Sydney

We arrived at the Sydney Airport on Monday, to learn of the tsunami that had hit the Solomon Islands. All of the beaches in Sydney were officially closed due to the conditions caused by the tsunami, but in Australia this is seen as an opportunity among the surfing community - great waves and no crowds.

Marcus, our friend we are staying with in Sydney, decided the beach would also be a perfect first stop for our tour. After having a lunch along the coast and watching all of the surfers catching post-tsunami waves, we headed to Rose Bay, the neighborhood where Marcus lives. Similar to San Francisco, New York, etc. Sydney is also broken up into various "neighborhoods". The city feels like a huge suburb, however, with people out-and-about everywhere you go. It is amazing to be able to go from gorgeous beaches to a downtown area filled with tall buildings, bridges, ferries, etc. all in a matter of minutes.

Our first full day in Sydney began with a breakfast that included Vegemite - just like in the "Land Down Under" song. They really do eat it here. It looks like chocolate and tastes like cheese... I'm not necessarily a huge fan, but apparently it's good for you. Also coffee here seems to only come in the form of espresso. You cannot order "a coffee" and have that be the end of it. They ask you, "What kind?" to which you are supposed to say, "white, tall black, etc." I still have not figured it out and felt slightly cracked out our first day as I think I kept ordering double espressos, by accident.

Erin and I spent the remainder of the day on a walking tour through downtown Sydney that took us through the Botanical Gardens (aside from beautiful plants, there were spiders and bats everywhere - yes, bats (that's them in the picture hanging from one of the trees, but there were many more trees filled like this throughout the park).

Next, we walked along the waterfront towards the Opera House, and then made our way over to The Rocks (an area of winding streets filled with shops and restaurants). We ended the day by taking a ferry back to Rose Bay and then having dinner with some friends of Marcus, who taught us some of the key Aussie phrases they suggested we try out on this trip: "good'ay mate" (seriously they say this), "shit yeah" (I guess this is instead of our "hell yeah"?), "barbi" (barbecue), "avvo" (afternoon). More to come as we still have 10 days left in Australia and I'm sure we'll learn some more.

Our last full day in Sydney was spent at the beaches, Bondi (pronounced Bond-eye) in particular where the beach and surrounding coast is full of surfers and young backpackers. We walked along a beautiful coastline (pictured) which took us from Bondi to Bronte beach before heading out for dinner in the trendy neighborhood of Surry Hills with a group of Aussies, Brits, a Canadian, and a Dutch girl (gotta love how international Sydney is - seems as though half of the people are from somewhere else, and after stopping in Australia on holiday, they never left).

We are heading out today to make our way north up the coastline from Sydney to Brisbane (pronounced "Bris-bin").

More to come on Australia and our camper van (none of us have travelled in one before, not to mention the fact that Erin and I have never driven on the opposite side of the road, so it should be interesting!)