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Sydney, Australia
Dec. 15th - to Sydney
Cairns finally got some needed rain
overnight. It’s sad to see dead brown grass in the tropics.
Our towels were hanging over the railing overnight and were
soaking wet. Before packing them up I had to use the laundry
dryer. Packing is becoming more difficult as we move place to
place. We’ve acquired the 3 towels, souvenirs, and a straw
hat. The extra bag from Chile is needed now to hold
everything. We’ve even been just checking the scooter instead
of packing it in the big bag. This morning was just spent with
school work, packing and computer writing.
The motel provided a transfer to the airport. The rain had
made the day even more hot and humid. We flew Virgin Blue to
Sydney. It was my first experience with no frills airline. We
had to pay for our lunch and snack. Fortunately our handy
little cooler was packed with drinks. The flight didn’t take
as long as we thought. Unlike Cairns, Sydney is on daylight
savings time. Linda and Martin were at the airport to pick us
up right after the baggage had been collected.
The Claydons live in Lindfield, a suburb north of the city
center. It’s a close suburb with a mixture of old and new
houses. So many places seem to get torn down and multiple
homes built on the lot. The Claydons have recently moved from
London to Linda’s home city of Sydney. Their home is perfect
for entertaining out of town guests. We are staying in a
freestanding mother-in-law house. The “L” shaped house
overlooks a swimming pool and lovely patio and gardens.
 AD
has been starving for some boys to hang with. Martin and
Daniel are going to be good sports and put up with our
intrusion. AD & Daniel were diving in the pool for balls that
Martin would throw in. We sat and talked it up with Ivor and
Linda. I can’t tell you how nice it is to not have to be
entertaining AD.
Ivor is a gourmet cook and prepared a Tandorri Chicken dish
for dinner. We ate out on the patio under a Jacaranda tree. It
still gets dark before 9 PM in Sydney. Linda tells us that
since we are closer to the equator “there isn’t twilight”. We
are missing the longer hours of daylight that summer is
suppose to bring. The time we spent in NZ, the days grew an
hour longer. The last episode of “Survivor, Pearl Island” was
on tonight. I hope it’s the last time we watch that
program…it’s gotten old.
Dec 16th - Shopping in Sydney
The word for the day is “companionship”.
All three of us are enjoying having someone to hang out with
besides ourselves. It is so very nice to have a girlfriend to
buddy around with and to talk to. Linda and I went out
shopping today and had a great time just gad flying. We took
the train to a local mall and cruised the shops. All we bought
was two new wake boards for AD and Daniel and some
miscellaneous supplies like shampoo. It was fun to take a
train and to see the new sights of urban Sydney.
 While
we were gone the older boys shopped for dinner, worked on
computer stuff in Ivor’s office and relaxed by the pool. The
younger boys swam and played Play Station 2. TD made beef stew
for dinner at AD’s request. He is ecstatic to work in a real
nice kitchen and is planning several future meals and some of
his delicious cookies. Linda and I spent the evening relaxing
in overstuffed whicker lounge chairs and drinking glasses of
Chardonnay while the men slaved in the kitchen.
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Yesterday we went to Kuranda Village
located in the rainforest west of Cairns. To get to the
city we took the longest gondola ride in the world, 7 km
or 2.5 miles. In the village we went to a bat rescue
station. At the rescue station we learned that fruit
bats are primates, and insect eating bats aren’t. Fruit
bats are awake during the day and sleep at night. Insect
eating bats sleep during the day.
 Another
thing we did was to go to a butterfly sanctuary. In the
sanctuary there were 1500 butterflies flying around. The
one that my mom and I liked best was the electric blue
Ulysses, but we couldn’t get a good picture of it
because it is the photographers worst nightmare. This is
because it is gray on the underside of it’s wings and
bright blue on the top. When it lands the wings go up
and it turns gray.
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Swimming at
Manley Beach...» |
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