Month: July 2026

07/29/2026 – Well, now we remember why we are doing Australia now

We left the hotel early in the morning to do some more hiking in the Blue Mountains.  We intended to hike the Grand Canyon Loop Trail… that is, until Kathy spotted on a sign near the trailhead that the hike involves a bit of “swimming” across a 30-meter wide river.  With the temperature at 48 degrees F, we decided to save that hike for another day.  Besides, we left our swim suits back at the hotel.  We did a few hikes to various overlooks – all of which included many, many stairs down, then back up.  After hiking over 8 miles yesterday and another 5 miles today (and that was just the horizontal distances!), we remembered why we chose to come back to Australia now rather than hold off a few years.  We expect to still be hiking in our 70’s, but maybe with a little less vertical distances.

We have also been a little disappointed at the dearth of wildlife we have seen so far on this trip.  We have seen some amazing birds, but we can’t recall seeing any mammals as of yet.  No koalas, no wombats, no echidnas, no spotted-tailed quolls…nothing!  Maybe winter just isn’t their thing?  Oh, well, at least the spiders and snakes have been missing as well.  Gotta take the good with the bad.  We will see amazing wildlife in the Great Barrier Reef in the next few

07/27/2026 – Back to driving on the wrong side of the road

Once again we enjoyed breakfast at the hotel.  We lounged around a bit then set off for a short walk around the area before heading to the airport to pick up our rental car.  Being winter here in Sydney, the mornings can be chilly.  It’s been in the 40’s overnight, but then warms up in the sunshine later in the day.  After our walk, we checked out of the hotel and schlepped our luggage to the nearby Circular Quay train station.  The trains were not running to/from the airport when we arrived two days ago, but they are now that it is Monday morning here.  But – which train to take?  We knew we had to go to Platform 2, and we jumped on the first train there.  Dave followed the stations we went by and it appeared we were heading in the right direction on T-8.  However…. on the route map, the T-8 inexplicably splits into two tracks  – one headed to the airports and one headed NOT to the airports.  Can anyone guess which one we ended up on?  Hmm?  Anyone??  Yep, we needed to get off our train, take another one headed to our left, and then get back on the T-8 headed back to the airports.  Not a big deal, we had plenty of time, but it certainly did not boost our confidence in take public transportation.

We got to the airport, picked up our rental car (a Subaru!) and started heading to the city of Penrith, right on the edge of the Blue Mountains National Park.  Ah, yes, Dave vividly remembers the experience of driving on the wrong side of the road, from the wrong side of the vehicle.  Looking in the wrong mirror, turning on the wipers instead of the turn signals, opening the passenger window instead of the driver’s, drifting toward the left so he can be closer to the left side lane marker.  As Dave recalled, it reminded him of his early days of driving as a teenager – having to pay attention to every detail instead of using his well-defined muscle memory.  It doesn’t help that we have now seen two head-on accidents where it looks like one vehicle was driving down the wrong side of the road.  Stupid Americans!  Dave hopes he can get used to the new driving circumstances quickly!

We arrived in Penrith without any mishaps and checked into our new accommodations.  Then we set off to scope out the hiking areas. The hotel clerk recommended the Lawson Waterfalls, a series of five waterfalls.  So with no hesitation, we decided to go find the parking area and determine the best ways to find our trailheads. Given that it is winter here, the sun sets early so scoping out and planning our routes was the best option. Along the way we found a local visitor center for the National Park and stopped to get some ideas on some more hikes. The information was a lot, and Dave’s map now has a bunch of squiggly lines and notations giving him all sorts of options. Hopefully he can read it.  We finally found the trailhead and walked a portion along the trail, but decided to leave the rest for tomorrow. Time to get back to the hotel and plan our breakfasts and lunches for tomorrow so that we can hit the ground running!

07/28/2026 – Hiking – well more like stair climbing

Running might be an exaggeration. We headed out of the hotel room to begin our drive to the waterfall trail in Lawson when we got distracted by some very beautiful colorful birds.  From Rainbow lorikeets and Scaly-breasted lorikeets to Eastern yellow robins to Sulfur cockatoos.  Dave frantically worked at trying to get a picture of one that was close, but Kathy scared it away. Maybe tomorrow?? Heading up to the trailhead we had mapped out yesterday was next on the plans.  But the best laid plans sometimes are not so well planned. Finally finding the trailhead for the Lawson waterfalls, we breathed a sigh of relief.  Granted, it was not the one we had mapped out yesterday. Instead of being at the south end trailhead where we had driven to the day before, we were at the north end trailhead. Oh well, it was a loop and going around in circles seems to be the norm.

Heading down the trails to view the waterfalls we saw lots of colorful birds, we even heard a Laughing Kookaburra!  We also saw 5 waterfalls which reminded us of many waterfalls in New York State due to making their way through layers of slate rock. The trail book we bought for this trail has a listing of animals and plants we might expect to see on the trail.  At just two (Australian!) dollars, some of its inaccuracies could be forgiven, especially since it was written by 4^th graders! Kathy did read loud and clear: don’t pet the spiders. Duh! Since we left the hotel so early, we decided to find another trailhead, as if 2.5 miles of endless up and down was not enough. Next on the list was the Nature Trek, another loop trail that is approximately 4.5 miles long.  What was not in the description was that the trail consisted of stairs, more stairs, and even more stairs – all headed downhill.  (And we all know what happens to things that go down…) The saving grace is once you have done the stairs, you arrive at a Conservation Hut Café – a small diner at the top of the hill. It was a wonderful spot to stop and get liquid refreshment and a cookie for the rest of our journey back to our car. Kathy had a banana smoothie that called to mind Dave’s feeble attempt to get a banana smoothie in Morocco (which was really a banana split loaded with ice cream, toppings, and of course a banana or two) while Dave opted for hot cocoa. Still winter here!

It was an enjoyable day and we made it back to the hotel before the sun set at 5 pm (remember, we are in Australian winter right now!) Last on the list was to find dinner, a local fast food taco joint for tacos and burritos. Now, if we can only make it until 9 pm before we fall asleep!

07/26/2026 – Culture! …Sort Of.  (Poor Jane Austen must be rolling in her grave)

This morning we arose bright and early.  We enjoyed the free breakfast at the hotel, and then took a walk around the harbor.  At 10:30, we started on a tour of the Sydney Opera House, which finished being built in 1973.  It is a magnificent structure and an icon of Australia.  As with most large projects, it had its controversies (and enormous cost overruns!)  You really can’t appreciate the beauty of it without being next to it.  The interiors are just as impressive as the exterior.  There are six venues inside, including the famous Concert Hall.

After the tour, we grabbed the free lunch which was included with the tour.  Sitting outdoors, looking at the bay and the also famous Sydney Harbor Bridge, we enjoyed our meal.  The temperature was just perfect. The meal not so perfect, free did not include dessert. Oh well, we are sure we can find some gelato on the boulevard.

At 1 pm, we sat down to enjoy our show, “Pride and Prejudice…Sort Of”, which is a hilarious, irreverent, and current take on Jane Austen’s book, showcasing the enormous changes in society between the 1813 time period it was written in and today, as well as the unfortunate similarities.  We laughed non-stop at the absurdities of the dialog and the adaptations of 1970’s pop songs.  A good time was had by all.  (Well, not all.  At intermission, an older couple got up and, as they passed us, the lady fumed that her husband had fallen asleep at yet another play!  She was livid and vowed to NEVER take him to another venue again!  They did not return after the intermission.)

After the play, we wandered around the nearby park and through its arboretum, enjoying the birds and the views of the water, the bridge, and the opera house.  We sat for a while and enjoyed the spectacular sunset over the two icons.  When we started heading back, we found that there was a wrought iron gate which now closed off the trail through the arboretum!  We were on one side screaming “Let us in!  Let us in!” while there were people on the other side screaming “Let us out!  Let us out!”  All of us were confused and trying to figure out how to get back to our destinations.  We took the long way home.  Along the way, we stopped for dinner at a large building with several restaurants.  We saw one that said “Bavarian” on the sign, so we went in.  Burgers and wings were on the menu (as well as one schnitzel dish) and rugby was on every television.  “Bavarian” in Australian is apparently “Sports Bar” in American.  Nonetheless, dinner was good and we made it back to our hotel.

Oh, yes, our hotel.  It is a charming historic building with beautiful rooms.  Our room, unfortunately, did not come with an ensuite.  We have to go into the hall and through another door to the shared bathroom.  The good news is that we only share the bathroom with one other guest room, which was empty our first night.  The bad news is that our guest room door is heavy, with a strong closer, so you best bring your key with you if you try to go to the bathroom at 1 am!  We rigged up a system whereby we hung a hand towel near the door and wedged it in to keep the door open a crack when we needed to step outside the room.  Crude, but it works!  Tonight, there are 2 people in the room next door.  We’ll keep our fingers crossed. We didn’t notice the camera in the hallway until Day2, but fortunately the space between our room and the bathroom is hidden underneath a narrow stairwell. The hotel, on the plus side, is centrally located and we can walk just about anywhere we want, from the older section known as The Rocks, to the newer and touristy section along the boulevard leading up to the Sydney Opera House. Perfect, since we didn’t want to drive in the city. Tomorrow sees us head off to the mountains to do a bit of hiking.

07/23-25/2026 – Been there, done that….. but down for it again!

Happy July 23^rd and 25^th! (but not July 24^th, as that day disappeared for us once we crossed the International Dateline.)  Have you been to the Land Down Under, where women glow and men plunder? Okay, not quite the same as the song from Men At Work, but, hey! close enough. Coming back to Australia for the first time since COVID kicked us out in 2020, we had a similar itinerary, but hopefully with better results. After the long and arduous journey to get here, we finally arrived and deplaned. Dave – ever the thoughtful planner – had our route via train from the airport to the local station all planned out. You know what they say about the best laid plans J  ….trains from the airport were not running today. So, pivoting, we took a shuttle van to the hotel. Arriving way early – like 0900 – we could not check in, but they graciously let us drop off our luggage and we set off to enjoy the day and, most importantly, to NOT FALL ASLEEP. It is always best to combat jet lag by moving until bedtime, so that is what we did.  We started moving, and moving, and then some more moving.

First stop is we headed off to find the church for mass this weekend. A mere two blocks later we stopped at St. Patrick’s Church in the heart of Sydney and decided that a 6 pm vigil mass was our best option. We then decided to find the “Crown” a large building with a crown at the top. Along the way we traversed the path by the Sydney harbor where we gawked at the crowds and found it amusing when we ran into a kitschy area that was reminiscent of Clifton Hills, Canada, Pigeon Forge, or a G-rated Vegas. Opting to turn around, we headed back to the hotel, stopping along the way for frozen yogurt at “Yo Chi’s” and then a bit later for some Japanese homemade noodles. Finally back at our hotel, we found that our room was ready and our bags were already in the room waiting for us.  Settling in we decided to relax for a few hours, but then we realized we were both ready to fall asleep and 2 pm was way too early for that, so off we headed to find some more future destinations.

Heading in the opposite direction, we soon found the Sydney Opera House.  Unlike the last time we were here, it was actually open today. We wandered around finding our next future destination:  the meeting point tomorrow for our “Inside Tour” of the opera house. After finding the tour spot, we wandered around and planned our lunch for tomorrow at the theatre.  We decided the Midden looked good. After lunch we have tickets to see a play, “Pride and Prejudice…sort of” – apparently a comedy based off the not-so-comedic book by Jane Austin.  Now having planned tomorrow out, we pondered what to continue to do today. Well, a cold drink and some people watching on a bench sounded like a good idea. Settling in we sipped out diet cokes and proceeded to watch the people wandering by us. We were trying to count how many different languages we heard just passing by our bench. It was a nice, lovely time for just the two of us… that was until Dave had an entire family settle in right next to him on the bench.  Then the rest of the gang stood in front of him while they licked their ice cream cones and had a lively conversation in Hindi *we think*.  Time to ease on down, ease on down the road.

Wandering back we stopped at the hotel, got cleaned up and headed for 6 pm mass. The church was beautiful and just seeing the inside was amazing. We then settled into a pew and waited for mass to start.  Yes we were early. Again the bed in the hotel room is dangerous when trying to avoid jet lag. It did give us time to try and determine what saints were depicted in the statues lined high above us on the sandstone walls. Apparently the traditional saint statues were imported from France in the early 1900’s. Yep, that is all we know. One of the statues we were pretty sure is Joan of Arc.  Since they came from France, yup – that checks out.

Last thing on the list: dinner at Hungry Jack’s (or Burger King as it is known in the US.) A small simple meal and we finally felt it was safe enough to go back to the hotel. Clean up and get ready for bed. A bit before nine pm, the snores were bouncing off the walls in the historic hotel located in the heart of Sydney.