Sydney, Australia – 15 - 21 June

The longer we stay in Sydney the more we like it. With every new hike, or bush walk as they call it here, we discover more beautiful corners and gorgeous water vistas. Our first exchange, home of the Mizia’s in Cremorne, put us within very easy reach of the center of Sydney. We took a lovely walk down to the ferry wharf and two short ferry rides to a lovely point called Watson Bay. After a pleasant lunch at Doyle’s on the pier we took a nice hike to the head along a beautiful path and took the ferry back to Circular Quay. We have almost gotten used to the gorgeous views of the Opera and the Sydney Harbor Bridge.

One of the most wonderful things about Sydney are all the great well maintained paths, boardwalks and paved walkways which lead you into the most delightful scenery, along the harbors, bays, rivers and mountains. There are miles and miles of these walks all organized with rest stops, restrooms and benches located at strategic points. You are surrounded everywhere with beautiful almost tropical vegetation, grasses in places or, many varieties of Eucalyptus trees, sandy beaches in others. The most exciting views other then the waterways around us, are those of a seemingly endless variety of colorful and interesting birds, and gorgeous, huge very old trees.

Another lovely walk from Cremorne took us to the Torranga zoo which was lovely with many interesting animals. Dahlia fell in love with the chimps and the gorillas and could have spent the whole day at their enclosure taking pictures. A sample of this cute chimp made it to the blog, although Dahlia could have filled it with a few more gorillas.

We were also lucky to have connected with the Hazell’s for another exchange which included a few days stay at their beautiful home in the Blue Mountains between the towns of Leura and Katoomba. The house feels like a tree house overlooking a panorama of the Blue Mountains. It is perched over a steep garden that looks and feels like a rain forest, Rod and Yvonne, who know the mountains intimately took us around to see the most beautiful views of the Grand Canyon like area and pointed out some nice hikes which we took on our own. The valley is covered with a jungle of Eucalyptus trees, and as the days grow warmer the haze of the Eucalypt vapor creates the blue haze you see, hence the name “Blue Mountains”. There were beautiful cliff walks, and waterfalls and rainforests with ferns and fern trees… How many ways can we say Beautiful???? We ended our stay there with a wonderful dinner in Katoomba with Rod and Yvonne.

Today we conclude our stay in Cremorne and said good bye to our wonderful hosts, Ray and Margaret Mizia who let us have their home for two weeks, while they stayed in a downtown hotel. We home to reciprocate this wonderful kindness and hospitality.

Our next couple of days will be spend at the Hazell’s home at Palm Beach, a North East Suburb of Sydney, located at the tip of a peninsula and then we are on the a tour of the Australian Red Center.