Greetings from Sydney

Hello from "dohwn unda!"

We've been in Australia for about two weeks now - another country I've longed to visit for years. I just didn't know when it would happen. Now here I am!

The first week, we stayed with "mates" of Steve's in both Sydney and the Blue Mts. His friend (and now ours, too) Janet Harris met us at the Sydney Airport on January 12th and kindly helped us shuttle all our bike gear and everything else to her apartment in the suburb of Randwick. Janet is a professional organizer (one of the many things she does well!) and has a beautiful apartment overlooking the stunning Sydney skyline. We have most happily used her space as a base for exploring the city and later as a starting point for a 2 day excursion to her family's remote 50 acre spread in the nearby Blue Mts. where she and her mom Rosie royally wined and dined us. Late in the afternoon of our second day, after running errands in a nearby town, Janet took us to the local golf course where we saw at least a dozen kangaroos up close! And later that night, against an inky black sky untainted by any light pollution, thousands of stars and constellations, including the Southern Cross, shone brilliantly.

In Sydney, we bought day passes for the Sydney Explorer bus, getting a comprehensive overview of the city without driving or cycling. Since Steve's wife Cathy doesn't cycle and since driving our rental car on the left hand side of the road in a major city was new to us all, we thought the bus provided a good alternative. However, unlike most bus tours, the Explorer lets you get on and off at will, simply catching another bus along the prescribed route when you want to stop or spend more time in an area. Each bus is also equipped with a good sound system that provides interesting "canned" information about historical and other places of interest as you ride along... not to mention most welcome air conditioning!

My favorite city spot was the magnificent Sydney Opera House, where we stopped and took an hour long tour of the building. Later on, Dave surprised me with opera tickets for a world class performance of "La Boheme", which we attended after returning from the Blue Mts. (Fabulous!)

While in Sydney, we also spent several hours doing a coastal walk to the area known as the Rocks, then continuing onward to the famous Bondi Beach. The beautiful dramatic rocky outcroppings set against a backdrop of crashing ocean waves made me think of Big Sur, California.

Finally, we said goodbye to Sydney and headed south toward Melbourne, where we will fly back to the U.S. on Feb. 4.

More later...