G'day!

Hello again from Sydney! We have had a wonderful time here so far. After our trip to the Blue Mountains, we were pretty exhausted! Yesterday, we stayed in the city. We went to the Sydney Aquarium and saw a bunch of adorable sea lions, seals, and some really big sharks! Yesterday, being Good Friday, many things were not open, so we were lucky to find somewhere to eat for lunch. We stumbled upon the Queen Victoria Building (QVB) (a very upscale mall) and had lunch and actually ran into some people from our tour the day before. :) It's always a small world. The QVB had a beautiful antique clock that played a pictoral history of Australia every hour. When I get back to Clayton and it will be easier to access the internet, I will post some more photos.

After lunch, we tried to go the Australian Holocaust Museum (a research interest of mine from undergrad)...and even though it said on their website that they were open on Good Friday, I guess they changed their minds, and they were closed. Instead we headed up to the Circular Quay (pronounced key), and took a ferry over to Manly, which is a beach/resort type area north of the city. It kind of reminded me of Staten Island. There was a carousel, ice cream stand, and a beautiful beach. We got some delicious gelato and walked to the beach. There were a lot of surfers in the water that were very fun to watch. Some of them were quite good, but most of them looked like I would look if I tried to surf...falling down and having the board hit me in the face! :) Paula and I are going to try to surf when we finish up our trip in Hawaii. The ferry ride was actually quite choppy as it went between the heads, making our boat sway back and forth. I was glad when we made it back to dry land!

Last night, we went on a delightful all-you-can-eat seafood buffet cruise on the harbor. We had a wonderful time, got to see the sights of the city, and met some great people. There was a children's choir touring from Thailand who serenaded the boat with some music. We sat next to a hilarious British family who kept their table and our entertained the entire evening. They kept on making fun of the mum as she would say the most hilarious things!

Today, we are going shopping at St. Paddy's market, going to walk across the Harbour Bridge, and tonight we are going to a ballet at the Opera House, Don Quixote. Tomorrow, for Easter Sunday, we are going to the Royal Easter Show at the Olympic Site, which is a large state fair-type atmosphere. Monday is our trip to Hunter Valley Wine Country and Tuesday morning we head back to Clayton.

I have to say that I like the atmosphere here...everyone is so relaxed and friendly. We have met many families and friends riding trains and ferries and sitting next to each other in restaurants. In a weird way, it kind of reminds me of the South.

I hope you all are well and have a wonderful Easter! Thanks for all of the comments...I'm glad that you are able to share in this trip with me!