I loved every minute of it. The weather was gorgeous the entire time, and we loved getting away from the snow and experiencing summer in the middle of winter.
SYDNEY
Sydney feels like a mashup of London and California. There's classic and super-modern architecture sharing the same streets, the green space and parks, and of course...driving on the left like you see in London. But it also has the super-casual, beachy vibe of the California coast. It's a totally unique city.
Our favorite things of Sydney:
1. Touring the Sydney Opera House. What an amazing building and a privilege to see it in person.
2. Bondi Beach. It was here that we made one of the Great Discoveries About Australia: the hot man phenomenon. In a nutshell: Australia seems to have a much higher ratio of hot men than any other place we know. After carefully observing this phenomenon (please see pictures below), we hypothesized that it's their confidence that makes them so attractive. They are not cocky, but comfortable being men.
Another highlight of Bondi was having Asian tourists - on two separate occasions - single us out and request that we take pictures with them. One man came over and said "Beautiful" - looking at us, in our swimsuits! Why they chose us in our one-piece swimsuits and shorts over the topless sunbathers behind us will remain a happy mystery.
Another highlight of Bondi was having Asian tourists - on two separate occasions - single us out and request that we take pictures with them. One man came over and said "Beautiful" - looking at us, in our swimsuits! Why they chose us in our one-piece swimsuits and shorts over the topless sunbathers behind us will remain a happy mystery.3. Climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge. 
It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience and standing on top of the bridge gives 360 degree views you could get in no other way. My personal low of the day, though, was suiting up in these gray jumpsuits WITH a belt that sits right above your waistline. Of all the outfits I could choose to climb up and down ladders and bend and stoop in, this would not be my first choice. Sadly, this would not be the only full-body suit we would have to wear on this trip (see below).
It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience and standing on top of the bridge gives 360 degree views you could get in no other way. My personal low of the day, though, was suiting up in these gray jumpsuits WITH a belt that sits right above your waistline. Of all the outfits I could choose to climb up and down ladders and bend and stoop in, this would not be my first choice. Sadly, this would not be the only full-body suit we would have to wear on this trip (see below).CAIRNS/GREAT BARRIER REEF
Next up was Cairns ("Cans"), one of the jumping-off points to the Great Barrier Reef. Cairns had a tropical feel to it, and the landscape actually reminded me a lot of Hawaii.
Check out the public pool in Cairns. How would you like to see this on your Main Street?
We looooved the Great Barrier Reef. In fact, I think it's my high of the whole trip. We took a relaxing catamaran out to a "pontoon" that our tour company, Quicksilver, has built in the middle of the Agincourt Reef.
Here are the three of us in a submarine tour that launches from the pontoon: like the one at Disneyland, except this one's the real deal! (also no lines)
For the snorkeling, they highly recommend you get full-body lycra suits to protect you from jellyfish stings. Putting on yet another full-body skintight suit was another personal low. At least there was no belt (though it did have a hood).
We didn't get any pictures of us snorkeling, unfortunately, but suffice it to say the colors of all the coral were amazing, we saw such a wide variety fish, and Melinda only bumped into another snorkeler once!
MELBOURNE
Last on our adventure was the city of Melbourne. The three of us are all tennis fans, and bought our tickets to the Australian Open back in October...without knowing who would be playing in the matches. Imagine our pleasant surprise when we found out we had tickets to Djokovich vs. Federer! For those of you who don't follow tennis, Roger Federer is one of the best men's tennis players, um, ever.
Imagine our even bigger surprise when Katie identified Roger on the practice courts before the match! We were able to get nice and close for pictures and watch him warm up. There weren't very many people who found him on the practice courts - probably because he was wearing a disguise (a baseball hat - he always plays with a headband).
Djokovich, in an upset, proceeded to demolish Federer and go on to win the entire tournament.
I also loved discovering Melbourne's hidden "laneways" - rows of restaurants set up in narrow alleys. On our last night, the restaurants were literally competing for our business, throwing in free bottles of wine and free appetizers as we walked down Hardware Lane.
BACK IN THE USA
I had wanted to go to Australia for many years. Yes, it was expensive, but totally worth it. Yes, the flight is long, but we found that sleep pills work miracles - even through turbulence. And now Oprah's done it too.
Plus, look at our sweet tans:
1 comment:
Hmm, Kristen--why is it that in all of the photos of me, I'm sporting the gray t-shirt and an attractive wind suit, but your Beatles shirt makes a tiny appearance? Interesting. And why didn't Dickie make the highlight reel? I agree with everything you said, and would add that it turns out that my body now consists of 70% water, 20% Dr. Pepper and 10% delicious, creamy, gelato, that joey's are real cute, and that when I am backed into a thrist filled corner, $6.00 for a frozen Coke is a totally reasonable price to pay. Cheers
Post a Comment