It's looking a lot like an adventure... in Sydney

Our picturesque view from the Sydney Harbour Bridge

From the Great Ocean Road winding along beautiful ocean vistas we went onward to Sydney. It’s practically a hop, skip and a jump via airplane. I’m told it would be an all-day drive by car or train.

Traveling by train is quite the adventure as we navigated the ‘how-to’s’ like buying an Opal card and loading it with a prescribed dollar amount. The gentleman helping us at the customer service window was very kind and helpful. I’m thinking we had that tourist vibe going or maybe it was our question of how to determine which train we wanted that gave us away? Of course, we found ourselves caught up in the after-work rush hour so the train was quite full.

A few stops later we landed at our stop; figured out that we had to swipe our Opal cards to get out of the station (thank goodness for a crowd, they inadvertently were our examples) and then we were free. The streets were bustling with people and skyscrapers loomed above, hiding the sun. Turns out that our hotel was a five-minute walk from the station. We discovered this after we found the hotel. And that there was a side street we could’ve taken as a shortcut. Again, after we found the hotel. Although it did come in handy during our stay.

Ahhh, air conditioning, how I missed you on the train ride and the walk to the hotel. Hubs, not particularly keen on air conditioning, volunteered to find a grocery store and supper. Once he returned, I was fascinated to find out that the grocery store was hidden in the basement aka underground level of a big shopping plaza/business office towers complex. There weren’t signs pointing to ‘grocery store this way.’ Apparently, hubs asked someone for directions. Haha. On his way back he encountered a Thai restaurant and, later, we agreed the food was delicious.

Our first full day in Sydney we wandered, on foot, finding coffee shops and bakeries. Noting restaurants for later we watched cars drive by with no apparent parking anywhere (street parking was in a very small ratio to the number of cars on the streets). We perused a few shops, enjoyed the gardens where the hustle of city life faded and the trills and chirps of birds took over. People, reminiscent of cats and dogs lounging in the sun, napped on the vibrant emerald green lawn as they basked in the full glory of the sun. I stuck to the tempting cool patches of shade (I’d forgotten sunscreen) and I was hot. It was a little muggier here than it had been along the Great Ocean Road.

Intentionally, we had no plan for this day other than coffee, chill, get a few steps in and repeat. That evening we were attending an opera performance of The Merry Widow at the famous Sydney Opera House. I was excited! The opera had been my top request of sight-seeing and hubs indulged me. As the opera house was only two kilometers away we decided to walk. My workhorse, with classy undertones, travel purse managed to hold my black high heels while I wore black tennis shoes. Two kilometers is about 1.9 kilometers farther than I’d walk in high heels, especially with the gently rolling and descending path.

Our view from the Sydney Harbour Bridge

I’m sure we were a sight, in our evening attire for the opera, as we briskly sauntered the straight shot from the hotel to the opera. Interestingly, we were normal and didn’t receive any curious looks. Must be that city life with all kinds of ‘fashion.’

The show was amazing! Even with the added bonus of meeting someone from Denver, CO all the way here, in Sydney, the show and experience was pure memory gold. Even hubs enjoyed the new experience. Clearly, he only attends a symphony with me out of duty as they’re not his favorite. The radio turned up and cruising down the rows in the field in his trusty tractor, now that’s more his thing.

Earlier that day, walking through a park

After we paused by the entrance, gotta switch the footwear, we discovered it was raining. Not any ol’ rain either but coming down in sheets. The taxi lineup was a good sprint and a half away, in the rain. Our route back, also covered in rain. Umbrella? Nope, the weather forecast had shown zero chance of precipitation. Hmm. We waited and waited. No, I’m kidding, we waited about ten minutes and it slowed to a fine misting drizzle. Perfect for our walk.

The gardens we walked through were lovely, dark and damp. The light globes were shrouded partially in the mist and music drifted sleepily, almost lazily on by from a concert nearby. The trees stood tall above us creating a natural arbor from the mist. A clock struck the half hour and it echoed quietly, muffled in the mist and the wind toying with the trees. It was a perfect night for a walk.

May your week (and weekend) be of good cheer, green (St. Patrick’s day anyone?!) and good coffee at hand.

Sun on my face, wind in my hair, a beach… life is bliss

A picturesque view on the Great Ocean Road

A frisky breeze toyed with the frost-like tipped waves and chilled my face while the hot rays of the sun played tag with the breeze, warming my face.  The chatter of voices zipped like seagulls on the breeze over the crashing drums of the ocean. An ocean so blue slipped out to the horizon but seeing people on the beach so far below distracted my ocean-gazing.

We were at Gibson’s Steps. Just a few steps and we could be strolling on the sand; right at ocean, and  wave, level.  No clouds hiding the sun means more sunscreen, yay. Just a few steps though, right?

Only a few steps up or down, eh?

Narrow steps carved into the cliff side lead the way down. Careful, don’t catch yourself (or clothing) on the chipped, gouged rock wall. The sharp edges were grasping, waiting to startle someone. Once at the bottom, on the beach I glanced back up. And it turns out the top is a ways up, a dramatic finish of cliff against the open blue sky.

The beach at Gibson's Steps

After a meandering stroll on the beach we charged back up the steps, which aren’t made for two-way traffic by the way. No worries though the camera didn’t get scratched. Still, what a view.

The arrival of several tour buses loaded with people prompted us to find our car and continue on to the last stops on the Great Ocean Road. The cacophony of multiple languages bombarded our ears and faded away as they too descended Gibson’s Steps.

A slight jog down the road and we stopped to see the 12 Apostles. Only a few remain now while the rest succumbed and now rest beneath the waves; time, the sea salt air and waves having worn them down. After hearing hubs talk about the sights, seeing it on Google (or postcards) doesn’t do the vista, or personal impact, justice. The feel of light, stinging wisps on the face from the sea salt in the air or the bass thumping of the waves trying to match your heartbeat.

The parking lot for this stop was quite a ways away from the actual trail and viewing decks. A wide, gently sloping paved trail led us under the highway via a tunnel (less pedestrian accidents that way I suppose) and to the gravel trails. Some people were hoofing it, really cruising down the trail to see the apostles. Others, as we found out, traveled at a snail’s pace in the arctic in molasses. Yes, they really were that slow.

Thankfully the majority of tourists were Asian and slight of stature. So we could see the view despite the crowds thronging along the trails and viewing decks. What a picture.

The remaining few of the 12 Apostles

 We played the tourist role to the hilt and stopped at every point or sight that had signage. Some were ‘meh’ or just interesting. The tide being out meant, apparently, some stops were less interesting. Our last stop was the Bay of Martyrs. At this point the sun was beginning to start its afternoon descent, the day had warmed up considerable and the strong winds had worked the waves up. 

The Bay of Martyrs

A haze had crept in over the various rocks standing strong up from the ocean in the bay. Trying to take a decent photo was  a challenge with the sun staring right back at you through the haze. It would have been better to stop in the morning light to view the bay at its best. Such was our route though that it was our last stop.

London Bridge... that has fallen

What a tour though. The Great Ocean Road was a pleasant drive with fantastic views. It’s the worth the travel time to get there.

May your week start off warm, cozy and with a cuppa coffee or tea. Despite those blustery winds and snow.

The first days

Where we attended church one Sunday

The sheer beauty of Australia is astounding. Of course, we saw a very small part of it. Mostly we stayed in Victoria with a quick hop and foray into New South Wales. As we racked up kilometers in the car, or on foot, it felt like we saw heaps of Aussieland.

I thought for sure and for certain we had conquered a lot of territory by way of sight-seeing; just in the first few days. As we looked over the map for where we were to go later in the week, I realized that I had seen the smallest fraction of a percent of this beautiful land.

Coming from the frosty nip of winter and walking out into the green of summer shrouded in shy, flirty fog was a delight. The true effect of Aussie summer hadn’t sunk in yet as the hot, drying sun was held at bay for another day. Hubs’ Aussie parents, as he affectionately calls them, picked us up from the airport.

Aussie mom immediately greeted me with the biggest, warm hug and then a gorgeous smile and hello. In that moment, I felt as if I were a part of her family. I can’t thank her enough for making me feel so welcome and at ease. Aussie dad is a bit of a rascal and a big tease. Clearly, hubs has modeled part of himself after this guy.

As we wound and threaded our way through the tapestry-like maze of confusing intersections, roundabouts – while driving on the left side of the road, a thought stayed with me. How quickly I adapted to this gorgeous landscape and how it seemed as if I had been away for only a short time.

Since we had landed only mid-morning we had the opportunity pop up to meet the Aussie brother and his new wife. Over coffees and a bite of lunch the guys reminisced over their travels together five years earlier while we ladies enjoyed girl talk.

I had offered to hold the car down while the Aussie parents popped into the grocery store and hubs off to find some chocolate.  While I waited I’d put on a few Doterra essential oils such as OnGuard, gerenaium, balance and serenity as I waited in the car. (I adore the smell of essential oils and it’s always a fun experience whenever I use them.) They return and immediately Aussie mom asks about the oil of cloves scent. Startled, I’d forgotten, I confessed to my oil use and application; explaining that clove is used in the OnGuard blend. We learned that oil of cloves had been used a lot in Aussie Dad’s work in the eel factory back in the day. It was neat to find out that oil of cloves was used to sedate eels back then. We had an enjoyable talk about essential oils and how hubs and I use them daily.

We toured with the Aussie parents one day after the New Year to a few nearby small towns, had a wonderful iced coffee and lunch and met a delightful, cheerful (welcoming and talktative) woman with the blue sky in her eyes and her patient dog, a black and white collie mix. Next was a lookout tower with a gorgeous view for miles and miles. Who knew once upon a time there had been volcanic activity here? I certainly had never thought of Australia and volcanoes in the same sentence.

What a view

We had the pleasure to attend church in this historic blue stone building. Time has paused here at this picturesque country church. The architecture inside and out has a timeless grace. The Sunday service started with the bell ringing out, inviting us and others to a thought-provoking and good service. Aussie mom has a beautiful skill with the organ that we got to enjoy as we accompanied her, with somewhat in tune voices, in song. Hubs had to show me the upper deck railing he helped to reinforce on his last visit, five years ago. I’m pleased to say the railing is still sturdy.

Sheep and more sheep than I’ve ever seen, outside of movies. And all I really wanted to do was race my horse over these lands and enjoy God’s handiwork.

Heaps of sheep

 May your week be filled with DoTerra essential oils (for the cold & flu going around), hot tea and good friends.

Hubs just had to stop and check out this field art

Going Down Under

A serene gem of a hideway

First off, happy belated New Year’s! Yeah, I know, only almost a month late with that one. But really it couldn’t be helped. Being sixteen hours ahead of your accustomed time zone throws quite the wrench into blogging. What really twisted up all the motivation and excitement for blogging on the road was the size of my cell phone screen. Compared to my laptop it’s a wee bit smaller and typing more than a tweet’s allotted characters… I couldn’t decide if my thumbs wore out or the frustration of misspelling (from true error or simply tapping the wrong, miniscule letter) many, many times made the idea of bite-sized posts so appealing.

For sure and for certain I had thought that there would be coffee cafes aplenty, those jewels of a city that sell amazing, if not at a minimum, decent coffee. Where the wi-fi would be plenty and easily logged on to. Hmm. Partly due to our travels and partly due to the lack of being native, cafes were aplenty but the coffee not so much and the wifi was like a rare sun dog. Clearly, we didn’t venture far off enough off the main roads to find those hidden gems.

Since hubs has been Down Under before his phone was gifted with the little chip of all-knowing goodness and data allowance. Mine was a paper weight in my purse, kept alive (turned on) for any quick, inspired photo that I hoped wasn’t blurry. So I apologize that the posts haven’t been weekly like I had envisioned and sparse. One, I’ll admit it, I got one posted. Yikes.

Of course, going to Australia means you fly. I like flying; I don’t get too stressed out once we’re passed the whole take-off and landing phases. What you don’t realize is when the tickets indicate you’ll be flying for 10 plus hours, they’re serious. Silly me, I thought ‘oh, I drive seven hours one way going home so this won’t be too bad.’ Ha. Ha. Ha.

Mt. Fuji as we passed by

The difference between driving and flying is that you commandeer the vehicle and can make it stop for a nice long stretch and/or walking break. Flying, well, you’re basically cargo that pays good money. And stretching has to be done carefully so you’re not punching hubs near the eye with your elbow or tripping a stewardess. At least I packed an eye patch thingie and ear plugs so sleep could at least be tempted, if I didn’t pass out from sheer exhaustion first.

Aussie farmland as we began the descent

When we woke from a decent sleep, on the last flight of our journey, on Aussie time, there were few clouds so we could see Australia from above. The outback has a certain appeal from the air but very empty. Unfortunately we didn’t think to get our camera out until we were close to landing. It was pretty cool to fly down the middle of Australia and see it change the farther we went.

Hubs and me with the friend's dog, Flash. Photo credit: Stuart

 

That first step outside the airport, it looks like any other city. As we drove with our friends, the landscape was ‘wow.’ We truly were Down Under.

 

Countryside view. Note how the trees are farmed around.

May your week be filled with family, friends and thoughts of summer time.