En route to Santiago, Chile

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Hi y'all,

(C writes) Well, Sydney was great - much more my thing than Perth, I think. Call me a city gal, but I like the lights and restaurants and shops and things. And, although the exchange rate is still high (S: a 24 year year high I think), of course, we found that - in terms of meals an ddrinks, at least - we had a much wider choice of better quality food at slightly lower prices. Burger in Perth buys steak in Sydney sort of thing - all down to increased competition, I guess.

And I just know you're dying to hear about the Sydney souvenir! It's a sheepskin gilet - Steve is buying it for me for my next Christmas present. Lovely and snuggly. (Incidentally, here's a factoid you may not know - UGG is a generic Oz term for sheepskin boot. And "UGG Australian" is actually now American owned, and manufactured in China. Which explains why UGG boots are so cheap in Oz). Also some hand-painted mohair yarn: I spotted a sort of large mobius strip shawl in a v nice craft gallery, which I plan to replicate once I get home. Steve bought a boomerang (S: Don't laugh!) and some more authentic aboriginal fridge magnets.

Anyway, we just flew around Sydney - Steve did the Harbour Bridge Walk whilst I pootled around The Rocks (the site of the original encampment - lovely old buildings, lots of nice shops, v atmospheric). Nothing is going to get me that high up! but if it's there and it's tall Steve can't resist it. Darling Harbour is much changed since we were here 17 years ago - very vibrant. S: The bridge walk was fantasic - no time for details now - see below - but google on Bridge Walk Sydney and you will get the idea. S: I hope it will not be another 17 years before we get back to OZ...

We also had a day at Manly Beach - so called because the first European to set foot there admired the "manly" Aboriginal he saw there. Not that it stopped the colonials from marginalising them for the next couple of hundred years - they are still over-represented in the disadvantaged sectors.

We're now in the lounge at Auckland, NZ, en route to Santiago in Chile.we are aboutr tod othe stange flight where we set of at 3.30 pm on Tuesday and arrive before we left - on Tuesday in Santigo ... Time to go... Sorry about not photoos - we sthough we had posted som,e but they failed to publish properly - will try again from Santiago...
Steve 'n' Cathy

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