Wednesday/Friday, July 22/24: We arrived in Sydney (New South Wales) at 7:30am, after 19 hours of flying beginning in Atlanta. Havng crossed the international dateline we had no July 23 this year. (We'll make up for it with two December 26ths when we come back.) Delta began flying non-stop from L.A. on July 1 and we had enough AMEX miles to transfer to Delta for two r/t coach tickets. While waiting to check-in in Atlanta we met a delightful family from Sweden. Our duffle-rollers weighed in at 50 and 49 lbs, just below the weight limit!! They'll be fun hauling around for the next 5 months. The trip was uneventful despite being delayed in L.A. for an hour. The weather in Sydney is clear if a bit cool, with temps in the high 40s--but it's early yet. Our luggage was waiting on the carousel for us and a friendly customs agent checked us in enabling us to bypass a lengthy line and avoiding the possiblity of having our bags inspected.

Three immediate tasks: 1) hit the ATM machine for local currency, 2) buy travel pass tickets that allow unlimited bus/train/ferry travel for the week we'll be in Sydney, and 3) get the mobile phone working and buy a "top up" voucher for airtime. That accomplished, we boarded the train to the Central Station and transferred onto the North Shore line. We had rented an apartment for the week in Lane Cove (north of Sydney) from Trish and Don Scurfield. The Scurfields were in the US visiting Don's family, so Rick called her sister, Anne Clark, to let her know we'd made it. Before we could ask her to meet us at the Artarmon Station, we lost the connection, probably because the train had gone underground. Upon arrival at the station, there were no taxis to be found, when a kindly lady inquired as to whether we might be Rick and Rory. It was Anne who's thoughtfulness reminded us of what we call "Aussie nice". She showed us the walking route from the Casa Karilla" (our apartment) to the town center and the bus terminal, then back to the apartment which is just as their website describes it. The neighborhood is beautiful and quiet, with a park directly across the street. We wandered into town, walked around, ate lunch, got a few groceries, and some wine to take to Jen and Wayne tomorrow. Then back to the apartment to get organized. Rick had hoped to access the internet from the apartment, but was unable to get a connection.

Having been up for over 24 hours and walking around Lane Cove, neither of us felt much like going out for dinner. Rick had two Tim Tam double chocolate cookies and a glass of milk and went to bed. Rory didn't bother with the Tim Tams. It was 7:30pm.

Saturday, July 25: Rick was up at 4am; Rory at 6:00 when the alarm went off. We're off to Blackheath in the Blue Mtns.for the weekend to visit Jen and Wayne Kelly, who we met on our last trip in 2006. Blackheath is a town of about 5000, located about 100km from Sydney. We've got to catch a bus, change to a city train and then change to the Blue Mountain Line. The trip north takes about 2 1/2 hours. We'd tried to call last night to let them know about what time we'd be there. All we got was an answering machine, whose message gave no clue if we'd reached the right number. We tried again from the train, with the same result. About 40 minutes from Blackheath, we got a call from Jen. It's a beautiful, cloudless day and she and Wayne were waiting at the station with a fleece jacket for Rory. It's significantly colder in the mountains than it is in Sydney. It's winter in Australia. We stop for newspapers to bring to Jen's "mum" (mother) then it's on to their house for a wonderful lunch of hot chicken vegetable soup, bread, and pear tort. We'll spend the day merrily getting reaquainted and wandering around the town and up into the hills, where Jen's mum lives. The walk generates the need to stop at the New Ivanhoe Hotel's pub for a beer and to listen to an small jazz combo whose female lead singer did everything from Ella to Johnny Cash. Rick got his first Toohey's Old of the trip. Then back to the Kelly's for a great roast lamb dinner and an evening of good conversation. We had a great view of the Milky Way and the Southern Cross from the Kellys' back yard. Rick couldn't keep his eyes open and all retired at 9:30, but not before Jen fixed up our room with a space heater and several blankets and a hot water bottle to keep Rory warm.

Sunday, July 26: We awoke this morning to a gray, raw day. After a leisurely breakfast, while Rory was brushing her hair, she happened to notice a rather large, furry spider (about 5 inches across with his legs extended). This is the largest spider we've ever seen not separated from us by a glass enclosure! Wayne assured us it was just a harmless tarantula. We were skeptical, but watched it as it tried to find a way out by climbing the wall and moving behind the window frame. Back out it came, but it never got low enough for us to capture him in a plastic container and set it free outside. Wayne said it would probably be gone by the time we got back from our day's outing. We all left to pick up Mona (Jen's Mum) and walk one of the tracks down into the temperate rain forest just outside of town. The trek was a lot like others we'd done. What was noticeable was that as we proceded down, we were more sheltered from the wind and the air temp was warmer. It's a short trek; Mum did a short bit of it, then returned to the car to read the paper. Not bad for 83! We drove around a bit, getting the local tour from Jen and Wayne. It's impressive that they know so much about the region they live in: history, botany, etc. We had lunch at the Megalong Valley Tea Room, noted especially for its soups, cheese sandwiches and apple pies. The wattle trees were in bloom--a golden yellow as pure as any color you'll ever see. The wattle is the national flower of Australia. We dropped Mum off and returned to the house. Mr. Spider was still there having moved from the far wall to the ceiling over the dresser. Wayne got him down and safely out of the house. We all spent the rest of the day relaxing around a warm fire. We watched the movie "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert", which must have been the basis for the American version: "To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar"--very funny. Terrace Stamp, who normally plays some pretty tough characters, is cast as a drag queen. The Kellys' daughter Jessie and her boyfriend Lyle came in. Jesse is a student at the University of Sydney, Lyle rents the second (older) house on the Kelly property. Rick bummed a ride from Jessie for us back to Sydney in the morning. We finished watching the movie, had a light supper, and managed to stay up until 10pm.

Monday, July 27: Rick was up early (as usual) to have breakfast with Wayne before he was off to work. Wayne teaches "maths" in a local prison; Jen is a manager in public service. Jen normally goes for a walk before leaving for work, so Rick joined her for a half hour jaunt up and down some pretty steep hills around the neighborhood. The sun is out brightly this morning; it's a bit windy and brisk as well, making the walk all the more challenging. We've got to be ready by 10am for our ride back to Sydney.

We pick up Jessie's friend Kate on the way. Kate is also a student and works for Adobe Software in Sydney. The 90 minute ride goes by quickly thanks to good conversation. Kate and Jessie are bright, articulate, young women and we enjoyed getting to know them.. Rick will add them as Facebook friends at his first opportunity. After dropping off Kate, we arrive at The University of Sydney Women's College, where Jessie has her room. It's a gorgeous day in Sydney, with temperatures in the 60s. Today is the first day of the new semester, but Jessie has no classes until tomorrow. We help her unload the car, and she offers us a tour of the Women's College and St.John's College (for men); then a quick drive through campus and drops us off at Central Station. By the time we get back to the apartment, it's after 1:30 and we need food! There's fish market in the town of Lane Cove that serves hot food. We split a fish and chips, some fried calamari and a Greek salad. We make a stop at Coles Market for some groceries and hike back to the apartment. Rather than a trek into Sydney, we opt for relaxing in the apartment. Rick's got an autobiography of Evonne Goolagong (Australian tennis champion) and dozes off. Another night without dinner, but our late lunch was plenty and we've got enough munchies to get by. Tomorrow we'll spend the day in Sydney.

Tuesday, July 28: If this is winter in Sydney, we'll take it. The sky is a cloudless "Carolina blue". It's chilly in the morning, but temps will rise into the 60s again. Rick does his full set of exercises (Marci, his exercise coach, will be proud) and has breakfast before Rory gets up. We have the luxury of being in no hurry. Our objective today is to find the NRFM office (like our AAA) to get a good map of Tasmania and see if we can find the shop at Darling Harbor that offered a young man playing the didjeridoo (who we'd heard when we were here 3 years ago). We found a short cut to the bus stop. The NRFM office turned out to be across the street from Wynyard Station where the bus let us off, and, with our AAA card, we were able to get an excellent map of Tasie (no charge). That was easy! We caught the train down to Circular Quay and the ferry at wharf 5 to Darling Harbor (about a 15 minute ride). There has been a lot of development here, and the shop we were looking for was gone. We did find a nice place to eat lunch outside by the water: Sumac. They offered specials for A$9.95, which turned out to be dinner-sized. We met a couple from Dunedin in New Zealand. He is a tour guide at the Speight's Brewery. We'll look him up when we get there. We roamed around the harbor area, crossed the Pyrmont bridge (pedestrians only), and watched the monorail go by.

We decided a ferry trip to Cockatoo Island might be fun, based on a suggestion from Wayne that we go there. Cockatoo Island was opened as a prison in 1839 and housed convicts until 1880. The island became a major ship-building facility, employing over 4000 workers at its peak, until it closed in 1992. (As far as we're concerned it ought to be called "Seagull Island". There certainly weren't any cockatoos.) The old prison complex on the plateau above the island, overlooks a campground. For A$75 per night you can rent a pup-tent! It's a nice setting and the camping facilities are quite good, but that seems a bit much for a tent rental.... In our wanderings around the island we came across an art exhibit "A Ringing Glass" by the renouned Australian artist Ken Unsworth. It was a strange setting for an art exhibit--we wondered how many people would ever see it. Cockatoo Island isn't one of the major ferry stops, but we were lucky to catch a jetcat directly back to Circular Quay. Somehow we managed to get on a local bus back to Lane Cove, rather than the direct route we'd used before. In rush hour traffic, it took much longer and we didn't recognize anything in the dark, until just before the end of the line we saw the Lane Cove Library. We hopped off, bought a take-out veggie pizza and a couple of Toohey's Old, and hiked back to the apartment.

Wednesday, July 29: Another great day dawns in Sydney. We are awakenend by the kukaburras and lorrikeets. Rick is off to the library to see if he can get on the Internet--alas it doesn't open until 10:00. He buys his first ice cream- on-a-stick of the trip and heads back to the apartment. We're going to the Sydney Olympic Park today, where the 2000 Olympics were held. (We were there in 2006, but couldn't get a tour of the stadium because The Rolling Stones were doing a concert that night.) Our choice is whether to get there by ferry or train. Since it's such a gorgeous day, we'll take the ferry--BIG MISTAKE!!. Rick suggests we walk to the Artarmon Station, rather than take the bus/train into the city. Not a bad walk, but one we probably won't do again. We arrive at Circular Quay about 20 minutes early. The ferry will leave from wharf 5 for the 50 minute ride. We haven't been on this ferry route before, and the views are fantastic. We can see Olympic Park way off in the distance as we approach the ferry stop. The ferry option is looking like a bad idea, but we gamely set off to walk it, ignoring the fact that we could take a bus there. About half way, we come upon the Archery Venue, where a genial fellow tells us we're almost half way to the park and provides a map and directions to get us there. We estimated we walked about 5-6 kilometers, but it seemed a lot longer. At least it's a beautiful, sunny day (and Rory finds a 20 dollar bill!!)

We arrive at the Olympic Stadium about 5 minutes before the 2pm tour begins, but we're hungry, so we opt for the 3:30, and last, tour of the day. We've got 20% discount coupons and Rick strikes up a conversation with the sales lady at the stadium shop, trying to coax her into a discount on a Socceroos hat. (The Socceroos are the Australian National Soccer Team--they call it soccer here, too, because football here is Australian Rules Football or Footy.) He doesn't get the discount, although the size he gets is $5 less than the one the lady showed him first. When we were here in 2006, we ate at the Brewery rather than Mickey D's--same this time. A beer for Rick and some wine for Rory, together with two of the biggest burgers you'll ever see, does the trick. Fully satisfied, we walk back to the stadium.

Our tour begins with a tram ride under the stadium, followed by a tour of the entire facility, including a couple of videos, the VIP lounge, the media rooms, locker (they call them "changing") rooms, and a chance to go onto the field. The stadium now hosts Rugby League, Rugby Union, cricket, AFL (Australian Football League) and soccer matches, as well as concerts and other special events. The Sydney Rugby League team is called the Rabbitohs and is owned by Russell Crowe, and they are the only team with their own locker room because Crowe bought it for them. The tour was well worth it (even considering the walk from the ferry), but we'll take the train back, get off at Wynyard Station, and catch a direct bus to Lane Cove (not the one Rory picked last night...). We stop for some take-out chinese (not very good) and are back at the apartment just after 7pm. We arrive at the same time as the couple staying in the house above the apartment. We knew they were there, but just hadn't met them yet. Vlad and Sylvia have a book business and are in town for the opening of classes at the University of Sydney--it's the beginning of the winter quarter and a prime time for selling books! Nice couple, we wish we had time to get to know them--maybe tomorrow evening.... Our task this evening is to watch a couple of TV shows that Wayne recommended: The Inventors (three people exhibit their inventions and a panel of experts pick the best one); Spicks and Specks (a music trivia show, which is really quite funny), and The Chasers War on Everything (or some such name--a very irreverant comedy and the funniest of the bunch). Perhaps Wayne has redeemed himself for the Cockatoo Island suggestion; the jury is still out. Rory goes to bed after this, but Rick stays up to watch a movie(?) with Toni Collette called United States of Tara, about a married woman with multiple personalities and two kids, only one of which is anywhere near normal. The husband is played by the guy who played Nia Vardalos' husband in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Rick lasts about a half hour and hits the sack.

Thursday, July 30: Today's our last day in Sydney. We leave early tomorrow for Perth. We hope to meet Jessie (Wayne and Jen's daughter) for lunch in the city, but we're playing a bit of Aussie mobile tag. Rick will take another shot at the library this morning to access the internet and check email. There's Wifi in the library but for some reason, Rick can't connect, so we use the library's system. We'll try to update the website and facebook when we get to WA. For our last day in Sydney, we take the bus into town and visit Paddy's Market, one of the largest flea markets anywhere. We do a lot of looking, but no buying--our luggage is too full to add anything. Rick's always wanted to ride the monorail, so we take it to Darling Harbor and have lunch in the same place (Sumac) we ate on Tuesday. Then it's off to the Botanical Gardens via the ferry to Circular Quay. Rory wants to find the wild cockatoos we fed three years ago. We're lucky enough to find the same spot, and sure enough, about a dozen show up. Rory has tangerines for them, but they don't seem to know what they are and it takes a while for the bravest (or hungriest) of them to try it. Once "the word gets out", everyone wants some. One bird lands on Rory's head and takes several pieces of tangerine from her hand. We get back to the apartment after 6pm--we've got to be packed and ready to go tomorrow at 5:30 when our airport shuttle will pick us up. Our flight to Perth leaves at 8am.

Friday, July 31: We're up at 4:30 and our shuttle bus shows up promptly at 5:30--just what we'd expect about Aussie efficiency. We're at Domestic Terminal 3 in Sydney airport by 6:15. Our flight is at 8:10. Check-in is a breeze and the security screening is much less paranoic than in the US. There's no removing of shoes, or worrying about liquid containers in carry-on luggage being more than 3 oz. About the only thing we had to do was remove Rick's laptop from his back pack. They board in 20 minutes, not the 30+ as in the States and there is no boarding by rows. You just board when you want. It's a 4 1/2 hour flight and we arrive EARLY!! We collect our luggage, but Trevor and Fay are nowhere to be found. We start to wonder whether or not Rick sent them the flight info and his mobile number. (Yes to the former, no to the latter.) But just as we start thinking how we might contact them--there they are. It's great to see them again; hugs all around; and Rick and Trevor begin the friendly "needling" that will probably go on for the next 9 weeks. Trev and Fay's daughter Lorraine lives outside of Fremantle and at her suggestion, we'll all be staying with her family tonight. After driving around suburban Perth, seeing all the housing development including some of the homes Trevor and Fay owned at one time or another, we're back in Freo for lunch at Little Creatures (a micro-brewery and restaurant where we'd eaten several times when we were in Freo in 2006). Then on to Lorraine's, where she greets us warmly (like long lost friends) and her three daughters: Kendall (15), Jacinthe (13) and Ashley (11)--oh yes, and Rusty the dog, too. Lorraine's husband, Tino, gets home around 5:00. Fay and Rory go out to pick up Fay's mum (Shirley). We're eating in--Lorraine, with help from Ashley and Jacinthe cooks up a great dinner, we'll watch a little footy on the telly and everyone's asleep just after 10pm. Lorraine and Tino have a beautiful home and family and we feel specail to have been treated so warmly.

Saturday, August 1: Today is special, not only because we're off on a 9 week adeventure with Trev and Fay, but also because it was 10 years ago today that Rick and Rory first met! We celebrate by taking everyone (except Tino, who's gone off to work) to McDonalds for brekky (breakfast). We've got about 700 kilometers to drive today to get to Trevor and Fay's place in Denham, so we say good bye to Lorraine and the kids and we're off. On the way, we'll stop at an ATM so we can pay our fair share of expenses for a while, numerous roadhouses for snacks/gas/etc, and to change drivers. Rick gets about 150 kilometers between Northampton and Bilabong, to get used to driving on the left (wrong) side of the road again.

We arrive in Denham aroung 8pm. T&F had moved into a new (rented) house only last week, because the one they hade been renting was sold. They lived in the new place one day before picking us up in Perth.