Sydney Splendor

After spending our day Friday at the beach and the Ugg shop, we caught a plane to Sydney where we spent the last week celebrating the end of Jonathan's academic career (or so we hope...), enjoying new sights & experiences, and processing all the changes that will take place in our lives over the next few weeks! It was an incredible five days in the most beautiful city in the world (in our opinion, that is). It's like Seattle meets San Diego: gorgeous water views with prestene white sand beaches.

We stayed in the northern suburb of Manly and took the thirty-minute ferry ride each day to downtown Sydney. It was a perfect spot: ocean beach on one side and harbor on the other with plenty of darling shops and restaurants. The unfortunate thing was the place we stayed. I would tell about it but I'd rather forget about it, so I'll focus on the more pleasant parts of our trip:). I will say, though, that I slept in a long-sleeved shirt, socks and pants because I wasn't sure our sheets had been washed (actually I was pretty sure they hadn't been)...but on to better things...this was one view from the ferry each day...

On Saturday, our very first day in Sydney, we met up with a friend of a friend (my cousin's friend's cousin) named Bethany. She's originally from Indiana and is working in Sydney for the year; she proved to be the most wonderful tour guide (thank you, Rachel!). She told us history, helped us map out all the must-sees, and took us to some unique spots that we would have never found on our own. A few shots from day #1:

Later on that evening we went to the Sydney Opera House to watch the symphony (this was another b-day present to Jonathan, seriously). I found this great deal online for young adults (under 27) in the choir section of the opera house. We faced the wrong direction but ended up in row B and got to watch the conductor & see each individual hair on the head of the tamborine player. Not too bad, huh?!

We spent the remaining days exploring different areas in the city: markets, Chinatown, the botanic gardens, St. Mary's cathedral, museums, Hillsong church, the harbor bridge lookout, parks, shops, beaches, Olympic park, and Ikea (yes, we ate at the cafe & roamed aimlessly through the displays). We feel like we must have walked at least a Bloomsday/BolderBoulder distance each day. We were certainly tired when we climbed into our dirty bed each day. Here are a few more pics...

Sunrise on Manly BeachBotanic gardens = beautiful!

Yes, that is a bat. They infest a few trees in the botanic gardens. Yuck!

One of our favorite films, The Matrix, was filmed in Sydney. We had to have a little fun w/ the phone booths/fountains. The following might just be the last jumping picture of Jonathan while in Australia, so savor it:)!

After our full days in the city, we rented a car and hit the road. With just our backpacks and a few maps, we headed north on the Pacific Highway with the intention of making it back to the Sunny Coast on Friday the 10th (today!). We took our time, stopping at coastal towns along the way. We decided to stay the night Wednesday in our car, splitting the time between a truck stop and this lovely overlook where we watched the sun rise. It looks pretty, but let me tell you that we both got about three hours of sleep total that night and were freezing! Why did we stay the night in our car? We got a lovely speeding ticket on the way up. More on that later. All in all, though, it was a lovely drive. We had an awesome pancake breakfast in Byron Bay before taking the ocean walk up to the light house. After a little swim in the ocean, we climbed back into the Hyndi Getz and cruised through the Gold Coast, stopping at Burleigh Heads & Surfers Paradise. We made it back to Martin & Romana's late last night and enjoyed one more day at our favorite beaches today. Here are a few more pics during our trip up the coast...It's hard to believe, but we leave TOMORROW to head back to Denver!!! Actually, since it's almost two in the morning here, we leave TODAY! I am up trying to catch up on our blog since I know I won't do it in the states. Two more to go! Plus I figure that if I stay up all night, I will sleep better on the plane. Jonathan disagrees. He's sound asleep. We'll see who wins the challenge tomorrow:)...