Feb. 17

2-16: We arrived in Sydney yesterday morning before the sun even came up because we had to be docked before rush hour since they use a lot of ferries to get around. Sydney Harbor is very impressive and it is huge. We had two tours scheduled for yesterday - a bus tour in the morning and a boat tour of the harbor in the afternoon. Both were really nice. The bus tour took us around different sections of the city then to Bondi Beach where we were able to spend about half an hour. Really nice beach - really nice city. Then in the afternoon we saw a lot of the areas we had seen in the morning that from the water. They have a lot of green space in Sydney which helps make the city really beautiful. There is a section of the city called The Rocks which is the original city of Sydney right on the harbor’s edge. A guide told us that in the early 60s they almost tore all of the old buildings down but the preservationists saved the area. It is a good thing they did - it is great. Today we walked around The Rocks - all of the narrow old houses have been turned into shops and restaurants and some of the small streets are just walk ways now. We had lunch at a wonderful Italian restaurant in the Rocks - great pizza for me and pasta for Ginnie. We tried various Aussie beers today and we liked the one we had at lunch - Carlton Cold - the best. After lunch we went by ferry to another section of Sydney called Darling Harbor. The part that we went to was basically a mall - even had a store called Colorado! It was nice - lots of restaurants too - with outside eating. And the wildest food court I’ve ever seen - you could get anything! It started to rain while we were there and we went into a café to have a drink while we waited for the ferry to take us back to the ship. Thunder and lightening and all. The ride back on the boat was great. Then we walked in the rain back to the ship. Once back we did our laundry - we decided this would be the best time to brave the dreaded laundry because a lot of people got off the ship today and a lot were getting on taking their place. We decided all of the people getting off would take their dirty clothes home with them and those getting on would bring clean clothes! It was pretty peaceful down there which was good. Tomorrow we have a tour in the morning - a Wildlife Encounter - which should be fun then on to Melbourne.

2-17: The Wildlife Encounter this morning was great. Pictures included of us with a wombat and then separately with a koala. We also saw kangaroos and kookaburras! Australia definitely wins the prize for the most strange animals. Watching the kangaroos was fun - you went right in the pen with them. The picture is of a young one sticking its head in its mother’s pouch. It was great. Then we took a river cat back to the harbor. Saw a lot of beautiful houses. I know you are getting tired of the word beautiful BUT no other word describes Sydney! One of the pictures show people walking up the Harbor Bridge. You pay $175 to spend 3 hours climbing up the bridge and coming back down! I’m sure the view is great BUT … After lunch we went up on deck to watch us finally leave Sydney Harbor. Since we had come into the harbor in the dark it was great to see us leave. Hundreds of sailboats out. And such a fantastic place. One picture included is the lighthouse on one side of the harbor entrance and the ocean waves breaking on the ocean side cliffs. Once again BEAUTIFUL. On to Melbourne now. Oh - the picture of the bacon is for Car - when you order bacon and toast in the morning they give you a whole plate full!!!!