A few photos...

I'm back from Sydney. And I'm back with a NASTY cold... Oh the pain of descending with a cold- my poor ears...

Nevertheless, it was a good trip. Here are a few photos.

A day of touring...

Today- I learned that it was the day of a Marathon and it made me get a half marathon itch... Thank goodness it wasn't yesterday in the 33 degree heat. I took the underground to Circular Quay bright and early this am, and then wandered through the markets in the Rocks. Oh yes, the Rocks- I've fallen in love. I signed up for a tour later in the day, and the off I went to catch the Ferry to Manley. It had great views back to Syndey town and I was totally impressed by how much coastline syndey has- and how big it is!! I had a brief stop on the pretty beach there, and bought some $20 jandals to replace my hikers that were causing my big blisters... (OF course, by the end of the day I'd gotten new blisters in new places, but it was a start.) After returning from Manley I found a bite to eat and then wandered back to my 1 1/2 hour walking tour of the Rocks. This is my highlight of Sydney- even bigger than the opera, shockingly... I loved the old streets, and the old buildings, and the elderly lady's cool porch in an old building. I have since returned to my hotel for a shower, and wandered Darling Harbour- even finding - YAY the yummy british pear candies.... Tomorrow its work instead of exploring... Perhaps this is good, I'm not sure my blistered feet could survive another back to back day of touring. But its been fun!

Greetings from Sydney

Where it was 33 degrees yesterday! Although I feel ready for summer in NZ, my body is clearly not ready for 33 degrees just yet. Today it will be a cooler 23 or was it 28, so I'm looking forward to that.

I arrived in via Air NZ around 2pm NZT. After a short stop at customs, I caught the very convenient underground which has a stop only 50 m from my hotel! Great hey! I then went for a wander- and in typical Kelly fashion turned left instead of right totally messing up my initial wandering plans. Anyway, I ended up at Darling Harbour, walking up to the Ferry Terminal and Opera house where I picked up my ticket for the opera last night, headed back to the hotel for a quick shower (ahh, coolness!), and then back to the Opera! The Opera house is amazing... Think sort of like Centre of the Arts- but much bigger, and cooler. I sort of want to do the back stage tour and see more of how the shows get put together, because the show itself was amazing. I was totally blown away by the effectiveness of the lightshow. The orchestra was simply amazing. And the opera itself was pretty cool as well. It was a french one- using Surtitles- called the Pearl Fishers. Although the dress code officially was "shoes are required", everyone dressed up so I'm quite glad I opted for a skirt. There were lots of ladies in fancy dresses. I took the convienient underground back to the hotel.

My early impressions walking around syndey are I don't like the heat/wind combo. We'll see if that is still present today. There are TONS of statues, and lots of high buildings. I'd lose weight if I lived here. After all my walking yesterday all I had the stomach for was a fruit salad and water. Yum... Moisture.

I've checked my bag as I switch hotels today and now I'm going to take the underground to Circular Quay to do some wandering and take some photos, and then probably take a ferry for some water views as well.

A cold is coming on and I shouldn't have chosen this weekend to break in the new hikers. My feet are covered in blisters. Never the less, I'm excited to see what a days exploring will bring. Wish me luck!

Another belated blog post...

I have a reason in being so slow in posting- it's been month end... Ugg. And I've been rather productive in my tax studies. I really only have the questions on Fringe Benefit TAx and GST left in this assignment, which is great news.

Slowly the winter has passed. It's warmed up to lows of around 5, so no need to turn on the gas heater these days. We had a beautiful weekend just past- we had our first barbeque of the season... It was delightful!

Not a lot else is new- except that I'm heading to Aussie for work for a couple of days... so I'll get to see a wee bit of Sydney. It feels like ages since I've been somewhere new, so I'm a little excited to get there.

My flattie is gone back home to England for about a month so I'm cat sitting. Little Burmese George continues to be high energy!