Still in Sydney, job interviews in Sydney on Wednesday morn!

Just kidding about the job interviews, but man this place is hard to beat. Wi-fi is harder to find here than we expected, but I think we just got it all figured out. I finally got my blogger account activated, Kelsey and I were sharing postings through her account, but apparently that confused some people (well, really just one man in his 50's that happens to live in a place that rhymes with Smarin County).

What can we say about the last few days?!?! First and foremost thank you to our hosts, Sarah and Robin. Sarah has acted as our amazing unofficial tour guide while Robin was away playing in the Hong Kong Rugby 7's. For those of you who don't know, the Hong Kong Rugby 7's is a worldwide tournament (round robin style from my understanding) that happens yearly. They squeeze about 10 games of rugby in a handful of days while they are not getting “completely blind,” as Robin so eloquently puts it. Rob came back with a severely swollen foot, knee, and ankle as well as road rash that covers almost all of his arms and legs. As bad as that is, I think his liver might be in worse shape. YOU ARE A MANIMAL ROB!

We have been here for about a week now, and have had gotten to see most of the main suburbs now. On a small tangent, apparently no one really lives in the CBD (Central Business District, basically down town). They all live in the Sydney Suburbs, which lie somewhere between a 15-60 minute bus/train/ferry ride away. All of these suburbs however are not the suburbs we often think about back in the states (strip malls, shopping centers, car required to get around). They are much more similar to each distinct neighborhood in SF (Marina Dist, North Beach, Russian Hill, etc.) or beach cities in/around LA (Santa Monica, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach). Bondi, Rose Bay, and Watsons Bay (in the eastern suburbs) are probably our favorites, with Manly in the north suburbs a definite contender too.

So what have we been doing these last few days??? Hanging out on the beaches of Bondi mostly, but also viewing the sites of the city. On Monday we toured all of circular quay (think the SF Ferry Building and surrounding areas). We walked all around the Opera House, which is huge, during the sydney lunch hour. At lunch a huge portion of the city goes for a run or swim and then head back to the office (we've been told most offices have quite a bit of showers for their employees). We ate sandwiches on the steps of the Opera House and watched the seaguls bug all the tourists.  Right next to Circular Quay is the botanical gardens and the domain. These are essentially the golden gate park/central park of Sydney with amazing views of both the opera house and harbor bridge. This is a must see for anyone who comes through Sydney.

After the gardens, we went to The Rocks. It's the oldest section of Sydney, filled with a ton of very cool art galleries and pubs. You can walk right underneath the harbor bridge and see it from all angles. If you're out here, be sure to stop at Lowenbrau and get a mango beer (thanks for the tip Meghan!).  We sat at the pub for a while, tried to get into a bar with a view... got kicked out for wearing shorts and flip flops - then decided to take the long way home on the Ferry again.  We walked home through Rose Bay, apparently with a million bats above us (good thing kelsey didnt know that at the time).  We were then treated to our first veal schnitzel – amazing... Sarah and Rob made us quite a few homemade aussie meals, this was probably our favorite.

On Tue, Sarah took us on a 10 mile hike through Manly. It was the Manly to Spit Bridge trail right through “the bush.” Most of our conversation was about the crazy wildlife in Australia. Their spiders here are like eight legged cocker spaniels (THEY'RE HUGE). There are 3 foot lizards everywhere on these trails, like every 50 feet. While we weren't having the bajeesus scared out of us by the animals, we were able to take in the amazing scenery and get to know Sarah a bit better.  It was an amazing walk.  Manly is part of the northern suburbs, so it offers a completely different view of the city. We closed out the hike with a couple beers (our first Carlton brew – Robs beer of choice), a barrumundi burger and took the ferry back home.  The evening was spent having a few drinks and dinner with our new friends, in what we have referred to way too many times as "our home".  

So here is the deal with Australians, or at least ALL the ones we have met; they are some of the nicest and most generous people around. Robin is an avid sailor, and was nice enough to set up an evening sail for us on Wed night with his friend Matt (thanks guys). The sailing club that Matt belongs to has a summer racing series every Wed, and we happened to be in town for the last one. This was both of our first time on a sail boat while it was racing, and we played the rookie roll as well as anyone. We were told to sit on some pads right in the middle of the boat under the boom (I would later be told this was called the Chick Mat, thanks guys). While we were getting the boat prepped for the race, I was asked to help pull the sail up. I thought I was doing a good job, until Ang (a lady not much bigger than Kelsey) put me to shame and made me look like a school girl (I know, you're all shocked). Keep in mind this was a sailing race, and these guys are serious about it. Every time the boat would tack (turn), they swung the boom to the opposite side, right above our head and then the boat tilts at almost a 45 deg angle. We were told to hang on and don't let the boom knock you off the boat. Well, as it turns out, you tack fairly often during a race. For the first 30 minutes of our sailing adventure, Kelsey and I were holding on for our lives (or as the Aussies told us, white knuckling it). Finally captain Matt walked over and showed us how to straddle the side of the boat, after which we looked back and saw the other 8 passengers on the boat hysterically laughing at us, which apparently had been happening the whole time. After that key piece of info, the trip became quite enjoyable. The course of the race took us around almost the entire harbor, right at sunset. Most people pay several hundred dollars, per person, for the same views that we were able get in. It pays to know Rob and Sarah (did we say thanks guys?). After the race (we placed top 3, I like to think in large part to me), we anchored up in the cove outside the Toranga zoo and watched the sun set while enjoying some good food, good drinks, and good company. One hell of an experience so far. 

 Opera House and the best view in Sydney

 Twilight sail

 The captain himself

 Wine & cheese docking at Toronga Zoo

 VB's - a new staple of ours

 Botanical Gardens

 Our tour guide

 Lowenbrau - yes, that beer is larger than kelsey's head

 giant lizards everywhere

 hike from spit to manly

walk to the domain (and my handsome husband)

 The Rocks

g'day America - we mis ya!