LAST DAY IN SYDNEY

We greeted  a beautiful sunny summer day on our last day in Sydney.  We had planned on visiting the Botanic Gardens and for my birthday Cliff was taking me to "Jersey Boys" which I have wanted to see for quite some time.
We started mid-morning by riding the monorail which I am sure is for tourists as it doesn't go far.  It was such fun to be over the streets and see the city from another perspective.

For my birthday Cliff took me to see Jersey Boys and WOW what a show.  I don't think Broadway could have done it any better.  The lead was MAGNIFICENT.  The theater was packed and my seat mate asked why Americans came all the way to Australia to see an American production.  Good question!

We leave with so many wonderful memories.    I don't believe I could have scripted a better adventure.  We saw so much, talked to so many wonderful people and immensely enjoyed the experience.  Our friends "Down Under" were so gracious and interested in all things American.

We were devastated for New Zealand and our friends the Smiths and all the people we came into contact with in our walks around Christchurch.    We felt so fortunate to have seen Christchurch and to experience all of our journey through  the North and South Islands.  From our perspective nothing could have been better.

The two earthquakes in this part of the world make us anxious to be back in Virginia on terra firma.
As they say in Australia  no worries and see ya later!

Fourth day in Sydney

The Settlers

Being that we are walkers, we have just about worn out our shoes!  We walked all day exploring different areas of the city.  Our first stop was "The Rocks" which is old Sydney built primarily by convict labor.  The settlers and convicts had a hard life and would be shocked to see what grew from their hard work.  Many of  the convicts sent from England were for minor offenses, however, in England would have been put to death.  One such person had stolen a horse and was going to be executed, but the judge was lenient that day and commuted the sentence to life in New South Wales, the new territory.  The monument in the Rocks is three sides of the first people in the area.

This area developed into a vibrant area of the city full of cafes, shops and large buildings.  It starts on the harbor and ends at the top of the hill.  The Saturday market was packed selling a bit of everything.  My favorite booth displayed colorfully hand-painted aprons, tee-shirts, etc.

Colorful souvenirs



Saturday market



Buildings in the Rocks

From the rocks we visited the  Victorian Building to check out the interior architecture

Views in the stairwell

Can you believe this building was constructed as a produce market.  A truly magnificent shopping delight! 

Sydney Day 3

We had been told by several Syndeysiders (as they are known) to visit their wonderful zoo which is located across the harbor.  To reach the zoo, we hopped on a ferry and 12 minutes later we arrived.  It is indeed a worthwhile visit as it sits high on the hill with wonderful views of the harbor.  The habitat for the animals is the best we have seen .  The best picture is the tiger.  He was pacing back and forth right in front of the glass, which was explained as his behavior when getting ready to change shifts with the one other tiger.  The most alarming thing we learned is the  huge threat to all the endangered species.

Such a gorgeous animal

View from the zoo back to the harbor

The evening ended with a beautiful dinner at the Sydney Opera in their beautiful restaurant Guillaume at Bennelong

The end to a wonderful  day!

After dinner we walked around the harbor that was teeming with revelers and activity.  What an alive city!

A post script - We watched the earthquake in Japan live on CNN.  When we turned in late in the evening of 11 March, the news was reporting that entire islands in the Pacific could be swallowed by the tsunami.  What fear.  I slept with extreme worry for my niece Shelley and her family in Waikiki.  Fortunately this morning there isn't much news of Hawaii so have to believe it is OK.  We fly into Honolulu on the 14th.  Can't believe the disasters that have struck while we are in this part of the world. 

Sydney Day 2

This is how we started our day.  The tourist double-decker was quite the bargain for the buck with jump on/off possibilities.  We spent the day doing just that.  It wasn't easy trying to get good pictures from a moving bus, but here are some of the sites we saw.

Victoria Building that escaped demolishing and is now a beautiful high-end shopping arcade.  The photo does not show the real beauty of the building.

Walking street scene

Victorian building amidst the modern





Love the old against the modern

Cliff eyeing fresh fish at the Sydney fish market

Lunch at the fish market

School girls in their wonderful uniforms with wide-brimmed straw hats

Signs everywhere not to feed the birds!

This is a Sydney icon as much as the Hollywood sign in LA

Cliff's afternoon snack!

The evening ended with "Barber of Seville at the Sydney Opera.  One of the best productions we have seen of this opera.;  it was very funny.

Sydney

We departed the Blue Mountains at 0630 to meet our commitment to return the car in downtown Sydney by 1030.  I knew this would be a test as it would be like driving into Manhattan in rush hour.  Traffic into Sydney about an hour out was like going into DC on I95.  Fortunately the Garmin has been working throughout Australia so I was dependent on those directions.  I passed by the hotel once and told Cliff to go in and get us registered as we were dropping off our luggage and then returning the car.   There was no place to park or stop for very long.   He was reluctant to get out and said he might never see me again.  This was about 0830.  One wrong turn can really mess things up!  Next thing I knew I was crossing a bridge leading away from downtown Sydney (the bridge one can walk across the top for about $200) and thought oh no!    With the help of the navigator I made my way back to the hotel to a very concerned Cliff 40 minutes later.  Even with this delay, we  dropped the car off in ample time..  I was very happy to give up the driver's seat.  It was fun and not hard once I  got used to being on the other side, but not a challenge I wanted in the city.

What a user-friendly city; one can walk almost everywhere.  The only thing missing is sunshine, but it is warm.  The harbor is magnificent with the Opera House as its centerpiece.  The city is very alive with people, cafes, shops and all that cities offer as well as beauty.  The cafes are full and it is hard to believe people actually get work done here.  Rain has been forecast all week so we took advantage of the overcast skies  and took a ferry to Manley, a beautiful Australian beach 30 minutes by ferry.  So very quickly one can leave the city and go surfing.  Manly Beach is quoted as being the "learner's surfer" beach and the second busiest beach in Australia.  Being it was a week-day it wasn't as crowded as one would imagine on the week-end.  We actually watched a surf class in session.

For shoppers this town is full of beautiful shops, however, I have found it to be very expensive.  It doesn't deter me from window shopping!

Tomorrow the forecast is the same so we will be tourists on the double-decker tour bus.

SIGHTS OF SYDNEY

Speaks for itself!

Skyline juxtaposition of modern and old

Famous Sydney bridge where  one can walk across the top for a nice price

Street artist

Hyde Park Fountain

Chess match in the park  - quite the show!

Aborigine performers at Circular Quay

Cliff enjoying his mid-day sweet- a daily occurrence

Manly Beach

Blue Mountains

What a beautiful place.  I am sure I have used this descriptive way too much but it truly is a beautiful country full of unbelievable nature and gorgeous scenery.
We arrived in the Blue Mountains on Sunday   after a 3+ hour drive and it was JAMMED with tourists.  Most tourists we had seen since arriving with Australia.  To our delight, the tourists disappeared for the most part on Sunday evening.
We drove to the first sight which is very FAMOUS here known as the "Three  Sisters" Mountains. The  name is based on an Aborigine legend that three sisters were turned to stone by their father  rather than be given to their suitors.  The father was turn them back to humans after he went off to  battle.  He never returned so the sisters stayed stone mountains.  Lots of legends such as this in the culture.
We found our lovely accommodation called the "Priests Cottage".  Our hosts had taken an old convent and were converting it into a "boutique hotel" for lack of another descriptive.  It is darling and is going to be A#1 when the couple are finished their renovating.  They are experienced hoteliers and know what they are doing.
Our first rested day found us heading to the Jenolan Caves about one hour away further up the mountains.  Mind boggling that these caves are here and were discovered .primarily by one man.  I believe that caves continue to be discovered to this day.  At the turn of the century this place must have been quite the resort enjoyed by only the wealthy.  The road leading to the resort was more switchbacks and cliff hanging roads.  One can only go into the caves with a tour guides and one could easily spend three days exploring all of the caves.  We truly enjoyed this experience.  We drove back to our town of Leura and found more beautiful falls and walks.
We were anxious to find the ride that Rich spoke about in his email when they were here.  No problem as it is a tourist spot, but quite nicely done.  We arrived early and beat most of the Japanese who are the leading tourists.  No kidding, what a hoot riding the "coal car " down into the the forest.  We walked, rode a cable car with a glass bottom across the valley and a tramway that pulled us up the mountain, and enjoyed all the vistas.  We spent quite some time on the forest floor on an eco-friendly  wooden path.  At one time this was a coal mining area.
This area is overwhelming with beauty.  It was a relaxing time before heading off to Sydney!

Famous Three Sisters Mountain

Mountains and Valley

Ticket office at Jenolan Caves.  Resort which was too big to photograph built in same architectural style.

Clff in front of cave tour options

In the cave

Steps inside the cave leading to different chambers

Stalactites called ribbon formation resembling bacon

Walking path around Jenolan caves

Parrots looking for a hand-out at Jenolan Cave.  Birds in Australia are magnificent.

Cockatoo at Preists Cottage.  Cockatoos are everywhere and are extremely loud.  The Australians consider them to be pests.

Our ride down the mountain

At the bottom on our walk

More beautiful nature

Bay Shoal and Hunter Valley

Bay Shoal shores was a "beach town" on a bay that flowed into the Pacific about three hours from Sydney.  It was lovely and hot!  We wanted to stay in the Hunter Valley, a wine region, but several events were occurring and accommodations were hard to come by.  At the suggestion of Phyllis' sister we went to Bay Shoals, a very laid back town.  We ventured to the Hunter Valley on our second day and were not disappointed.  It is a typical wine region with winery after winery available for tasting.  The most exciting thing to happen, happened after lunch in a very cute restaurant located among the vineyards.  We had a wonderful long French style repast and were  enjoying the scenery and ambiance our surroundings.  After lunch we took some pictures and wandered around the property for a bit.  When I got in the car to leave, I realized the key separated from the key holder which opens doors etc.  It was GONE!  We started retracing our steps, then all the wait staff came out to help.  We envisioned spending the evening waiting for help to replace the key.  To make a long story short, one of the help staff found the key in the sand.  By key I mean just the end!  We could start the car but needed to get a new key.  Luckily we were going by an airport and could exchange cars!  We thought of all the places that would have been impossible to find the key, and considered this a very lucky day!

Once we got back to our apartment, we picked up the computer and went to our favorite wi-fi cafe on the water.  We were minding our business in this cafe searching for emails, when a group of Australians came over to chat and asked if we knew "Chicken Mick"; seems chicken Mick sitting next to us was a Minor Celeb  who had built a house with his buddies for a dying woman - early Australian Ty Pennington.  They wanted us to see the web site and all the kids came over to help Cliff on the computer.  Thus the photo.  When Mick left, he was surrounded by admirers in the restaurant.  It was another one of our entertaining days Down Under.

One of Hunter Valley's fine wineries.  Lionel Ritchie was appearing the week-end.

Our cute restaurant in the Valley

Restaurant where key disappeared

More beautiful flowers

"Chicken" Mick and kids trying to show us the website about his accomplishment

Bay Shoal