Byronnnnn

Friday June 12-Monday June 15

Byron Baaaay! One of the "cruiseiest" places in Oz and a big spot for backpackers. People sit around and play the bongos at sunset- that's the kind of place it is. I'd heard from a few people that the place was overrated but I think they were sadly mistaken- it is totally amazing! It is yet another town along the beach but it is a fantastic beach- soft white sand, clear turquoise water, it looks exactly like the postcards!

Making the place even better is the accommodation we've landed in. Going on the recommendation of a couple of girls we met in Sydney, Hannah and I check into the Middle Reef which is a converted house instead of a big youth hostel. It has a great kitchen (with an oven! Yay!) and a beautiful deck that gets lots of morning sun. I've met some really nice people and as usual it's a big European mix- and with my friend Cori from university out for the weekend we represented the US all the way!

Life in Byron centers around the ocean and what better way to check it out than actually get in the water?! With minimal convincing I got both Cori and Hannah to take a surfing lesson with me on Saturday. It was so Australian it was unbelievable- we went out with Mojo surf company with an instructor called Wapu or Wapsy. They piled us into a van and drove is about 15 min south to a place called Lennox Head where the surf has been better and we got a lesson on ocean safety and rips and waves (good stuff to know before careening into the water) then after going over a few techniques we were pretty much set free! It was a total rush- I was able to catch a good number of waves on my own (we were on huge beginner longboards) and had some pretty good falls and crashes. I don't think I've ever had so much salt water up my nose! I went out a second time on Saturday and got to try a slightly smaller board which was tougher but still a lot of fun. There were pelicans on the beach and dolphins further our in the water! I kept thinking about the turtle from Finding Nemo- "Righteous! Righteous!"

Cori stayed with us for two nights and we had a lot of fun checking out the local spots and met all sorts of characters. It's been lovely and warm during the day but freezing at night! Today was rainy but I an hoping tomorrow it will clear up enough so I can lay on the beach all day and work on my tan before heading north to Brisbane where I'll meet up with a few more friends. Tough day I know:)

Yamba Ramba

Thursday June 11

After exhausting the scenery at Coffs we took a late bus to Yamba, a town that supposedly has the best climate in Australia (Redwood City's rival) and was a sleepy surf town. The Yamba tourism website says "Yamba. It has the x factor" which we thought was pretty lame, but when we rocked up at 9:30 at night it was pretty hopping! The one hostel in town was just built and opened in November. It was incredible- more like staying in a nice hotel with bunk beds. The family that runs it were probably some of the nicest people I've met. They clearly think they have the best jobs in the world, and I reckon they're right.

I guess Yamba is a great surf spot and the guy that started the surf company Billabong is from right down the road and a friend of one of the brothers that owns the hostel.

On our full day Hannah, myself, and 2 English guts went to the coastline and followed a path through a nature reserve to Shelly Beach. The scenery was incredible with dramatic coastline on one side and big scrubby hills on the other. There were signs along the track telling you what emu poo looks like so you can identify it. Unfortunately there were no emu sightings for us.
After our walk we went with one of the guys, Dave, up to the pub on top of a massive hill for lunch. I got a prawn entrée (apparently prawns are a big deal in Yamba) and it was lovely but unfortunately I learned that an entrée here is what we would call an appetizer or starter (their main dish is called a "main", funnily enough) and I was still pretty starving after we ate.

We checked out the lighthouse and sat on a cliff watching the ocean. There were a couple of dolphins hanging around and while we were sitting there we watched one surf a wave in and before the wave broke on the rocks the dolphin jumped and flipped all the way out of the water! It was so cool.

Dave left to go surfing and Hannah and I walked out on the breakers and watched the suffers and the sunset. I was a little cut up over leaving, but at least the thought of heading to Byron Bay was a comfort.

Coffs Harbour

Monday June 8-Wednesday June 10

When we finally decided to roll out of Bellingen Greg from the hostel offered us a ride into Coffs which is about 20 min up the road. Can't beat door to door service! The city of Coffs Harbour has 3 main parts- the old bit near the ocean and the jetty where we stayed and spent most of our time, the newer city center and the newest shopping complex, both located on the highway that we barely ventured out to.

The seaside was very pretty with nice sandy beaches stretching up the coast and we waded out into a few. There is also an island called Mutton Bird Island just off the shore with a lovely walking track up and over it. There are no mutton birds out there this time of year, but we watched for whales (didn't see any), had a nice view of the city and surrounding hills, and of the small islands that make up the Solitary Islands Nature preserve.

Coffs creek runs down through the city and has a very nice walk all along it. Hannah and I ventured along it a couple if times and had covered both sides of the creek in the 2.5 days we were there. We walked to the botanic gardens and picnicked, checked out the show grounds and visited a bizarre place called the clog barn that is fashioned after a couple of Dutch buildings for selling pie and tacky Dutch souvenirs. But the weirdest part was they had a miniature Dutch village outside complete with windmills and canals and the Anne Frank house. You had to pay to walk through and I thought it was one of the stupidest things I've seen but Hannah was pretty enthralled, so the jury is still out on "Holland Downunder".

In Coffs we continued on our coffee and cake spree and found a few nice places. One was right on the water where we sat drinking our mochas, watching the sun set over the hills and the sea, and I even spotted some dolphins just next to where we were sitting. Not a bad few days at all!

Mello Bello

Leaving wacky Port Macquarie Hannah and I passed back through Wauchope (pronounced war-hope) and continued north and inland to the sleepy town of Bellingen. 2 of the girls we met in Newcastle and roomed with in port came out as well so we had some extra companions for a few days.

Bellingen was hit particularly hard by all the rain- they have had 3 major floods since April and farmers in the area have lost all their crops. The main industry here is dairy and there are lush verdant pastures everywhere. It all used to be rain forest and the main industry es timber, until they ran out of trees. Luckily the land is still gorgeous. The town is in a valley in the Great Dividing Range, the mountains that run north to south all along the coast. Our hostel has a great view of the mountains and the Bellinger river, along with some cows which are ubiquitous in the area.

Apparently the rain finally stopped the day we got in and it has been warm and sunny and clear since. Our first evening we went on a twilight kayaking trip down the Bellinger. It was very pretty but in the summer there are tens if not hundreds of thousands of bats in the area that are quite a site at dusk. We saw a couple dozen which was still pretty good.

Friday we took a day trip to Dorrigo National Park which is a world heritage listed subtropical rain forest. It was the first time they were able to run the trip in 3 weeks and there are still sections of the road closed off. We saw some photos taken during the rain of a normally sedate waterfall that had swelled to cover the highway in rushing water. Crazy! Friday was really clear and we got some spectacular vistas of the valley. We saw another bower birds' bower, lots of interesting rain forest plants, the obligatory waterfalls (for supposedly being one of the driest places on earth, Australia seems to have more than its fair share of waterfalls!). Way more exciting was our sighting of a swamp wallaby who was watching us hike then bounded away with giant thudding hops, and also a family of pademelons, which are the smallest wallaby species. These let us get close enough for photos.
We also hiked down to Dangar Falls that people will jump off of in the summer. Crazy.
Other than those adventures we've been laying pretty low. Hannah and I both came down with colds Friday evening and are trying to recover. The town of Bellingen consists of one main street about 2 blocks long so we've been in and out of every shop a couple of times. Luckily For us there are lots of cute and funky places- vintage shops, home goods, trendy knick-knacks and clothing. The best part is you can't walk 5 feet without bumping into a cafe- which has meant regular coffee and cake! Australia doesn't do regular drip coffee- everything is espresso based. My coffee of choice is the flat white, which is like a cappuccino with steamed milk. Hannah normally gets a long black which is espresso with water (I guess that's like an Americano?). A short black is an espresso shot. They also have lattes and cappuccino and mochas, but my coffee knowledge is pretty limited so I really have never known how they all differ.
We've been enjoying the really laid back vibe of the town and the hostel which is full of really nice people- most of whom seem to be fairly permanent residents. Tomorrow we move on to Coffs Harbour and back to the beach!

And the Hits Keep Comin

CAMEL RIDES! The whole reason we came to Port Macquarie in the first place. And it turned out to be so much more of an adventure than we had bargained for! John- who is 80 and has very hairy ears- came to collect us at 9 this morning. On the relatively short drive out to the beach he told us about coming to Australia from England for 10 pounds and going on the boat around the world for 6.5 weeks with his family. He told us that Australian men beat their dogs- and their wives, and wasn't that something to look forward to. He said to us "have you heard of Farrah Fawcet?" and we said yeah, and he says "is she dead yet?" I don't even know where that one was going. Oh right, she was beaten by her husband.

We went through a little dip in the road and had to slow down because there were a bunch of cans and cardboard- clearly someone had lost a few 6packs out of the back of their truck. We drive by, and crazy John asks us if we drink beer, then says, hey, want to sit around and drink those beers? I ask "haha what, do you want to turn around and pick them up?" Sometimes I should not open my mouth, because faster than you would think an 80 year old can move he whipped the car around and before we knew it we were picking dented cans up off the street and putting the ones that were not apparently leaking into the boot of his car. Luckily we convinced him that they could be drunk later and we did in fact want to ride some camels, so we carried on. (I know this sounds insane, but I am not even joking one bit).

We get to the beach and meet the other John who leads the rides, and his friend Mary who lives across from the beach and wanted to meet a fellow American (or Yank as I have oft been called in the last few days) because they don't see many of them through here, apparently. She says to me "so you are from California?" more as a statement than a question so I ask how she knows. She says "isn't anyone who would travel out here from California?" I guess that is fair enough.

The camel ride itself was awesome. We were the only 2 there and the camels hadn't been out in weeks because of all the rains and floods. I got to ride Neptune, Hannah was on Minindie, and Bullah the bull brought up the rear and tried to cause trouble. John told us that Australia is the only place where there are herds of wild dromedaries anymore, their humps are all fat, that camels can lose a third of their body weight in water loss and gain it all back just by drinking, a camel can drink about 52 gallons of water in 10 minutes! Amazing. Riding them was funny- they can fit 2 ppl on- one on each side of the hump- and since we each had our own camel we sat behind the hump. When we had to get off and on the camels essentially lay down and tuck their legs beneath them, which feels really weird!
After the ride we got back in the car with Crazy John and he took us up to the lighthouse and we got to watch a pod of dolphins playing in the water! They were swimming in and out of waves, and were very cool. We also went to see a few more beaches, and he showed us where the bus station was. He didn't have anything else to do this morning, but since we had to get out of town we said our goodbyes. He offered to split the Bundaberg rum and coke cans we found this morning, but seemed even more pleased when we told him to keep them all. Friend for life that one.

Port Mc-weird-ie

Sometimes we do so much I can't keep up! Left Newcastle on Tuesday after checking out their library (free internet!) and local gallery. Had a long (4 hour) train journey north. Got into Port Macquarie and it was POURING rain! Wed morning was overcast and we headed out into the vast (haha actually tiny) town of Port- where 90% of the population is over 90 (that is only a slight exaggeration). As we wandered, the sky actually cleared and it turned into a sunny and beautiful day! We found the port and saw a whole flock of pelicans who were very interested in a couple who were cleaning their fish. These birds are HUGE- probably over 3 ft tall- and Hannah and I ventured into the pack to take our pictures with them. We continued along the waterfront which was very picturesque- sandy beaches, green hills and mountains in the back, grassy walkways. Much of the walk is lined in big rocks and over the years people have painted designs and messages on them which is quite cool. We relaxed in the sun for a while, and then headed down the road to the koala hospital.

The hospital is only about a 15 min walk from town, and on the property is an historic house from 1890 that has been restored and filled with items from the (very rich) family. The koala area was quite good. They are the only koala hospital in New South Wales so get sick and injured koalas from all over the state. Most of them come in after being attacked by dogs or cars, and they had really sad posters on ones that had been rescued from bushfires. A major cause of koala sickness is chlamydia which they treat a lot of. Those dirty little bears. We saw feeding time where the old ones get infant formula. One of the animals is called Birthday Girl and they think she might be the oldest koala alive at 22. We listened to a talk about how to protect them- put a rope in your swimming pool so they can pull themselves out, for example. Very informative stuff.

To round off our day we went to the astronomical observatory (naturally) and listened to a talk on why Pluto is no longer a planet, how the discover of Uranus originally wanted to name it George (one of my favorite pieces of trivia) and got to zoom around the solar system in a program akin to Google Earth- like Google Galaxy (if it isn't already named that, it should be). It was a cloudy night, so they didn't bother getting out the telescope, but probably even better than that was the 3-D slide show of Mars that we got to see. As one does.

Some people laugh at Port Macquarie, but where else are you going to stand with pelicans, talk about koalas getting the clap, and watch a 3-D space show in one day? That's my defense of the Port.

First Day of Winter

It is officially the first day of winter (June 1st). How crazy is that? As if it wasn't hard enough keeping track of a 17 (or 14? 20?) hour time difference to home/family, counting back both hours and days, the entire season switch is hard for my head (not to mention circadian clock) to adjust to!

Hannah and I went on a tour of the Hunter Valley wine region today. We had a crazy tour guide Tex who told us Newcastle is the number one coal exporter in the WORLD! And apparently this place also exports sand to Hawaii. But we saw the giant ships lined up to get into the harbour to get loaded with coal and take it to all the corners of the world and continue heating our planet up like a hot cake. Sometimes there are 70 ships waiting and they can only load about 5 a day! I guess it is a pretty flawed system.

But speaking of pretty, the wineries themselves were lovely. The vines are just being pruned, so about half of them still have their beautiful green and gold leaves left on the vine. We went to 4 very different wineries and tasted some really great stuff. The most popular wines produced in this region are the dry semillion and shiraz. We tasted a couple of muscats that were described as "Christmas pudding in a bottle" and the two English on our tour were both thrilled with this discovery. After a number of in depth conversations with my British compatriot about puddings (desserts to us lay folk) I got a taste of what all the talk is about. (To me the muscat tasted like runny molasses, but I guess that is the desired effect). I did discover that I liked an un-oaked Chardonnay (I didn't even know such a thing existed) and we had a couple of lovely sweet wines with names like "Juliette", "Sticky", and "Tickle". Any guess who those are marketed to?

Along with wine and scenery, we got to do some cheese, candy, and fudge tasting. I rolled out of that valley sleepy and happy!

The wineries really rounded off our Newcastle experience- yesterday we went to a coffee and chocolate fair- after weeks of hiking in the desert, our piggy sides have come out. There was a disappointing lack of chocolate (made up for it by the fudge, no doubt) but the coffee was tasty and we got "slabs" of pizza for lunch covered in roasted eggplant and sweet potato. Weird, but in a good way.

After stuffing ourselves at the street fair, listening to a local band, and visiting every shop open in Newcastle on a Sunday we went for a walk to the lighthouse and got buffeted by the wind. For all its industry, Newcastle was a really lovely place, and a contender for a livable city!

leaving the alice and koala encounters

(Alice Springs. I was really not this thrilled about it)

Our outback adventure is officially over:-( The last few days in Alice Springs were uneventful, except for our new German friend Paul from the YHA who told us Alice is the murder capital of the world. Nice. Hannah and I flew into Sydney and went to Govinda's for the evening- an all you can eat vegetarian Indian buffet (which we took FULL advantage of) followed by a movie in their crazy theater with futons instead of chairs and you have to take your shoes off. It was a great set up for one of the worst films of all time- some sci-fi thriller with Nicholas Cage which was super creepy but luckily ended by aliens blowing up the world (not even kidding) so we weren't scared anymore when we had to walk back to our hostel at midnight.
We took the train up to Newcastle which turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. Sydney and its surrounds must be one of the loveliest cities in the world- on the train we passed through lots of little water ways and beaches, and through tons of lush vegetation. Newcastle reminds us both of Norwich and we had a good time reminiscing about the uni days we spent there (aww). The fact that it has been overcast or raining the whole time has only reinforced the English feel! It is full of cafes and boutiques and has a very pretty waterfront esplanade. Last night we went to the opening night of a French film festival and were served wine (we are close to Hunter Valley, one of Australia's main vineyard areas) and delicious French cheese. The movie was sweet- and alien free!

We ventured out to the Blackbutt Koala Sanctuary (again, not even kidding) today and got to pet the koalas! It was an interesting little place and they had enclosures for different kinds of ozzy animals. I saw my first wombats! They were HUGE and I really wanted to squeeze one. Maybe next time. Also some emus, walaroos, kangaroos, and a ton of birds- I am almost getting used to the crazy animals around here- but they still make me happy:)

We are going to a chocolate and coffee festival tomorrow (!) and on a wine and cheese tasting tour Monday before we venture further up the coast. Luckily the flooding has subsided and all the roads are supposedly open. It does feel like winter has come though, a big change from the far north a week ago! Coming up on a month that I've been out here- hard to believe that so much time has already gone by!

This Winter Is Out Of Control

Darwin! We've gone from the mountains to the desert overnight. It has been a bit of a trek- a flight from Sydney to Brisbane and then another 4 hours on to Darwin with screaming babies sitting in front of us. We planned the trip so last minute most hostels were full, so we booked beds in the only one we could find vacancies in. When we got in at 2am, the place was a dump but we didn't have any other options. We woke up this morning and relocated to the YHA, got our travel sorted to Kakadu National Park (for tomorrow!) and spent the day wandering around town and being HOT. Thank goodness it is winter here, because it is still like 34 degrees C- which is about 93!!!! It is so hot when I finally took a (cold) shower I was sweating the second I turned the water off. Yuck!

We went to the Mindil beach market this evening which was apparently where the entire city of Darwin goes on a Thursday night. There were tons of food stalls, artists and all sorts of knick knacks. I ate a delicious bucket sized portion of laksa, sat on the beach, and watched the sun set into the Timor Sea. Because we are so close to the equator it looks like the sun sinks straight down into the horizon. We stood with our feet in the warm ocean for half an hour watching the sky change colors. AMAZING.

We set off for a 3 day trip to Kakadu tomorrow to check out crocs and birds and aboriginal rock drawings. Then we are back in Darwin for a few days before we join the bus tour that will take us the 1,500km (or about 21 hours) to Alice Springs, stopping at Katherine Gorge, the Devil's Marbles, and some natural hot springs. Then we have a few days on our own near Uluru and will be heading back to Sydney. It'll be quite the Outback adventure!

Also, I now have an Australian phone, so let me know if you want the number so you can randomly call me!

Spelunking Platypus

Every day this crazy country throws something totally unexpected and so much better than imagined at us! Yesterday we took a day trip to the Jenolan Caves- the worlds oldest walk in limestone caves (who knew?). They were pretty incredible and full of stalactites and stalagmites and all that fun stuff. The mud in the caves is over 300 million years old, and the "decoration" grows at a rate of about an inch every century- and some of these formations were like 10 feet tall! Definitely cool, and very random. Apparently the year after light bulbs were invented they had them installed in the caves and people came to check out electricity in action- prior to that the wealthy spelunked by candle light.

Possibly even better than the caves though was Blue Lake, where the water that flows through the caves and all the limestone comes out. It is an amazing shade of blue and turquoise because it flows slowly over the limestone and picks up particles that reflect the blue green light back, like glacial water. Even better than that was when we found out there were platypus living in the lake- and actually got to see them! We saw one floating in the water and then dive down a couple of times, and after the last cave tour ran (literally) back to the water to have another look. The platypus was floating around again! Even though it wasn't a great view, it was still super exciting to see one in the wild!

Today we went for another walk around Katoomba and went down about 1,000 steps by the Three Sisters and through the woods and ended up at Scenic World. Neither of us had any idea what to expect, but it really was like walking into another world- Disneyland gone green. It was a combination of thrilling but scenic rides (glass bottom gondola, old mining train), information on the ecology of the area, and creepy dioramas about the mining history of the town. Especially when you walk into the boardwalked weirdness out of a normal walk through the woods, it was pretty crazy. We took the old mining railway up the side of the mountain- when you get in on flat ground you are practically laying on your back in the seat, but it goes almost perpendicular to the ground as it goes up the side of the mountain and you are afraid you are going to topple over forwards and out of it. Apparently it is the worlds steepest funicular railway- lots of world record places in just a few days!

And in other exciting news, we decided to forget Melbourne and go to the OUTBACK instead! We are flying to Darwin tomorrow (!!!) and going to spend 2 weeks seeing crocodiles, kangaroos, desert, the Devil's Marbles, and Uluru. It will no doubt be amazing, and sooo Australian it really had to be done while we were all the way out here!

In Cars With Strangers...

Third day in the Blue Mountains! We thought we would go for a walk, have a quick look at the town, and move on in about 2 days, but boy were we wrong! The mountains are amazing- they look blue from a distance when the sun hits the mist of oil given off the eucalyptus leaves (fyi). We are staying in the town of Katoomba which is full of used book shops and quaint cafes serving coffee and cake and hippie families with home knit sweaters. It is pretty funky and very excellent.

Yesterday we went on a 6 hour bush walk at Wentworth Falls and through the Valley of the Waters and Darwin's Walk (Charles Darwin was actually HERE and did that very walk in 1836- the ecologist and conservation biologist thought that was very exciting). The National Pass that we were walking on is a natural ledge along the cliff face, so there were amazing views of Jamison Valley at every clearing, we saw TONS of waterfalls, walked up and down a ridiculous number of steps, and saw loads of wild (extremely loud) cockatoos. And all of this only 2 hours outside of Sydney!

Today was misty and rainy and Hannah and I decided we should actually try and figure out what to do with ourselves for the next 7 weeks! We looked at some maps, realized we had loads more time to do what we had planned on than was necessary, so modified our plans. Now we are thinking of flying down to Melbourne and taking the train all the way from Melbourne to Brisbane and hitting lots of parks and beaches on the way.

After our afternoon cake and coffee we went down to the visitor center and got a map for a local walk to Leura Cascades. The weather cleared for a bit and the falls were lovely (though nowhere near as impressive as the ones yesterday). Just as we were heading back it started to really rain, and the fog rolled in in earnest. We realized the map and directions we had were total crap, and it was starting to get dark. Luckily we left the path for a road near a nice restaurant and asked some people outside a) where we were and b) how could we get back to town? They were lovely and offered us a lift. Going against all advice we have ever gotten, we took them up on the offer and are still alive to tell the tale! It was a good thing they did give us a ride though, it was much further back to town than our rubbish map showed (why are these things not drawn to scale?!) and it left all of us with a more interesting evening (don't worry Mom, it won't become a regular occurrence).

Tomorrow we are going on a tour to Jenolan Caves- huge limestone caves with lots of stalactites and stalagmites and all that good stuff. We are thinking of staying an extra day to do a walk in the nearby town of Glenbrook down to an area where you can often see wild grey kangaroos! The guy at the info center said they might not be out in the middle of the day, but he was also wrong about just about everything else, so we might give it a go.

Pictures to come when internet isn't so expensive!

Oh Manly You're So Fine, You're So Fine You Blow My Mind

Manly Harbour. Hannah and I are both in love... and have decided to look for millionaire Australians (wealthy Bruce's as she calls them) to marry us and buy us beach front property.

We did the Manly Harbour walk- which is advertised as 9 kilometers, but that is clearly a lie as the sign posts along the way advertise different distances, and after you've walked on the next one says you have further to go than the last! All in all it took us about 5 hours with lots of stops for photos and lunch sitting on the rocks watching the sail boats. A little lizard was sunning himself on a rock near by, and we thought we heard a kookaburra in the bush behind us (at least we hope that's what it was, and not a demented man laughing his head off). We walked around little coves and big harbors and through bush and mountains and had some of the most spectacular views, and got to see some Aboriginal drawings in the sandstone. As Hannah said, it made us feel very happy (to put it mildly). Towards the end of the walk we found the perfect little beach and ran into the water, but had to move on as the sun sets around 5 here and goes down quickly and we really didn't want to be caught in the woods with the giant creepy crawlies.

We took the ferry back to Sydney at dusk and came up on the Opera House and Harbour Bridge just when all the lights were coming on and the moon was coming out- it was truly stunning. Another perfect day in paradise!

Tomorrow we check out of our swank hotel and head off for the Blue Mountains for 3 days! We have booked beds in the YHA- it will be Hannah's first hostel experience, but you really can't do a budget trip without sticking to a budget. Hopefully it won't be as terrible/frightening as she expects!

Harbor Bridge, Opera House, and Flying Foxes

We saw SO MUCH today! We started the morning by taking the bus down to Circular Quay where there were a couple people playing a weird mix of electronic beats and didgeriedoo. Saw the harbour bridge and the Opera House! It is so much more impressive in person than it even is in pictures- it is massive and looks totally different from various angles. We walked around Benelong Point and got views of it from across the water and wandered through the botanical gardens where we saw many lovely plants, but those aren't really very exciting, but we did see tons and tons of BATS!!! There is a huge resident colony of flying foxes, and they were surprisingly very active during the afternoon and flying about. It was definitely one of the more exciting animal encounters I've had lately! There are also lots of very noisy wild cocatoos in the Gardens, and a few that were happy to pose for pictures.

We walked through The Rocks (one of the oldest parts of town) and across the bridge to Kirribilli and sat out looking across at the sights. The weather was gorgeous and we were just enjoying being outside. We walked back across the bridge, through downtown, and onto Darling Harbour where we had dinner and got to look at all the twinkling city lights while we ate and sat by the water. Sydney really is one of the most lovely cities, and it is centered around so many beautiful natural and man made sights.

People seem to be a bit confused about an American and an English girl traveling together. One guy asked us if we had just met, and another said "that's like a weird fruit salad...with, uh, two kinds of fruit". He was cute so we let it slide.

After a bit of grocery shopping, some planning for the next 7 weeks, and walking 12 billion steps, we are both pretty exhausted... and are getting ready to do it all again tomorrow!