Day 30 - Surfing and Hillsong Church

    Our final full day of our journey around the world has arrived.  Tomorrow we go home to Colorado to complete the circumnavigation around the globe.  Although we have had an amazing time we are excited to go home.  Our flight leaves for Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon and arrives on Sunday morning (we actually arrive 3 hours before we leave).

     Today has been a fun day for us.  We took the ferry back to Manly Beach first thing this morning for surf lessons.  Leslie has done more surfing than I, but nether of us are particularly experienced in the sport.  Winter in Australia is the best time for surfing and today was an excellent day.  We donned our wet suites and Sharkskins and plunged into the cold south Pacific winter water (there are penguins in Sydney Harbor!) for about two hours of surfing; we had a blast.

     Tonight we attended Hillsong Church here in Sydney.  In addition to having a well known worship band they have several churches spread throughout Australia and several international campuses throughout the US and UK.  It was a good service; the gospel was presented clearly.

     Leslie and I have both spent time in countries where driving is conducted on the left side of the road, so it hasn't been a big deal for us; but there have been a few times when we have caught ourselves looking the wrong way.  And as you can see from the picture below, Australia wants you to know which way to look before crossing the crosswalks.  I wonder how many people from right side driving countries had to be struck before they painted the signs on the street!

On the Ferry to Manly.

Leslie and Sydney Harbor from the Manly Beach ferry

Manly Beach

Manly Beach

"Look Left" on the crosswalks

Day 29 - Animal Reserve and Olympic Park

     Leslie has wanted to see a koala bear up close for a while.  Our original plan for today was to take the ferry to the Sydney Zoo and participate in the koala encounter, but after talking to a few people we decided the best place to see a koala bear would be at one of the animal reserves just outside of the city.  This morning we took the train to the Featherdale Animal Reserve about an hour west of the city.  The preserve only has animals native to Australia so of course koala's were included.  About 80 percent of all the animals in Australia are native only to Australia (at least I read that somewhere).  They had kangaroos, cassowaries, wallabies, Tasmanian devils, wombats and a heap of others as well.  And of course Leslie was able to see her koala up close and personal.  Thankfully for me a koala is an endangered species so she can't bring one home (three days ago she wanted to bring home a sea turtle...to Colorado)!

     Throughout this trip we have seen four Olympic parks.  We have not planned our trip around seeing them, we have just happened to be in cities where the Olympics were hosted.  In Germany we visited the 1972 Olympic park in Munich.  In Innsbruck, Austria we visited the 1964 and 1976 winter Olympic site. We visited Beijing where the 2008 summer Olympics were held.  And today we walked around the site of the 2000 Olympic summer games here in Sydney.

Leslie and her Koala

Leslie feeding the Wallaby

Me feeding the Wallaby

He doesn't even look real!

2000 Sydney Olympic stadium

           

Day 28 - Harbor Bridge Climb and Manly Beach

     Our hotel in Sydney is at the Circular Quay, which is right down town.  Being near the ferry docks, train station and opera house has been a great convenience for us.  We have thoroughly enjoyed the local restaurants, shops and the didgeridoo (a didgeridoo is an instrument played by the aborigenes in Australia.  To hear one played click here) players in downtown Sydney.

     One item on Leslie's "bucket list" has been to climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge; today we crossed that off her list.  Because the climb takes you up the arch of the bridge directly over the highway and train line, you are not allowed to take a camera or anything (wallet, coins or even sunglasses that are not attached to the suit they provide) that may fall.  The highest peak of the bridge is 134 meters (439 feet for those of you in the US); the view was spectacular.

     Tonight we took the ferry to Manly Beach for dinner.  The ferry takes about 30 minutes and departs from the dock five minutes from our hotel.  We met a guy from Maryland working at the restaurant and an Australian who couldn't understand why we traveled so far from home.  Most of Manly Beach was closed by the time we got there so we plan to return (mainly to go to the Billabong store) on Saturday as a last hurrah before heading home on Sunday.  Here are a few pictures from the day.  If you like them, post a comment.  We like to hear that people are following the trip.  Enjoy!

Hotel view

The opera house and harbor bridge

Bridge and opera house from the botanic garden

Sydney harbor

Leslie is a little excited to be here...

Riding the ferry to Manly Beach

At the beach

Day 27 - Sydney and the Opera

     It seems I am a bit behind on the blog posts, my apologies.  We finished our dive trip on Tuesday and flew to Sydney on Wednesday afternoon.  The cool weather has been a bit of a shock to us here in Sydney.  Yesterday we walked around the city in sweatshirts and jeans; and even last night with jackets.  We stay in Sydney until we fly home on Sunday.  Where has the time gone?  On one hand the time has gone very quickly, but on the other hand our Germany stop seems months ago.

     Leslie experienced an opera for the first time last night (believe it or not, this was my second opera. My first opera was here in Sydney in 2009).  We had a good time.  The opera was the Pearl Fisher in French.  Though we both enjoyed the opera, if this was our last we would be content.  We had a great time and really enjoyed the experience, but opera really isn't our thing; we will stick to plays and musicals.  Our sentiment may have been different if the words had been in a language we could understand (although it was translated to english above the theater stage).

     Here are a few pictures from the last couple of days, including a couple from the last day of our diving trip in Cairns.  Enjoy!

Leslie on the boat back to Cairns...very rough waters

In Sydney

Sydney Harbor Bridge

The Opera House

Leslie finally got her Subway

Sydney Harbor Bridge at night

Opera House - The Pearl Fisher Opera

Inside the Theater...oops (cameras are forbidden inside)

Outside after the show