I've just returned from a 2 week vacation in Australia, a country approximately the size of the US. As you can imagine there would be no way to experience even a tenth of what the US has to offer in just 2 weeks and this was the same case with Australia. Planning for this trip was essential. Actually, this trip was originally supposed to be a trip to Mongolia where I'd meet up with a friend of mine but due to her work situation this was no longer possible. I mentioned to another friend of mine that I had this time off already approved and she volunteered to come meet me in Thailand and the plan was to explore Thailand and Cambodia. Unfortunately, the situation in Bangkok became unstable and we decided to choose another meeting point. Australia it was!
Maren and I had a few goals: Whale watching, kangaroos, koalas, Great Barrier Reef, rain forests. We decided to focus our time on 3 main areas, Sydney, Brisbane and Cairns, in that order. So much happened and it would have been easier if I had been able to blog each day but I choose not to so I'll just give a quick run down of the highlights of each day.
Day 1-Arrived and met Maren in Sydney at 7 a.m. Dropped our luggage at the hostel and began our exploration of the city. We immediately fell in love with the city for it's old world look and modern vibe. It rained most of the day as we wandered through the streets, the botanical gardens and made our way to the harbor for a view of the iconic Opera House. It was magical to be there in person. We stopped for a bowl of soup for lunch which felt nice in the crisp temperature...a welcome change from the Bangkok heat. Maren had her introduction to the traditional music of the a hollowed out tree limb instrument called the didgeridoo as we listened to performances of local musicians. Then we found a local market where we enjoyed some dumplings and pastries, walked along the harbor bridge and decided our feet had had enough walking so we headed back to the hostel. Unfortunately, by the time we got to the hostel we realized we were starving and the only food within reach was Dominos Pizza!! I'm embarrassed to report that we broke down and ate it...and vowed not to do it again!
Day 2-As it was Sunday we got up, put on our skirts and walked a few short blocks to the church. We attended a small congregation of young single adults. It turned out that there was no one in the congregation that day who played the piano so Maren was recruited. I sat and enjoyed the meetings until I was called on to share some thoughts and feelings during the last meeting. What a surprise! I expressed my gratitude to God for the numerous blessings he has given me and encouraged the congregation to be service oriented, enjoy this time of life and to look out for each other. After church we headed to the Opera House for a symphony performance. The inside of the opera house was beautiful! Theme of the fins that defines the Opera House is carried through inside the building as well. The first number performed was a debut of a modern composer. I found the piece very difficult to listen to, very disharmonious, screechy, eerie and strange. I was relieved to hear the much sweeter sounds of composers who have been around a while! After the symphony we picked up our rental car, enjoyed some sushi for dinner and hit the road for a 2 1/2 hour drive south to Jervis Bay where we would stay the night. We had a rainy, windy drive. It was my first time driving on the left side of the road and I successfully got us to our destination. It was a strange feeling with the drivers seat on the wrong side, the blinker was where the wiper should have been and vice-versa. I'm just glad we had an automatic transmission cuz trying to shift gears with my left hand would have been too much I'm afraid!
Day 3- The plan for today was a whale watching cruise. We woke up early and found that it was still raining and windy. My heart sank knowing that there was a good possibility the cruise would be canceled. We had breakfast, wandered along the water's edge as the waves rolled in. Then we went to the office of the tour company and my fears were confirmed. The storm was too big to take a boat out. I admit that I was severely disappointed in the weather. As there was nothing else to do in the town of less than 1500 people we wandered along the beach, watched the surfers, who didn't seem to share my disappointment in the weather, and then decided to drive back to Sydney and see if we could change our train tickets to Brisbane from tomorrow to today. On the drive back we stopped to watch huge waves roll in at one beach and crash violently into the rocks. It was a beautiful sight and made me so grateful I was not on a boat at that moment! We made it back to Sydney, returned the car and got our tickets changed. We hopped on the train and off we went to Brisbane. Unfortunately it get's dark by about 6:30 pm in Australia so we were unable to enjoy the scenery as we had hoped.
Well, I'll stop there for today. Come back tomorrow for a second installment! :-)
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