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!