Pretty Paddington

We took a long walk through a lovely neighborhood this morning. But before we got there, the bus we were on was in an accident. Wasn't our driver's fault -- some lady pulled right in front of him trying to get to the turn lane. The driver slammed on the brakes but hit her anyway. One of the other riders on the bus was thrown to the floor but she claimed she was okay. Crazy driver! Anyway, Paddington was a beautiful area. I could live there.

Australians don't decorate as much for Christmas as Americans do. This was one display I liked.

An artist named Sherrie Knipe does these amazing wood carvings.
All the buckles and buttons on these bags actually work!

Lunch at Gusto. Yum! Joe's addicted to the apple, carrot, ginger juices popular here.

The Blue Mountains with Bob

We had an amazing tour guide -- our friend Max's dad, Bob. He met us at the train station in Epping and showed us all the hot spots of this beautiful place. I had expected something more like mountain ranges in which tourists can drive around in the valley and see up to the peaks and if they're very adventuresome, can hike to the top of a mountain to get the reward of an awesome view. But this was very reminiscent of the Grand Canyon -- but green and not nearly as deep. Bob told us some great stories about this area -- many which concerned our buddy, Max. Remind me not to go bushwalking with you, Max! Bob, thank you so much for a fabulous day and thank you, Helen, for the delicious dinner!

We love Bob's Akubra hat. We've been checking them out in stores in the CBD.

Wentworth Falls -- thanks to all the rain, the falls (and there are oodles of them in this National Park) were really spectacular.

Jamison Valley

The "train" was actually less like a train and more like a roller coaster car with a roof. The track used to carry coal up from the valley. Nowadays it's for tourists who don't feel like climbing back up --and that was the mood we were in at the time. It was an interesting experience -- kind of like going reverse up the biggest hill on the roller coaster.

The Three Sisters

Govette's Leap (leap is Scottish for falls)

Pulpit Rock

Tour of the Sydney Opera House

We took the tour today and had to pay extra to get this photo of us. It was taken in front of a green screen, but I think we look like we're right there! Ha! When we went into this room, we were lucky enough to get to see the symphony rehearsing Tchaikovsky. The guest conductor is some Russian that our tour guide was pretty excited about. I'm not familiar with the big names in the symphony world, but to those of you who might be, his name is Vladimir Ashkenazy. We are in love with this opera house! Saw the Nutcracker last night, going to a play called "The Renegade" tonight and tomorrow we're seeing Handel's Messiah performed in the venue pictured here which holds 2700 people.

The Nutcracker (WARNING: gushing alert!)

OH MY!!!! I have NEVER seen a more magical stage production in my life! I sat on the 7th row right in the center and I was in heaven. It truly was the most beautiful show -- everything was perfect (well, almost everything).  I was close enough to see the small fire that occurred on stage early in the show. What happened was when Drosselmeyer, the magician, appeared on stage for the first time, it was with a bit of fireworks. He moved into the front of the set and a spark from the fireworks started a fire. I watched the faces of the performers closest to the back where the fire was, and there was just the teeniest little glance. The curtain closing off that part of the set, which was the dining room, closed and I heard two quick blasts of a fire extinguisher. Not long after, that little curtain was opened and everything looked fine. Joe, seated in the balcony, never even noticed.
We paid a small fortune to go to this show, but it was worth every penny! I didn't want the show to end.
This is a picture I took of a page in the program.  No photography allowed in this room.

Manly (not girly) Beach

Another gorgeous day so we took the ferry to Manly Beach. Here's the quote from Wikipedia about this place:  The beach was named by Capt. Arthur Phillip for the indigenous people living there. He wrote about them, "Their confidence and manly behaviour made me give the name of Manly Cove to this place"

We rode bikes out to North Head. 

Don't fall in here!

 Here are some views of the harbour from the ferry:

This photo was taken from the 31st floor of our hotel, where the pool is.

The "Oprah House"

Wow, has Oprah fever hit this place! We're in the same hotel that the 300 audience members were in for their first night in Australia. I chatted with a lady on the elevator. She was heading to the Great Barrier Reef. At first all she would say was "somewhere special" but I coaxed her into spilling the beans -- like it was some big, state secret. Jeesh! Apparently the group is divided up and are going all over the country. So they won't all be seeing the same sights. Oprah's only public appearance is tomorrow in Melbourne. Next Tuesday she tapes two shows from the Opera House steps (and I'm not kidding -- they really are renaming the place "The Oprah House" for the time she's here!) Several people have asked us if we're with the group when they hear our American accent. I wish!!

These flags are all over town.

A Day at the Beach

We took the bus to the beach today and hung at Bondi for a long time before having lunch and doing the "Eastern Beaches Coastal Walkway". It took us about three hours to get to Coogee Beach. The walk along the coast was gorgeous. We stopped and watched surfers, dogs playing frisbee in the surf, and Joe watched me play in the surf. He should have worn his bathing suit too! We've decided that weather forecasts here are worthless! When I looked at the Sydney forecast a few days ago, Sunday and Monday looked pretty dicey. Both days have been great!