Swimming with wild Whale Sharks in Exmouth, Western Australia (May, 2012)

Cody surprised his Dad, Scott at the back end of their trip to Australia with a whale shark diving trip in Exmouth, Western Australia, which is one of the most remote places on the planet.  Perth is already a world away from everything and Exmouth is at the far northwest corner of Australia (a 15 hour drive from Perth).  Luckily Qantas has a flight from Perth to Exmouth, which we took on a Sunday afternoon.

We stayed in a small dorm room for 2 nights for $25/person per night (just a bunk bed and a bathroom, but more than adequate).

We got there on Sunday afternoon and drove our rental car up to a gorge up some windy dirt roads and explored the thriving metropolis of Exmouth and had some dinner before heading to bed early.

Monday morning we had a full day Whale Shark Snorkeling tour that we had booked with 3 Islands.  I'd highly recommend this company.  They have their own spotter plane, give you plenty of food while onboard (included), and, in addition to snorkeling with the whale sharks, we were able to do 3 separate snorkel dives.  We saw stingrays and tons of fish.  By the end of the day, we were exhausted.

The next morning we got up at dawn and drove out to Turquoise Bay and Oyster Stacks (amazing places to snorkel) before catching a plane back to Perth.

 We had plenty of very close encounters like this with 3 separate whale sharks during the day.  It was an unforgettable experience.  So glad I got to do this with my Dad.

 Scott (orange shirt) and Cody (shirtless) checking out the first whale shark of the day.

 Seeing the whale shark for the first time.

 Cody, swimming alongside the whale shark…trying to keep up.

 Frontal view of the whale shark.

 A few of us snorkeling in front of the whale shark.

 This one kept turning around in circles and allowed us to get very close.  A couple times we thought he might swim right into us.

 We found this guy trying to disguise himself in the sand while we were snorkeling at one of the reefs.

 Amazing variety of coral and very colorful fish.

 It was like swimming around in an aquarium with all kinds of exotic fish.

 We made it to the end of the earth!  Seriously, I dare anybody to find me a more remote place on this planet.

 Chillin' on the boat between dives while we wait for the spotter plane to find the whale sharks for us.

 Turquoise Bay early morning…had the entire bay and beach to ourselves for more than 3 hours.

 We got up at the crack of dawn to get some snorkeling in at Oyster Stacks and Turquoise Bay before our flight back to Perth.

 Huge termite mounds all over the place, but no elephants to be found anywhere.

Sawyer's Baptism (May, 2012)

We are so proud of our oldest daughter, Sawyer.  She decided to get baptized.  She is a special little girl and such a blessing to us in our lives.

 Daddy, with Sawyer.

 Mommy, with Sawyer.

 Sawyer, in her baptism dress.

Grandma Toni and Grandpa Scott flew to Perth for the baptism.

Sydney, Australia (May, 2012)

Toni and Scott used 150,000 Delta Skymiles each (300,000 miles total) to fly from Salt Lake City to Sydney, Australia (thru Los Angeles) on V Australia in business class.  Cody and Eliza got a babysitter for the kids for 2 days and took the opportunity to meet them in Sydney to check out the city.  We booked our tickets from Perth to Sydney for 20,000 American Airlines Aadvantage miles each roundtrip.

We took a cab from the airport to the Park Hyatt Sydney (that we had booked using 22,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points and normally goes for $1,100-1,200 per night) to drop off our luggage.

We took public transport to Milson's point and walked back along the deck of the Harbour Bridge.  Instead of doing the bridge climb, which we understand takes ~3 hours, most of which is safety instruction and waiting for the tour group to walk up the steps, we opted to climb the steps up the Pylon (only $9) and gets you 3/4 of the way to the top of the bridge anyway.  The views were excellent, we could see 360 degrees and the weather was gorgeous.

We walked back to the end of the bridge and then down through "the Rocks" area and into Circular Quay, where we had some lunch at one of the cafe's in the area.

We then made our way on foot over to the Sydney Operahouse and booked our tickets for the night showing of MacBeth.  We also spent some time wandering through the botanical gardens which were beautiful.  Scott and Cody spent a couple hours in the afternoon swimming in the rooftop pool while Eliza and Toni had a brief afternoon nap (gearing up for a long night).  By the time the play started, we were all dragging, being exhausted from the early start to the day and all of the walking and exploring we had done.  Toni and Scott were especially tired due to the jet lag.  Macbeth was good, but we were all past the point of being ready for sleep by the time the show ended.  We struggled to get ourselves back to the hotel from the opera house on foot after such a long day.

The Park Hyatt Sydney was a pretty amazing hotel.  We couldn't get over its perfect location nestled right below the Harbour Bridge with great views of the Sydney Operahouse.  The room was very modern with views of the opera house right from the balcony.  All 4 of us shared a room, which was probably against their rules, but it worked out great.

 View of the Sydney Opera house from just outside our room at the Park Hyatt Sydney.

 An aboriginal, didgeridoo playing snake charmer…this is Australia, mate!

 Up close and personal with the Sydney Opera house.

We went to the late showing of MacBeth and the jet lag got the best of Toni and Scott, while the redeye from Perth to Sydney got the best of Eliza.  Only Cody was able to stay awake for the whole play.

 View of the Sydney Harbour Bridge from outside the opera house.

 Manley Beach.  Watching the surf lifesaving classes being taught to the school aged kids.

 View of the Park Hyatt Sydney on our walk back from Circular Quay.  Location, location, location...

Walking across the famed Harbour Bridge.

The next morning we got up early and took the ferry to Manley and hung out at the beach and wandered through the shops for a while before heading back to catch our late flight back to Perth.