G'day from Oz

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Hello from Australia!! I'm back on track again and will hopefully get my act together to start posting regularly. Although I'm sure not as many people read this as I think there are, it gives me an excuse to talk about myself when other people won't listen to my stories! I spent a lovely two weeks in Sydney where I stayed with my sister and brother-in-law. Carrey and Wes were more than welcoming and took me on many ocean-side excusions during my stay. During the week, I was left to my own objectives and I wandered around the city, beaches, and neighboring countryside. We went camping one weekend, down to the southern coast. The campsite was quite crowded, but was home to various wildlife. There were kangaroos, possums, and birds of all shape, size, and color sneaking around and attempting to steal our food. Carrey played "echo tour guide" and trying vainly to communicate with nature - they weren't too perceptive, but her attempts were entertaining to watch. I have to mention that this camping trip was a bit more upper class than any type of camping trip I've been on in the States. Whereas I'm use to potato chips, granola bars, and the occasional burnt hotdog, Wes was all decked out with three course meals. We had Indian curry, eggs, pancakes, and sausages for breakfeast, and so many types of fancy cheeses that I can't even begin to name them! The fish weren't biting that weekend and we were feeling quit lazy most of the time. Laying on the beach was where we spent a large portion of both Sat. and Sunday.

The following week, I was on my own again and siezed the opportunity to travel outside of the central Sydney area. One day, I meandered along the famous Bondi beach walk, a beautiful cliffside trail that winds between two beaches. I ran into a crew that was filming a Foster's Beer commercial. I found this to be quite exciting until I was told that no 'true' Australian would be caught dead drinking a Foster's beer. There went my claim to fame! I saw some lovely views though - aside from the near naked men and topless sunbathers.

Another afternoon took me to the Blue Mountains and, yes, they do indeed look blue from a distance. That area is well known for a famous rock formation called the Three Sisters. There are several legends behind the stone formations, the most famous being that the three sisters, Meehni, Gunnedoo, and Wimlah lived in the Blue Mountain valley as members of the Katoomba tribe. These young ladies fell in love with three brothers from a neighboring tribe, one that they were forbidden to marry into. The brothers were unhappy with this law and decided to use force to capture the three sisters, causing a major tribal battle. Since the lives of the three sisters were in danger, a witchdoctor from their tribe decided to protect them from impending harm by turning them into stone. While he intended to reverse the spell when the battle was over, the witchdoctor himself was killed. As only he could change them back into their former beautiful selves, the sisters remain in their magnificient rock formation to this day.

Off to one side of Echo Point, a grand lookout over the canyon, there is a huge (HUGE) staircase, leading down to the canyon floor. I had good intentions of climbing the very steep, 900+ steps all the way to the bottom and then back up again. Nope - I got about 200+ steps down and decided that this was pretty swell, snapped a few pictures, and ventured back up. Instead, I went on a few cliffside bushwalks where the view wasn't quite so steep and I wasn't hanging on to the rocks for dear life. (Much of the afternoon was also spent being pulled into chattering, camera hugging groups of Japanese tourists - "picture? picture?.")
My final weekend in Sydney was actually spent in a small, coastal town of Narooma. Wes's family has a lovely holiday house along the scenic, fishing village. We spent a wonderful weekend visiting with the Howicks (Wes's parents), fishing, eating, and enjoying each other's company. I didn't catch anything large enough to eat and had to throw most of my little fishies back into the bay. Luck just wasn't on my side.

So!!!!! Now I'm in Mebourne. I took a night bus from Sydney to come down here for the Commonwealth Games. The city is very decked out in glitz and glitter, complete with dozens of huge T.V. screens in the parks and town squares. The atmosphere here is fun!! There are so many people from so many different nationalities cheering on their teams. With over 70 Commonwealth countries participating, the cultural diversity is exciting. There are over 100 bands performing during the days and nights in the coming 12 days, most of them are free which will be wonderful for my backpacker budget. I hope to get some tickets for a few events as well since many are still available. I'll keep you updated and will be back online with more pictures shortly!

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