Blogs from Mosman, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania

Today started a little later than the days before. When I woke at about 8:45, my thoughts went straight to my legs. After yesterday’s exercise, I was dubious how they would feel today! I put my feet to the floor, I was pleasantly surprised! I can actually feel them! I started my day by doing a few bedside stretches, before I attempted walking… ha ha. Honestly, I’m way better than I had anticipated, but the stretches help! We do such a lot each day, I think it’s catching us up. We were both expecting to be hobbling today, especially after yesterday’s wobbling!!! But we both seem better than we had expected to! We have discussed the options for today, we think it could be a walk with a beach. Our main aim is to get home ... read more

Geo: -33.844, 151.242Goodbye noisy room, hello tranquil room! Again, a good breakfast followed by the free bus. Another ferry ride, this time to Taronga zoo on a steep hill across the bay. The cable car ride to the main entrance looked appealing but the queue didn't, so we walked to the lower entrance instead. 33 degrees C and quite humid so we were quite hot by the time we reached the red Panda enclosure, the first exhibit. Spent 5 hours at the zoo, and still didn't see everything! Made sure we saw the koalas, wombats, Tasmanian devils, sun bears, kangaroos & wallabies, fennec foxes, fishing cats, binturongs (bear cats) and all the usual stuff like the big cats and monkeys. Unfortunately missed the emus and the platypus remained hidden. Boat back to C Quay and spent ... read more

I woke up this morning wondering why on earth it was raining when it was no longer monsoon season. I then wondered how my mattress made of foam and some form of twigs had become so cozy, squishy and lovely. Then I remembered I was back home! No one warned me about post-India depression, but its hit me like a brick! I managed to sleep quite soundly on the plane from Mumbai to Singapore, it was a mix of waking up drooling and constant head nods but still better than my usual sleep patterns on planes. But taking off from Singapore to Sydney I was overwhelmed with a huge amount of sadness, I can't explain it (I definitely couldn't explain it to the stewardess that was trying to comfort me hah!) but I couldn't stop wailing ... read more

We were really excited about getting to Sydney because we were staying with friends Luke and Liz. It was so lovely to see some friendly faces and enjoy the luxury of staying in an actual home as opposed to guesthouses. Luke and Liz have a lovely flat with amazing views of the opera house and Sydney harbour bridge. If I lived there I think I would just sit and gaze out of the window all day! We had such a great time in Sydney which was mainly due to our lovely hosts who spoilt us rotten with alcohol, coffees out and delicious home cooked food. It was also handy to have someone to show us around the best bits of Sydney. The timing of our visit worked out well because we had two weekends in Sydney ... read more

As zoos go this is a pretty good one and has the best view of any zoo I have been to (I think this makes it 3?) but it is very expensive! $43 for an adult! I guess that isn’t too bad for Australia but compared to the Greater Vancouver Zoo ($17.85) it is crazy! The food in the park is ridiculously priced and REALLY bad! Not worth the money, we should have brought a picnic. We didn’t see any of the ‘shows’ but saw all the animals and got to pet a crazy looking turtle named Russel and a wallaby who’s name I didn’t get. We spent 5 hours at this zoo and saw it all, except for the Red Panda that seemed to be hiding someplace.... read more