Thursday, July 24 was another dreary rainy day. We responded by going to the movies! For only A$16, you can enjoy a motion picture in Australia. We saw a 9:40am showing of The Dark Knight, and the theater was sparsely populated. The sound system was fantastic!

After the flick we had a low-key lunch, and then in the afternoon Dan and Tracy took a trip to the nearby suburb of Balmain while Sherrie took a break at the room. We rode a bus there and walked down the main street, stopping at a pub for a pint along the way. Dan met a local bloke named Tony, and they hit it off instantly. We had a great time, and the bartender made some dinner suggestions.

A playground had an international basketball court that Dan found interesting.

We took a ferry back to Circular Quay and met Sherrie at 6pm, and proceeded to the suburb of Glebe. At a tavern there the drinks are two-for-one from 5 to 7:30, so we got two martinis for $12 instead of one. The drink prices here are steep! After a round, we had a delightful dinner at Roxanne's on Glebe Point Road. It was perfect. Dan and Tracy managed to find a brewpub for a nightcap but didn't overdo it. Sydney is a fun town...

Sunshine ended on Wednesday...

On Wednesday we took the ferry to Manly. The sunshine of Monday and Tuesday disappeared, and it was a dreary and rainy day.

The ferries run every half hour, and it's a 30-minute trip. The beach there is superb, though with the poor weather we didn't take any pictures of it. We rode a bus to an artillery museum atop North Head, which is the promontory on the entrance to the harbor. With the rain, however, we only surveyed the displays inside the museum.

After a ferry ride home in mid-afternoon, Tracy and Sherrie toured the famed Opera House, while Dan stayed at the room and took care of some work that needed to be addressed.

For dinner we walked to The Rocks and had dinner at a brewpub there, the Lord Nelson Hotel. It's a great pub and we had a blast!




On Wednesday we took the ferry to Manly. The sunshine of Monday and Tuesday disappeared, and it was a dreary and rainy day.

The ferries run every half hour, and it's a 30-minute trip. The beach there is superb, though with the poor weather we didn't take any pictures of it. We rode a bus to an artillery museum atop North Head, which is the promontory on the entrance to the harbor. With the rain, however, we only surveyed the displays inside the museum.

After a ferry ride home in mid-afternoon, Tracy and Sherrie toured the famed Opera House, while Dan stayed at the room and took care of some work that needed to be addressed.

For dinner we walked to The Rocks and had dinner at a brewpub there, the Lord Nelson Hotel. It's a great pub and we had a blast!

Tuesday, July 22 -- beaches tour!

Our second day in Sydney was as glorious as the first, and we decided to take the famed beach walk from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach. It's several kilometers long and quite fun. There are plenty of buses to Bondi, and we grabbed a limited-stop run that was perfect. Despite the sunny day, it was a bit cool out, and the water is downright cold this time of year.

Some "pilgrims" still lingered from World Youth Day and clogged the sidewalks in front of us seemingly wherever we went. It was cute to see a few nuns at Bondi. It is truly one of the most spectacular beaches in the world. Even Dan appreciates it, and he's not a beach guy!

After Coogee we took two buses up to South Head, which forms the southern end of the entrance to Sydney Harbour. We enjoyed a nice walk up there as well, before trying to take a ferry home. Sadly the last boat was at 3:50pm and we missed it, so we had to bus it back through the fancy suburbs of Rose Bay and Double Bay. No worries!

Bondi panorama

Going to the beach is getting to be a habit!

Tamarama Beach

Sydney is incredible. Wow.

This town is everything I thought it would be. The air is fresh and crisp, the sun is shining, the water is blue as can be, and a ubiquitous breeze seems to come from the harbour. We must have heard several dozen languages being spoken by tourists -- World Youth Day just concluded, and many pilgrims still linger after the event.

After our 14-hour flight we landed at 7:30am Monday, then toured the city and managed to stay awake until 8pm. With some restful sleep, we began on Tuesday at 8am and had a splendid day. More about that on the next post!

This photo was taken on Monday, July 21 at about 4pm local time while on a ferry to Darling Harbour. The boats are not only a great way to get around Sydney, but they also double as sightseeing excursions!

San Francisco -- love it!

What a great city we were able to visit on the way to Sydney. Our 11-hour layover was fantastic -- we drove all over the place and had a great time. We ate falafel, drove across the Golden Gate Bridge, went to the China Beach, saw liberated gay couples holding hands in the Castro, managed to drive down the crooked block of Lombard through the throngs of tourist masses, visited the Cable Car Museum, walked around AT&T Park, drove to Treasure Island, and visited a brewpub in Golden Gate Park. What a day!

It's a delight to visit such a progressive city!

Our hotel and how to dial.

We will be staying our first six nights at the Marriott Sydney Harbour. Each morning we plan to check email and sometimes phone loved ones in the US, but if you want to call us, here's how. Using a land line, dial 011 to get out of the US, then 61 for Australia, then 2 for Sydney, then the eight digit local number. For our hotel that is 9259 7000.

Sometimes on web sites you will see this type of number listed as "(02) 9259 7000" -- the preceding zero is a local reference, and is only to be used for calls within that country. The second digit, 2, is the city code for Sydney. A complete representation of this phone number would be +61292597000.

The country code for the North American Numbering Plan is 1; thus you will sometimes see Dan indicate his mobile number as +1.630.841.9682, which is a location-neutral representation.

Remember that if Sydney is 15 hours ahead of Central time. So if you want to call, wait until early evening. 6pm in Chicago is 9am the next morning in Sydney -- a great time to chat. But don't call our mobiles unless it's urgent; while they will work over there, the cost will be $1.49 per minute. Sending texts will set us back 35¢ each and receiving will be 15¢ each -- so take it easy on us.

Dan has set up a Skype account, which will cost us 2.1 cents per minute to call home, so don't be too surprised if you hear from us!

Trip is 8 days away!

We leave on Saturday, July 19 and we will return on Sunday, August 3. Just a week remains until the trip, and obviously we are getting excited. This weekend we are going to St Louis to visit Sherrie and discuss details of the journey.

Regular updates will start when the trip begins on Saturday, commencing with a 10-hour tour of San Francisco, one of Dan's favorite cities. Come back then for the latest!

Welcome!

This is where Dan, Tracy, and Sherrie will document our adventure to Australia. Keep coming back here (or better yet subscribe to get emails whenever we make a posting) in order to keep up-to-date on our travels!

And feel free to add your comments!