February 10, 2013
Blue Mountains and Wildlife Park Tour - This is what I did today...
- Drove over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the largest steel arch bridge in the world nicknamed the "Coathanger" because of the arch-based design. The bridge was designed in 1924 to connect the northern and southern shores of the city.
- Drove along the Bradfield Highway towards the Blue Mountains.
- Went through the National Park along the winding Cliff Drive, with views of the Megalong Valley
- Echo Point is perched on the edge of a 170 metre cliff face
- Echo Point has views stretching across to the Three Sisters - a trio of rocky pinnacles.
- I learned about the Aboriginal dreamtime legend of the Three Sisters.
- I watched Aboriginal Dancers and musicians
- Scenic World, where I enjoyed the 360° views, taking in the vista of the Jamison Valley
- I took the Scenic Cableway across the valley
- Originally constructed for a coal and oil shale mining operation, the Scenic Railway is said to be the steepest cable driven funicular railway in the world, with an incline of 52° over a distance of 415 metres
- It hailed today while we were there
- Our next stop was at the picturesque and quaint town of Leura
- We stopped for lunch in the village of Leura
- This town is famous for its antique stores and of course its Candy Store which is stocked floor to ceiling with more than 1,000 unusual sweets gathered from all over the world.
- Next we stopped at Featherdale Wildlife Park, one of Australia’s largest private collections of Australian native animals and bird life
- The park is situated on seven acres of natural bush setting, I was able to hand feed kangaroos, wallabies and emus and i enjoyed a face-to-face encounter with one of the friendly koalas
- I got to pet a koala, they are soft and smell like eucalyptus, which is their main food source
- There are 235 types of eucalyptus trees. 
- Sydney Olympic Park was our final site
- it was the site of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games

February 11, 2013
Port Stephens and Dolphin Watching - This is what I did today...
- Today I visited the picturesque coastal town of Port Stephens
- I traveled through the beautiful Hawkesbury Ranges.
- The Hawkesbury region is situated among Wollemi and Blue Mountains National Parks
- Next stop, the Australian Reptile Park, (one hour north of Sydney) on the Central Coast
- I interacted with a few forms of wildlife, like Hugo, a giant but gentle Galapagos tortoise
- I tried to feed the kangaroos but the emus where more interested in the feed
- I visited Elvis, a huge saltwater crocodile
- They offered snake and funnel web spider milking – the park is the only supplier of many venoms that are critical in saving hundreds of lives each year - I didn't partake in these activities!
- Then I went on to Port Stephens, Australia’s blue water paradise
- Port Stephens’ quiet golden beaches are surrounded by crystal clear water and never ending blue skies
- I went on a huge boat and went out on a dolphin watch
- We searched for dolphins
- We saw about 20 dolphins in a pod
- The beautiful and gentle Bottlenose dolphins have several pods in the area so there is was a very good chance of seeing one
- The Worimi Conservation Lands (Stockton Bite Sand Dunes) is the largest sand dune system in Australia. Stretching for 32 kilometres, this surreal landscape is barren of vegetation and has dunes that climb up to 40 metres high.
- We traveled on a purpose built 4WD to Stockton Bite where I sand-boarded at a medium to high speed down the enormous dune

February 11, 2013
- Today I flew to Melbourne
- Did some shopping at the Melbourne Center

February 12, 2013
- Today was back to work, I was coaching the CoursEval Team at the University of Melbourne :)