Last Weekend in Sydney

For our last weekend in Sydney, we had one beautiful sunny day and one cloudy rainy day. This is fairly representative of the weather we've had throughout the trip!

Saturday we drove to the Blue Mountains to check out the "3 sisters" at Echo Point. We stopped at a few other view points along the way including the waterfall at Wentworth. At each lookout there were mountains and valleys for as far as you can see.

Sunday we went to the Chinese Garden at Darling Harbour in Sydney. In addition to the plantings, sculptures and out buildings, we saw many huge spider webs. They are amazing to look at. It started to rain while we were there, so we hid out in one of the buildings by the coy fish pond. The fish were active and partially jumping out of the water. It was a great show.

While SPie napped on Sunday, we packed up the toys that we aren't taking on the trip home. We thought she might be upset when she woke up, but she hasn't seemed to notice yet!

SPie did notice the fireworks that were set off on the harbour behind our building last night. She buried her head under the blankets in bed and needed Sherp and I to climb in with her until they were over. Oops - maybe she was a little young for fireworks...

The "3 sisters" are the 3 peaks.


Chinese Garden fish:

Counting Down

There are only 9 days until we leave Australia and head for home! We are ready. It's been a great experience, but now that it's time to go, we just want to go. We've already mailed all of our holiday cards and Christmas/Australia gifts and shipped most of our belongings. We've donated clothes and have people designated to receive the other things we won't use and don't want to ship (i.e., flour sugar, nail polish remover, SPie's tricycle). Our suitcases are packed except for the clothes and toiletries we need for the next 9 days. The only thing left to do is pack and ship SPie's toys. We are looking forward to heading back to the states!

Fireworks

Last weekend there was a tree lighting event at Darling Harbour. A stage was setup on the water with singers and kid's characters (i.e., Bob the Builder). Santa arrived on jet skis with sparklers coming off the back and everyone sang Christmas carols. Our main reason for going was the fireworks show.

We live nearby the Harbour and whenever there are fireworks we can hear them and see reflections on the buildings nearby. I wanted SPie to see the fireworks for herself so she'll understand what it is the next time we hear them (with the warm weather it seems like there are fireworks at every big event on the harbour). Overall she did ok, but they were too loud. She spent most of the time hiding her face and repeating, "I'm ok. I'm fine." The next morning one of the first things she said was, "No more fireworks." It was a short show, so I don't think we've scared her off fireworks forever, but I doubt she'll want to go outside the next time we hear them.