Close encounters of the Koala kind

Play time!

Wildlife is encountered and it is revealed this is not all plain sailing

Day five, Sydney

Thus far the kids are enjoying a daily swim in the housing complex's pool and getting to know their extended family better. Miss K has in-grained herself in the morning ritual of walking Duchess with her aunt and much pleasure to be had kicking soccer balls and chasing their teenage cousins when they're home from school.

Meeting Mikey the Koala

We've visited Featherdale Wildlife Park where we petted koalas, spotted joeys, admired wombats, Tasmanian Devils and many other Australian indigenous wildlife species. Featherdale is wonderfully quaint, absent of the cash-making intrusions (cashing in on opportunities to pose with animals) other tourist attractions seem to bombard you with. There are no gimmicks, little flashy advertising (aside from sponsorship), just a relaxed, casual chance to encounter animals (including nosey emus), many whom are bouncing about the walk ways. It's a good place to take a young family.

 

Sydney Aquarium was on the agenda yesterday. Since we've hired a car the MOTH thought it would be a good idea to maximise the hireage and drive into Sydney (rather than catching a train or a ferry), particularly as the Aquarium validates parking in some buildings (to less than half price in some cases), which was less than the cost of public transport for all of us. Going in, no problem - coming out (at around 3pm) we hit traffic, which made for somewhat of a slow trip back to Bella Vista where we're staying.

I am grateful for technology that allows for pod casts and exciting stories to entertain siblings who might otherwise have gotten rather titchy on that journey. Storynory, the BBC and Radio NZ have fantastic podcasts for kids! You don't have to be travelling to enjoy these either :-)

The Aquarium presented an astounding array of wet water life. Kids' highlights were the dugongs, rays and sharks. If you do go, by pass the staged photos in the centre of the building (fun, but costly) and just purchase the family photo book at the end ($35) - a good souvenir with information about the wildlife.

Costs...
There are great discount tickets/coupons which can be found online, and passes for multiple attractions also offer good value for money in Sydney. The Aquarium website offers discounts (often at specific times). We booked online via Adrenalin for heavily reduced tickets and no time specification for the Aquarium.

Behind the smiles

There is much to be grateful for on this trip. Good weather, kind family, amazing opportunities...but it is also challenging. Small people feel somewhat displaced and not at all sure as to why we're travelling. Mr A wants to go home and ride his bike and Miss K misses her bed. It can be stressful sharing a room with your entire family (although a great portion of the world live this way, this means little to a seven year old when they're tired and grumpy). The rationale about how amazing this chance is, can be quite often lost on children who are tired and irritable.

The MOTH and I are also tired; we're juggling work and small people (which at the best of times is hard enough), add travel to the mix and tempers can get frayed.

I'm struggling with the balance between 'tourism' and 'travel' and 'parenting'...

So I'm working on how I conceptualise this journey and what is realistic.  I'm working on my own expectations and desires. I'm focusing on being with the children and being a family. Where we are kind of becomes secondary. What we do isn't that important. It's the how we do it that is. We're going to focus on fun and togetherness.

It's a journey that I want to make worth taking :-)