Sydney "The convict coloney"

Well we have been away a while and have been having an absolute blast. We go non stop from day break right up until the end of the day. So far we have seen most of Sydney. Sydney is spectacular, the opera house, the bridge, the harbour, the people, everything! Our cousins, Steve and Sandra have been absolutely great, we are having a lot of fun with them, and of course thier two kids Scott, or Scottie and Jessica or Jessa. We can't thank them enough for showing us around and opening up their home.

We went into town for the day and walked around the Botanical Gardens, we then decided to have a bite to eat and while we were waiting in line I spotted a bloke with a Toronto Maple Leafs hat on. I told Katie and as he looked up we could see that it was, in fact, Russell Crowe. He was out for the day with his wife and son. We then had lunch in the park and they ended up being there as well. After this, we went into the oldest part of Sydney, called "The Rocks" walked around and had a beer where the convicts use to work and live. And then that is where the adventure began. To make a long story short, we were in downtown Sydney when the Queen Mary and QEII where going to be coming and going (two largest vessels on the sea). We were taking ferries everywhere and were careful to make sure that we wouldn't miss our ferry to the place we needed to be. Well after the aquarium and a rushed dinner, we went to take the ferry back to the main port. We waited over an hour and when we arrived at the main port to catch our next ferry we, along with many others, were informed that because of the two ships being in the harbour they had just let the last ferry go early and weren't doing anymore, thus stranding us in downtown Sydney with no idea of where to go. After deciding to take a cab we were off, but that was 30 minutes and $60 later, but we did have a nice ride with a young British girl who was fun, and we did see Russell Crowe, so all in all worth it.

We also toured the zoo one day and made sure that we were able to see every thing that we possible could fit into one day, Scottie and Jessica were troopers, but I think that Sandra was lagging a bit :) It was cool to see all the different animals and even a small joey in the mother pouch. The animals in Australia are fascinating, we could watch them all day long (we did, didn't we Sandra). To end the day Steve and I hit some golf balls at the local range. It was bizarre to hit golf balls where wallabies were just grazing on the grass, I even came within feet of getting me one! Paper headline: "Crazy Canuck jailed for beaning wallaby at local range"

We spent a day in the Blue Mountains (they are blue due to the haze from their eucalyptus trees). Getting there was no problem, even driving on the wrong side of the road has been a breeze, only one bent antenna, one near crash and one "whoops wrong side". We saw plenty of lizards and birds and other wildlife that is foreign (see why i am afraid of spiders, they are big and scary) to our parts. And the scenery at the mountains was spectacular. The weather there was amazing and the whole place is incredible.

We also went to the beaches and cafes all around. I went snorkeling with cousin Steve just off of Manly Beach. We saw sharks, sting rays and all sorts of fish. We also went diving a couple of days later where we saw a lot of different life as well.
We were sad to leave but had to continue on to Tasmania.