He's trying to kill me

OK no, not really, but I sure thought so. There is a very scenic walk from Manly (just outside our doorstep) to the Spit Bridge. It follows the coastline over beaches and through a National Park. But no one told me it's a vigorous bushwalk over rocks that took us 5 hours. That's 5 hours one-way! Fortunately, we were able to take a bus back home.

But I admit, the walk was totally worth it. The views were breathtaking. We explored every little path available and ended up seeing Aboriginal rock art, rock carvings - do you see the face carved into the rock?, and Jeremy even scaled a cliff wall to get to the ocean.

Sydney

So we've finally made it into the city. We took the ferry from Manly to Sydney, which is a beautiful and relaxing ride with great views. We spent the day being tourist. We visited the Opera House, the Botanical Gardens, Darling Harbour which has lots of restaurants and shopping, and The Rocks which is the area of the first settlement in Australia.

Luna Park is the oldest amusement park in Australia and there is even a sister park in the US - NY, I think. We haven't visited Luna Park yet it was one of the stops along the ferry ride and I thought the picture was just too cool not to include.

At Darling Harbour, we visited an indoor zoo called Wildlife World. The biggest thing I learned that day was that many animals in Australia have large hopping legs, not just Kangaroos. First, there are numerous types of kangaroos, even ones that live in trees, as well as, rabbits, bandicoots, and mice. I'm still in awe of the mice - check out the picture below. Yes, that's a tiny mouse with large rabbit ears and big kangaroo legs. It's the craziest looking thing I've ever seen and boy, is it fast!

We've also already had the opportunity to see an Opera at The Opera House. We saw La Boheme and it was a great story. We got the tickets just days before the performance so we sat in the rafters but it was still a wonderful experience.








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