Last night in Sydney!

Well, Sydney was everything we could have asked for! Fun things to do, great food, perfect weather and absolutely fantastic people. We spent our last afternoon at Sydney Wildlife World and the Sydney Tower (like the Needle in Seattle). Pet Koalas, saw more wombats (my new favorite Australian animal), took in a panoramic view of the city from nearly 1000 feet up! Saw the 2000 Olympic Stadium, Bondi beach and of course the Opera House and Bridge...I think we've taken at least 5 GB of pictures of those two alone! We also sat in the park and watched the old school chess players knock out a few games on a giant board about 20 feet square with huge pieces 5-gallon buckets. Amelie put a hat out and sang for passers-by, trying to make a little pocket-change! Classic. We moseyed through the city and eventually wound up back at Darling Harbour, slightly before dinner time at a huge playground. Played there for an hour, until I (Rob) made my bout for worst-parent-of-the-year by allowing Pieter to fall into a shockingly deep fountain...he went in over his head, but came up swimming...fortunately all of that training at the hotel pool paid off. I grabbed him by the collar and yanked him out before he got too far downstream, and into the "rapids". Needless to say, Leen was not pleased, and seriously contemplated pushing ME in.

Dinner was exceptional at "Adria" on Darling Harbour....I had a Scotch Fillet with mushroom sauce and Leen had herb-encrusted red snapper. Kids inhaled steak and chips, which I was not permitted to touch, even though it came way sooner than ours...

Finished the night off by meeting up with a couple of NUWC guys and a couple of guys from the torpedo shop in Yorktown, along with their wives, for a nice glass of wine and a chat about their last 3 weeks in Perth, working on torpedoes.

Packing and the trip over were classic...more about that in the next post.

A TOUR OF SYDNEY

Sydney is a magnificent city...full of things to see and do. In addition to the recognizable sites like the Harbour Bridge (largest single span bridge in the world) and the Opera House (designed by Danish architect Jorn Utzo, and the first major civic project to use Computer Aided Design) there are tons of things that you don't see at first glance. For example, in the botanical gardens, there are huge bats (see photo) that are NOT nocturnal...they stay out all day like birds in the trees!

We had a great time walking through the city from Darling Harbour, eating lunch on the steps of the Opera House, strolling through the Botanical Gardens, and jumping on a Harbour tour boat for a 1.5 hour cruise of all the sites.

We finished up by meeting up with our new landlord and family for dinner in Darling Harbour.

Another great day!

Blue Mountains

Took the CityRail train out to the Blue Mountains (Australia's version of the Grand Canyon) west of Sydney, and visited our friends John and Elvie Murphy. He was an Royal Australian Navy Captain, and even worked on the Oberon-class submarine that's now in Darling Harbour at the Maritime Museum right across the street from our hotel...Amazing! ...She is a social worker and world traveler who just returned from a trip to Uzbekistan and Kirkistan...with lots of tales to tell about that amazing part of the world...she's also a big fan of Elvis, and even has a clock, where Elvis' hips shake back and forth like a metronome...classic.

Took a really nice hike and saw the three sisters (see photo). Absolutely spectacular...and chilly, with wind gusting over 30mph. The mountains take their name from the pale blue color of the mountains caused by the reflection of sunlight off the Eucalyptus (Gum) trees (see second photo...not a good representation so use your imagination).

Sydney Arrival

We made it to SYDNEY! What an amazing trip...flight was unbelievable....seat belt sign never came on once, food was exceptional, and everyone slept! Wow. Qantas was true-to-form, even in $480 "cattle-car" seats.

Also visited the Sydney Aquarium right in Darling Harbour near our hotel...what a cool aquarium, lots of indigenous Australian fish, etc. Unfortunately, did not get to see the platypus...apparently he senses when Americans are nearby and goes into hiding.

San Francisco

Once again, Pieter and Darby, Lily and Annelise were the perfect hosts. Much fun in Berkeley and Mill Valley visiting with Cousin Warner and his fam. Lots to like about that California!

Thanks again to all who helped us, especially Pieter with his favorite new car...the Dodge MiniVan!

Also got a chance to have bkfst with Lisa Ryan, and Hannah and Allison!

Off to Sydney!

PS. Forgot to mention the amazing (and brand new) San Francisco Academy of Science we visited...think National History Museum with live exhibits...amazing. Also, we took a beautiful hike in Mill Valley with Cousin Warner, that we unfortunately have no pictures of, because we forgot the camera! Bummer.

Day 1...WE'RE OFF!!!

WE'RE OFF!!!!! All the planning and packing and organizing and admin and more packing has finally come to an end and...WE MADE IT! AUSTRALIA OR BUST!

Left RI @ 1530 EST 18 August and spent the night in Boston. Not much sleeping, but had a nice swim in the pool and pizza for dinner (of course).

Took off from Boston at 0715 EST, right on time, and had excellent weather and travel the whole way to San Francisco. (Way too much luggage, including one bag that weighs 70lbs! What?)

Thank you to all of our Rhode Island and Mass friends and family that made our send-off so great! Thanks especially to the NUWC folks for the GPS (very handy), to the Marian Gang for the dinner at the Willows (sorry girls, for the headaches the next day), to the Pratts, Pimentals and McGills for the beach shin-dig and last hurrah at the house (esp the bandanas), to the Ashworths and Reardons for looking after the last minute house preps. Special thanks to Sally for going above and beyond on Pieter's prescription

Finally, HUGE thanks to OMA for shaving your head and being a champion in so many ways, and to MIA for countless hours of childcare. You obviously rock.

So, we're now officially on vacation...enjoying the Bay Area for a few days before the long flight to Syndey.

More as it happens!

T-Minus 1 week: Prayer Group Send-off

Our super-cool friends from SK prayer group gave us an amazing send-off tonight.  THANK YOU to all of you who came, shared and encouraged us.  Thanks especially to the Worthington's for hosting us, and all those who organized such a great party.

Well, we've had our fair-share of challenges over the last 3 weeks, but the end is in sight, and we're "itching" to go!

More in the next few days.