Christmas in Australia with my Brother!

I arrived in Australia on Christmas Eve Day, for my 10 day vacation with my brother! Kevin met me at the airport, and I was surprised how overwhelming everything was. I have not left Asia in 13 months, so seeing all the "foreigners", all the height and blonde hair, hearing English but with accents, and then the anticipation of seeing my brother. Once past this, I was ready for our adventure to begin!

Sydney

A random rainstorm at Sydney Harbour

Sydney Opera House

Harbour Bridge

Trees filled with bats!!

Sydney - Christmas Eve

Kevin and housemate Matt

Girls team for charades

Guys Team

Sydney - Christmas Day!

Kevin decorated a palm tree for Christmas!Christmas breakfast on the back patio

Went to the airport to pick up our rental car

We got on the road and headed south

It was a bit of a stressful situation picking up our car. Me with an expired drivers licence, and Kevin being under 25 (for 3 more months), they were hesitant to give us the car. They decided since it was Christmas day, they would let us have it! Kevin got to do majority of the driving since he was the one with a valid licence. Only had one incident the first night where we pulled out of a parking lot onto the wrong side of the road at night and forgot to turn on our headlights! We caught on quickly, and it was fine.

Rainforests

We stopped at a couple rainforests along the way. One required us to take a long bumpy, gravel, rocky, rough road to see it. We saw many trees in this area that were burnt from forest fires.

Flat Tire....

Coming out from this rainforest, we noticed that something didn't feel right with the car. We got out to check, and saw we had a flat. We got to a gas station, and some nice people assisted my brother in changing the tire. After that, we decided the situation required some ice cream, TWO scoops!

Beautiful Beaches Along the Way

Good Times!

The water was very cold!

Kevin: "Summer in Australia, good thing we brought the fleeces!"

Changing of Landscape

Wildlife on Phillip Island

Kevin and the pelicans

Me and the kangaroos

Cute little penguin

Koala sleeping in the tree

Sleeping in the Car and Riding the Ferry

Nothing but high quality accomodation. Pull into the rest stop, get out the sleeping bags, and tip back the seats.

The Great Ocean Road - Southwest of Melbourne

Very narrow roads twisting and turning, AND on the opposite side of the road, with a car much larger than the little red one in the picture.

The Great Ocean Road

Very unique and beautiful landforms along the coast.

The Arch

London Bridge (which was actually a bridge until it collapsed in 1990)