Making Tracks

A lot has happened in the past two weeks. We have driven our RV over 3800 miles to the left coast and parked it in Gig Harbor, WA. Two American Airlines flights, 20 hours, and over 8000 miles later, we are in Sydney, AU, a land down under, and exhausted.

After checking in at the hotel, we have a mission. Although we got spotty sleep on the flight, we cannot allow ourselves to crash. The jet lag has to be defeated so we started exploring the Woolloomooloo district where we are staying.

We got maps from the bell desk and went looking for the water. It looked only about a ten minute walk away. Fifteen minutes later, we realize we went the wrong way. Oh well, we got to see the ANZAC Memorial, a revered

ANZAC Memorial

place here, and found a grocery store very close to our hotel where we got some needed supplies.

Finally, about 10pm Sydney time, about 44 hours since we woke up in our RV to start this adventure, it is time to crash. After a good eight hour sleep, we are refreshed and the jet lag seems to have dissipated. We have gotten Ellyn's cell phone onto the local phone system, with internet data to last us for the next three weeks, and we have gotten a pair of Opal cards to let us use the public transportation system.

Good to go, we plan a walking and train ride to the water front. Sydney Harbor is amazing! There is the bridge, the opera house, and lots of boats! There is a cruise ship tied up where ours will probably be in three weeks. Next, we got on a ferry and headed out to the zoo. The Taronga Zoo has many of the Australian animals we hope to eventually see in the wild on our tour. They also have many of the African

A Zoo with a View

animals you expect to see in a large zoo. We did a lot of walking and it is very hilly there but it was good to get back in shape a bit after all the sitting we did in the RV for those two weeks crossing the US.

Now we have one day to get our luggage sorted out before we fly to Melbourne to start the tour. It is still about 17 days until our cruise sets out, and we've got a lot more to see here in a land down under.