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Hi all. It's the end of my second day away from the motherland and I've had two full great days in Sydney. Thankfully my first day here was long so I seem to be on somewhat of a normal sleeping schedule. It only took me approximately 5 hours off the airplane to slip into my bikini and walk down to the beach. Bondi Beach. Beautiful. Reminds me a bit of La Jolla Cove in San Deigo, CA. I kept waiting on the beach to get sweltering hot so I HAD to cool off in the ocean but a steady breeze prevented me from getting sticky with sweat. Eventually I succumbed to my curiousity and entered the cool, clear far west of the Pacific Ocean. Lovely...

A few hours later, we - my friend and local host, Luke, and his visiting French friend, Mona and I - drove into Newton to see my friend Chloe perform at a small club to promote her new album. Newton is a bustling little district full of all types of ethnic restaurants and clothing shops. We walked around a bit after Chloe's show and grabbed a light bite to eat. We rummaged through two boxes of discarded books on the street and found amonst several gems, a great 1989 yearbook from Brooklyn, NY. Had many laughs about the hairstyles... Fell asleep shortly thereafter.

This morning we went for a swim around 8am at the Bondi Rock Pool. A rock pool is a lap pool that is built out of the rocks at the ocean side. It has a concrete base and a retaining wall to block out the ocean waves. The crazy part is that the waves still crash over the wall so you'll be swimming laps and all of a sudden you will be swaying into another lane! After that we had a leisurely breakfast before returning to the house.

Later, Mona and I grabbed the bus into Darlinghurst. It's the gay area of town and where Chloe's apartment is. The Sydney equivalent of New York's Chelsea... Her view is amazing looking out over the Sydney Opera House and Harbor. Mona and I continued on by foot to the harbor and caught a ferry to Manly Beach. The ferry ride was beautiful and Manly Beach was very pleasant. By the time we got back it was 7pm and we still had to make the return trip to Bondi Beach. Luke joined us for a late dinner and now we are back at the house.

So far, the oddest thing is being so far away from the States and still having everything written in English. That's new for me!

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