Catch Up

I've been remiss in completing my Australia trip journal. Since returning home, things have been hectic-- catching up with work, mail, laundry, and preparing for parental unit weekend visits (my parents visiting one weekend and Andrew's mom and aunt visiting another). Plus, I'm on a de-cluttering kick. We finally re-organized the kitchen and got all of the kitchen-related wedding gifts out of the second bedroom (thanks, Mom!!). Now we need to unpack the leftover boxes of crap that have been sitting in our bedroom since we moved almost two years ago (if we haven't missed any of it over the last two years, then we don't really need it, right?), re-organize the linen closet, the bedroom walk-in closet, and tidy up the second bedroom. It's also time to buy new furniture for the living/dining room. The furniture we moved in with was fine enough while we focused on the bedrooms and the kitchen, but I'd like to get a buffet/hutch for our china and various things that don't have space elsewhere, buy a wall unit for our tv and electronics that are hanging out, and finally decide on permanent hanging spaces for some art. We went to a few furniture places a few days ago and actually found a few pieces we like, ironically enough, from the same place from which we bought our bedroom furniture.

So as you see, life's been busy. And it ain't slowing down for at least the next 5 weeks. Why? Well, I've got two business trips and both my sister and Andrew's sister are pregnant and due within 2 weeks of each other. Conveniently enough, my first trip is to Orlando the week of January 12-- the week after my sister-in-law is due, so if she has a boy, I will have to figure out how to make it to the brit (circumcision) in New York. My second trip is the week of January 26 to San Antonio, the week my sister is due. In between Orlando and San Antonio is President-Elect Obama's inaguaration, which I plan to attend somehow, somewhere on the Mall. And to top it all off, Andrew's job is keeping him verrrry busy and will continue to do so.

But I guess I should at least summarize what I left out of the trip log:

• We spent our last Shabbat in Bondi Beach, which was nice but would have been nicer had it not rained all weekend
• On Sunday we walked around parts of downtown Sydney
• We decided to splurge and stay our last two nights at a 5-star hotel. That was AWESOME. Some highlights of that: toilet seat that hugs your butt, free breakfast, free coffee, sodas, and drinks at the shi-shi club on the 30th floor, a bed you can just sink in and stay forever, and an Opera House view in a room on the 31st floor. Definitely worth every single penny.
• We walked 1/4-way acorss the Sydney Harbour Bridge
• We saw a ballet at the Sydney Opera House
• We took a ferry from Sydney to Manly and back again, which is apparently the best way to take in the views from the harbor
• We did A LOT of walking :)
• It took us 32 hours and 4 planes to finally get home
  

And, finally, for those interested, here are two links to all of our pictures. Note: the first 30 or so pictures from the Great Barrier Reef are not ours. They gave those pics to us for free. The water was unfortunately somewhat murky at our second dive/snorkel location so it's difficult to see the beautiful fish and corral we saw that day.

The Blue Mountains

(Yeah, it's been a while since the last trip post and yeah, the trip is already over, but I'll still share our experience in Sydney and the surrounding area over the last 5 days of our trip.)

On Thursday we flew into Sydney, rented the car, and were on our way. Our first stop was Bondi Beach, a western suburb, but more importantly, where the Jewish community lives. We basically ran out of our cheese, salami, and bread up North, so we needed some substanance to last the next few days. But of course we got a little lost, paid a toll we didn't have to pay, then found our way using the local streets. By the time we finished with lunch (meat pies at Katzy's!) and some light grocery shopping, we were really on our way, but it was just in time for rush hour traffic. Where were we heading? Why, the Blue Mountains! Home of the famous Three Sisters and one of the most beautiful and preserved rainforest landscapes.

The drive out west wasn't too bad; from the city to Katoomba, our final destination and the largest town in the Blue Mountain region, is about 100 km, easily doable in an hour or so. From reading about it while preparing for our visit, I somewhat envisioned a Skyline Drive type ride-- one lane each direction, with windy roads and beautiful, majestic views. Well, this drive had 1 of the three characteristics: beautiful, majestic views. Surprisingly and interestingly enough, the road up to Katoomba was two lanes in each direction, perfectly paved, not that windy, and had trian tracks in the middle of the road to boot. We were somewhat shocked at the relative ease in getting there.

The weather was a bit crummy and heavy rains were forecast for the evening, so we figured we would get to the BnB we booked and turn in early. We got to Echo Point right around dusk, said hello to the Three Sisters and ate cold pizza. The lookout was beautiful: you could see the storm clouds rolling in from the mountains right across the valley we were overlooking but the sun was setting in the west at the same time. The wind kicked up and we made it to the BnB right before it started to hail.

We started early the next morning and headed to Scenic World, home of the Scenic Railway, Scenic Cableway, and the new Scenic Skyway; three terrific ways to take in the beautiful scenery. We did the Skyway first, where the floor becomes see-thru and it feels like you are walking on air. The skyway takes you across and back over the Jamison valley. Next, was the Scenic Railway, the steepest incline railway ever. The drop is unbelievable and impossible to explain; it's just simply amazing that no one falls out of the carriage! At the bottom, we took a walking tour of the rainforest and learned about the different species of trees and plants and about the old coal mine that used to exist down there. To get back up the mountain, we took the Scenic Cableway, apparently the steepest aerial cable car in the Southern hemisphere.