The other day, my sister told me that her friend asked when we would be posting something about a new place. Apparently, Alaska, Antarctica and the Netherlands aren't very interesting any more ;) Well, Linda....these next few posts are for you!
After leaving the ice and enjoying our obligatory time in Christchurch, New Zealand rolling around in the grass, smelling the flowers and eating Thai food, we started out on our Round the World airline ticket. First stop: Sydney, Australia.
I'd been to Sydney 7 years prior on my way to Thailand (the trip, as it turned out, during which I would meet Michiel). I really enjoyed the city then and looked forward to showing Michiel around.
Sydney has become extremely Asian in recent times - by this I mean that so many of the faces in the city are Chinese, Korean, etc. that it is easy to forget that you're in Australia. That also means that there is great Asian food to be eaten, as well!
In the five days that we spent in town, most of our time was spent walking. Sydney is a terrific walking city with excellent parks and a botanical garden complete with multitudes of bats (we went back several times just to watch the bats). We spent one day out at Manley beach playing in the tremendous surfing waves and a day trip with Oz Trek to the Blue Mountains.
The highlights were: Malaysian food at Mamak Restaurant (we ate there 2 nights because it was so good and cheap), eastern grey kangaroo (with a joey) sighting in the Blue Mountains, bats at the Botanical Garden, getting to see the Opera House again (I LOVE that building!), eucalyptus tree bark (more on that in the next postings!), the bustling harbor and ferries and the warm sun after 5 months in Antarctica.
Eucalyptus
Bats in the Botanical Gardens
White cockatoo - found all over the city
