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So much to see and do here in Sydney. Yesterday, I took a walk from Bondi beach to Coogee Bay, about a 5 km walk along the coast. The weather was fine, but windy. Blue sky and those big puffy white clouds to make the sky pretty and interesting to look at. It's winter here so it's a little too cool to lie about on the beach getting skin cancer, but in the water there were schools of surfers. I mean to say, there were groups of people learning to surf. However, the waves were rather meagre as the wind was blowing from the land out to sea. But I did get a few photos of surfers riding the 3 foot waves. And with the super zoom camera, I got photos of surfers, not just dots out at sea. The walk took about two hours. The walk was up and down from beach to beach; in between the beaches were sandstone and quartzite cliffs partially eroded and weather worn. And along the walk, spectacular beach houses and apartments with million dollar views.
Last night I went to the Opera - the Barber of Seville. In Italian with Aussie accents.
Kidding. The stage was smaller than I thought, but the seating was enormous. In case you're wondering, we face away from the water, the stage faces the water. Such an entertaining opera, and well performed. A few seats left, but mostly full. At intermission, I had the chance to wander outside and look at the Sydney skyline at night with the harbour bridge and underneath the giant Opera House - couldn't ask for a more sublime setting for an opera house.
It was at this moment that I realized that I am upside down. Perhaps not a big deal to many, but to someone who watches the sky this was eye opening. I saw the rising moon and it's seemed all wrong. I thought about it and I had a moment of reason - the Earth cannot possibly be flat, I am upside down. In the northern hemisphere a waning moon rises after sunset, like it does here, but in the north the left side is illuminated. Here in the south, the right side is illuminated. But of course, if you people in the north stand on your head and look at the moon you'll get the same view
I do! So obvious now that I see it for myself, but that never occured to me before.
Today I went to the Blue Mountains, 3000 foot above sea level, in the winter. I got snowed on. I was so cold. Great views of the Three Sisters, the weather was variable - wind, snow, sun, wind, wind, wind. The clouds raced across the sky. On the way there I saw a flock of cockatoos startled by the train, and flew off. Here in Sydney, I've seen magpies, bugies, ibis - all wild and all flying about the tower buildings and numerous trees.
I had started to think that Sydney was a hybrid of London and Vancouver, but the longer I am here, the less I think this is true. While the transportation system reminds me of London, and they know how to make tea here, and the harbour and outdoor lifestyle reminds me of Vancouver, Sydney is it's own unique city. Where else can you find a place with wild cockatoos, trains, palm trees, Devonshire cream tea, eucalypts, St Mary's Cathedral next to Hyde Park, 'roo burgers and surf? Living in a surfer's paradise.
I had a
kangaroo burger and a beer for dinner tonight, a hostel special. Taste like tough beef, the burger did, not the beer.
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