Happy New Year from Sydney ... More Photos

The date on the blog says December 31st and that's because I've left my computer's clock on Chicago/New Orleans time ... so in truth my posts are actually happening a day later than is shown -- goes to prove that I'm in the future ... now.

Wanted to get the main post up before everyone ran off to parties and celebrations -- but it still took about 4 hours to write it and add photos to it. Blogger is a bit tedious when it comes to adding photos, as you have to drag them down to where you want them and you can't get a full page window to work in and since I'm a bit of a long writer (are you bored yet?) Now, of course this is my first blogging experience with Blogger and so I'm still learning how to use it and there's probably an easier way to get photos where you want them but I haven't discovered it, yet.

Nevertheless, here are a few more photos from NYE Down Under ... the third and final firing of the Harbour Bridge and the eery exposures of the Opera House created by the smoke and wind blowing across the harbor, along with ghost ships moving through the harbor thanks to the magic of technology ... enjoy them all and have a fabulous NYE and 2007 no matter where in the world you are!

Happy New Year ... With Love From Sydney ...

While you were sleeping, or drinking coffee or brunching somewhere special, Syndey welcomed in 2007 ...

Already we are 10+ hours into the New Year and most of you reading this haven't even left your house to go out on the town to celebrate your New Year's Eve! Just to give you an idea of how far ahead we are, here's what you were doing when I was standing under the Harbour Bridge celebrating the arrival of 2007 ... my friends in London were most likely having a leisurely brunch somewhere at 2:00 PM Sunday afternoon ... my friends and family in Chicago and New Orleans were either still sleeping or just waking up to a cup of coffee at 7:00 AM Sunday and my loved ones in California were most likely still sleeping ... at 5:00 AM Sunday! Happy New Year!

Sydney is, perhaps, the first major world city to celebrate New Year's ... only cities to the east of us celebrate beforehand -- and those are mainly islands -- the world clock in my phone says that the Kingdom of Tonga, which is the 176 islands of Polynesia, celebrates 3 hours before us, New Zealand, land of the Kiwis, and the Fiji Islands celebrate 2 hours ahead and Guam just one hour before us. Yes, we celebrated 2007 ahead of all the great cities of the Far East, such as Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, Beijing, Bankok, New Delhi, and even ahead of all of Australia's western cities, like Perth and Adelaide. Don't you just love these geography lessons?

Well, you are on the verge of celebrating because it's late afternoon/early evening in the US and so time for making NYE plans is over -- you're about to do your plans and go out and party!!! So let me share 2007 in Oz with you.

This year, the City of Sydney celebrates the 75th Jubilee Anniversary of the Harbour Bridge ... and so the theme for this year's festivities is A Diamond Night in Emerald City ... you can see amazing pictures from last year's Harbour Festivities at www.sydneynewyearseve.com and check out how well organized they are since more than a million people will be watching from various places around the harbor -- not to mention those who have chartered boats to actually be in the harbor at kick-off time!

For those of you who've been to Mardi Gras you know what it's like to move through a sea of 1,000, 000 -- fortunately the way that Sydney sits on the coastline -- it's impossible to cram all 1,000,000 in just one area and so sites are scattered throughout the 15 miles of inlets that make up the harbor here. It makes things quite manageable, though the Sydney police were out in full force to make certain that these very civilized folks stayed that way ...

The night was relatively cool and we were expecting thunderstorms -- the clouds over downtown were ominous as David and I grabbed the train from Minto to head into town around 4:30 pm. With books, water and umbrella in hand, we were ready for an afternoon and evening of finding a comfortable spot to wait and eventually watch the fireworks, and hopefully, stay out of whatever rain might suddenly decide to fall from the heavens.

By the time we arrived in town, as we rode the train to our intended destination of Milson's Point, Bradfield Park, just across the harbor from the Opera House and under the Harbour Bridge in North Sydney -- we could see crowds littering the landscape from one end of the coastline to the other ... there was plenty of activity in the harbor itsself with boats, water taxis and ferries shuffling people from one area to another. For just $7 AU -- you can ride the trains, ferries and buses unlimited all day NYE -- with so many people to manage, the City has created a pay one price ticket so movement around and in and out of the downtown area remains free-flowing and easy.

Once we arrived at Milson's Point, it took us a while to find a place where we could get a view of the bridge and most of the central harbor area.

Since the harbor is so vast, the City has 6 fireworks barges strung out across the harbor plus the Harbour Bridge, spending well over $1 million AU dollars to light up NYE, not to mention what it spent to market, plan and move people around safely on this special night. NYE flags dot light poles throughout the downtown, and if you followed the link to the website, you can see how they tried to think of everything -- even down to telling you how many people each vantage point can handle, whether they have food/beverage at those sites, if streets are closed, restrictions on the site for bringing food and drink, how best to get there -- public transportation, of course, and so on ... it really is a herculean effort to make sure everyone has a perfect night.

After about an hour or so of wandering through the various areas on Milson's Point, we chose a spot under a palm tree near the water's edge ... just under the Harbour Bridge but far enough away to see the spectacular fireworks and light show celebrating A Diamond Night in Emerald City ...

Now I'm not exactly sure how Sydney got tangled up with Dorothy and the Wizard of OZ but here's a great link about it http://www.bdb.co.za/shackle/articles/emerald_cities.htm and one about the Harbour Bridge, as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Harbour_Bridge, which also gives you a little background on this year's symbols that were used to light up the bridge.

You'll see in my pictures a red lighted coathanger-- which is what Sydneysiders affectionately call the Harbour Bridge -- as it is created from so many thin wires that look almost exactly like coathanger wire. Now let me tell you, so many people know the Sydney Opera House and it is a pretty amazing site -- but the Harbour Bridge is something special -- it is like the Eiffel Tower of the Southern Hemisphere and is so big and awesome that when you first see it -- you're kind of struck dumb for a moment -- that was my experience of the Eiffel Tower (if you can imagine me not talking for about 10 minutes after my first view of ET)!

I thought that the Opera House would be the same kind of experience for me -- but it was the Harbour Bridge that shut me up! Standing under its huge pylons and endless iron and steel structure last night and hearing trains and cars above made me feel the same affection for it that most Sydneysiders have -- it is so massive -- like a gentle giant looming over this vast city -- guarding and guiding it in the same way the ET reaches out over Paris ...!

While we waited for the festivities to begin, the sky above seemed destined to open up and pour on us, the wind picked up and it was downright cool and a bit humid -- but the weather held, though the clouds never budged and much of the aerial shows that were planned didn't happen, as a result -- though the sky was filled with news, police and city helicopters managing the harbor and city below. David read while I took time to just wander around and people-watch. I love peoplewatching no matter where I am but I think during celebrations you get to really see people in a myriad of circumstances.

One thing about Sydney is that it is a highly international, multi-cultural city -- but unlike the US where most of our international non-native population is from Europe, Mexico, South America and the Carribbean -- here everyone is from the Far East, India and the Pacific Islands. Like the US, you will hear hundreds of languages and dialects -- but yet people are basically the same. Whether the kids are from Tokyo, Singapore, New Delhi, Fiji or New Zealand -- they all have their I-Pods and backpacks and their tattoos and piercings. Their parents fret and worry just like our parents -- and just like us -- they want their kids to be happy, they go to work, ride the train and eat pizza along with their traditional homeland foods.

I think that's what I love about traveling -- it makes the world so much smaller ... you get to realize close-up that basically, people are the same everywhere -- we all want the same things -- their kids need the same kind of love and attention that our kids need -- teenagers are worried about the same things we worried about -- teenage girls still dance together more than with boys ... the world is not so different from one place to another.

At 9:00 PM, the City sets off the first round of fireworks so that families can get their kids home and to bed -- it's followed by a boat parade that goes on and on for the almost 3 hours until midnight. Public and private boat owners dress up their yachts and ships with lights, flags and all sorts of decor to reinforce the theme of the evening -- so we had a lot of emerald green lights and diamond shapes this year. From paddlewheelers, to tall ships to ferries to yachts of everysize -- owners went all out to create a parade of floating celebration that had kids and adults alike doing the usual oohs and aahs.

That's something I really have noticed about Sydney -- everybody pitches in and it's always, "Mate this and mate that ..." even if you're aggravated with someone, it's "Mate ...!" Nobody really seems to get angry here -- it's very civilized in a British sort of way -- only very definitely Aussie-style!

After the 9:00 PM fireworks -- I took another walkabout, so to speak, to get away from the harbor breezes as the night continued to cool down -- families were leaving being replaced by more adults who waited to come down.

By 10:30 PM a whole new crowd of folks had arrived and David and I took a little snooze on our comfey groundspot. People all around us were gathered with thier families, or lovers or groups of friends -- the young couple next to us passed the time eating roasted chicken, drinking champagne and reading Memoirs of a Geisha to each other, that is when they weren't on their cell phones calling friends and loved ones to roust them out to come and play with them or just to say Happy New Year to someone they loved!

We woke at around 11:30 PM as we could hear the crowd start to shuffle a bit, anticipating the coming light show. By this time the red question mark and coathanger were gone, replaced by a lighted diamond with sparkling light effects around it -- the Harbour Bridge all in dark except for this, waiting for it grand moment. Soon, we were up on our feet, positioning for a space to shot photos of both fireworks we could see -- three of the barges were near us and the spectacular display we were sure was to happen on the Bridge.

As the countdown grew nearer, the crowds began to pack in and turn to watch and then finally, the 10 second countdown was projected on the bridge pylon and the 5000+ people at Milson's Point began to shout 10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1... and then boom the fireworks started! Both David and I started shooting pictures capturing the bridge and the harbor barges as best we could -- some where in the middle of all that we managed to squeeze in a few Happy New Year kisses and indeed it was a special moment that I'll remember for a long time. Spectacular fireworks shown all over the place -- so many that you could barely standstill for turning to see what special combination exploded next and then ... the bridge went off for the first time!

Since the bridge is a huge arch -- they are able to scroll the fireworks from one end to the other, as well as having the entire arch fire at once -- they did both complemented by an incredible light show from underneath that painted the bridge in a variety of greens and purples and bathed the whole harbor in a stunning light show.


A fireworks barge in front of the Opera House, cast stunning lights and shadows across its face, giving it at times a festive, and at other times, an eery smoky look throughout.

It all happens so fast ... you wait all evening and in 15 minutes it's over. The Harbour Bridge fired three spectacular times -- lighting up the harbor with an emerald green glow that truly did turn the whole city into Emerald City for just a moment in time -- I can't wait to see the photo the City chooses to show off this year's festivities! I know it will be as stunning as last years!

With that, the evening ended as we made our way through thick crowds back to the train station for our long journey home -- we were both tired but David is such a night owl that it didn't take him long to perk up and make sure we ended up on the right train to Minto -- about and hours ride southwest. I napped almost the entire ride while David read and kept watch ... and then we were home -- off to dreamland in OZ except I wrote this blog in my head all night so that I could say Happy New Year to all ... from Sydney with Love ...!

Sydney ... Here I Come ... Wednesday through Saturday

Since Tuesday was Boxing Day and I slept through it, my first chance to see Sydney and its glorious landmarks -- the Opera House, Harbour Bridge and downtown Sydney was on Wednesday afternoon. David and I drove into the City -- he lives about 40 miles southwest of downtown -- and so I got to view the City from the southside as we approached the central business and tourist areas.

Like all big urban centers, Sydney is a glorious mix of old and new living side by side. Huge silver skyscapers are everywhere towering over wonderful 19th Century British colonial buildings that now often serve as museums or shopping areas. Also like most diverse urban centers -- there's a wonderful mix of business and residential throughout -- whole areas of the city have been restored over the last decade and wonderful colonial terrace houses are everywhere.

Sydney is a lot like London in many ways, with parks and green spaces dotted throughout ... the waterfront is filled with shops and living areas, and of course, the harbor is a bustling port with cruise ships, ferries, tall ships, private yachts and sailing vessels and the usual assortment of tourist-oriented water tours and taxis. Queen Victoria is everywhere since the City grew up, so to speak, under her rule.

David and I parked near Darling Harbour, which is around the bay away from the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, which remain out of site from this area. In spite of that, you get a sense of how huge the whole harbor is, as the Darling Harbour area is home to several key museums and wildlife expositions, the convention center, several malls, the Sydney Monorail and all of the historic tall ships.

Since water is plentiful on the coastal areas -- downtown Sydney is filled with fountains and water exhibits -- they have been cleverly designed to be accessible as play areas for children and adults -- and even though it was bit cool -- there were plenty of both kids and adults scampering through them, shoes thrown to the side for the moment (think Crown Fountain, Millennium Park, Chicago).

Water is a major part of life here in Sydney -- and indeed for all of Australia, since the vast majority of the 20+ million population lives on the coast (23,000 miles of it in total), you're just as likely to find two boats in a garage here as two cars. Boats and ferries make up a major part of the public transportation system in downtown Sydney -- and scheduled ferries stop throughout the entire harbor area moving hundreds of thousands of people, visitors and locals alike, around daily. Fortunately for Sydneysiders, public transportation is plentiful and timely -- the cost is reasonable and you can reach downtown Sydney from any of its almost 800 burbs by CityRail, which runs about 18 hours daily.

We spent Wednesday afternoon just walking and looking -- the downtown is so vast that like other major urban centers, you could spend a lifetime here and not see everything. After stopping for a late lunch at one of the cafes that line the Darling Harbour walkway, we hopped on one of the many ferries that stop all over the harbor and proceeded around the bay toward the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House -- the day was sunny but cool and breezy.

The harbor area reminds me quite a bit of San Francisco's Bay area -- it has that Northern California feel to it. Sydney, along with most of the coastal areas of Australia, is quite hilly and so the harbor sits within a cascading alcove of hills -- well protected -- a safe harbor if I ever saw one. The city indeed looks down to the harbor as it is built up the side of these surrounding hills -- you can especially see it on the north side of the harbor. As we moved through the harbor by ferry, stopping every so often to pick up and drop off passengers, I could just begin to see the edges of the Harbour Bridge which is, as Wikipedia confirms:

According to Guinness World Records, it is the widest long-span bridge in the world and is the largest steel arch bridge with the top of the bridge standing 134 metres above the harbour.

Big is not the word for the Harbour Bridge -- it is colossal! It surprised me in its beauty and delicate grace -- it is a piece of art, as well as a world class piece of architecture. Read more about how it grabbed me in my "Happy New Year ... with Love" post.

As we passed under the bridge and rounded the bay, the Opera House came in to view. Make no mistake, it is an unusual structure, and perhaps, one of the most photographed in the world -- but it does not hit you the same way as the Harbour Bridge. You don't have that sense of awe that you expect after seeing it so many times in photographs. It's hard to get the same perspective on it when you see it from afar for the first time.

It was not until we actually walked up the steps and all around it that I felt that sense of creativity and wonder ... the roof by the way is made of ceramic tiles and concrete -- meticulously maintained, and obviously, a roofer's nightmare to upkeep. Because of its shape, you feel enveloped -- it gives you the same sense of "safe-harbor" that the harbor does.

From the Opera House, we treked over to the adjacent Royal Botanical Gardens and meandered through this quiet spot, which even at 4:00 pm was filled with people lounging around enjoying a beautiful, and thankfully, cool summer day. We wandered through the park eventually ending up in the adjacent business area and coming to the National Library.

Here, we were greeted by a statue of Matthew Flinders, who was the first explorer to navigate the entire Australian coastline, and his faithful cat Trim, who sailed the seven seas with his master and is duly celebrated with both a sculpture and a plaque commemorating his robust life at sea! Read about Matthew and Trim at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Flinders. Trim has quite a following and I was lucky to see his sculpture, which had been down recently for cleaning and restoration.

By the time we wandered around a bit more, it was time to go home -- we'd been at it about 5 hours and since Sydney is surprisingly hilly, this woman from the flatlands was pretty tired. We jumped on one of Sydney's buses and headed back to Darling Harbour, where we grabbed the car and headed home. David was really tired and so after we got out of the city and back onto the interstate, I offered to drive.

Now folks, as you recall from my first post this is a real experience -- but I'm the brave sort and David was game, so we changed seats and even though he had to do most of the moving of the stick, as it really is quite dreadful to shift with your left hand, I didn't do too bad. Well ... almost. Roundabouts -- we really don't have them in the US -- though some of the eastern states use them a bit and they are plentiful in the United Kingdom -- but here they are a pretty standard part of the roadway system-- I think this is how they keep you alert and polite here, as you really have to be on your toes and very neighborly to not end up in a road rage fist fight over the right of way in a roundabout.

I was going right along just fine until the first roundabout. Now remember folks, I'm driving on the left side here. David says, take a right at the roundabout ... so I pull over to the right lane and just about the time I'm going to take the right -- David say noooooooooo! Woke him right up! See you have to go left and around the roundabout to take a right and I was just going to go right and cut across to get back on the left side -- it made perfect sense to me.

Look it's not my fault that the Australians drive on the left -- blame Queen Victoria -- but somehow I recovered and made it around the left of the roundabout without killing myself or another driver -- David gained a few more grey hairs on that one and it definitely gave him some energy. We arrived home safely, though it's a bit hard to judge the left side of the car from the right driver's seat so I ended up just a little bit on the lawn and managed not to take out any trees or either of the cats. Sleepytime -- good night!

Now, I've only been here three days, it's Thursday -- and so I'm still catching up a bit on sleep and trying to get acclimated to being in the future now, so like God, on the 3rd and 4th days, I took a break to get into a more normal routine -- email and blogs.

But even better than that, we went to the movies -- watched Flushed Away with an ensemble cast of Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Jean Reno (as a French frog -- oooh la la mon cheri!!) and Ian McKellan! Yes, it's a Dreamworks animated film but very clever, as usual and I highly recommend it for the kid in each of us!

Back at home rather early, this was followed by Shrek! on DVD, which I had never seen but which was equally delightful -- Eddie Murphy as Donkey is too much and I can just see him doing that part in that snide, humorous way that he has! Oh, how nice to be a bit normal even if I am in the future ... now.

Friday was another day of emails and catching up the blog -- had intended to go into Sydney alone and explore but by the time I got finished doing everything it was so late that I thought it would be better to just run the errands that needed running so David and I headed off to the MALL!

What a mall -- about 5 floors of everything you could imagine. Beyond the US experience -- this mall has everything -- at least two grocery stores, in addition to the regular retail assortment that Americans are used to seeing in malls -- plus big box stores like Target and Big W (which I think is Walmart in disguise) -- plus fresh meat, fish, fruit, veggie and flower markets plus a couple of fresh bakeries, chemists/pharmacies -- more like a whole city than a mall. Plenty of entertainment, as well and a myriad of food courts and kiosks catering to every food craving on earth. Talk about being able to get everything done in one place -- this is what malls ought to be -- whether you're a millionaire or looking for the best bargains in town -- you can find it here.

I don't know if all the modern suburban malls in Australia are like this -- but this is definitely one lesson we can learn. In some ways -- it's a vast improvement in quality of life because the land that might have been used for all these different stores has been allocated to residential or green space use. The big box stores are a bit different -- no grocery or pharmacy items -- just clothes, electronics and home items -- helps keep the smaller stores in business. The prices are higher for things even though the AU dollar is in our favor I still paid about $8 US more for less quantity of the items I needed -- but I pretty much found all my favorite brands except Neutrogena Suncreen for Sensitive Skin -- they had all the tanning products but none of the sunscreens -- oh well -- can't win 'em all!

Friday night was David's night out with some of his mates and I stayed home and just had some quiet time to read, listen to CDs and think about my first few days in Australia. On the whole, so far it had been quite peaceful and relaxing -- it's a pretty laid back country though very progressive. It does take a few days to get used to the time change ... as I lay there thinking about my first 4 days ... the sandman called ... beddy-bye!

Saturday -- I'm blogging again, trying to catch up but also planning on a day in Sydney by myself. Since I usually travel by myself, the first thing I do is get out and walk the city so that I know my way around. As a single woman traveling alone -- I want to be able to take care of myself and as many of you who know me -- I have a GPS mind -- once I walk it, I know it forever, even if I don't go back to a place for years, the landmarks and major street are permanently imprinted. I'm staying out in the burbs and so haven't had the chance to do this yet with Sydney and Saturday was my day in town. David took me to the train station around 2 pm and put me on CityRail to downtown Sydney. I think he was bit nervous -- but I'm pretty independent and determined and so off I went to the big city.

I got off at Town Hall which is about 6 long blocks from the harbor -- right smack in the middle of the QVB -- Queen Victoria Building which is a stunning example of 19th Century British Colonial architecture.

You can take a stroll through it here: http://www.qvb.com.au/IPOH/QVB/me.get?SITE.home

I spent the better part of 2 hours in this magnificent building, which is joined to many of the other retail areas in this part of downtown, before heading out to walk the main thoroughfare of Sydney -- George Street.

Now George Street is the dividing line of downtown Sydney -- the 0/0 street -- like State Street in Chicago, Canal Street in New Orleans, the Champs Elysee in Paris, Piccadilly in London and 5th Avenue in New York. If you lose your way, just get back to George Street and you can pick up a bus, train or walk to the harbor and you're found again.

On this first excursion, I followed those 6 longs blocks to the harbor and found myself in The Rocks which is adjacent to the main ferry, bus and train station in Circular Quay (pronounced KEY not KAY as the French would pronounce it.) The area around the Quay is where everything is happening all the time -- it is ringed with the Opera House, the Botanical Gardens, The Rocks -- which is one of the oldest areas in Sydney. Besides having some of the first settlement buildings still intact, it is now filled with shops and residences -- all built up the side of a rocky hill -- with little winding streets and alcoves.

Because Sydney is built along the coastline -- the layout of the city follows the shoreline and so forget about the streets having a "grid" layout -- yes, there are plenty of main thoroughfares like George Street which run from the harbor-line straight through the city -- but the cross streets follow the shoreline -- which means abrupt steet endings, names changes, zig-zag throughways -- a lot like New Orleans and London. I went in to the Galleria Shopping Centre on George Street and came out on the backside near Globe Street, which isn't really a street at all, but a stepped throughway which leads down to George Street -- for a moment, I was completely turned around. Fortunately, the harbor is always north so it's hard to get lost -- but The Rocks is a maze of small alleys and stepped throughways -- it's easy to lose your bearings.

By this time, I had been downtown for about 5 hours and was starting to wear out -- I did mention that Sydney is hilly and the blocks are long -- since I had made my way to Circular Quay, I thought it was time to rest and watch the preparations going on for NYE and for the Sydney Festival, which goes on the entire month of January, check it out here: http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/. It culminates on January 26th with Australia Day commemorating the formal founding of the New South Wales Colony by Captain Arthur Phillip in 1788. You can learn about its history and what's planned for this year's celebration at: http://www.australiaday.com.au/studentresources/history.aspx.

Having watched the hustle and bustle of workers and visitors for about a half hour, I decided it was time to catch the train home -- it's about an hour trip and it was already almost 7:00 PM. I made my way to the train platform and sat down to call David and let him know I was soon to be on the way home -- I had just missed a train and so I had a 25 minute wait. When I looked at my cell phone I saw that I had 6 text messages -- who could be calling me on my Australian phone number?

Yes, T-Mobile does not work here even though I had the international calling feature turned on -- they just couldn't grab and keep a network signal so I broke down and bought an Aussie SIM card so I could at least send text messages and call David if need be -- besides it's much cheaper than using my T-Mobile international rates.

OK -- folks here's your travel tip: if you have an unlocked phone and are traveling internationally-- buy a local SIM card, it's cheaper, it works and nobody can call you unless you want them to -- now, don't say I didn't give you anything for Christmas!

So here I am on the train platform with all these text messages -- from David, of course -- he'd been calling since about 4:00 pm to tell me we had been invited to his sister, Vanessa's house for BBQ and bay watching with some neighbors and Phyllis and Arthur, Adam's parents. Terrific -- except now I had to catch a different train and from a different station since the train I needed didn't go through the station at Circular Quay -- it meant grabbing a train in the opposite direction I was going and getting to either Town Hall or Central.

No problem, I'm an experienced traveler and by now had figured out how to read the train signs and had figured out north from south and right from left -- which can be a problem in a country where everybody drives on the wrong side of the road and which carries over to walking on the streets and up and down stairs and escalators.

But I did catch the right train, made it to Town Hall, bought the ticket for the proper train to Vanessa's and headed off. Vanessa met me at the station and whisked me away to her home, while David had arrived just moments before us after having visited with his mom, Audrey, on the drive down to meet me at Vanessa's.

By the time we got there -- everyone else had eaten -- it was after 8:00 PM by the time I arrived from downtown -- sorry it was hard to hear the phone as the QVB was jam packed and noisy, and of course, it was buried at the bottom of my purse muffled by all the junk I was carrying.

Nevertheless, Vanessa grilled some fabulous hand-made sausages, served up some salad and coleslaw and fed the two stragglers. We toasted with some red wine and Vanessa's neighbor brought a mini-keg of Port which was just a delightful end to a lovely meal. We all sat on the deck until 10:30 pm -- enjoying the peace, quiet and beauty of Yowie Bay along with the wonderful company of family and friends.

It was a perfect way to end a busy day ... and so David and I set off for home arriving just before midnight. I was dead on my feet by that time and so it was sleepytime for me pretty quickly. Tomorrow is the big day -- New Year's Eve -- NYE -- and we've a big evening at the harbor planned ... off to dreamland in a land of dreams ... bon soir mes amis.

Christmas in Aussieland ... Monday to Wednesday Sunrise

So here I am in the wilds of Australia ... well, not quite wild, but it is a bit wild to see Santa Claus dressed in red velvet and white fur along with a sleigh and reindeer in the middle of the summer, which actually began here on December 1st ... I fully expected that he would at least be in shorts, sandals and one of those wonderful bush hats ... riding in a land rover pulled by kangaroos ... well that's a picture ...

Now, when I travel, as many of you know, it is always to see a specific city and rarely to see anyone in particular ... but, of course, this trip is about seeing David, whom I met in New Orleans in 2004 and through a series of spectacular events, the least of which was Katrina herself, landed back in my life in late June this year. First, let me clear this up for you, Australia has been on my list for many years ... so David is a bonus and Australia should be grateful because it probably would have taken me at least another 5 or 6 years to get here since my travel plans were to bounce around Western Europe the next few years ... hmmmm, the universe has a way of speeding things up sometimes, doesn't it?

As you might know, even in the airport I was able to surprise David since customs is a pretty big area and there are several exits -- naturally, I came through the far side and he was looking to the near side where just about everyone else from my flight had been routed ... I, of course, had 3000 things to declare so I got routed left instead of right ... but it gave me the advantage of being able to sneak up on David, who had ignored my orders not to bring flowers or stuffed bears to the airport -- that's probably a good thing ...!

After a brief hug and kiss (just a peck) - we took off to find the car, which David had promptly misplaced in the vast parking area -- two days later, we emerged from airport parking having missed Christmas dinner at his mum's ... just kidding folks! Actually, I was pretty impressed that he could find his car, as the car here is as ubiquitous (I always wanted to use that word!) -- as in the States, and the lot was full with people picking up all us world travelers!

We were home in what seemed like a short while ... and I was greeted by the family cats Baby & Fluffybum -- both who could outshout any 10 of my cats ... where's the duck tape? Now these are unusual cats -- Baby is a Siamese -- brown with deep blue eyes who has to be right there leaning on you all the time -- I've been having a few training lessons with her since my arrival and she is teachable ... Fluffy on the other hand has no hope ... this cat is addicted to his food bowl ... if it is even one millimeter below the top, he wants it topped off. Consequently, he loses weight by constantly walking between wherever David is and his bowl, mewing for a topping off. Once topped off, then he can go about and do his routine of sleep and hunt -- yes he is the resident hunter and has already brought in two birds as welcome gifts ... where's the duck tape?

But, they are both pretty adorable and are wondering about this stranger in their house -- finding ways to see if she is OK ... like Baby drinking out of my water glass when I'm not looking wondering if I'm going to drown her in it when she's not looking ... so far, we're getting along and she does understand NO! Fluffy likes to wander the neighborhood and so he's not around too much unless he's catnapping -- but our time seems to be in the early morning when I get on the computer -- because, of course, he's been eating all night and now his bowl needs topping off -- a little strange but at least he's consistent! Baby's just jumped up here to see what I'm saying about her -- she's the climber -- tiny and agile like my Mirasorvino ... so far I haven't had to pull Alf out and threaten cat soup ...

I arrived on Christmas morning here and our plans were to go to David's sister's home in the afternoon -- but we both opted for naps since she and her family were going to be at David's mum's (Audrey) house that evening. We arrived early ... to Audrey's complete and utter amazement -- yes, David is usually the fashionably late sibling ... and I was greeted by the most wonderful aroma of roasting lamb in a home that has always been filled with lovely and loving people.

Within the half-hour, the house was a buzz with David's sister, Vanessa, her husband Adam, originally from NYC and FL, David's parents, Phyllis and Arthur, who now live in Punta Gorda FL, and Vanessa & Adam's children Jarrad and Tally. David's daughter, Ariane and her boyfriend Tim, who's studying to be a chef, arrived about an hour later, after having made the rounds of other grandparents' and parents' homes all day.

Now, Audrey tells me she's not a cook but you could have fooled me as I thought I had died and gone to heaven throughout most of the meal -- roast lamb, gravy, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, roasted pumpkin and potatoes with onions, wonderful Australian red wine -- yes I was in hog heaven! So simple -- but perfect after 2 days of airplane food! Audrey may not be a cook but it was wonderful!

Dessert was equally as tasty -- with one of Australia's unique desserts -- a Pavlova -- yes, after the dancer -- it's basically a fruit tart of sorts, but instead of custard, there's several layers of meringue, topped with a mixture of fruits -- kiwis, strawberrries, mangoes, passionfruit, grapes -- quite yummy ... this was accompanied by a traditional English Christmas pudding, hot from the oven and some vanilla ice cream. It was indeed a perfect meal of some of my most favorite comfort foods -- exactly right for a first day in an unusual and amazing country.

One of the great moments of the day was a quick trip to Vanessa and Adam's home on Yowie Bay to get some presents left behind ... I had been hearing about this house from David for quite awhile, as it is situated essentially on the side of a hill overlooking Yowie Bay ...

To get to it you must ride down the side of the hill in an inclinator -- which is like a small gated-platform that travels down an electric-powered rail to Vanessa and Adam's house which is built right into the side of the hill. It's an older house that was used as a holiday home and which they purchased, and then, redesigned the interior to accomodate themselves and their two children.

It's small but so charmingly unique that what it lacks in space -- it makes up for in character and environs -- as the entire back of the house overlooks the Bay and you can be out on the water in just a matter of minutes ... high ceilings, wood floors ... open and airy ... just delightful.

I enjoyed meeting David's family immensely -- Audrey is feisty and most creative -- she's a beautiful painter and her art is everywhere ... she loves music, particularly opera, and so that is what I brought her -- some Puccini and Verdi (which just arrived yesterday) -- his daughter Ariane is stunningly beautiful and reminds me of me when I was her age (18) -- Vanessa and Adam are warm and gracious, as are their children, and Adam's parents Phyllis and Arthur, who arrived about 3 days before me from Florida, are lovely. It was a wonderful Christmas -- so like the Christmas gatherings from my childhood -- when the entire family celebrated together.

Finally, 24 hours of travel started to take it's toll on me -- not to mention the 2 glasses of red wine and yummy food and I began to fade fast -- David whisked me away and I fell into bed quite exhausted expecting to sleep straight through until morning -- but alas at 4:30 am I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep so I decided to read, journal, say prayers and just hang out, until finally, at 8:30 am I fell asleep again.

It was Tuesday but I missed most of it -- including the spectacular start of the Sydney to Hobart (Tasmania) sailboat race -- because I slept the whole day -- waking only briefly from time to time, before getting up around 7:00 pm to eat dinner and watch a bit of TV -- that didn't last long and by 10:00 pm I was falling asleep again ... I went back to sleep and woke at 2:00 am ...

David, in the meantime, had spent the day being domestic -- grocery shopping, doing laundry, watching a bit of cricket on the telly, cooking, cleaning -- yes, he has it down fairly well ... well, almost ....

At 2:30 am, he noticed my light and came in to check on me and we spent the next 5 hours talking ... which was good since up to that point I'd mostly been asleep and I am sure David thought that perhaps I was going to be comatose for the rest of my stay here ... but we had a nice chat, settling back into the comfortable ease we had established over the 6 months prior via phone and Internet ... the sun began to come up around 5 am along with the chattiest birds on the planet ... but it was a nice sunrise and by 7:30, we'd fallen asleep with David's Siamese, Baby, settled in between us ... what a chaperone!

Down Under At Last ... Saturday to Monday Morning

Greetings! I've landed in OZ ... well, at least I know I'm in OZ -- something Dorothy didn't at first -- but I must tell you, I'm definitely not in Kansas anymore!

People here drive on the opposite side of the street and if you're a stick shift driver like I am -- it's hell to shift with your left hand -- the gears are the same as in the US but you have to do it from the other side. If you think that's easy try sitting in the right seat while someone does the clutch from the left and shift! What an experience!

I'm a few days late getting this site up -- in fact, didn't think about it until I had to write a hundred emails all saying the same thing -- then I thought -- "Ah, time for a blog!"

So for those of you who want to keep up with my travels in Australia -- here's where you can do that and you can post comments about my trip. If you want to tell me something personal -- send me an e-mail -- I will respond!

Here's how it all started ...

I left Chicago on Saturday at 5 pm -- well, we were late getting off the ground -- after all, I was flying out of O'Hare 2 days before Christmas ... nevertheless -- the flight was not the best -- suggest if you're flying longer than 2 hours -- take the option for Economy Plus on United -- cramped is not the word -- I think they have reconfigured the planes so they can sell you the regular spaced seats as Economy Plus ...

Nevertheless, I arrived in San Francisco with absolutely no spare time to saunter through SFO, shop and get to the International Terminal in time for my flight to Sydney ... I decided to skip the shopping part ...

I swore if I they had any available, I'd pay anything for an Economy Plus seat to Sydney ... but I got really lucky and caught a cute guy assigning seats and he comped me an Economy Plus window seat -- not ideal, especially when mother nature calls or you need a stroll around the plane to keep from dying of Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) -- but definitely the better alternative to cramped economy ...

The flight was smooth -- a few bobbles here and there -- but at 35,000 feet with nothing but Pacific Ocean underneath -- smooth is good ... food, movies, a window seat to look at ... nothing, two seat mates who slept all the way across except to eat -- what more could one ask for to travel 7200 miles?!

But I must admit seeing the dawn break at 35,000 feet was pretty stunning ... the light comes up pale bluish grey and then a soft pink haze begins to overtake the ending night followed by the brilliant gold of a rising sun ... and knowing at that point Sydney is a mere 2+ hours away ... oh my god -- am I crazy or what?!

The day was overcast as we drifted down through the endless cloud decks -- Sydney had been drenched for the past 24 hours, which I completely missed because of the International Date Line ... it was damp but cool -- yes, cool and breezy -- not the 90+ weather I thought that I might have -- instead, it was in the low 60s and expected to stay that way ... for those of you who know me ... I had manifested ideal weather ... not as easy as a parking space, but very doable!

As the plane drifted through clouds and fog ... I could see the vastness of Sydney -- it has almost 800 suburbs -- and though I had hoped to see the Opera House from the sky -- it was not to be with the weather ... the airport is just south of downtown Sydney and so you actually fly over the city and circle back to land ... and of course, you're over water the whole time as Australia is a land surrounded by water, with more than 23,000 miles of coastline, and if you stretch the 17 miles of inlets in Sydney Harbor out there's more than 157 miles of harbor view ... vast is not the word ...

Landing was clean even though the runway was wet and puddled ... it was good to be on the ground again and it took a few minutes to feel solid after disembarking the plane ... and then it was off to immigration and customs ...

Now this is a country that takes it entry points seriously -- after all most of the plants, animals and insects here don't exist anywhere else in the world -- the customs and immigration website scares the hell out of you about what you can bring in -- they want to look at everything and you better have a note from your doctor for all your meds -- and the sniff dogs are after your backpack -- mostly looking for food (brownies I suspect) and plants ...

I have to tell you with all my preparation -- yes I am meticulous about this kind of stuff since I don't want to be in the headlines -- like I threw away the clothes pin that kept my chocolate-cherry bread fresh because wood is not allowed -- can you see the headline - "Fly Girl Taken Away in Handcuffs for Smuggling Clothes Pin ..." -- but I must tell you customs and immigration was a breeze and I was in and out within about 30 minutes -- the lines were long -- lots of folks coming here to enjoy Summer instead of going to Florida ... and then it was time to exit the customs area and see David face to face ....