American Bumps Into Aussies on Coastal Trail

Australians, like the British, drive on the left side of the road. When someone drops off a passenger it looks as though they've just abandoned the car in the middle of the street. At every crossing they remind the rest of the world to look left by painting the words on the pavement.   As I have yet to be hit by a car while crossing, I figure I'm doing pretty well. However today we picked up a car and did a little road adventure of our own.

Sitting in the passenger seat while your husband sits next to you on the right really tests the strength of your relationship.  Driving to Bondi Beach was like a 15 minute ride on the Screamin' Demon.   Parked cars on my left looked as though they were ready to leap through my window.  If I flinched Hubby screamed at me. He turned on to the right side of the street once. I kept my heart in my throat but just barely. This was only a trial run. Tomorrow we drive to the Blue Mountains about two hours away. I'm going to just close my eyes.

Bondi Beach was beautiful. Despite cooler temps there were still plenty of surfers and swimmers to watch,  I even got a bit warm walking the Coastal Trail.   I saw a saltwater swimming pool that is fed by the ocean. It was very cool. Those Aussies know how to enjoy the ocean.

We dined at Bill's, a lovely restaurant with not so lovely service. Perhaps they did not like me requesting free food because I was dining with Bill.  Having read that Australians don't tip and advice to leave no more than a 10% tip for only excellent service, we opted to leave nothing.  I felt like I should slip out the back door.

Yesterday we did a typical tourist thing and went on a guided "free" tour of historic Sydney.  While advertised as free, the guide, Lily, let us know that they operated on a pay what you think it was worth basis.  She had a rather thick Polish(?) accent so we missed a few details. Therefore she got less than the paid tours though I suppose it's possible we wouldn't have understood those guides either. Lack of a control sample I'm afraid.   But still we learned a few interesting tidbits like this Governor Macquarie guy named everything after himself or his wife.  Pays to be in power.

We also took an evening harbor cruise to see the Vivid Lights from the harbor.   It was pretty, though in order to stretch the tour to two hours the boat went back and forth three times.  After once you've kind of seen it all.    Took a few photos but taking shots at night is tricky so I signed up for a photo class sponsored by Canon for tonight.  They lend you a camera and coach you through the settings to get just the perfect pic.   I'm figuring it will come in handy at other times as well.

Big news. Got some new shoes. After two days with my blister producing shoes, I couldn't take it anymore. Killed me to pay big bucks for another pair of tennis shoes, but my toes feel better.   I'm over 100,000 steps for the week and I can definitely feel it. A little foot massage would be nice about now.

So tomorrow we head to the Blue Mountains. We'll spend four days there then come back to Sydney for another four days.   Luckily I now know I must walk on the left side of the trail so I am ready.

Hello From Down Under

It's day 2 of our great adventure though it feels like day 3.  Crossing the international dateline is confusing.  We arrived  in Sydney at 6 a.m. on June 4 after starting at noon on June 2.  Took us quite some time to get through customs because of our declaration of our half jar of planters peanuts.  Would have gotten right through except for an alert sniffing dog that immediately noticed something amiss in Hubby's backpack.   Was my Hubby a secret drug smuggler? Nope. Just someone who forgot he still had an apple left to eat. Criminal. They let us keep the peanuts but took the apple.  Wasn't even a honey crisp.

Our Priceline hotel, the Radisson Blu,  is just dandy and close to Sydney Harbor and the Rocks. We spent our first day fighting off jet lag by walking around the opera house and crossing the harbor bridge.  We also spent a great deal of time trying to spend as little as possible on food. Although we declared ourselves honey badgers with plans to not give a sh&!!, our frugalness just kept kicking in every time we studied a menu.  This led to lots more walking or in fitbit terms, steps.  Did about 13,000 in the morning of June 4.  When I synced it said I did 13,000 steps the day before when I was actually on a plane. Even a fitbit gets confused by time changes.  Did another 25000 that night. Crazy huh?  What's really crazy is I am wearing godawful hiking shoes and now have blisters on three toes.
After dinner we marveled at the Vivid lights displays on the buildings then finally called it a day. I was certain it was at least 10 p.m.   Not quite. We were in bed and sound asleep at 7:30.

Our official day 2 began early because by 6 a.m. we'd already slept 10.5 hours.  Google found us a pancake restaurant nearby so we were feeling pretty smart.   We still learned a thing or two. Black coffee is watered down expresso called a long coffee and eggs come scrambled, sunny side up or turned over.  Over easy was a new term for our waitress as well as the cook judging from the results.

After breakfast we hopped a ferry and went to the Taronga Zoo which is just delightful.

View from Taronga Zoo

We saw our first ever platypus and the other egg bearing monotreme mammal, the echidna,  The latter is famous for being the answer to a trivia question that we missed in a Cincinnati tournament.  What's most remarkable about this zoo is the backdrop of the Sydney Harbor.  Seems a little surreal to be staring at a giraffe with the Sydney Opera House off in the distance.  We spent the entire day at the zoo and plan on resting a bit then head out for dinner.  I've only done 16,500 steps so I need a few more.

Oh and one more discovery.  When you say hiking and thank you like an Aussie, it sounds like you are from Kentucky.  Now that's bloody remarkable.

Follow the leader. Big lizards.