We toured the Opera house. It has a large symphony hall , an opera theatre and several small theatres. The history of the construction is interestings. started in 1959 and completed in 1973. Once the design was chosen the engineers couldn't figure out how to build it.

There is a category 4 cyclone headed straight at Cairns hitting tomorrow morning. We will be there in 2 weeks, by then they will be cleaning up the mess and fighting about how to pay for it. All there is on the news is the fight about the flood tax to clean up the Brisbane mess.

We took the bus to Bondi the famous surfer beach, we walked along the beach and in the waves for a bit. It is a beautiful spot.

I have no internal compass here, the sun shines out of the north :) Sydney is built around the harbor and stretches for miles, it is all connected by an extensive ferry system. We got a 7 day travel pass and have been riding a ferry in the afternoon to cool off and see different areas. The cell phone problem turned out to be the crap phone purchased from Fryes. We found a shop that helped us out and purchased a new unlocked phone for $39.

The food is different than expected, I thought it would be lots of fried burgers, and greasy food. There are lots of healthy options. Every shop has "gluten free" posted, it must be the current disease.

It has been hot here but we are getting used to it.

I scrolled down and the old posting from Mexico is run together with Australia. I would fix it if I knew how. Sydney harbor is beautiful, about as long as the Seattle part of Puget Sound and the water is a clear aquamarine. We took the ferry to Manley a beach town on the north end of the harbor , walked on the beach and had lunch. It is a perfect sunny day. Out B&B is right in the Rocks area where all the expensive hotels are, Shangrila is next door at over 4oo a nite. We have an ok room and the breakfast was great. We haven't found the Australian hotels so far to be real up on cleaning:) I still don't have cell phone service but have figured out it is the phone I bought at Fryes and not the Sim card. We will get a prepay phone tomorrow and let you know the number.

Gavotts leap west of Katoomba and the blue lake just below the Jenolan caves. Sounds like they named the overlook after someone

who jumped, but it is after some governor. We have noticed most Australians are slim, could it be something to do with ice cream costing $5 a scoop and soda $3.50 for a 12oz bottle and that is at a supermarket. We are up early there is a rooster just outside crowing since 5am.

We took the train west to the Blue Mts and are staying in Katoomba in a cute B&B. the first photo is the 3 sisters a famous formation, and the second is me on the stairwell down to the rock formation. Today we took a bus tour to the Jenolan limestone caves 76 km west through country that looks a lot like Northern California. We had cheese fondue for dinner.

We arrived on Australia Day and there were mobs of people everywhere. We walked down to the harbor and listened to the bands and people watched until it started to get dark. Our hotel is in Chinatown close to the train station.