Sunday Jan 14 - Our first full day in Australia

After watching so many Australian TV shows, and with both of us being from Commonwealth countries, much about Australia already feels pretty understandable. That said, today provided a great contrast from sweeping high vistas to a stunning modern city.

We started out from our Best Western motel around 9 after a really good night’s sleep.  Days of travelling had knocked us out and it was great to recover.  We drove into Leura for breakfast and - no pictures for those of you that are already getting bored by food - but Lily’s Pad there is THE breakfast spot.  Finally tried a flat white coffee, brilliant!

This photo makes the Best Western look way better than it was, not their flagship property by any means.

That’s me driving on the left in our rental car.

From there we drove to Echo Point and enjoyed the terrific views and a cliffside hike. It felt wonderful to be moving under our own power again.

The Three Sisters

The and me with one sister poking through.

One of the cable cars to move people around this canyon.

The Katoomba Cascades

From there we headed back into Sydney to our hotel - thanks so much again Mike and Anne.  The iPhone is working great as a GPS but I never realized it drained the battery so fast! Even with it plugged into the car we are only able to get about 2 hours life max before it runs out.  Gonna need an external battery pack!

Sydney is a really interesting city. Great architecture, throngs of tourists, super restaurants everywhere, a fantastic transportation system, loads of attractions - it really is quite a model in many respects.  Oddly enough, remember it was 47C and cooked bats were falling out of trees just a few days ago? People here are going around in ski jackets and lamenting how cold it is. Of course we think it is just perfect and are going around in our t-shirts but it is only in the mid twenties and the wind is howling!

We have dropped the rental car and plan to Uber/Opal card the rest of the time here. It’s pretty easy to get around.

Driving in on the A4

Darling Harbour looking at part of Downtown

the Pymont walking bridge

Flamingo water sculpture at Cockle Bay Wharf and a Lindt coffee and chocolate shop behind!

And of course, you didn’t seriously think you were going to get out of this without a food picture did you?  Julian’s supper - a bucket of prawns!  Pure protein - now we’re talking!