Waiting for New Years Eve
Comments (1) 
Here we are in Sydney.
We’ve planned to be here for New Years Eve since we began planning our trip.
We’ve left some great friends behind in Melbourne. We’re glad we could be with you for the party before New Years Eve, but know that we’re here – we can’t wait.
Here is our view for the upcoming fieworks celebration. Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House are at our feet. It seems the world is before us.
It will be amazing.
Thank you Michelle – without you this wouldn’t be possible.
Happy New Year everyone.
A funny thing happened to us in Cairns . . . 
I want to take a moment to tell you about our visit with ‘real Aussies’. These Aussies live in Melbourne. The first is named Aaron and I met him at a hostel in Amsterdam in 2001. We had a great time exploring that wacky city and at the same time realized that we both lived in NYC a few blocks from one another. So, once back in the states, we became friends and when Sonya (the second Aussie friend) came to visit Aaron in NYC, we really hit it off. I think we spent more time together than they did and for sure we had a great time. If you don’t have Aussie friends, you better go out and find some! They are really good fun.
Anyways, it was so great to see them again. I’ve been here 2 other times (the last time was 6 years ago) so it was good to share them with Paul. Aaron had us the first weekend and our first stop was Blagowrie, which is out by the beach. We visited his parents and grandma and just had a blast. These Aussies sure know how to have a great time. Aaron made some kangaroo rolls which were really tasty. He took kangaroo, mixed it with spices and wrapped it in pastry–Yum! and we spent the evening, playing records (his step-mum, DJ Margie spun the toons all night long), we sang, played maracas, spoons, and the tambourine. Oh boy were we were a sight to see. It was a very fun evening. Really good to see his family again. 
So, we’ve reached THAT point of our trip. Where we cast away our rental car and throw caution to the wind as we’ve begun to take our bus journey down the east coast of Australia. Ahhhh, the open road. Being chauffered in an elegantly large red limosuine. The comfortable seats, the movies, the legroom. The elegant life of bus travel. Nothing else can quite match it. 2300 km seperate Cairns to the north with Sydey to the south. 2300km. It’s like taking a bus from Maine to Miami, or Seattle to Tiajuana. Maybe I’ve been unfortunately tainted by the bus travel of my past. Interstate-75 stretches from Detroit all the way to the southern tip of the United States in Miami. Between the big cities, an endless stretch of black asphalt ribbons across the countryside and is dotted with identical small towns. Interchangeable small towns with two block long downtowns. Small towns that have a feed store, grocery store and a small WWI memorial in the form of a white obilisk in a small park across the street, surrounded by a lush field of green grass. In the distance, a dog pants in the shade. Full buses in the hot weather without air conditioning. All the windows were open, even the emergency exits in the roof were open. You never knew who you’d meet on a bus. In the US, outside of the northeast, it’s a mode of transport for those with little money, otherwise, you’d fly instead.
For the past two months we’ve been racing around New Zealand. Our time there was great, but we seemed to only spend two or three days in a town before we’d be on the road again and off to the next destination. Some days we started at 6am, and other days we didn’t get into a town until after 7pm. I haven’t calculated the mileage, but I think it’s safe to say we have been on every road and highway in New Zealand!
So, I never really understood the lure of Ayers Rock. My friend, Frida, went years ago and raved about it and all I could think was, “it’s a big ol rock”. Well, guess what folks, it’s a whole lot more than that!! Let me tell you about our mini trip to the outback and Ayers Rock. We flew out to Alice Springs which is smack dab in the middle of Australia. Our hostel was a little out of town–you had to cross a dry river bed to get into town. But, it’s not totally dry my friends, no…there is water underneith the river. Another interesting thing, is the river is a secret spot for Aboriginal people and it is not unusual to see them walking, sitting under trees, or sleeping in it. So we got into town and it was pretty small. Very hot and dry.
Well, getting to travel has given us the opportunity to see many things: exotic locations, fun people, cool bars and lots of outdoor activities.
We spent today enjoying Melbourne. Waking up late, lunch with Aaron in a wonderful little Indonesian
