Sydney Harbour

We thought we would visit some more beaches before we left so we travelled by subway to Circular Quay (pronounced key) and hopped on the Ferry. It was absolutely gorgeous and I could almost imagine we were riding in one of those high powered over priced tourist speed boats. We were one of the few who stayed out on the deck to experience the spray of the water and the roar of the loud engines. It would almost make a good movie. The hillbillies from Missouri riding along the water with all the European tourists in their designer clothing. Tessa shrieking with excitement added just the right touch. I have been feeling quite proud of ourselves lately thinking we were blending in pretty well. We can ride escalators, buses and trains without losing our balance and stumbling and we don't walk around with our nose in the air looking in awe at everything around us (well, not as much anyway). Then the ferry ride kind of brought me down a notch or two. Gosh, people are so proper. I mean really, don't they just feel like shrieking with excitement when cruising around all those bays watching the Opera House fade away in the distance? Nobody said anything or even looked at us (that I noticed) but I was just amazed that people just sat inside and looked out the window! The ferry ride ended at Watsons Bay and from there we walked along the beach and up a walk way to the top of the hill where we saw the entrance to the Harbour and the lighthouse. Walking along the water, the girls just had to let loose, run back and forth, jump in the water, dig holes in the sand. They tried very hard not to stare as we walked past a nude beach, where interestingly enough had only males over the age of 50 (or so it looked)! It was very obvious they were trying to make a point (what that point is, I'm not sure) because they just walked back and forth and then stood there facing the trail. Now you might think that I was watching them a lot but it doesn't take that much surreptitious glancing to figure that one out! And it pretty much looked like they wanted us to look! The girls were very serious but their hillbilly mom got the giggles upon passing. This ferry ride and walk was one of our fondest memories of our visit to Sydney, the views were just incredible and I cannot believe we haven't been there before. We were looking out our window today and noticed we can actually see the entrance to Sydney Harbour and the lighthouse from our window!

Getting Away

This has just been one of those weeks that seem to happen more often than I would like. I've had this crazy rash on my face for a week which I think is something I picked up from the pool as we had been going swimming daily. We didn't go any where because I didn't want to scare anybody. Also, Ray needed to pay for a domain and internet service for a project he is working on and they were supposed to take out a monthly charge. Instead they wiped out our entire checking account of over $500 by charging for the year. They still have not reimbursed us and we're hoping they actually get around to it before we leave. We also received an email from my sil saying that the local police needed us to email them regarding our property (still don't know what that is about). Needless to say, it has been a pretty stressful week, so it was very nice of my mil to add some funds to our checking account so we could actually do something. After a bit of internet work we decided maybe we would go north of Sydney to Gosford. They were having a walk that went along the coast going through 5 towns, I believe. Of course, by the time we actually left the apartment it was noon so we missed the walk but thought it would still be fun to go up there for the pelican feeding at 3:30. We didn't count on it actually taking us 3.5 hours to go 1 hour north of Sydney. The train ride was an hour and 20 minutes and then from the train station to the part of Gosford that is along the coast took us another 2 hours. The one good thing about sitting so long is that you get to meet a lot of interesting people. On the train we met a man who was from Gosford and was wondering why we were actually visiting there when we live in Sydney. He taught us another version of the Kookaburra song which Marra wanted him to sing over and over again. He recommended we go to The Entrance which I guess is the only thing in Gosford worth visiting. It was a nice scenic ride though, riding along the Hawkesbury River, seeing the oyster beds and visiting with the locals. Amazingly, Marra managed to get a picture of a Kookaburra sitting on the electric line. Once we got off the train and found a bus we thought we would get there in plenty of time to see the Pelican feeding. The bus ride was unbelievable. We were watching the signs thinking we should go one way, seeing certain landmarks and 1/2 hour later see the same landmarks again. We thought maybe we hopped on the wrong bus but after striking up a conversation with a local, he mentioned that there are only 2 buses that go from the train station to The Entrance and the other one is only about 5 minutes shorter. He seemed a bit amused that we were visiting too, along with the bus driver who said that it was a "bloody long ride". Crazy Americans! We were still quite happy to have gone after seeing the town of Gosford (I thought it was quite the cool town), all the pelicans and walking along the water finding seashells. We also met another American who was from Milwaukee and was biking from Sydney to Brisbane. He said that he can tell who the Americans are because we are the only ones wearing shorts!

Sydney Observatory

Rain, rain and more rain. We have been needing to find things to do inside as it's getting colder and has been raining a bit lately. We took a train to Circular Quay and then walked to The Rocks (upscale shopping area) to try to get to the Observatory for their last 3-D viewing of the day at 3:30. Of course, we missed it but we were still able to walk through the Observatory. The observatory is on a hill between Sydey Harbour and Darling Harbour so it was neat to go to different areas of the building to see the different Harbours (and to walk around on the grounds). I really love the gift shops at the tourist attractions (even if they are overpriced). The Observatory didn't have much of one so I think we're going to have to go to the Powerhouse Museum to get a map of the southern hemisphere skies and a world map with the South Pole at the top.

Sydney Craft Show

This is one show I was determined to go to. I've been wanting to get some craft supplies that were authentically Australian since I've been here. It appears that people that live in Australia probably don't want to craft about their icons. This was more supplies than people actually selling their crafts and it was quite upscale. Fabric is really expensive. The quilt show was amazing but after looking at rows upon rows of beading booths, fabric booths and stamping/scrapbooking booths my eyes glazed over and I was happy to leave. We did manage to find some Australian applique kits (which I know I could make appliques myself so it wasn't all that Australian). I probably never would have gotten around to it if I had to find/make the pattern myself and Emma has been enjoying the process of putting them together. We would like to make a quilt of our travels to Oz so this is a good beginning. Hanna would have loved the craft show but she decided that 9:00 am was too early to get up (I wasn't going to argue because it saved me some money). She regretted if after seeing our little stash of beading supplies we brought back. We couldn't find any beads or charms with australian animals but Hanna says just the fact that we're bringing beads home from Australia is good enough. I'm still going to hunt down some local shops to see what I can find.