Goldbergs Online

For two amazing weeks, the Bellone family from New York - John, Michelle, Marissa, Josh and Orange Bear - made the trek from their snow-covered front yard to our beach-lined backyard and went on a wild adventure with the Goldberg clan.

The Bellones' Christmas Day was spent dealing with airline personnel who didn't know how to check in luggage (e.g. 1.65 hours to check in 6 bags) and cleaning up the contents of Josh's stomach from the seats at Auckland's airport while the Goldbergs' was spent sipping egg nog, listening to Johnny Mathis singing our favourite carols and watching our four little ones tear through their newly acquired crap.

Everyone met on the 27th of December in Brisbane to head up to Fraser Island. After a four-hour ordeal with the rental car company, a four+ hour drive north and a 45 minute ferry ride that took 1.2 hours, the 10 of us arrived at the Kingfisher Bay Resort in Fraser Island, Queensland, for a few days of complete relaxation under the sun.

At least that's what we would have done if we didn't have 6 kids with us.

So instead, we spent a few days listening to kids complain about the food, the heat, the bugs, the rides in the 4WDs, not enough time spent in the pool, not enough souvenirs purchased, not enough ice cream consumed and how uncool kids club activities are. Actually, those were mostly complaints made by the adults, but it is easier to blame the kids.

We spent our days on Fraser tearing up the sand tracks, soaking in the sun at Lake Mackenzie and making the most of the beautiful Australian summer weather. Fraser is a magical place that we highly recommend for anyone visiting Australia for the first time.

Unfortunately, it wasn't fun in the sun for all of us. Josh was up and down with stomach pains and fever which cut our trip short by a few hours while John and Michelle rushed back to the mainland to take an unscheduled tour of Hervey Bay by ambulance. This would be the first of 3 hospitals they would tour during their visit.

After a few exams, internal probes and a stop at the local pharmacy, we were on our way back to Sydney, arriving the day before New Year's Eve. We spent a quiet night at

home on NYE, watching the 9pm fireworks from the house with a few of us walking down to Cremorne Point to watch the midnight fireworks. Sydney put on a spectacular show once again, leaving the Bellones with great memories of the evening.

The following day, we made our own fireworks in the form of stomach acid spraying across several rooms in the house as an apparently unrelated ailment to Josh infected several members of the house in a swift and violent fashion. This brought us to hospital #2 and #3 for more exams and internal probes along with a few IVs thrown in for good measure. Although you had to be there to fully appreciate it, the scene taking place outside of the emergency ward at Royal North Shore Hospital on New Year's Day was like the Goldbergs and Bellones re-enacting the blueberry pie eating contest scene from Stand By Me. The video below speaks for itself.

The eventual diagnosis was a strong stomach virus that managed to infect everyone but John. We therefore concluded that he was original host to the nasty parasite and fully responsible for making the rest of us near-death ill. Certainly not the best way to start 2009, but then again, it could only get better!

Once everyone was on the road to recovery, we spent our days exploring Manly Beach, the Sydney central business district, Darling Harbour - including the Sydney Aquarium, Featherdale Wildlife Park, Taronga Zoo, Bondi Beach, jetboating on Sydney Harbour and Luna Park among other Sydney sights. All of these experiences involved the kids which meant never pleasing everyone but constantly trying to.

Therefore, when night fell, the babysitters arrived. That sent us on our way to some of Sydney's top restaurants and night spots including: Guillaume at Bennelong, Rockpool, Icebergs, Doyles, Lotus Pond, Star City Casino and The Lord Nelson. Here's a quick summary of the notable events from our evening escapades:

Icebergs - the food was good but we weren't part of the "in" crowd resulting in several reminders that we had to vacate our table for more important people at the end of our meal but that the waitstaff would reserve a table in the bar area for us to enjoy coffees and desserts. Our "reserved" area was a total of two seats crammed

between other not-so-important people that we were supposed to fit four bottoms on. After five minutes of sharing laps and not being waited on, we departed.

The Lord Nelson - a Sydney icon, this place was not to be missed, renowned for its micro-brews. Too bad we picked a Sunday night to visit where their normal closing time of 11pm became 10:22pm and they would only serve us one beer and even then, only half a pint. So after emptying our thimbles of beer, we were off yet again.

Guillaume at Bennelong - for those unfamiliar, Guillaume specialises in Australian modern cuisine with a French twist. It is the restaurant situated in the southernmost "shell" at the Sydney Opera House. Overall, this was probably the best meal we had during the Bellones' stay for the quality and presentation of the food as well as the atmosphere. A truly memorable dining experience as we savoured the unique dishes while gazing at the incredible Opera House architecture and not being asked to vacate our individual seats for lap-sharing space in the economy section of the restaurant.

Rockpool - a creation of Neil Perry, a well-known chef and restauranteur in Australia, Rockpool serves up innovative and fresh seafood cuisine that didn't disappoint. This was a special choice to celebrate Michelle's 40th birthday which took place on that day. Happy birthday, Michelle! We had a truly wonderful meal and even mixed a bit with the locals (well, with people who have beards, wear really big bow-ties and have supermodels following them around for some reason).

Star City Casino - as the name implies, this is the place that either makes or breaks dreams. In our case, it made them as Star City likely topped John's list of favourite spots after he cleaned them out of cash (relatively speaking, of course) on three separate occasions. Let's hope John figured out that this was just part of Australia's ploy to keep the tourists coming back and that his "system" won't work in Vegas or Atlantic City.

Although it is impossible to describe everything we experienced (and you wouldn't read it if we did), here are just a few other notable highlights from the entire visit:

•Seeing Le Grand Cirque in the main concert hall at the Opera House
•Bodyboarding in the surf at Bondi Beach
•Petting the koalas at Featherdale Wildlife Park
•Watching the colony of bats (flying foxes) flying overhead at Hervey Bay
•Briefly joining the Aboriginal band of didgeridoo players at Circular Quay
•Sliding down the outside walls of the Opera House
•Watching a winter wonderland themed show in the foyer of the casino (note: it is summer in Australia)
•Orange Bear leaving the US for the first time
•Catching flying food with our clothing in Chinatown
•Hiking hundreds of steep steps in the Blue Mountains to get a closer look at some rocks
•Winning the big jackpot which requires the attendant to pay out at the pub in Watson's Bay (note: the total cashout was $17)
•Buying a new stuffed animal for every child every 20 feet or 20 minutes, whichever came first

The end came too quickly as they wrapped up their two weeks with us and departed for home. But we can all say that we had a truly fantastic time and we did a great job creating memories that will last a lifetime.

All of the photos from their visit can be found here.

Bellones Down Under

Sunday, 11 January 2009