Sydney, Part 1

One of the downsides of living down under is that you're too far from the US to go to back for every significant event. This hit home last weekend when I missed Jordan and Colette's wedding. (Congratulations!) The corresponding upside, however, is that you're in close proximity to many other things.

Say you live in Chicago and you want to travel to a great, sunny city within 3 hours: you might go to LA or SF. Or if you want white sandy beaches you might go to Florida or the Bahamas.

Here, within 3-4 hours are: Sydney, the Great Barrier Reef, and Fiji! (Not to mention some pretty fantastic stuff here in NZ itself.) Last weekend, I was able to go to Sydney for a long weekend. The short story? An absolutely fantastic city. I'll post a couple of entries with pictures here on JIINZ. The pictures featured in this post include scenes from my second day there, where I was visiting Ann, who proved (as expected) to be a great host.

On day 2, we took the ferry down to Watson's Bay (I think that was its name). The Sydney harbour is quite beautiful, with lots of different angles on lots of great things. The two on-the-water pics include the obligatory Opera House shot and one as we got further from the city and closer to Watson's Bay. The three from-land pics feature views of the ridiculous amount of sailboats, some pretty well-located houses, and Sydney's downtown and famous bridge.

FWIW, the ferry is a great, cheap way to see the harbour, a nice alternative to the more pricey boat tours.

Another tip: if you're ever here, visit Watson's Bay. If you climb the hill beyond the docks, there are great views of the Pacific Ocean. Then head back down to the docks, where several casual restaurants will let you sit on their decks, enjoy the views, pour beer down your throat, and feed you calamari, burgers, and other fried foods. We managed to spend several pleasing hours in that environment!