Caroline, Sydney Side: La Familia!!

I have lived in Australia for almost a year now, and was fortunate to visit home (the States) twice in my first five months here. Given that I am only living away for one year and have had those two visits home, I wasn't sure if any of my family would be able to pay me a visit down under. However, I am so lucky to have had my dad and one of my sisters, Hilary, visit me in January! We were so busy so I am just able to write about their visit now.

It was really great to be able to show Dad and Hilary around my adopted hometown. In "real life", I live in Washington, DC, a city my whole family knows quite well. So, it was awesome to be able to show them around a new place that both had only dreamed of visiting until now. To see my Dad and Hilary's faces when we first walked to Circular Quay and they saw the Sydney Harbour Bridge as well as the Sydney Opera House was incredible. The sight never gets old for me and I remember how magnificent they were the first time I saw them, so it was great to see it in their reactions as well. There are so many highlights, but some of my top ones are:

- ferry rides to Taronga Zoo and Manly Beach, and of course meeting Lincoln, the koala bear
- the Bronte-to-Bondi Beach walk and a day with our toes in the sand
- two days of driving on the left on the edge of the earth atop crashing waves (aka the Great Ocean Road)
- descending the Gibson Steps and marveling at the Apostles from the sand
- amazing meals at Cafe Sydney, Sailor Thai, Fratelli Paradiso, Rockpool, Gingerboy and Jimmy Liks
- front-row seats at the Australian Open to watch the Federer v. Tomic and Wozniacki v. Jankovic matches (thanks a million to John T. & Patrick O.)
- discovering wild koalas hanging in eucalyptus trees just feet away from us, either munching or sleeping away (they sleep 20 hours a day!)
- delicious ice cream in Apollo Bay, flat whites in Warrnambool at Wyton and the best-burger-in-the-world (so good we had them twice) at Bottle of Milk in Lorne
- my friends here getting to know my Dad and sister (thanks to Dawn, Devin, Tyler, Carly, Bonner, Nipul, James, JD, Jen, Sam, Niraj, TMac, and Manders!)

We packed a LOT into the week+ that Dad and Hilary had in Australia. My mission was for them to arrive back in the States in utter exhaustion; I think I succeeded! The absolute highlight of the trip was the incredible quality family time and new experiences we were able to share together. I only wish my whole family could have been here, too.

Unfortunately, Hilary had to jet back to NYC after a little over a week here, but Dad stayed for another week and we hightailed it across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand. That's the next post, though. :)

Enjoy a few of our favorite snaps (I took over 1000!!).