from SYDNEY: Off to NZ!

Living in the future as we are, it’s already Saturday and we are off to New Zealand this morning – most of us anyway. Special guest star Minda heads home to NYC, leaving the Seattleites to their own devices. We ‘ll see what happens!

Last I left you there was a slight hail storm outside.  I wish I could tell you that the weather improved,
but it was pretty hit or miss all week. On New years day, the rain storm changed our plans and we hit the aquarium first, which is great. I love aquariums in general, but this one is extra impressive with reef fish, sharks, sting rays and those cool things that live down here. The sun then emerged, so we hit a couple new parts of town, Newtown and Chinatown for the afternoon/evening. While the aquarium may have turned some people off of eating fish for the rest of the day, it only excited me & Eleni, so dinner was at a Chinese restaurant full of fresh fish tanks. Eleni & I had prawns & scallops – Minda & Kelli had pork

On Tuesday Kelli & Minda left us for a couple days to go to the reef. Eleni & I spent that day out on the
eastern part of town, taking a ferry to Watson’s Bay, wandering through the Gap where the ocean comes into the harbor, and walking back towards our house to Rose Bay, where we eventually had to catch a bus home b/c it started raining.

Wednesday we hit the zoo, which is huge and full of all the crazy animals that live down here. Right off the bat a kangaroo jumped right in front of us and then we saw koalas, wombats, platypus, crocodiles and even a Tasmanian devil, which just looks as mean and ugly as you think it would. The sun had been out all afternoon, so leaving the zoo we were gonna hit the beach at Balmoral for awhile. But as usual this week, the late shower moved in as we were waiting for the bus. It slowed down and stopped as we arrived at Balmoral, so we stayed dry as we ate fish & chips on the beach. Bellies full, we laid out and just as we got comfy, the familiar plink, plink, plink of raindrops began. We grabbed shelter under the roof of a wishing well, wishing very hard that it would stop. Perhaps because we didn’t actually throw a coin into the fountain while wishing, it began to rain harder & harder. So we caught the bus up to Mosman to look around for a bit, before returning home.

That night we headed down the hill from our house to Stanley street in East Sydney where we had a great meal. I finally had some potato wedges with sour cream & sweet chili sauce which I had been craving.  And, I found my new favorite appy/side dish: wood-fired ciabatta with honey & basil. YUM! so good. Anyone coming to my house in the near future will get to sample…

On Thursday Eleni & I split up for the day, so I did a lot of neighborhood wandering. First down to Surry Hills to check out Cafe Sopra, but sadly it was closed. Like the rain, this was an all too familiar
sight this week: stores and restaurants opening & closing whenever they wanted with no warning or
reason. From there I hit downtown for a bit, then Glebe, the Sydney Fish Market, Rozelle and Balmain.
It was finally a nice day out, so it was fun to just wander about and see new places. At the Sydney Fish
Market I had a snack that would make my Minnesota riends proud: Fried Octupus on a stick! (While in
Minnesota this summer I learned that they put everything on a stick and fry it!) mmm…

I met back-up with Eleni at home where we had happy hour on our sunny deck, looking out over the harbor.  So nice! We ordered dinner from an Indian spot up the street and shared adventures with Minda & Kelli who returned home from the reef.

Today was our last day in Sydney and it was a great one. Clear blue skies and nothing but sun! In the
morning, Eleni & Kelli went to climb the bridge, while Minda & I went to the top of the AMP Sydney Tower (like the Space Needle). The views were clear and spectacular, and the visit also included a little
Disneyland-like adventure, OzTrek. OzTrek featured old school dioramas with Obi-won Kenobi like
projections telling us all about the land of Oz, until we then got on a virtual ride across the country. It
was very entertaining.

We all met up at Circular Quay then and caught the ferry to Manly to spend the afternoon at the beach. It was an awesome afternoon – beach was packed, and it was a great finish to the week. Group dinner near home capped off a good time.

Alrighty, gotta go finish laundry, packing, and sleeping before waking up in six hours to head to New
Zealand. Have a great weekend!