Sydney

Today was our last day in Sydney. We took the bus out to Bondi Beach. A nice beach but not what we are used to in the US. A small crescent with a deep beach of very fine cool sand. It is a great surfing beach. We took the bus back along the coast to the central station and then walked back to hotel from there, about a 1 1/2 hour walk through the city, very interesting. We saw a long line outside a chocolate shop, thought this must be good, got in the Que and bought some very good Easter chocolate. Tonight we had a dinner in the small town of Rose Bay on the water at sunset. Yesterday we took a tour out to the blue mountains. They get their name from the blue haze that hangs over the area. We took a couple of nail biter cable car rides and a ride on the steepest cable railway (almost straight up) in the world. On the way back to Sydney we stopped at the site of the 2000 Olympics and then took a boat down a river back to the heart of town near the Opera House. We also did our own mini tour of the rocks area, which is the original area of Sydney where the prisoners were left to found a colony, then a city and eventually a nation. They seem to erect statues here to outlaws, many of whom did many good things toward the formation of this country, even though they were scoundrels.

Tomorrow we head home after a wondeful time in NZ and OZ. We have seen so much of these amazing countries, and met so many people from all over the world, and have had so many positive experinces that it is amazing we were able to do so much in such a short period of time.