Australia Update

Well, we made it to Townsville. You can check out Jake's blog at jakekerby.com for the details of our arrival, but in short, it was not what I had in mind. I do not need a luxury hotel by any means, but when I am able to hear the man upstairs peeing quite audibly, I have a problem. The "resort" was a little sketchy and not close to anything. We relocated today to another hotel that s MUCH better. We have a beautiful view of the ocean and Magnetic Island and I can walk, sit and read, or swim (an ideal way to spend the day for me!) and feel totally comfortable being by myself while Jake is in meetings during the day.
Now, I can truly appreciate Townsville!

Cramming it in!

Normally, I am a sit on my butt, read, sleep, eat sort of vacationer with a little activity intermixed. The past three days, however, Jake and I have been the ultimate tourists, cramming in as much of Sydney as we can in our limited time here. I already described mot of our first day so I will pick up where I left off.

Yesterday morning started off with a trip to the Sydney Aquarium, which was "quite nice" as people say often around here. Then we grabbed a train and a bus for Bondi Beach. That was actually one of my favorite spots. It is a beautiful beach and we were able to walk all around to see the views and grabbed some fish and chips to eat on the beach. We then headed back to main part of the city and hit the Australian Museum for some Natural History. I have to say that by that point in the day...I was completely toast! It was a great museum, I think, but mostly, I was just hoping to go take a nap. After some down time, we forced ourselves out for some sushi for dinner. This morning we were the ultimate tourists! We were picked up by a tour bus for a day in the blue mountains. What a beautiful place! We literally saw it all! The best part of the tour though was our bus driver. He literally talked ALL day. I learned a ton about Australia though and much I am sure I didn't need to know about our driver's taste in music, night life, etc. Let's just say he did play "Hungry Eyes" at one point (one ofthe few points that he wasn't talking). THe day ended with a stop at the 2000 Olympic Games Park, which was cool to see. Then it was a ferry ride back into the main part of Sydney and then dinner in The Rocks section of town.
Tomorrow morning we fly to TOwnsville, where I won't have much to blog about, as I plan on reading, sleeping, and eating for a few days!

Planes, Buses, Trains, Ferries, and Feet...Oh My!

We made it to Sydney! The adventure began as soon as we hit LAX. Game 7 of the NBA Championship was in its final moments when we had to leave for the airport. Jake, being the committed Laker fan that he is, borrowed his mom's, awesome "walkman" radio to not miss the final moments while I am in line to check our luggage. WE check in and head for security when we are turned away, saying we don't have our visas. Visas? At this point I am ready to kill Jake as we are already cutting it close on time and now we have no visas????!!! FYI, when traveling to Australia, you need a visa. Good news is, we were able to purchase them at the ticket counter (HUGE sigh of relief!). We made it through security and to our gate with no time to spare. We walked right on the plane and took off for our 14 hour flight. I needed the 14 hours to let my blood pressure settle down after an exciting Laker game and the crisis averted at the airport. The flight went really well. I actually slept for probably 8 or 9 hours! I was much needed rest, as we arrived in Sydney at 6 in the morning and would need to be out and about until the afternoon when we could check in to the hotel. Upon arriving in Sydney, we hit the ground running after a bus and train ride to get to our hotel and drop off our luggage. We walked through the beautiful park and botanical gardens down to the Opera house and bridge. From there we walked to The Rocks and toured through the weekend market. We then decided to hit the ferry and head over to Manly Beach for lunch. We just arrived back at the hotel and we are thrilled with our room. It has a beautiful view of an old cathedral and the bay. THe big highlight- white robes! This place is awesome! Looking forward to a fun dinner and the lighting of the sails at the Opera house. Then, finally, we can go to sleep and be more acclimated to Australia time tomorrow. It should be fun!