Curbing Our Enthusiasm

       We will eventually buy a car here once we figure out where we'll live.  We're hoping that we live somewhere that Chris can use public transportation to get to and from work.  Many houses only have one parking space and the street parking is a bit harrowing due to the narrow, windy roads and need for parallel parking.  But for now, we are getting around on the buses, ferries and taxis. 
        Today though, we decided to explore some areas in which we may want to house hunt and decided it would be easiest with a car.  After a quick trip to Avis downstairs (everything seems to be in this building), Chris headed off in a Ford Falcon alone.  With the three of us safely at home, Chris was soon texting that it was "a piece of cake."  Um, yeah.
       Actually, he did a great job and I am glad it was not me behind the wheel yet.  The roads here seem much narrower than streets at home and are lined with cars on both sides.  So, you frequently have to pull over to let a car by you or pull into the opposite lane to get around parked vehicles.  Not a big deal if you aren't already concentrating on driving in the "wrong" lane and not really knowing where you are going.  Can you tell this is my biggest hangup about being here?  I think I'll have to just jump in soon and get on with it. 
         We headed to an area called Balmain which was formerly an industrial and working class center but now has become a hip neighborhood with character and great harbor views.  It would be a fairly quick ferry ride to work for Chris but there are few properties available.  From there we went north to Seaforth, Fairlight and Mosman, checking out the amazing views along the way.  We had lunch in Mosman, wound our way back across the harbor, and then went east to the beaches on the Pacific.  By the time we rode around Bondi Beach, I was sleepy and didn't take any photos.  Another day. 

        Did I mention that Chris hit (hard) various curbs (all on my side) 5 times today?  It was a little nervewracking after the first couple.  He was even surprised the tire didn't blow at one point.  So, I'm giving him some grief with this title and just hoping he's not in the car with me counting the first day that I drive!





These interesting pools can be found frequently down here.
It's essentially just a blocked off part of the harbor with naturally circulating harbor water...
but no harbor sealife. This one's in Balmain.

These impressive fig trees are all over. 

Entrance to Sydney harbor from the Pacific Ocean as seen from Grotto Point.

Balmoral Beach, a beautiful harbor beach, in Mosman.  You can see the tip of the Harbor Bridge in the upper right corner. 

Breaks from driving around are necessary!

That's our apartment in the center background.  "Stairway to the sky" as coined by the kids.




       

A Manly Kind of Day

       Needing to do something other than think about our housing search, we decided to enjoy summer and hit the beach.  We took the ferry over to Manly, a Sydney suburb just north of the entrance to Sydney Harbor.  It was a gorgeous day and the ferry ride was a great way to experience the harbor.



Who you calling a Ho?  We watched a plane sky writing while on the ferry.  It eventually said "Honda Sale" but the inital letters cracked us up.

 There are numerous ferries in Sydney; this one was about a 30 minute ride.  Once in Manly, we got some lunch and headed to the beach.  The beach was packed and the Manly Surf Carnival was underway.  This is a competition between surf life saving clubs from beaches all over Australia.  Having never seen anything like it before, we found it quite interesting to try to figure out what they were doing exactly.  Teams competed in individual and team life saving events involving swimming, boating and even marching.  The contestants were super-fit and rather amazing to watch compete.  The Australian sun is no joke, especially to folks coming directly from a particularly cold winter.  So, our beach time was limited but we all are looking forward to a return trip to Manly.  We'd even like to live there but it is a bit far as far as a commute for Chris goes and is notoriously not dog friendly (for rental properties).  Go figure.  Bummer.




Manly Beach, looking north.

One of the teams practicing their marching before the competition.

Had to practice using the new zoom lens.

Had to practice again.

These narrow kayaks are called surf skis.

Lots of sailboats were out on the return ferry ride.  (for you, Rich)

        A few observations thus far:
       Australians are just incredibly friendly - even the Customs Agents at the airport
       Lots more smoking than in the US which the kids find bizarre.
       The city and surrounding areas are gorgeous and we are loving exploring the area.

Next up: We're renting a car so that we can explore some different neighborhoods.  Wish us (Chris) luck with driving on the left! 

House Hunting

         Today we spent several hours, and most of our available energy, looking at 7 properties in Sydney, primarily in an area called Mosman.  Mosman has good public schools, is not too far from Chris's office, and is close to shops and a beautiful harbor beach.  But - rental property is pretty scarce in Sydney right now and very expensive.  We were hoping for something with 3 or 4 bedrooms, close to school and decently clean/updated.  We saw a number of fairly old homes with strangely disjointed spaces, poor bathroom arrangments, and too many years of built up grime (and too many spiders according to Mia).  Sam's favorite place had a pool but was very old with a crazy floor plan.  Mia's favorite had 4 levels and was like living in a tree house.  The "fabulous water view" turned out to be a corner of some body of water that looked like a drainage pond.  Kind of funny but kind of disappointing too.  I didn't get many photos; I was trying to concentrate on looking around before the jet lag sleepiness kicked in!   We'll keep looking.
         It was great to get to see some of Sydney's neighborhoods.  It's a very appealing city visually and seems very clean overall.

Friday afternoon sailboat races as seen from our window. 

       

A Dee-luxe Apartment in the Sky (that's for you Trey)

We made it here! Our internet access was not working well so we’ve been slow to update.

The flight from LA to Sydney was supposed to leave at 10:20 Pacific time which is 1:20 AM Eastern time. So, we were all really tired by the time the flight should have left. We boarded and the kids were thrilled with their seats, which reclined fully, the entertainment set-up complete with their own remote and headphones, and the amount of space. We settled in, taxied out part of the way to the runway and stopped - for almost an hour. The lights kept flickering and we were told that we had to return to the gate to see if they could solve a light issue and to get some more fuel (no complaints about that but did we really use that much sitting for an hour?). We spent another hour at the gate while they tried to reload software to get the lights at the back of the plane to turn off. Sam fell asleep and stayed that way for 5-6 hours. We took off two hours late at 3:15 AM Eastern time. Sam, Chris and Mia were completely reclined and asleep for take off. Our seats faced backwards which made for a unique takeoff experience, at least for me, the only person awake enough to experience it.
We flew United in Business class and I would definitely recommend it. Plenty of space, seats that go fully flat, decent food, good (enough) entertainment. The kids were amazing!! They slept, let us sleep, watched TV and movies, and really didn’t complain at all. Can’t ask for more than that. We arrived in Sydney later than planned, around 9:30 AM. Our trip through customs was quick and uneventful, just a bit tricky to negotiate 12 bags with two tired kids. Should we really let Mia drive a cart full of suitcases? Our prearranged taxi (minivan) with luggage trailer was waiting. The kids found it highly amusing for Chris to sit where he usually sits but not be driving!

For the next several weeks we will stay in a furnished apartment until we find a place to live. Check this place out on the 77^th floor! You know how wild your kids go when you get to a hotel room? You can imagine…



Chris's new office as seen from the apartment building.



　
Our plan for the rest of the day was to keep the kids awake so that they’d sleep at bedtime. Not so easy but we did manage without any meltdowns. We had some lunch, spent some time at the bank getting accounts worked out, then walked over to Circular Quay to see the Harbor, Harbor Bridge and Opera House.
　

After a taxi ride back to the apartment (no more walking for tired kids), we grabbed a few groceries, had dinner and they slept easily for the next 10 hours. A great first day.
Next up - we go house/apartment hunting.

Just Landed!

14 flight hours and a 2 hour delay in LA later, we've arrived in Sydney. Some sleep, some reading, and a lot of movies and TV later, we're here in one piece!










- Posted from my iPhone

15 hours to go - woo hoo

Last leg of the trip to Sydney. It's 12:50 EST. The excited energy will have to wear off soon, but the kids are still going strong.




- Posted from my iPhone

The journey continues

Leg 2 from Chicago. That's our 757 in the background.








Posted from my iPhone

Location:Access Rd,Chicago,United States