Dec. 31 2007 New Year's Eve

Well Happy NYE to everyone. Just a quick note to say hi! We're getting ready to head over to Darling Harbor to get our boat at 6PM to watch the fireworks. They have 2 shows. One at 9pm and the biggie at midnight.

So far, we've been to Bondi, Coogee and Manley Beaches. I just booked us for 5 night (Jan 2 - 7) at Coogee before we head to New Zealand. The beaches are very nice- clean, hot, busy, lots of people watching to do! The water is cool but i've been in twice. Dad goes in to his knees (barely).
Day before yesterday dad stayed at the hotel to recup from a bit too much sun on his feet and I went to lunch with a friend's niece at The Rocks, near the Opera House. There was a nice open market, lots of art galleries and photo studies. I also walked half way across the harbor bridge - lost one of my camera filters up there. (Don't ask!) :-)

Saw lots of bats in the botanical gardens on my walk back to the hotel - took some photos of the plants, fountains and boats. All very beautiful!
We were at Manley Beach all day yesterday - About 2 hours in the sun and about 4 in the bar! We met a group from Melbourne who were up for the NYE celebration. They said the bugs in Melbourne were ' tragic' but here we've been fine. After they left (hour 3), we sat with 3 local guys who were out for the afternoon avoiding their wives.....not much changes from USA to AU! They invited us on Sat. the 5th to come watch a huge boat race and carnival on Manley. We might takt them up on it - two of the guys will be working in the beer garden and that works in my favor! Well after about 5 pints, it was time to catch the ferry back to our place. Maybe that's why I have a headache today....naw - that's not it!

We did laundry at the hotel last night. Dryer leaves a lot to be desired so 1/2 our clothes dried in the room over the shower and chairs. I even hung a few T shirts in the hallway on the banister. It worked! Gotta be flexible. (not flexible enough to save $100 a night and stay in a hostel according to Dad though!). No worries mate - Good accomodations at Coogee Beach coming up. We'll be 25 yards from the beach. Heaven! I might do a day tour to wine country or the Blue Mountains - not that I need more alcohol but it could be fun!

There is no such thing as non-alcoholic beer here for dad. The bartenders offer 'water' as the only similar option! (And they think that's funny!) We did find that Lemon Twist is a nice lemonaid that seems to quench dad's thirst. Ice Tea comes in a bottle like Nestea - nobody makes it by the pitcher. Funny place!

OK - Gotta run. (We'll I ran this am but gotta get ready for my Big Birthday Party on the harbor). Everyone is so excited about my birthday. They started carrying picnics to the park at 9am this morning! They didn't have to get up that early just for me....

Cheers!

Thurs. Dec. 27, 2007

It was rainy today so instead of the beach plans, we went to the AU Museum - dad wanted to go....he's a history buff apparently. We went there, St. Mary's Church (thought mom would like that), the Prisoner Barracks Museum and then the top of the Tower - for a 360 degree view of the city. (Like the Needle in Seattle). It was a good day, despite starting off being rainy.

I haven't posted any photos yet because I can't find my camera cable but I'll pop the sim card in next time and load up a few. In the meantime, I'm trying to arrange something for viewing the spectacular fireworks display for NYE! The locals say the harbor vantage points start getting taken by 9 am! I'm considering getting a spot on one of the harbor boats for a really good view but I might have to sell a small, cute, child to pay for it! :-)

Plans for the beach tomorrow.
Cheers to all-
Jen

We made it to Sydney

Just a quick update - We finally made it the 19 hours (via 2 plane rides) to Sydney. We got our luggage - no worries mate!- found a shuttle to the hotel $12 each - also no worries. Our hotel room is quaint; aka very small room, small TV and few ammenities but it was available and it's a short walk to downtown Sydney.

We're in Wallamoollo, near King's Cross (almost like a Red Light District) and Sydney. Yesterday after we unpacked, I went for a 30 minute run to the downtown area, around the warf and past the Opera house. I found an internet cafe and told mom we were safe, then jogged back to the hotel.

Dad and I walked in Potts Point for about 2 hours and didn't see a darn thing open. Sydney is pretty closed up on Christmas evening. We finally called the cab company and found that Kings Cross is open 24 hrs a day. No wonder - The Red Light District never sleeps! Anyway, we found good food and did a little people watching.

It's a new experience to travel with a Senior! They move so slow! I'll have to adjust myself and give Dad a head start whenever we're getting ready to go somewhere. Ha ha. He's doing great though. His 'other' knee bugged him yesterday but we've got him on a daily dose of Aleve to keep him mobile.

Getting through security in CT was fun and I'll write more on that later but needless to say, we arrived safely and are off on our first adventure of the day. We'll walk through the botanical gardens then take the city tour bus around town. The sun is out and I'm looking forward to working on my tan.

Cheers Mate!

Finally - An Entry

Well, a lot has happened since I got here. I decided to move 'back home' to CT after all. It wasn't a hard choice really. Once I spent more than a few days with my godson Ambros, it was pretty simple. And more good news - my dad has agreed to go on the rest of my 'round the world trip w/ me.

We're leaving Dec. 23 for Sydney then we'll head on to New Zealand, Thailand, Cambodia and Viet Nam. All in all, we'll be traveling for 6 weeks. Dad will head back to CT from LA, and I'll go back to San Diego to pack up and drive the BMW out to CT. (Pray for sun and NO snow on the southern route)

I've interviewed with Met Life here in CT and will go back again later this week, so I might have a job lined up for March. I'll stay with my parents until I finalize the work location then I'll probably move close to the job. In the meantime, mom and I joined a gym and we're working out about 5 days a week - feels great.

The trip plans are shaping up and since we've had temps in the 20's, I'm ready to go! :-)
Hopefully I'll get to update you along the way. I'm not bringing my laptop but I should have access to the the internet. You can e-mail me at jflynnis@yahoo.com to keep in touch. I'd love to hear from you.

Take care - Happy Holidays and Be Safe-