Week 1: Sydney and surrounding areas

After 48 hours of traveling which took us to Toronto (thanks Ang and the Kelley boys for the fun visit!), LA, and Auckland, we arrived in Sydney, Australia on January 31^st.

It was bloody hot, but we weren’t complaining. In fact, Sydney had been experiencing a heat wave prior to our arrival and during our time there the heat never let up.

We had 9 wonderful days in Sydney staying with Chris’ brother Jason and his girlfriend, Ziggy, who live in North Bondi, as in the infamous Bondi Beach, which has many parallels with Venice Beach, California – lots of hot, tanned people, for most of whom, the beach and beach culture is a major part of their lives.

We spent much of the week beaching at various places along the east coast in and around Sydney. Some highlights were visiting Manly Beach, snorkeling at Cabbage Tree Beach where we saw some interesting marine life (don’t want to scare you with the details, but don’t worry, they were harmless, so long as you left them alone), and visiting Taronga Zoo where Aimee saw her first kangaroos (‘roos) and koalas.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Koala says Relax

During our time in Sydney, Steve, Chris’ other brother came all the way from Denmark, Western Australia (WA) for the week to take in the sights and visit. This was the first time the Ruddick boys were all together since our wedding 4.5 years ago, so this was quite special.

This past weekend saw the 5 of us road trip to Jervis Bay, about 3 hours south of Sydney. We camped at the most beautiful site full of kangaroos, parrots, and angry, but harmless possums. At Jervis Bay, we swam and snorkeled at what was likely the most beautiful beach we have ever seen, perhaps even better than some we encountered in Hawaii. The water was so warm and crystal clear and the sand so white – it felt like paradise.

Cricket anyone?

Don't ask..something about "tanning thighs..."

On day 2, we decided to venture further south and visit Termiel. This place has special meaning for Chris and his brothers as they had camped on this beach for 6 weeks 20 years ago when they lived in Australia. While on his very first surf (very first wave even), Chris had the misfortune of being stabbed by Jason’s board between his toes. This required a trip to the emergency in Ulladulla, about 30 km away for a (not so) quick repair of a few stitches. Fortunately (for Chris and Aimee both), he’ll be back on the water within 72 hours.

Before...

After...

What a great sport :)

The timing on this one wasn’t great as we were scheduled to leave Sydney the next day for WA, and what would be the “windsurfing portion” of this trip. If you know Chris well, you know that windy conditions + no windsurfing = CRANKY!

We had a great time in Sydney, but left again this morning for Perth, WA. We’re on the plane as we write this entry and Chris got to board early because of his booboo (hehe). While in WA, Chris plans to do plenty of windsurfing and Aimee lots of snorkeling. We’re staying in a windsurfing hostel for the next few days and then will rent a campervan for 2 weeks which will serve as our home and transport. Hopefully we won’t kill each other by the end of it. Steve will join us tomorrow in WA.

Special thanks to J and Zig for their hospitality, and for Steve to make the journey across Australia to see us.

Cheers!

a&c