. They loved our selfie stick!!

Lizzy loved Uncle Bruce’s hat.

Our trip to Marla, South Australia

Sheila Humphrey — Sat, 23 May 2015 00:49:00 +0000

i forgot to post these photos. Marla is a little town just south of the Nothern Territory border. We stopped for lunch, filled up with “petrol” & carried on.

Just for you my wonderful cousin Marla!!!

It was really windy & as you can see it was hard to get the kids to stay still long enough for a decent photo. Lol!!!

We’re Back!!!! May 10-22

Sheila Humphrey — Fri, 22 May 2015 05:57:20 +0000

Hello friends & family. We have returned from the outback of Australia. What an adventure it has been. I will try to sum up the events over the past week along with highlights of our journey & of course pictures!!!

We arrived in Adelaide on May 10. That night we enjoyed an authentic Australian BBQ thanks to Cath’s mom, Cynthia & step dad, Tony. Robbie also helped out with the cooking. We had our first…but not our last…feed of kangaroo. We loved it!!! Also had delicious lamb chops & sausage. Bruce & I slept in the motor home that first night then it was off to the outback. We did some touring around Adelaide first & did some wine tasting. Found the Jacob’s Creek winery….amazing.

Sometimes we stayed at the roadside rest areas & other times we stayed at the “Caravan Parks” which are like North American campgrounds. We drove north through Port Augusta, Coober Pedy (an opal mining town), onto Marla (we took pictures just for you Marla!!!), to Erldunda, then our final destination of Uluru (Ayers Rock). What an amazing site to see!!!!

Cath’s mom Cynthia flew to Ayers Rock to join us for the weekend. We were not able to climb the rock as it was too windy so the climb area was closed. We did a hike around the base of Uluru so we were able to get wonderful photos from there. We did the sunrise at Uluru as well which was amazing too. Bruce, Robbie & I took a short helicopter ride out to Uluru & back.

We drove north again to Alice Springs. It is hard to believe when you look at the map that Alice Springs is only half way from Adelaide to Darwin!! This country is HUGE!!! We stayed overnight in Alice Springs, did some shopping then started our 1400km journey back to Roxby Downs. We got back to Roxby Downs on May 19.

We celebratedBruce’s birthday Australianstyle….BBQ kangaroo again with all the trimmings & a koala cake made by Cath. It was a great time!! We spent yesterday (May 21) at another opal mining town, Andamooka, where we had a great lunch & Bruce bought me another pair of opal earrings….they are absolutely gorgeous!!

Today is Friday May 22 & we are relaxing in Cath & Robbie’s beautiful home in Roxby Downs. We enjoyed a beautiful morning in their backyard playing with the kids & getting some sunshine on our very white skin. I will attempt to send daily updates as we wind down our trip. It has truly been a trip of a lifetime. If any of you are thinking of making the long trek, it is certainly well worth the efforts.

Our home for the next 12 days.

Wine tasting at “Rockford Winery” in Barossa country.

Australian outback.

Waste rock from Opal mining in Coober Pedy.

Cath, Bruce, Cynthia & Elizabeth in front of Uluru.

Just before sunset.

Uluru from the air.

Alice Springs.

Another view of Alice Springs.

Bruce & Cath at Alice Springs.

The birthday boy with Alex & Lizzy.

The Koala bear cake.

Andamooka opal.

Andamooka.

Tuckabox pub in Andamooka where we had lunch.

Away from civilization for a bit

Sheila Humphrey — Thu, 14 May 2015 00:00:58 +0000

We are in the Outback travelling and will post stories and pictures when we get back to civilization early next week.

Day 8 – Our last day in Sydney

Sheila Humphrey — Sat, 09 May 2015 11:45:56 +0000

We started our day calling both moms in Canada. We wanted to send our love to the moms as we will be travelling on Monday which is Sunday in Canada. So they received their Mother’s Day wishes early.

We decided to start the day back down at Circular Quay where the the Opera House is located. We hopped the bus after having a lovely breakfast & yes, another fun cup of coffee. We took a few more pictures of the bridge & the Opera House. I just never get tired of looking at these amazing sites & of course being on the water. We took a water taxi from Circular Quay over to Darling Harbour where we walked around checking out new sites on the other side of Darling Harbour. We enjoyed supper at a restaurant right on the water. We were going to wait for the fire works but decided to walk back to the hotel to prepare for our flight tomorrow. We leave just after lunch & will arrive in Adelaide mid afternoon. It will be great to see our friends Cath & Robbie.

Thinking of you Marlene.

People walking on the bridge.

This was the first high rise in Sydney. It has some of the most amazing views of the Harbour.

We have changed our minds….THIS is our new boat!!!

Day 7 – A slower day

Sheila Humphrey — Fri, 08 May 2015 23:06:51 +0000

What a day we had yesterday with Chelsey. We actually slept in until 8:30 today so we must have needed the rest after the 7km walk from Bondi to Coogee. I think that is the distance Chelsey said it was….no matter the distance, it was so worth the walk. We had a later breakfast which was a huge meal so we’re good for the rest of the day. Bruce had a reflexology treatment while I sat in the sun & read my book. We spent a couple hours in Hyde Park again enjoying the sunshine & watching the activities in the park. One gal had a personal trainer making her do all sorts of exercises. All she did was complain!!! Haha!! Today was also Prince Harry’s last day in Sydney. He always creates quite the hype!!

My decaf cappuccino with breakfast. I am getting right into this Australian coffee.

Having breakfast at a cute little cafe. Do we look like tourists or what???

Day 6 – Our day with Chelsey at Bondi

Sheila Humphrey — Thu, 07 May 2015 23:19:42 +0000

Another beautiful day in Sydney. We met up with Chelsey (daughter of one of my best friends) while having breakfast, then it was off to Bondi where Chelsey lives & works. We took 2 trains & a bus and arrived at Bondi beach. We were speechless at the beauty of this place. Chelsey works at a cafe right across the street from the beach so she looks at this all day long. Incredible!! We met up with Chelsey’s friend Helen who accompanied us on our walk from Bondi to Coogee. It took a couple of hours to hike the trail but was well worth the huffing & puffing up & down the hills. We got a ride back to Bondi thanks to our new friend & Chelsey’s co-worker Helen. Chelsey then treated us to lunch at her Cafe. We then hopped a bus & went to Watson’s Bay where we enjoyed a cool brew while watching the sunset over the harbour. Chelsey made sure we knew which bus to take before we said our goodbye as she went the opposite direction to us. We were amazed we ended up where we were supposed to. All in all a great day.

Selfies in the subway.

Helen (left) and Chelsey (right) and Bondi in the background.

Bondi beach.

North Bondi in the background.

Tamarama beach……..where the currents are the strongest along this part of the coast. When the flags are flying, there is to be no swimming.

Coogee beach.

Cappuccino at Chelsey’s Cafe – Trio. The Aussies love their coffee.

We ended our day with a brew at Watson’s Bay.

Day 5 – Cruising the Sydney Harbour

Sheila Humphrey — Wed, 06 May 2015 10:03:18 +0000

Another beautiful day. Not quite as hot as yesterday but still sunny & warm. Our day started out with the purchase of a “monopod selfie stick”. We wanted to look like all the other tourists in Sydney. The staff at the cell phone store got us all set up. We had a good laugh as we took our first “selfie” with our new found friends!!

Later in the morning, We took a ferry…one you can “Hop on & Hop off” for the entire day. The ferry stopped at 6 different places & also had a commentary which informed us of lots of history surrounding Sydney. We got off at Manly Bay & spent about an hour just walking around & enjoying the sunshine. I put my feet into the ocean but it wasn’t warm enough to swim. We got back on the ferry & “hopped off” at the Taronga Zoo. It was a spectacular facility & was neat to see different animals than we saw yesterday.

Our first “selfie”.

Solo “selfie” with the new boat. My hair did look good when we left the hotel this morning. The wind really did a number on it eh?

Sydney Harbour Bridge from the deck of the ferry.

Manly Beach.

Going up the gondola at the zoo.

Day 4 – May 5

Sheila Humphrey — Tue, 05 May 2015 10:12:24 +0000

We woke up to a beautiful blue sky & sunshine. We spent the day down by the water at “Darling Harbour” which is one of Sydney’s main harbours. We walked the boardwalk & enjoyed lunch at a lovely Chinese restaurant. We also spent some time at the Sydney Zoo & the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium. Lots of neat animals at the zoo….kagaroos, koalas, crockadiles & more. The aquarium was also great with so many beautiful kinds of fish.

Bruce’s next boat.