Monday, May 30, 2005

One night in Liverpool

After a quick nap, we headed out for a tiny Indian restaurant a few blocks away around 8 p.m. The sun was still bright and the city was alive with people of all backgrounds. Another great meal and we were off to watch a show. Needless to say, it was 10 p.m. and the sun was still out!!! It didn't set that night until 10:15ish p.m.

While walking to the venue we saw several bachlorette parties, open pub doors with live bands, alleys with disco lights and people still celebrating the European Cup win. It was amazing - this city was like New York City at night. It didn't appear to sleep.

We didn't sleep much either after our excellent show. Especially with the sun poping through the hotel windows at 4:45 a.m. Oh well, it was all worth it.

The 1:15 p.m. train ride back to the Burke's was uneventful and peaceful. The countryside here is so green and beautiful. The 2 1/2 hour trip flew by and before we knew it, we were at the Burke's house. The home-made fajitas the Burkes had waiting for us when we returned were mouthwatering. It has been some time since we have had Mexican. Kinda hard to find in Asia, Australia and the United Kingdom.

Sunday, May 29, 2005


First stop on our European tour- London.

Saturday, May 28, 2005

Sunny and warm in London

Another 4 thousand miles under our belt! Actually, the seven and a half hour flight seems short to us by now and went by quickly. The two hour wait to get through customs at London Heathrow was a shocker though. We made our way to Canary Wharf to meet our friend Tim Burke (we are staying with Tim and Sandra while here). We also saw where Stacy used to live in London during college.

The weather here is amazing, so we barbecued that evening on the patio of the Burke's apartment(sunny and 85 degrees). The next day was sunny also, two days of sun in a row in London seems to be a rare occurance. We went in to the city to walk around Hyde Park which was packed with people, joggers, dogs, ducks and horses. We finished our tea by the Serpentine Lake, a huge lake over 200 years old. We got a great Thai lunch (Panang Curry and Prok with holy basil - umm) across from Harrod's department store and walked around the city some more and saw Imperial College where Stacy took classes. We sat on the Burke's patio again that night, enjoying the weather.

This morning we took a 2 1/2 hour train ride through the countryside up to Liverpool. The city just won the European Cup so several parts of downtown are mobbed with people out celebrating. There are several pedestrian streets with stores and restaurants and packed pubs. Liverpool is also where the Beatles came from and the city seems to be the music capital of the world. There are pubs and bars advertising live bands everywhere and every fence has a different flyer for bands, shows, and DJs. We're here to see a show tonight, and we're glad we got a room ahead of time because the city is packed.

Sunday, May 15, 2005


Stacy with Tom and Melissa, the groom and bride at the reception.


24 hours in San Diego!

After a brief stop in St Louis, we were off to San Diego for our friend Melissa Hill's wedding. The ceremony was outside, on the edge of the cliffs over Del Mar. A perfect day outside for a beautiful wedding, with surfers walking by around us! A true California wedding.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

The longest day!

It's kind of hard to fathom. Sydney is on the other side of the international date line in the Pacific, so it is about half a day ahead of the U.S. So that means, we woke up at 7 a.m. Wednesday in Sydney, had one last great breakfast at our hotel and headed to the airport. Our flight left Sydney at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, crossed the date line, and arrived in L.A. at 6:50 a.m., four hours before we even left! (Not bad for a 12 hour flight!) We then had a layover, an 11:00 a.m. flight home, and arrived in St Louis at 5 p.m. All of this in the same day, but of course, we've actually been up for about 30 hours straight, writing this at about 8 p.m. Wednesday night at home (which would already be tommorrow morning in Sydney, thus we're not as tired as we should be, because our body clocks are telling us it's time to wake up again).

We will be adding pictures as soon as possible! We leave for Europe May 25, so contact us via email or cellphone before then.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005


Watching the sun go down near the Sydney Opera House our last night in Australia.


The Sydney Harbour Bridge at night. The Rocks area with old pubs is at the landing of the bridge and the ferry docks and the Opera House are just to the right.


Manly beach, facing into the South Pacific Ocean. Just a few blocks on the other side of this peninsula is a beach facing into Sydney Harbour. Nearly every little cove around Sydney has a beach.

Last couple days in Oz

We had a great, relaxing last few days. On Monday, we walked to the Sydney Aquarium and spent a few hours there. They have good sections on crocodiles (naturally), Barrier Reef fish (naturally), and sharks (naturally). We were amazed at how much we had seen and learned from our prior excursions seeing these animals in the wild. We saw more crocodiles on our rainforest boat trip and more saltwater fish live in the reef itself than any aquarium could hold. Our guides on those trips had also done a great job of giving us educational lectures about the animals we were seeing. However, seeing a shark again was a bit disturbing. Our memory of the shark we saw swimming in the Barrier Reef with us still gives us chills.

After the aquarium, we walked all the way back to the Kings Cross neighborhood to have Thai for lunch. Yes, the same little Thai hole in the wall that we just ate for dinner at about midnight the night before. It was so good, we had to go back!

Then we grabbed a newspaper and read in the park all afternoon, giving our feet a much needed break. We've been walking at least 5 miles a day, and our legs definitely felt it.

For dinner, we went back to a great pizza place nearby where we had eaten the prior weekend after the wine and food festival.

On Tuesday, we headed to the harbor, taking our time and walking all through the botanical garden downtown. There is a section of tall palm and other trees that are filled with bats, hanging upside down, chirping, and every once in a while spreading their leathery wings. We had seen them before, flying above the Sydney bridge at night and wondered where they lived.

From the harbor, we jumped on a ferry for our half hour ride to Manly beach, which sits on the northern piece of land where the harbor meets the ocean. Again, the ferry rides are amazing, seeing how many coves and bays exist within Sydney harbor, each bay might have three or four little natural sand beaches. The rolling hills above each bay all hold beatiful neighborhoods, each with its own character. Watson's Bay, Bondi Beach, Manly Beach, each place is like its own little town on the water, and then you have Sydney's downtown just a half hour ferry or drive.

Manly Beach has beaches on both side of the peninsula, with some overlooking the harbour, and its biggest beach looking out at the Pacific Ocean. It's a wide open sandy beach, with lots of surfers, volleyball games, snorkelers in some of the rock grottos on the side, and a constant stream of people on the sidewalk by the beach. There are several streets of restaurants, cafes, surfwear, and boutique clothing stores in the short walk between the harbour and the ocean sides.

Heading back on the ferry, our time was drawing near to say goodbye to Sydney Harbour. We sat on the pier for an hour, watching the boats go by and the colors change on the Opera House as the sun set. We then hopped nearby to the oldest pub in Australia, in The Rocks area, for a few drinks, before heading to a great Indian restaurant on the bay (which we had eaten at the weekend before, and vowed to come back- cheap Australian wine and great garlic naan bread).

Sunday, May 08, 2005


Standing on a hill at Watson's Bay. Behind us, you can see downtown Sydney and the bridge. In front of us, we were overlooking a cliff above the ocean.

Sunday in Sydney

We got up early Sunday morning, because we had planned to go on a "Wobbly Wine Tour", riding bikes through Australia's Hunter wine valley, about two hours from here. However, the bike leader was injured, so we decided to skip the regular bus tour, so we could enjoy the beautiful day here ourselves. One funny thing about waking up at 6:30 a.m. was that we got to see people still coming out of and going into the dance clubs here! A couple of streets in Kings Cross are similar to Bourbon Street in New Orleans, littered with the previous night's rubbish and full of people just heading home (some of them in police paddy wagons). Within a few hours though, the streets department had the whole area spotless again.

We ate breakfast, and headed to the annual Sydney Mum's Day run through the Botanical Gardens along the harbour near downtown. Had we known the bike tour was off, we would have run in the race ourselves. There were thousands of runners and entry was closed, but we had actually met the race organizers on our flight to Sydney from Singapore, and they said they could have gotten us in. Instead, we cheered the runners along and enjoyed the beautiful views as we walked along the side of the race path.

From there, we boarded a ferry next to the Opera House and took a narrated harbour cruise to Watson's Bay. The whole of Sydney Harbour is known as Jackson's Bay and there are miles of waterfront land, since the harbour's uneven edges create lots of little coves and bays. And since the area is also very hilly, we've been amazed at how many neighborhoods on these hills along the water have wonderful views of the Bay. Watson's Bay is one of the best, it is the bay on the southern piece of land that forms the mouth of the harbour opening to the ocean. The side facing back towards Sydney's downtown has a little beach and a couple of seafood restaurants surrounded by beautiful homes. Being Mother's Day, the cafes and parks here were full of families enjoying the sunny day. Just a few minutes walk uphill from the beach, we crossed to the side of the peninsula which faces the ocean. This side has rocky cliffs which look down at the ocean twenty stories below. And then looking back towards the little bay below, and downtown behind us, we got probably the best view of Sydney from anywhere around. We got a "take away" bottle of wine and crackers from a pub near the pier below us, and just sat on the rocks high up on the cliff for a couple of hours. A hundred or so tiny sailboats with colorful sails raced back and forth across the bay. We could see the opera house and Sydney bridge in the distance, with the numerous other hills, coves, and the blue water in between.

Back in Kings Cross for the evening, we met a fun local couple over a few drinks at a ritzy open-air lounge overlooking the street. Then an awesome dinner at a tiny Thai place nearby (more of just a little booth with stools, but the food was great). Put us right to sleep....

Saturday, May 07, 2005


Bondi Beach near Sydney. A little cloudy this day, but still full of surfers.

Our last weekend in Sydney

Many of the restaurants here are BYO (bring your own alcohol), so we got a cheap bottle of Australian wine and ate at a small Thai place right next door to our hotel last night. Just another block away, we went to a couple of bars with great outdoor patios. We finished the night at a bar on the second floor of a hotel; the bar had a big patio which overlooked the street and all the people coming and going below.

After a great breakfast at our hotel this morning, we took the city bus to Bondi Beach, just a few minutes from Sydney's center. Bondi is usually listed as one of the top beaches in the world, and it is well deserved, it is just a fun place. There is a wide beach about a quarter mile long nestled in between large rock cliffs on both sides. The cliffs and bay seem to funnel the ocean waves into the beach, creating some huge waves, some of the largest we've ever seen. There are dozens of surfers out in the water all day long, and the buses carrying people to and from the beach are full of surfers and their boards. The street along the beach has lots of small swimsuit shops and great outdoor restaurants. The hills behind there have neighborhoods full of beautiful, colorful houses, all with rooftop terraces with great views of the bay. All the neighborhoods we've seen in Sydney are pretty, many of the homes have an English or Victorian character, but there are also Mediteranean and modern architectures as well. We walked about two miles, along the beach and up a path which curved around the rocky cliffs on one side of the bay, then back to the street for a lunch overlooking the beach. There were a lot of people out jogging, surfing, and enjoying the beach, even though it is fall here.

On our bus ride back, we stopped at the Paddington weekend market which was full of local artists' work, including paintings, jewelry, and clothes. We walked the rest of the way back to our hotel, watching everyone out for the weekend. The cafes are full of people drinking wine, reading, and talking. This area seems to have a lot of European people and the cafes are packed all day. A cup of coffee is serious business here. Imagine 4 cups of espresso in one cup, throw in some coffee grounds just for the heck of it, and that's a cup of regular straight coffee here. No Starbucks around here!

It's Mum's Day here in Australia tommorrow, so happy Mother's day to everyone it applies to!

Thursday, May 05, 2005

The trials and tribulations...

Captain Cook was the first Caucasion to discover Australia in the 1770's. It was this area that he saw, after having the unfortunate luck of running his ship aground on the Great Barrier Reef off the coast. This would be easy to do, even today, as there are thousands of underwater mountain tops and islands that make up the Barrier Reef. Cook brought his ship to the shore for repairs, and tried his best to explore the area. He named this bay, the place we were staying, Cape Tribulation, and that summed up his idea of the place. He named the mountain above it Mount Sorrow. No other explorer came to Australia for a hundred years afterward, as Cook's journal described it as an impenetrable jungle, good for nothing except danger.

We however, had a great night's sleep, and walked down the short path to see the sunrise break through parts of the clouds. After breakfast, we went about 10 minutes south on the beach, took off our shoes, and walked into the water to catch the catamaran which would take us out to the reef for the day. An hour's journey in the boat took us out to Undine reef and Sandy Cay. When we got there at high tide, there was just a small sandy beach, about 10 feet by 30 feet, and we could see all the turquoise shades of the reef just under the water around it. The beach was a habitat area for sea turtles and birds. We quickly grabbed our snorkeling gear and were exploring the reef. Every reef is different, but this one probably had the most diversity of anyplace we've been. There is less polution and very little human contact in this part of the world, and the reef looked amazing in the bright sun. We saw lots of bright blue starfish, which were a foot across, schools of tropical fish, and lots of both hard and soft corals. There were more giant clams, opening and shutting. Parts of the reef were like trees, nearly touching the surface, with 10 feet of clear water and a sandy bottom beneath us. We were swimming between a couple pieces of coral when it happened- we saw a frickin' shark!!! It was a white-tipped reef shark, about 4 or 5 feet long swimming across the water in front of us. We froze, holding our breath, and watched it casually swim side to side across the reef, about 10 feet away. No worries mate, this shark was harmless, it typically eats wounded fish in the reef. It's mouth was only about the size of your fist, but it was a shocking thing to see. The vision of the shark in front of us will be forever etched in our memory. Mel even had an underwater camera on his arm, but didn't dare budge while the shark was around.

Back on the boat for lunch on the sundeck, we watched the tide go out and the top of the reef rise out of the water. The Sandy Cay grew to about three times its former size. Turtles and fish swam by as the receding water pushed them out of the top part of the reef. What appeared to be geysers shooting up out of the reef were actually the giant clams expelling water close to the surface. The different shades of green and blue in every direction were amazing.

Mel went back out to the reef for another dive in the afternoon, while Stacy and some of the boat crew did dives and flips off the sundeck on top of the boat into the light green ocean. This was one of our most amazing days of the whole trip, but unfortunately, we had to go back to shore at some point. We were dropped off at the same beach, and walked up the path to catch the small bus ride for Cairns.

Again driving on the dirt road out of the rainforest, we felt like we were leaving one of the most remote places on earth. We also felt like the bus driver was driving too fast for the wet roads, and we both put on our seat belts. We crossed the river on the barge and continued south. Before the story continues, we are both completely safe, although we feel some grey hairs coming on. It's not a great road to begin with, narrow with lots of turns, and the 3 hour drive should be a 4 or 5 hour drive in the rain. The driver acted more like it was a sports car on dry pavement though, and as a car slowed to make a turn in front of us, the driver (who was following too close and too fast) slammed on his brakes and we started skidding. This happened entering a round-about, and the bus slammed through the center curbs on the round-about and wiped out all the highway signs in the center. Luckily, we came to a stop on the other side without hitting any cars, and no damage to the bus except the smashed windshield from hitting the signs.

So to put things in perspective, we've traveled through Asia, flown sideways in a helicoptor above the reef, and came face to face with a shark. And the most dangerous thing we've done was to ride in an automobile. Please be careful on the roads.

We spent the night at the same hostel in Cairns as we were at earlier in the week, and then flew back to Sydney this morning (Friday). While we stayed in the business district in downtown Sydney last weekend, we are staying at Hotel 59 in the Kings Cross area for the rest of our trip.

Journey up to Cape Tribulation

We've been out of touch with civilization for a few days, but here's the story....

Wednesday morning we left Cairns aboard a small bus to make our way up further up the Eastern coast. In the few flat areas, we saw sugar cane and banana farms, but mostly green mountains. We made a short stop in Port Douglas, an old hippie town turned resort area. We had time for about a half hour walk around the small downtown on the water, before getting back on the road for the Daintree wildlife sanctuary. Here we got to see a Cassowarie, an endangered flightless bird that lives in the rainforest here, and is similar to an ostrich. We saw wallabies, alligators, koalas, and best of all- we actually got to feed and pet some kangaroos! They were cute and friendly. (the koalas were cute too, just never awake.) It started to rain here, and it would rain off and on every few hours for the rest of the next two days we would spend in the rainforest. However, the sun would come back out quickly, or even stay bright during most of the isolated sprinkles. This was the first rain in our whole trip, and we were the only nerdy people who happened to have bought rain ponchos that morning.

From there, we drove to Mossman's Gorge, which is a hike through the actual rainforest. We were warned about the plants (killer plants, we weren't even told about animals yet) in the rainforest. There are leaves that leave stinging needles in your skin that burrow in and poison you, palm leaves with razor sharp edges that cut you, and other palm trees that have hanging vines with barbed hooks that can also slice your clothes and skin open. The rainforest was beautiful, so many colors of green and the air was cool, fresh, and wet. We crossed over a suspension bridge on the gorge that only held twenty people at a time.

We stopped at a small cafe for lunch (we tried a Vegemite sandwich- not good- vegemite is a dark yeast spread that tastes bitter), and then came to the Daintree river which basically cuts the land north of here off. We boarded a small boat for a cruise down the river and to the other side. The cruise took us an hour down a wide, tropical river. About every half mile or so, we saw an alligator sitting on the bank, waiting for dinner to come by. One of the alligators gave us a big, toothless smile. The guide said this alligator was 60 years old (they can live to be over 100), and had lost all his teeth tearing apart prey, but could still feed just by crushing food in its jaws. A bright, neon green tree frog hitched a ride on our boat, and we saw a hanging yellow tree snake overhead. One of the islands on the river was inhabited by wild boars. The Europeans had brought pigs to Australia long ago, and the wild ones have developed huge tusks, mean personalities, and are now hunted.

On the other side of the river, we met our bus, which had to take a ferry across the river, the only way for cars to make it to this northern part of the country. We had another hour drive up the tiny coastal road, with the ocean on our right, and the mountainous rainforest on our left. After the paved road ended, we continued on a one lane dirt road to our accomodations for the night. We were staying in a beach hut in the rainforest! There were a handful of small huts, with a tiny path cut through the rainforest. After a short walk through the rainforest canopy above us, we saw a light at the end of the tunnel- and walked out onto an uninhabited beach, all to our own. Unfortunately, this is still the end of jellyfish season, so we swimming along the shore was limited, but we could walk along the water and see the dramatic, green mountains on one side and the blue water on the other. We even had to time our walks, as the beach disappears completely during high tide. At one point, mangroves from the rainforest preserve reach out into the surf, the only place in the world where two World Heritage Sites touch (the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef). We were very lucky to be able to stay here, as the number of people allowed in is strictly limited.

After taking in the scenery, we ate dinner at a tiny, open kitchen restaurant with a tent roof and open jungle on three sides. The chef fixed us a gourmet meal of marinated kangaroo (it's so hard to find good roo meat in the states!). We were a little nervous eating kangaroo, but there is plenty of it here, and it was very good. Along with some good Australian wine, we ate and listened to the crazy sounds of the rainforest all around us, and the occasional raindrops on the tent roof. We called it a night to the continuing jungle symphony.


Cape Tribulation- this was where the tiny path from our beach hut in the rainforest opened up onto the beach and ocean. This was our view of a sunrise just behind the clouds out over the ocean.


One of many alligators we floated past on our Daintree River cruise. We also saw snakes hanging from the trees above our boat, and lots of mangrove swamps.


Cape Tribulation- Mangroves from the rainforest growing out into the ocean near the Barrier Reef; the only place in the world where two World Heritage sites touch. Our beach hut was hidden in the rainforest just a short walk up a path in the trees.


View of Undine Reef near Cape Tribulation. There is a tiny sandy beach out in the water, and the reef here rises above sea level during low tide. This is where we saw the shark!!!


A stream running through the rainforest at Mossman's Gorge.


A friendly kangaroo at a wildlife sanctuary we stopped at outside of Cairns on our way to the Daintree rainforest.

Tuesday, May 03, 2005


The shadow of our helicoptor caught in the water as we banked hard on approach for our landing on the floating dock.


The view of Hastings reef and the boat we would meet up with. The helicoptor landed on a small floating dock, and we rode a dinghy over to the boat.


The view of Hastings Reef from our helicoptor. There were sea turles swimming in the shallow green parts as we flew over.


Mel getting ready for our helicoptor ride out over the Great Barrier Reef.


In our hot air balloon, floating over the tablelands of Australia, just after dawn. The tablelands were an hour's drive inland from Cairns.


A view of three other balloons from our balloon basket up in the sky.

More Aussie Adventures!

4:00 a.m..... Why would anyone wake up at this hour on vacation?

We boarded a bus which left Cairns, and drove up the steep, switchback road through the mountains and rainforest. After over an hour, we were driving through Australia's flatter tablelands in the morning dark. We pulled into a field as the biggest hot air balloon we've ever seen was being fired up. The sky was just beginning to get light as we climbed into the basket and lifted off! At about 2,000 feet above the valley, the sunrise was breaking through the clouds, and we could see mountains, rainforest and lakes below us. On the flatlands, there were scattered mango, banana, and palm farms. We drifted through the valley and enjoyed the odd sensation of floating so high. After nearly an hour, the pilot began the descent to start looking for a landing spot. Once we were low enough to make out objects on the ground again, we saw giant ant hills (also the size of a mini Cooper car) scattered in the shrubs. Anytime the balloon started descending too fast, the pilot fired the flame inside the balloon again, and kangaroos would scatter below us, scared by the noise. After a safe landing, we helped the crew pack up the balloon and had a great champagne breakfast.

From there, we got dropped off at Barron River in the rainforest on the steep descent back to Cairns. With our swimsuits, lifejackets, and helmets on, we boarded a raft to do some great whitewater rafting through a steep gorge in the rainforest. The fun Aussie guide kept trying to guide the boat so the rapids would knock the Americans off, but we survived! There were a couple spots where the water rushed into one side of the raft, sending it under water, and sending the other end flying into the air. We all were thrown up out of our seats a couple times, but somehow landed back in the raft. It was great! The scenery was swell too.

Back at the hostel, we are going to relax here tonight (cheap Indian buffet for dinner and happy hour) and will be leaving Cairns tommorrow for Port Douglas (Daintree Rainforest), Cape Tribulation, and an even more authentic outback adventure.

We don't even want to think about our trip ending yet, we are loving Australia!

Above, on and below the Barrier Reef

Another couple thousand miles in the air yesterday morning on a flight up to Cairns, Australia, on the northeast coast. We're closer to the equator again, so it's warmer up here than in Sydney, back to the heat that Stacy loves. We had about half an hour to drop our bags off at the hostel, and then straight back to the airport. We jumped right into things here, taking an amazing helicopter ride out to the Great Barrier Reef. The land here along the coast is hilly, with the rainforest and mountains starting right at the edge of the water. The hills continue out into the water, so there are lots of islands and shallow spots for miles out. The Barrier Reef is actually made up of dozens of shallow, coral islands out in the water. The helicopter was the best way to see all the different colors (colours here) and different depths of the water. We could see 50 feet down in places. There are unhinhabited islands, some sandy, some overgrown with tropical forest. As we flew towards Hastings Reef a few miles out, which we were going to dive in, the pilot did a sharp bank and flew the coptor in a few sideways circles, so we could get a good close-up view of the reef, with giant sea turtles and stingrays swimming over the shallow plateau of the reef. We have so many pictures, we'll have to make everyone a DVD when we get home!

Our helicoptor flew in, and we landed on a small, floating platform out in the ocean. It wasn't even big enough for the helicoptor, the tail stuck out over the water, but the pilot made it look easy. From there, we took a dinghy to the dive yacht a few yards away where we would spend the afternoon. To snorkel, we left the back of the yacht, and swam a few yards over to the edge of the reef. The plateau at the top of the reef was under only 5 or 6 feet of water, so the sun made our underwater view bright, and we saw starfish, different colored fish than we've seen before, sea slugs, and in the slightly deeper water we saw giant clams, the size of a mini Cooper car. The clams would open and shut rhythmically; one of the guides told us we could stick our hand in there, but we didn't test that. We also came face to face with many Parrot fish and other fish which were much bigger than we are; thankfully, no sharks though!

The yacht dropped us off at the pier, and we walked home after eating a great Turkish kabob dinner. The town of Cairns here is beautiful, it is a small town stuck right between the edge of the water and the mountains and rain forest. Our walk home was great, there is a park alongside the water and there appears to be people out 24 hours a day. Early night again, as we have an extra early morning for another big adventure....

Sunday, May 01, 2005


The water fountain at the park in Kings Cross during the wine and food festival.

More down under....

Went to another "best ever" Indian restaurant for dinner last night. It seems each Indian and Thai place we eat at is better than the last (good thing we're walking off the calories). Walked along the streets near our hotel after that, there are lots of old English style pubs (along with Sydney's oldest bar; over 100 years old) at the Rocks area, along with the fun bars we went to along Darling Harbour the night before. We stopped at a smaller, fun place near our hotel.

We love Australia, and today was the best day so far! We went to a wine and food festival in the eclectic Kings Cross neighborhood in Sydney. The city's finest restaurants and the best Australian wineries all had booths open in a park with live music, so we got to walk around and enjoy the great weather, food, wine, and atmosphere. We spent the whole afternoon there, laughing and talking to other travelers and locals, and are getting ready for our flight tommorrow up to Cairns, home of Australia's Great Barrier Reef!