Sydney Botanical Gardens

They have everything in the Sydney Botanical Gardens... they even have a lion for every personality!

What a beautiful tree full of fruit...

Fruit BATS that is!!!! :O)

Sydney!

We were in Sydney 4 days! Since a picture is worth a thousand words... and we are behind on blog posts, I figured we'd give you a photo tour of our time in Sydney. What are under-represented in these photos are the many times we had with Kochy and Chels! We have a few photos, but not enough.

These photos are from around Sydney, the harbor, the Opera House, Taronga Zoo, the Botanical Garden, and Luna Park. As a special bonus, there are some trees with some bats in them! My favorite! Rebekah's not-favorite! :O)

OUR TRIP TO MANLY...

Apparently, they knew we were coming... they had a sign made up just for me! :O)

AROUND SYDNEY...



Yeah... we're sort of a big deal around here...


Kochy driving us across ANZAC bridge... he's on the wrong side of the road! Crazy Australian drivers!!!


Crazy tourists!!! We.... They don't even know which way to look when crossing the road!


China Tiz-own!!!

Backpacking isn't so hard after all...

18 January 2011



Sydney is beautiful ! I'm having a great time! Backpacking is everything I thought it would be. A lot of people told me it was gonna be hard........ but it is awesome!

7,487 miles will give you such a crick in the neck!!!

18 January 2011

Our first flight did start with a touch of drama, but it all ended well. And the drama was only on the ground… the flight was very smooth and uneventful.

So, a couple days before our flight, I went onto Qantas website and selected our seats… as you do. We also attempted to check-in online, but apparently you cannot check in to international flights online. Awesome right? So, imagine our pleasant surprise when we arrived 3.5 hours before our flight and were told that we were not sitting together. I explained that we had indeed selected our seats next to each other a couple days prior. The associate then explained that we only selected our preference that day and that you cannot pre-select seats… (on a 16 hour international flght?!?!). He told us to check with the gate personnel. So, we went through security, and did just that. He passed the buck again, so we knew we were on our own. We were only able to make it happen because at least two other couples had been separated which allowed us to sit next to one another. All was well in the end.

16 hours later, we stepped foot on Australian soil!!

Rebekah’s first question was, “What is “G” day?” (as if it was something similar to “B-day”). I explained to her that the Aussies would get a pretty good laugh at that and "G'day" is their version of “Good Day.” She has since told many Aussies that story (I wouldn’t have), and they have indeed gotten some great laughs.

A look back on 2010

It's always good to look back on the year as we look forward to the next one. That, and we are trying to pick up some "blogging" momentum as we head out on our trip!

MUSICAL HOUSES

While Rebekah was in New York last Christmas Season, we decided to move out of our apartment and in with our dear friends Georgia Tech and Kristy! So, Rebekah came home to a bedroom that was just about completely filled by our king sized bed. :O) We lived there until the end of September when we moved even more of our stuff into storage, Rebekah moved to New York and Steven moved in with the Studleys.

TRAVEL PREPARATIONS

This underlying theme of this year was, of course, our decision to go traveling in 2011. This was a very difficult decision that entailed a great deal of prayer, seeking counsel, and more prayer. We obviously came to the decision to go and then started the very emotional and tedious process of making it all happen. Communicating with employers, reading travel websites, planning the course of the trip, purchasing Round the World Tickets (they are amazing!), securing places to stay, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera! I wish we could say that we're done... :O)

BONVOYAGE TO LIVES WE LOVE!
As we prepared for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, we were definitely stung by the realization of how much we would miss out on. Rebekah stepped out of her long held positions as dance teacher to her beloved students at Freddie Finn, Riverside Children's Theater, Dance Dynamics, and Sandals' Abundant Love Dance Program. Steven stepped down from his position as Pipeline Director and will miss the elementary students, their families, and the awesome team of volunteers that rock Pipeline week in and week out more than he can express.
Then there are our "favorite" things about living in Riverside... Dr. Madison (our chiropractor), Surf City Squeeze (best smoothies in the world!), Bann Thai, Backstreet, Nordstrom Cafe, and Miguel Jr... to name a few.
More than anything else, we will miss our dear friends and family! We look forward to seeing you upon our return! Be sure to follow along with us on this blog... it will be too difficult to summarize all of our experiences over our journey in a conversation.

Rebekah Rockette-ing it at the Honda Center!

Choosy Mitchells Also Choose to Travel the World!

We're making arrangements for our world travel! We are excited to see some dear friends and try to help where we can around this cool world! Here is our tentative itinerary as of today. Relatively solid, but not 100% just yet.

Leave= January, 2011

Return = June, 2011

Australia

Thailand

Africa (one or two countries)

Europe (mainly southeast)

Holy Land

Peru (Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca)

El Salvador

Back Home

We'll keep you posted as we nail the schedule down and as we go of course.

Much Love!

the choosy mitchells