Welcome to Sydney

G'Day mates! Crikey, me an the Sheila happy as Larry on an Aussie walkabout! No worries, I'll just crack a tinnie, throw some yabbies in a pot and have a bonzer time!

Yes, we have now arrived in Australia. Everyone we talked to was really friendly (and no they really don't talk like that, at least not all the time) and we got lots of good advice on how to have a great time in Sydney.

The first area we checked out was the Darling Harbour and we went to the Fish Market for lunch. Speaking of Yabbies, look at the size of this one!
We also took a harbour cruise which gave us great views of the Bridge, the Opera House and a number of very expensive houses and apartment buildings. Here is a picture of the Sydney Bridge which we must have crossed 10 times in the three days we were there.

So I dropped Jude off at the the harbour to buy the tickets for the cruise while I went to find a place to park. The roads are confusing, there are tunnels everywhere, they drive on the wrong side of the road and the car controls are all backwards! As soon as I dropped her off, with only about 20 minutes until the cruise left, I managed to get caught on the expressway, headed back across the bridge, to the other side of Sydney, through the toll tunnel, with no way to turn around! Putting my rather short list of Aussie swear words to good use, I only cut off about a dozen or so drivers, got blasted by horns but I managed somehow to get back, park the car and run onto the gangway before they pulled it up. And yes Rick, I kept within the speed limit-well kindof!

In Australia they put a big "L" on the back of cars that Learners are driving. I think some of those drivers thought I should have a big "L" on the back of my car for "Looser"!

Here is a picture of Darling Harbour at night, it is beautiful and it was worth it.

One day we checked out the Sydney aquarium which had interesting displays with penguins (I had no idea there are small penguins that live around the Sydney harbour), sharks, a great barrier reef display, otters and these things called Dugongs which are like Manatees but different. For the record, these are not fish pictures, Dugongs are mammals.

The last night in Sydney, we knew that Simply Red was playing at the Opera House but tickets had been sold out for months so we trucked down to the harbour to see if we could get in.

We went to the box office and were told that nothing was available but there was a lineup of people in case tickets came up. Scalping tickets is illegal in Australia and they seem much more serious about it so there is no one out front going "Who needs tickets?" like in North America. We were about 6 or 7 people back and some of them had been there for hours already so it looked pretty doubtful but about 20 minutes before the show they asked if we wanted to buy standing room tickets so we said sure why not! It was an awesome show and what better venue to see a performance in.

It was a great show and I manged to video some of the show (by the way Amanda, Jess and Ashley, " Simply Red" is an 80's band, not a fundraiser to stop Aids in Africa).

I tried to download a video clip but it kept crashing the internet at this resort so here is a pic instead.

We have now left Sydney and headed up to the Great Barrier Reef. Australia is truly a gem of a country and we are lovin' every minute here. Until next time, 'hooroo' or otherwise-see you later!