Sydney

Sydney was our last stop and definitely lived up to its reputation as one of the World's Best Cities. We spent almost 6 days there and had pretty leisurely days enjoying the sights, shops, and restaurants of the city but also had some sort of adventuresome activity each afternoon. Our time in Sydney included New Year's Eve and we were able to enjoy the absolutely incredible celebration that has made the city such a famous location for bringing in the new year. That night was definitely one of the highlights of the trip!

The famous Sydney Harbor Bridge (photo taken from our hotel room!)

A glimpse of the phenomenal view from our hotel room. There are no words to express how incredible the view was and how awesome it was to be in such a great location... especially for the fireworks show on New Year's Eve.

The kids in front of the Harbor Bridge

Kolby and I in front of the famous Sydney Opera House

The fam after a really fascinating tour of the Opera House

Our family during the Bridgeclimb that led us up to the summit of the Harbor Bridge. We had to wear those lovely suits to prevent anything (stuff in pockets, etc.) from falling down to the BUSY street below and also to blend in and not distract drivers. The headsets allowed us to hear our guide since it was so windy up there and the belts were to attach us to the railing so we wouldn't fall. It was a pretty exerting climb but wasn't scary, although it would be terrifying if you were afraid of heights and walking along a catwalk 440' in the air would bother you. It was fun and the 360 degree view of Sydney Harbor was beautiful. One evening we went sailing all throughout the different harbors, which was really neat. This is one of my favorite pictures, mainly because its just casual... like our family.
Kolby and I getting a better view of the CRAZY mansions along the coast and picking out our favorites
The whole family
Kolby and I, with the Opera House and Harbor Bridge
Kolby doing what he does best... climbing something. This is him in a huge eucalyptus tree at Watson's Bay, where we had dinner after sailing.

Mom and Dad at Watson's Bay

Kolby enjoying a mondo scoop of rainbow ice cream
Another one of my favorite pictures... my family trying to get things together for a group shot and laughing too hard to get anything accomplished... pretty typical

The end result: a family picture at sunset

The beautiful sunset at Watson's Bay, with the Sydney skyline in the background
We all learned how to surf on New Year's Eve at the famous Bondi Beach. Russell was by far the best at it (a good complementary skill to go along with his bizarre knack for the pogo stick) and it was fun to do as a family. Mom and Dad even stayed with it long enough to call it a success! Also, Paris Hilton was in town and took a little publicity stroll along the beach and walked right across our surfboards! It was a pretty cool day for sure! The boys after surfing
Posing with Big Wave Dave, our surf instructor
The Sydney Opera House on New Year's Eve. You can see the crowds forming to watch the MASSIVE fireworks show. Over 1.5 million people crowd around the Sydney harbor every New Year's Eve! This and the next several pictures were all taken from our hotel room... we were VERY LUCKY to have such an awesome view of all that was going on!

The harbor just after sunset
The city of Sydney spends over $5 million on the fireworks show! The picture below is of the "family show" that takes place at 9 pm and allows families to celebrate and then take shelter before the city gets too crazy.

Here is a quick video clip of the first fireworks show. Hopefully it will help you to grasp how crazy it was... I had never seen anything like it! (You may want to turn your speakers off for the videos to spare yourself the Webb commentary).

In between the family show and the big-time show at midnight there is a boat parade with tons of boats with Christmas lights strung on them to light them up or to form shapes like whales, sharks, etc. It was very entertaining.
Here is a picture of the Harbor Bridge during the midnight fireworks show. For this show there were three huge firework displays within our sight (there were seven total throughout the city), the bridge was the center and then there was one over the Opera House and a matching one on the opposite side of the bridge. SO COOL!

Below is a video of the bridge during the grand finale. Check out the fireworks waterfall coming down from the bridge. I didn't think I was a huge fan of fireworks, but I don't know how anyone couldn't be totally enthralled by a show like that. What a great way to celebrate the new year!

We kicked 2009 off to a crazy start by going skydiving on New Year's Day. That's right, ALL SEVEN of us jumped out of an airplane at 14,000 feet. We did tandem dives where we were strapped to a certified diver and received about 5 minutes of briefing before being loaded into a tiny plane where we sat on the ground in two rows, everyone crammed together (read straddling the complete stranger in front of us). The flight was horribly shaky so by the time we reached the right altitude we were ready to get out of that rickety plane. One-by-one (or I guess two-by-two) we tumbled head first out the side of the plane, were in a total free-fall for almost a minute, and then parachuted down the last 4,000 feet. The free-fall was 10,000 feet, and our average speed was 181 feet per second --- so it would be like falling from an 18-story building and hitting the ground a second later! It was FAST! We all survived, although when I finally reached the ground I wasn't sure if I wanted to cry or needed to throw up, and it was a good thing to start this year of uncertainty (i.e. Kolby and I not knowing where we'll be living or what we'll be doing after this school year) with a reminder that we can handle a lot more than we think we can.

A very "happy to be alive" smile from everyone after we reached ground Here's Russell at the drop zone. This, after all, was his trip. To fit his wild personality my mom planned some wild stuff, but everyone faced their fears and participated and we're all better off for doing so! The trip was more than any of us could have possibly fathomed and we are all very much aware of how blessed we are to have had such a wonderful adventure as a family. We each signed four releases of liability, wore four different types of suits (stingsuit for scuba, climbsuit for the bridge, wetsuit for surfing, and jumpsuit for skydiving), and came home with four certificates of accomplishment! How many family trips can boast such a statistic?

Thank you, thank you, thank you Mom & Dad! I LOVE BEING A WEBB!