Cruising the WorldGreece begins August 22, 2021

If you are a follower of our blogs, you may remember that our next adventure was Southeast Asia. The trip and side adventures were all planned but the cruise industry was shutdown because of the pandemic. This was originally scheduled for December 20, 2020. Holland America allowed us to book another trip. We decided that a cruise from Barcelona to Rome in September of 2021 sounded exciting! All the side trips were booked (this takes a long time) and we were ready! In June, Holland America cancelled this trip and rebooked us on a trip to Greece. We have never been to any of the stops. We leave August 22, 2021. All of the Mediterranean side trips canceled. All of the Greek Island side trips booked.…

We decided that on our last day we would do one more hike. This hike was on a path called the Great North Walk.

We took the train to a town called Brooklyn. It was about a 90 minute ride from the central train station. 

Brooklyn was north of Sydney. The trail would take us from Brooklyn to Cowan. It was 10 miles long and the initial climb would be steep.

The trail started here

Rough beginning to the trail.

After the initial ascent, the trail followed a fire route and opened up to be quite wide. It was close to 90, very humid and the trail was not close enough to the shore to get many views. The sounds of birds and insects were quite loud. The sun continued to beat down on us.

About 90 minutes into the hike I suggested we turn around and head back. It became clear that we were not prepared with enough water to complete this hike and they wasn’t much to see. If we got hurt, civilization was not close. We turned around and had our lunch while hiking back. Luckily there was a pub in Brooklyn.  We stopped and had a drink while we waited for the train.

One of the smarter moves we made. We were quite exhausted from the heat. The train arrived and we road back to Sydney. We got back to our room and began to pack. We had some dinner and then prepared for a long day of travel tomorrow. 

I got a call from my daughter about 1 am. My mom had passed away. My brother contacted me the day before and told us she was near the end. I was able to call her and said my goodbye. My kids and their cousins did the same. We knew when we left in December that she would probably leave us on the trip. Since the blog represents our memories on these trips I decided that I would put this  on here.

A picture of mom and dad shortly after they were married in 9-11-1954. My dad had just finished high school in June of the same year. I really can’t imagine anyone getting married so young these days. My mom was a few years older than my dad. My brother was born late in 1955 and he was the first of four. It seems that most couples are delaying having children these days. They may be smart but it does make parents a lot older when kids are grown and there are grand children to enjoy. I think this couple is the epitome of responsibility and fortitude.

We have finalized our plans for next year and will be visiting southeast Asia on a 28 day cruise. We begin in Singapore and make stops in Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand. We will doing another blog to record our journey. If you would like to join us, we leave on December 20, 2020.

Thanks for sharing this trip with us!

 …

We decided today to rest after the hike and prepare for our departure on Wednesday. We talked about doing one more hike on Tuesday. We will make that decision then.

I received an email today from Uber Eats. A $30.00 credit on our first use. Nothing is free but we decided to try this. I placed an order at a local restaurant, The Gardens World Square. It was a total “let’s be lazy” day and this fit right in. Much like ordering a ride on Uber, I was able to track the making of our order, the pickup by the delivery boy, and his ride on his bicycle over to our apartment. Our order was slightly over $30 so it did cost us a few bucks. The food was made fresh, delivered warm, and here within 30 minutes. I had a chicken sandwich and Terri a salad.

This sandwich could have been two meals! The food was outstanding and made even better by the fact it was almost free.

Sunday was Australia Day. A celebration of the founding by the British. This great day is now plagued by the same kind of politics we find back home. The British “took” the land from the Aborigines and because of that, no celebration of this kind should take place. Instead of a great celebration, there is political strife.

The Chinese Lunar New Year was celebrated on the same day. There may be some of the same politics here but I am not aware of any. 

Many businesses were closed today because of Australia Day. We did manage to find one that was open. The Lord Nelson Brewery.

We spent some time reading and talking in Hyde Park. Another beautiful day. Hard to believe we will have to return to snow.

We did talk a bit about the previous day hike. Our guides were all millennials. The millennials here in Sydney refer to their spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend as “partner”. Gender has become so toxic in western society that they do not dare use anything else. This is just another trend that we don’t understand and it will never be able to be satisfactorily explained to us.  We generally keep our political views to ourselves unless asked. 

 …

Today was our final hike on our Sydney trip. Many of the trails in the Blue Mountains have opened after the threat of bushfires has diminished.

We felt great after a day of rest. Today is a 13k (8 mile) hike. We are starting at Wentworth Falls and will be hiking up and down all day.

We left at 6:50 am for a 20 minute walk over to the Central Train station.

Here we met our guides Leah and Namrata. Manon will be meeting us at Wentworth Falls. 6 others were on the tour with us. A college professor for the University of Wisconsin (John), a financial analyst from Saudi Arabia, a couple from Shanghai (she grew up in Hong Kong and he grew up in Spain), a couple from California (she was an ER nurse and he was a Boeing mechanic). 

The tour group was Emu Trekkers. The guides are all volunteers. The money we paid for the tour is all donated to charities.

The train ride was one hour and forty minutes long. The trains are old but well maintained. By Aussie standards they are ancient. By Amtrak standards they are practically brand new.

We arrived in Wentworth Falls. Nice little town with many businesses open if we needed supplies such as food and water. Here we met our guide Manon. The three guides were all in very good shape and about 30 yrs old. Leah like to mountain bike and Manon is an avid hiker. Namrata is here to “learn the tour guide” ropes. 

The start of our trail.

Darwin was here in 1926 and observed many animal species not found in Europe.

Manon warned us before starting. Lot’s of very venomous snakes. One did cross our path about 100 yds into the trail. We stopped and watched it cross the trail. We then moved on.

The trail was a bit more crowded then I expected it to be. It is sunny and in the upper 80s here. Very humid, 90s predicted for the afternoon.

The trail was well maintained. The train ride already took us up about 2500 ft above where we started in Sydney. We would spend considerable time climbing up endless stairs.

The photos do not nearly capture the breath taking views. The video here does a little better job.

We stopped for lunch about halfway through the hike. Terri made some comments about how feminine all of the girls in Sydney look in their dresses. Leah looked surprised. John also commented on the same thing. We then started talking about weight and how heavy Americans are compared to the people we see on the streets of Sydney. Leah commented on how Sydney is made up of many cultures and had a difficult time understanding how overweight  most Americans are. I laughed when John said he sent home pictures of people to his kids to show him how fit they were. Leah said that there were many examples of overweight people in Sydney. “No match for Americans”, we said. 

John shared a time when he was in Amsterdam and decided to learn French. His French teacher taught English in an elementary school and asked him if he would like to visit the class and answer questions from her students. He agreed. He shared two questions asked by her students with us.   “Are all Americans as dumb as they look?”, “Are all Americans Fat?” “Yes”,  may have been his response.

The three of us laughed and agreed that people in the Midwest are especially overweight. Leah commented how an organization in Australia educates elementary school students about proper nutrition. 

We hiked down to a waterfall.

This video shows some of the parts of the trail we walked on.

It was late afternoon and we hiked back to town. We decided the Pub was a more appropriate place than the coffee shop. We had a few drinks, said goodbye to Manon and boarded the train back to Sydney.

We decided to get something to eat after we got off the train and before we went to the apartment. Machiatto was a restaurant we had passed a few times on our way to Darling Harbour. They advertised “wood fired” pizza. We stopped in just in time as it was beginning to get very crowded. I don’t usually care for the California style,  thin crust pizza but it was very good. Burned just enough to give it some flavor.

 …

Today we decided to get some needed rest in preparation for our Sunday hike in the Blue Mountains. We are preparing our final days here in Sydney and making plans for next January. We have decided on a 28 day cruise of Southeast Asia that starts and ends in Singapore. We were happy with our experience on Holland America and decided to do another cruise on this line.

we have decided to get to the airport about 3 hors before our flight on Wednesday. We have made some purchases that allow us to get a refund on the GST. Purchases over $300 Australian qualify for this refund. This is done at the airport after checking in.

We took our books out into Hyde Park and enjoyed another day in the warm weather. We ended the afternoon at Lord Roberts Hotel. We can see this place from our room and finally decided to stop in for a drink.

This Hotel is in the middle of Darlinghurst, a neighborhood just to the east of Hyde Park. It is about two blocks, all downhill, from the park. Very quiet neighborhood with little traffic. The gym we use is a few blocks from Lord Roberts and a few of the restaurants we have tried are located here also. A nice neighborhood to visit, should you decide to spend some time in Sydney. The sidewalks in the CBD are usually packed with people and it is nice to walk down to this neighborhood.…

Today the high is 78 and yesterday it hit 103. We have one more planned activity on Sunday. The hike in the Blue Mountains. It is supposed to be in the 90s and chance of rain. We leave for home next Wednesday.

Today we went to an outlet mall. Birkenhead Point. 3 levels of shops. 

We spent a few hours here and headed back to the apartment to drop off bags and then finished our day out back in the Rocks. El Camino restaurant advertised  happy hour.

This was a very large bar and as we sat and had some drinks it began to fill up with folks very quickly.

We finished our drinks and walked back through town. The streets were packed with people and entertainers trying to make a buck with performances of music or dance. Others tried to make a buck by sitting with a cardboard sign and a paper cup for coins. 

We fought through crowds once again. Everyone on the sidewalk owns their path forward and will not move aside for anyone. Sometimes walking in the street is easier than trying to manage getting through all of the people.

This may be a reference to China as Sydney has a large population of Chinese immigrants. Obviously this young lady has not been educated enough to recognize that everything improves with government intervention. Examples of this are found around the world.

It’s obvious that the economy here is doing very well. Signs of it are everywhere. People spending money on all kinds of goods. Construction cranes everywhere. I wonder if there is a political party here that tries to make people guilty for succeeding.

There is a shop that sells a hat that says: “Keep Australia Great” Not sure  if this hat is viewed negatively by the self appointed “elites” here in Australia as the American version is back home. 

 …

Another hike along the coast. This time Coogee to Bondi Beach.

Hottest day since arriving here in December. Mid afternoon temp was 103.

We ended our hike at this pub. Dog and horse race bets can be made here. A race every 4 minutes is on the screen. Bets can be made using the TAB app.

Dinner at Verde Italian restaurant.

…

Today we decided to do another hike. We started at Coogee Beach and walked the coast. We spent a few hours walking, stopped for a picnic lunch, and then walked a bit more. Very sunny and hot today.

Not sure what the attractions is to hitting a golf ball into the ocean. Is it a hole in one if you hit the water?

We ended the day at the Court House Pub and walked back to the apartment.

…

Beautiful, cloudless, and haze free day. We are set for the Blue Mountain Hike on Sunday. Fire threat gone.

We started the day by going to a resale shop specializing in clothes from the 70s and 80s. I found a corduroy jacket similar to one I had in high school. They just don’t make clothes like that anymore! Nothing purchased here. Along the way we saw a nice jacket at a custom suit shop. I’m going to see if Tony, my tailor in Singapore can make me one.

Today I went back to the Maritime Museum and Terri did some shopping around Darling Harbour.

There was an interesting display about William Bligh. We learned about him when we visited Pitcairn last year. He was Captain of the HMS Bounty. The crew of the Mounty mutinied and put Bligh and supporters in a small craft and sent them away. Bligh made it back to land and 18 years later was appointed governor of New South Wales.

There were several ships in the harbour that were part of the museum. The first was the HMAS Vampire. This ship was a destroyer built in the 1950s. 

It was fascinating to see the living and working conditions of this ship. 

The turret where bombs were loaded for the huge guns.

A lone jar of vegamite remains on the shelf.

A submarine, the HMAS Onslow was next. Tighter spaces here then the destroyer. Boarding the sub.

The torpedo room was the first area to be seen. Look carefully and you can see the tubes.

Tight hallway, bunks in the right.

Galley.

Twin 16 valve engines. These engines are used only to recharge the batteries. They do not power the ship. The ship is powered by battery powered engines that can operate below the surface. The diesel engines need air intake to operate. The ship can stay underwater for about 4 days and then needs to surface to recharge the batteries. These engines recharge batteries in about 20 mins.

I had to pass through 3 or 4 of these openings to get from one side of the ship to the other.

Next ship at the museum was a replica of the HMS Endeavour. This is the ship James piloted on his first voyage of discovery from 1768 – 1781. 

This volunteer gave a short lecture about Cook’s Voyage and the information about plant life that was collective and then captured for the record by the ship’s painters.

I guess what I’ll remember most is “this was where James Cook slept and over there and this was Joseph Banks room. There was an American too. A colonist. Being an American, he had a gun. He was the first man to shoot a kangaroo and eat it. ” I had my Mackinac Island, Michigan hat on and I’m sure the volunteer  assumed I was packing heat.

I met up with Terri later and we stopped for a drink and then went to dinner at the Hunter and Barrel across the harbour from the museum. 

Great steak dinner. No popcorn as a starter. Had to settle on dessert.

 …

We started our day at the gym. Nice clear day. We haven’t seen the sun in a few days. Rain is forecast for later in the day. There is no haze in the sky. This was the clearest day since we arrived back in December. I’m sure all of the rain has had an affect on the bushfires. It is amazing how nature works. I’m not sure why some think they can control the earth. Maybe we could slow the rotation so we can get a 25 hour day. If the entire population of earth co-ordinated the Macarena we can get the earth to stop rotating so fast. Yow!!!

Today we are doing a short 3 mile walk to Wendy’s Secret Garden for a picnic lunch. It is near the Luna Amusement Park and across the Harbour Bridge. Lots of stairs.

Terri has been the pack mule every hike. I will go without food and water to avoid back pain.

This photo shows how clear it is today.

The walkway across the bridge.

Looking back at the bridge after crossing.

We walked through Luna Park and at first it reminded me of Boblo Island but then more so it reminded me of Edgewater Park in Detroit. Luna Park opened in 1935 and Edgewater Park (7 mile and John R) opened in 1927. Luna Park had a very nostalgic feeling to it. Rides that I haven’t seen in years. The Wild Mouse at Boblo. The Wildcat at Cedar Point. There is a similar ride here. It was also called the Wild Mouse.

Between Luna Park and the Hidden Garden was a walk full of comic icons.

The Garden was very secluded and located near Lavender Bay. Many trails, a few tables and chairs, wildlife, quiet, and great views.

Lunch!

We kept on eye on the weather and the forecast was 80% chance of rain by 2 pm. We decided to head back. Didn’t really want to cross the bridge during a storm. Terri started to count the number of stairs on the way back. 264 was the last count.

We stopped in The Rocks after we crossed back and had a drink at the Australian Hotel. It advertised “German Draught”. I decided to try it. Tasted familiar. Not quite a Pabst. Maybe a Hamm’s or Goebel. Nothing like the craft beers around town.

Terri did more dress shopping while I sat somewhere and read.

The rain didn’t happen when predicted. First it was 80% at 11 am, then 80% at 2 pm. We did finally get rain at 8 pm. Good thing they are so much more accurate on climate.

 …

We decided that today would be a nice day to do another hike along the coast. This time we would take the ferry over to the Taronga Zoo and hike eastward along the coast.

The rains have made Hyde Park nice and green. We expect that the haze that has been with us for a few weeks to be gone. A cloudy day but no haze.

We walked up to the Circular Quay to catch the ferry. Some aborigines put on a performance.

The ferry is so much faster than a bus. No stops along the way. No traffic lights. No traffic.

This path follows the coast for many, many miles. It is usually not far from the road nor the coast. Many high end homes toward the road. I did manage to find a “handyman special” along the way.

We did about a 10k hike and hopped on a bus to take us back to the Wynard station near the Circular Quay. We ducked into a few stores and then ended up at the Edinburgh Hotel for a drink.…

Lots of rain again today. This is great news for the area. Our trip to the Blue Mountains that we rescheduled for January 19 was again put on hold. We will try one more time on January 26. The rain is having an effect on the fires and this could be good news for that hike.

Tonight we planned to see the Sydney Symphony Under the Stars. This performance at Parramatta Park is not unlike the DSO version at Greenfield Village. Is it still called that? I don’t remember. They end the show with fireworks (cancelled this year) and the 1812 Overture.

It’s amazing that a work depicting Russia’s defense against Napoleon in 1812 composed by Peter Tchaikovsky has become an anthem for other countries, including our own. Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops did a 4th of July performance of this work in 1974 with church bells and cannons. Since then, it has come to represent Independence Day in the USA. I doubt if it is performed in France since it represents defeat. I doubt if anyone outside of France recognizes “La Marseillaise” or outside of Russia recognizing “God Save the Tsar”. 

We decided not to go to this  because of the rain and distance from home base. Not enough preparation packing for what was surely a sloppy event. I’m sure people were camped out all day for this free concert. If we had rented a car, we would have taken this on.

We did some shopping at the Westfield Mall and I took my place on a bench somewhere while Terri went dress shopping. The place was packed on a Saturday afternoon after Christmas. Aren’t shopping malls usually empty in January and the biggest crowds are employees taking inventory?

Free wifi at most locations in Sydney. I guess we have something similar but not actually free. Those of you that use comcast know that your router also broadcasts a signal that can be used by any comcast customer. You knew that. Right?

We finished shopping and stopped at the 3 wise monkeys in an attempt to get a little wiser ourselves.

At this point in our trip we have completed everything that was on our “must do” list save the Blue Mountain hike. We now just take it a day at a time and do spur of the moment things. I’ve been doing lots of reading. When I came across this paragraph I realized that history does repeat itself.

“Often in a German home or office or sometimes in a casual conversation with a stranger in a restaurant, a beer hall, a café, I would meet with the most outlandish assertions from seemingly educated and intelligent persons. It was obvious that they were parroting some piece of nonsense they had heard on the radio or read in the newspapers. Sometimes one was tempted to say as much, but on such occasions one was met with such a stare of incredulity, such a shock of silence, as if one had blasphemed the Almighty, that one realized how useless it was even to try to make contact with a mind which had become warped and for whom the facts of life had become what Hitler and Goebbels, with their cynical disregard for truth, said they were.”

Excerpt From

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany

William L. Shirer

 …

Heavy rain today. Good news for Sydney and surrounding areas.

Today we had tickets to see the School of Rock musical at the Capitol Theatre. The theater was originally built in the 20s and was renovated in the 90s. Beautiful interior restored to its original glory.

We decided to see the 1:00 pm show. We expected to see a lot of kids in attendance and weren’t disappointed. The musical follows the movie of the same name. A substitute music teacher forms a band with his students and enters a battle of the band competition. All of the kids in the musical played the instruments that were in their hands. Ages of performers appeared to be about 10 or 11 years old. Andrew Lloyd Weber did not disappoint with the music. Great music and funny story line.

“Stick it to the Man”

You may be surprised that kids of such a young age can do all of this. I am not. With a good home setting, supportive parents, and an education free of politics, there is no limit of what  students can achieve. Unfortunately, high end students like these are usually ignored while we spend all of our time on those who don’t want to do anything. I bet besides being great musicians and dancers, those in this production are also at the top of their class academically.…

We started our day back in Chinatown. It was raining lightly. We went back to Paddy’s market to pick up a few items and then over to the Maritime Museum. We plan to do this museum next week but we had some time so we did some of it this morning. It reminded me of the military museum in Turkey. Not because of what it looked like but because it emphasized what I lacked in historical knowledge. 

Australia was involved in most of the wars of the 20th century that the United States was involved in. The Vietnam war saw the same kind of protests over military conscription. This was all news to me.

At 25 million, Australia is less the 1/10 the population of the USA over a landmass of similar size. Its’ military, likewise, is much smaller. There is a battleship and a submarine that is part of the museum. I will check these out next week. We spent over an hour here. It was really my thing. Terri would just as soon shop. Tuesday will be the day for that. Shopping for Terri, battleships for Jeff.

We came back to the apartment for rest before dinner and the performance at the Opera House.

Dinner was at 6 pm in the Opera House. We decided to take an Uber over at 5:30. Best to be early.

The area around the Opera House can hold massive amounts of people as the building can have 3 shows running at the same time.

The inside of the Opera House was not what I imagined. The non-theater areas reminded me of the old silverdome. Lots of exposed concrete.

Picking up tickets from will call would not have been an issue. It felt like there were very few people in the building. Carmen was being performed in the Joan Sutherland Theater. Dinner was in the Joan Sutherland foyer. Very easy to find.

Nha waited until exactly 6 pm before letting us go up the stairs.

Dinner was here.

The menu was limited. Choose one or the other. Our table offered views of the Harbour Bridge.

The food was very good. No disappointment here. Judging by the number of people in the lobby and by the number at dinner, I expected quite a bit less than a full house at the performance. Business casual is as dressed up as they get here. No suits, no ties, nothing special. We knew that before we left home and packed accordingly.

At 7:10 or so we made our way into the theater. a full 30 second walk. Our seats were in the middle, about 5 rows from the back.

Good thing I can keep an eye on the pit orchestra.

Beautiful theater. This is what I expected. There was a teleprompter device above the stage. This would translate the French into English or Chinese. Here it is advertising Mazda.

No photos or recordings allowed during performance. I did manage a shot of the cast during the final bow. The theater was full. Very few empty seats.

The performance was flawless. Definitely world class quality. The orchestra nailed everything.

I was surprised when Macaela first made her entrance. I expected a suitcase or heavy bag. She had a rollerbag! I now expected all of the performance to be up to date. Soldiers were in marine camouflage, street people looked like they were pulled off the streets outside. Where I expected a wagon pulled by horses, there was instead a VW bus. Larger supply wagon? Flat bed truck. This really helped bring the story up to date. The words above the stage were of tremendous help to the story. No more guessing what the cast was singing about.

The show was 5 acts. The first two took 90 mins and then 20 minute break. Last 3 took 60 mins. 

This is something everyone should experience. It is a long way here but the performance makes it well worth it. Give yourself a few days to recover from the 20 hr flight and time zone change. Sydney is 16 hours ahead of Detroit.

The Entr’acte III is my absolute favorite.

 …

Today we walked over to the Paddy’s Market. Housed in a building in the heart of Chinatown, this market sold the best of Chinese made junk and also sold fruit, vegetables, spices and other foods.

We shopped the endless isles of merchandise we couldn’t live without. This market was like a live version of Alibaba (Chinese Amazon like seller). We took a break at a table and had lunch. Terri did purchase some food we needed back at the apartment. 

After lunch we decided to drop the goods back at the apartment and take our reading material out into Hyde Park. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we found a bench in the shade. An hour or so went by and a reporter and camera man came up to me to ask if I would comment on the story of a man who “wee’d on the War Memorial in the Park”. She wanted comments from a typical Aussie man. I guess the hat fooled her?

I did tell her I wasn’t a native and she said she I could still give comments. I did and they were on their way.

Turns out the man who was arrested was a frenchman who pled guilty and was fined. I had an immediate flashback to an incident at DHS where a french musician, Pierre,  was invited to speak to the music staff. He was caught by security peeing on a wall outside of the cafeteria. Dan Blessing, fellow music teacher, quickly renamed him “Pee-There”. We were told this is normal French behavior.

Dinner was at a Darlinghurst Restaurant called “Jack and Knife”. We had 5 o’clock reservations and the restaurant was empty. Turns out they open at 5:30 but the waitress seated us anyway.

Unique restaurant. How many times have you seen “Popcorn” listed as a starter on a menu? After the popcorn, I had a beef dish and Terri a chicken dish. We shared a salad. The food was outstanding. The chef came out (I’m guessing he was Jack?) and spoke with us after the meal. Nice touch. Our waitress was originally from Brazil. Her english was flawless. I said, “No Australian accent” . “Ooooh noooo”, she replied,  as to suggest that was an accent she didn’t care for. She had been here about 2 years and came here with her boyfriend to seek work. I asked if she considered Portugal and she said, “never”. “It would be like living with my neighbors from Brazil”. We gave her a long Australian “yeeeeeeeeeaaaaahhhhh”, finished our drinks left.

Tomorrow we have tickets to see the Opera Carmen. I have seen it before and also was a musician in the pit for a production years ago. Great music. Entire opera is in the original French language. I am looking forward to also seeing the inside of the Opera House.

 …

Today we decided to spend the day near Darling Harbour and Chinatown.

Nice warm day and it was a short walk over to Chinatown. We stopped at the Chinese Garden and did a walk through.

The entrance to Chinatown.

Nice area and shops were just beginning to open. We planned to do Paddy’s Market tomorrow where stalls of shops are set up in a large building not unlike Eastern Market.

The upper part of the building had three floors of shops. I did some reading while Terri went into lots of shops. Lots of low end Chinese made goods here.

The harbour area if filled with restaurants, the maritime museum, and lots of things for families.

We decided to do the Maritime Museum next week. Looks pretty interesting and they are a few battleships on the harbour that are part of the museum. The area has fireworks on Saturday night. Will have to wait and see if they are cancelled due to fire danger.

We added the School of Rock musical to our itinerary this Friday. Its at the Capitol Theatre right here in Chinatown.

 …

Today we started our day at the City Gym and then did laundry back at the apartment. I walked over to pick up our opera tickets while Terri managed the wash. Familiar establishment along the way.

The tickets would be at the opera house on Thursday but we have dinner also and I wanted the tickets before we went. The ticketing agency was about a mile walk in the opposite direction of the opera house. A very warm and sunny day here. 

Today we planned to shop at the Queen Victoria Building. Lots of high end shopping in this late 19C building.

We stopped at Joe Bananas. I liked the silk jacket in the window. The salesman said that they only made two of those jackets, a 44 and 42. He gave me the 42 and said the sleeves would be a bit short. The jacket fit well and felt great. As I looked in the mirror he said that Elton John buys his jackets here. I braced myself for the price. $8500.00 I didn’t asked if that included alterations. Back on the rack it went. There aren’t enough Jazz Festivals at the Grand left to justify this.

. https://www.joebananas.com.au/products/jacket-1380

Many, many stores in this classic building. None seemed to be hurting for business. Lots of people here. It’s the middle of the afternoon. Does anyone work? Maybe they are all tourists.

As we walked back through Hyde Park, the regulars were out. A group of folks practicing kickboxing? A group that looked like they were fighting with short pieces of pipe. Maybe they were choreographing a musical fight scene. The “Pipe Fitters Strike Back” ? The boys were practicing landings on their skateboards. A new guy stuck his arms straight ahead, did a squat, then stood up with his arms remaining straight ahead. He did this over and over. Not sure if he was listening to music or just imagined it. Maybe he conducts middle school band and is practicing his crescendo move? Many were on the grassy areas of the park recovering from their exhausting day of living.

There are some homeless here but very few compared to San Francisco or Seattle. They are almost always sleeping. Probably tired from an all night search for a fresh piece of cardboard. The few that are awake are holding up signs that tell us how much their rent is per week and have a container with some coins in it. I don’t mind a charitable contribution, I just want something back for it. I did offer a large contribution to a homeless man on Michigan Avenue in Chicago some years ago. Can you guess his response after I offered the condition of picking up all of the cigarette butts along the block he was on?…

Bondi Beach

Today was a day we planned to spend at Bondi Beach. Not a real warm day for the beach as it is cloudy and in the 60s but we decided to go and check it out.

It is a 30 minute ride by bus.

It was still quite early and cool. Not many were at the beach. This a great location for surfing and they were already out.

We decided to do at least a little of the path that runs along the ocean. This wasn’t a hiking day but we decided we could do some of it. 

This is the Bondi Icebergs Pool situated right on the ocean. Waves come crashing into the pool.

The path was crowded with people. Some were running and tried to maneuver in between folks. Lots of stairs, turns, inclines and declines. Many places for great photos.

We walked about 2 miles on this path and then turned around. Sunday is the most popular day here and it was getting crowded. Light rain began to fall. We did a little shopping for a friend of ours back home at LA Fitness. He asked for a t-shirt. Finding a xxxl t shirt here was not easy but a souvenir shop did have one.  We stopped for coffee and then went to another stop on the Bucket List.

Here it was 2 pm on a Sunday afternoon on the beach and the girls were dressed like it was Saturday night at the disco. After being here almost 2 weeks, we’ve decided that these girls represent the average Aussie girl.

The live music we came to hear never happened but we enjoyed watching the people. It rained hard while we had lunch but it quickly moved on. The beach cleared but quickly filled up once it stopped. We may come back another day to do the whole trail. I imagine a weekday would be a lot less crowded.

We stopped at the apartment and then went to the grocery store. I imagine most folks buy enough for a few meals only. There are no shopping carts, just baskets. We are used to buying at least a week worth of food. This means carrying everything back. We brought a wheeled bag with us to make it easier. The grocery store was as busy as the beach.

We are wondering if we are going to bring back some of the native dialect. We don’t hear much “G’day Mate” but we do hear a lot of “yeaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh” when folks talk. We are starting to say that to each other now. “No worries” is another one.

We can also tell when someone is from the states. “…and I was like, wow, and she was like, I know, like I couldn’t believe it like I was like, so disgusted like, you know…. It maybe easier if one person said “like” and the other said “ditto”. After this exchange, other words could be used.…

5 mile run in the park this morning. Rainy and cool.

After our run we decided to walk to the “Tramsheds”. This was originally the Rozelle Train Depot and was built in 1904. After extensive renovation, it is now home to many restaurants.

Today there was to also be an artisan market that we could check out.

It was a 2.3 mile walk through some of the lower class neighborhoods in Sydney.

One of the buildings along the way reminded us of Paris. 

We enjoyed the walk and the visit. There were not many “artisans” today so not much to check out. We had lunch and headed back. A little less than 10 miles today with the run.

We have difficulty when we walk on the sidewalks here. Do we stay to the left or to the right? Cars drive on the left side of the road. Drivers sit on the right hand side of the car. Where did the disconnect begin? No one seems to know what to do on the sidewalks and people are constantly moving from side to side. Even when crossing a street there is sign that says “look right”. I don’t ever remember a sign saying “look left” at home. The elderly Brits always take the hardline approach and do not move from their position on the left. They will flag you away before they will move an inch. Centimeter?

Tomorrow we head to Bondi Beach. Probably not a day to swim but will be fun checking out the area. Lunch at the “Bucket List Bar”.

So far we have seen 12 of Fodor’s top 25 attractions in Sydney. Later in the week we have tickets for the Opera House. The Blue Mountain Hike has been rescheduled for January 19. 

We have decided that we could easily move here. Nice weather and people. English is the official language but many languages are spoken on the street. I would miss the politics but Aussies seem to be playing some of the same political games so we would be in good shape there.

The prime minister is being blamed for the fires because he doesn’t take climate change seriously enough. We saw a group of protesters on the street. I guess they were protesting the fires. Good luck!

I’ve decided that there is a lot I can blame on climate change too. My truck needs new brakes. The change in climate makes them wear faster. My lawn had more weeds this year because of all of the extra CO2. Going to apply for government aid. My driveway does have a few cracks in it. You guessed it. Too much heat. Of course rust is a problem but that is caused by oxygen. Maybe some extra CO2 will help that. It’s nice when there is someone to blame for everything. Makes life so much less stressful!

 …

Taronga Zoo

Today we took the ferry over to the zoo after walking to the circular quay. It is a nice walk through Hyde Park. We finally used up the balance on our Opal cards and started using our phones to get on and off public transportation. We have been using our phones for all of our purchases and this just makes it easier. Our credit cards are saved using Apple Pay. No need to carry a wallet, cash, or credit cards but we do need the battery backups that we each have. The app for finding public transportation and the map app both use GPS and drain the battery on our phones very quickly.

Clearest day we have had since we arrived. Sunny and hot.

The zoo was nice but finding our way around wasn’t very intuitive. I did download the zoo app on the free zoo wifi but the wifi signal was spotty throughout the park and the map directions took us way out of the way for each site we searched for. The zoo is obviously designed for kids. We are way out of our league here.

After the zoo we had a drink at the circular quay and then walked back to the apartment. 

We took an Uber to Bel and Brio restaurant that was near the aquarium. We were very familiar with the area as it was the bus drop off spot when we were here on the world cruise.

The dress here suggested that most of the clientele was coming here from work. We have yet to feel that we were under dressed for any restaurant. Nothing greater than a business casual seems to exist here but the people on the street are definitely dressed up a level or two from what we see back at home. The black yoga pants that people stuff themselves in to are not part of the dress here.

We decided to walk the 1.3 miles back to the apartment. It was a nice evening and the streets were jammed with people.…