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| New South Wales is home to Sydney, one of the greatest cities in the world! |
| Erin's Journal 1/27 to 1/28/03 New South Wales This morning we got up early and packed up as quickly as we could, but we were a little delayed by our laundry not having fully dried out on the line the day before. We'd had to leave them hung up inside overnight, so folding and packing these took a bit, then we had to get the car loaded and ready. We finally took off around 9am, saying a quick farewell to Elaine and Rose, who'd just shown up to drop off Charlie for the day. We had decided to take the Hume Highway, rather than the more scenic Princes Highway up the coast. This was for two reasons: first, the Hume was less distance in kilometers and more of a 'real highway', so there would be less slowing down in towns along the way. Second, the fires that have been burning all around Victoria and up into New South Wales were more clustered around spots the Princes Hwy would pass through, and we wouldn't know if the road was closed there until it was too late. So we drove - and drove - and drove. We swapped places at lunchtime after filling up the gas tank. I drove the next 3 hour leg through some pretty smoky areas, then we swapped again, and Glenn stopped about an hour after that for gas. We'd just driven into a cloud, so the weather that had been warm enough to make me sweaty in the car was suddenly cold and misty! We got gas and a snack, but when we went to restart the car for the last 2 hours to Sydney, nothing happened! The car wouldn't start, wouldn't even pretend to try. The battery had just been replaced over the Christmas week in Melbourne, so it wasn't that - we fiddled with the engine and started to panick, as there was nothing up here except a gas station and a restaurant. Then a fellow gas customer stopped to take a look, and showed Glenn how to bypass the starter solenoid (no, I don't know what that is, but it worked!). He told us not to turn off the car again until we were ready to stop for a while, but Glenn could restart the engine again that way if necessary. What a mess!!! We drove the last couple of hours to town, then stopped (with the car running) to call Pauline & Graham, who were expecting us to call. We didn't want to assume they had a place for us for the night, but they assured Glenn on the phone that they'd been waiting for us. So we drove the last hour to their house in Whale Beach, a small suburb north of Sydney. We picked up some dinner at a local Chinese restaurant and ate it while we chatted with Pauline and Graham in their gorgeous home. They had given us the entire upstairs to ourselves! After dinner we were all tired, so Glenn and I thanked them and went upstairs, but ended up staying up to watch the Superbowl! It was broadcast in shortened form here, just the highlights, but they weren't playing the commercials (my favorite part), so I went to bed a little earlier. 1/28/03 We enjoyed our beautiful view in the morning, having woken up to the squabbles of the resident pairs of lorikeets fighting over the contents of the birdfeeder right outside our window. These little birds are so colorful and pretty, but can be really loud!!! We lazed about, had breakfast and reviewed some of the voluminous pile of info Graham and Pauline had set out for guests on things to do in Sydney. Glenn even got a little sun out on the deck overlooking the beach, before we finally mustered ourselves out of the house for a drive down the coast. We didn't want to head into Sydney itself today, but to at least see some of the coastal suburbs, including the famous Manly Beach. We stopped at several spots along the way, including one spot with some great tidal pools. I sat and watched the small stuff in the pools for almost 40 minutes, then was rewarded by a sneak peek of an octopus in the pool right at my feet! He was so welll-camoflaged by the sea grass he was hiding in, that I'd never have known he was there, but he peeked out at me, much to my delight. We continued on shortly thereafter, ending up in trendy Manly Beach. We spent a little time hanging out on the beach there, watching the fashionable and the health nuts running by. We had to head back to the house by now, as we'd promised to be back in time for dinner. We arrived just in time, and sat down to enjoy a good meal Pauline had graciously prepared for us. We discussed some of the ways to get into the city tomorrow, and chatted about some of the memories they shared with Glenn's parents. We retired early, but watched a bit of tv to unwind. So nice to sleep with the sound of the crashing surf out our window!!! |
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| Manly Beach is a trendy, fun and expensive suburb of Sydney |