Helensburg and Stanwell tops

Visted the beautiful Venkateshwara temple at Helensburg. Of course, a visit to this temple had an ulterior motive...eat the yummy South Indian dishes in the temple canteen. After a big lunch comprising of dosas and idlies, we headed off to Stanwell Tops for a view of the Grand Pacific Highway. Since it was too windy, we decided to return home as soon:)

Bungy Jumping

1) Cairns, Australia- AJHackett Bungy- Vaibhavi jumped from a height of 50 m- October, 2008

If I were to rate my thrilling experiences, this would top the list- The adrenelin rush when they say '5-4-3-2-1...jump' cannot be explained. You have to experience the joy of surrendering to gravity and then bobbing up and down after you have ovecome one of the biggest challenges in life. A note to self after the experience was 'If ever considering a suiside, jumping off a building is ruled out!'.

2) Kuwarau Bridge Bungy and The Ledge Bungy- Queenstown, New Zealand

We visted these magnificient bungy sites in New Zealand but choose not to bungy thanks to my mom's threat- 'What if someting happens to either of you...You both should think about Arya...You have done it once, then what's the point in doing the same thing over and over again'.

All I can say is .....'Parents!.....'

Scuba diving in Great Barrier Reef, Australia

The Great Barrier Reef(Outer Reef)- Cairns, Australia- October 2008

This was one of the dream come true experiences- Where else would a person want to scuba dive? We had our lesson on board the ship and then as tried to remember thousands of instructions, we braced ourselves and entered the choppy water of the Great Barrier Reef. It was surprisingly calm below water. We spotted the ubiquitous clown fish (popularly known as Nemo fish) and dived deeper underwater to see many amazingly multi-colored corals and colorful fishes and finally after touching a giant clam we returned back to the boat.

The giant clam we touched!

Port Stephens- Sand dunes and Dolphins:)

This is a wonderful weekend trip from Sydney. We stayed overnight in a 1 bedroom villa witha a wonderful view.

Some highlights of our trip incuded:

• 4WD adventure trip

We took the 3 hour trip with Port Stephens 4WD tours. Our guide was fantastic and since we were the only ones in the vehicle that day, we got a personal tour:)

Sights we saw included, Sygna shipwrek, WWII bunkers, Tin city and a adrenelin rushing drive down a sand dune! We also tried sand-boarding a couple of times but the climb back up was exhausting:( If only there were lifts, we would be here all day long! While we did this, Arya slept peacefully in her car seat, for most of the time!

• Dolphin watching cruise

A picture (and in this case, two of them) is worth a thousand words!!!

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Austalia

For all pictures of this trip vist- http://picasaweb.google.com/harshal.vaibhavi/UluruKataTjutaNPNorthernTerritoryAustralia#




Day 1-6 June, 2008

-We got a spectacular view of Uluru from air. Landed at 1:30pm and checked into Voyages- a serviced apartment - Emu run apartments. Decent place!

-We then drove to Kata-Tjuta (also known as Olgas) for viewing the sunset there.

-We did the Walpa Gorge walk taking turns as Arya was asleep in her carseat.

- Then enjoyed the spectacular sunset at the sunset viewing area and back home for dinner.

-Arya loved to crawl around in the living room. We then took a walk in the resort area. With babies, we found that sticking to some sort of a schedule, even when traveling, did them good:) At least, we can say so for Arya. She used to love playing with us in the evening before her dinner and bath. Having a one bedroom apartment gave us that luxury!

Day 2- 7 June, 2008



- We started this day early by visiting Kata-Tjuta and stopping at various lookouts along the way. We kindof got to see the sunrise at Kata-Tjuta as well.

- We then decided to do 'Valley of winds walk' (7kms and 3-5 hours). Arya was excellent all along in her baby bjorn. She loved to trek as much as we did!

- Then, tired from the long walk, we drove back to Uluru vistors center and picked up a walking tracks guide and decided to do a couple of small walks at Uluru. I think we did the Mala walk or the Kuniya walk to the water hole and got some insight into Aboriginal stories and artwork.


- We drove around Uluru before watching the sunset. It was a serene experience.


Day 3- 8 Jun 2009




- We started this day with sunrise viewing at Uluru. Again, drove around the monolith and watched the climbers climb the rock.

- We then visited camel farm and saw folks leave for their camel ride. Arya saw camels for the first time in her life.

- We had only enough time to do lunch at one of the restaurants in the resort, before heading back to the airport for our return flight to Sydney.