Sydney Highlights

Sydney, NSW, Australia

Since we couldn't actually get into the campground last night (due to the locked gate), we simply parked on the residential street right outside to camp. As a result, when we drove in this morning and found our campsite, Dex and I went out to explore the narrow spit of sand near the campground and along the bay.

Dex with five shells

Breakfast company

It was yet another wet, drizzly morning. For the second day, we were looking for an indoor activity, so Meg called to arrange a tour of the world famous opera house. As usual, our camp neighbors were awesome. They were a young couple from Holland with their 15 month old, little Max, and we were just a little envious of their slightly larger camper van. [Meg's Note: There was something about Little Max that was very Dex-like when he was that age. He was a golden boy with blonde hair and a very easy-going demeanor. I could have kept Max!]

Once on the road, for the hour long trip into the city, we amused ourselves by making up new verses to the Kookaburra song.

Kookaburra sits on Mommy’s head

Pulling out hairs to make a bed

Ow, Kookaburra, ow, Kookaburra

Hey that's part of me!

Kookaburra sits on the old paved road

Talking to his good old friend the toad

Chat, Kookaburra, chat, Kookaburra

Oh what friends are we

Kookaburra sits on a roadway sign

His feet start to hurt so he starts to whine

Cry, Kookaburra, cry, Kookaburra

Oh how they must hurt

One thing I definitely learned today is that parking in Sydney Is a total pain in the patootie! After dropping Meg, Dex and Kylie off, I spent an hour and a half trolling the narrow streets looking for a magical space to appear. To be fair our 2.65m high van made things a bit harder -- essentially all parking garages were off limits, I know, I tried. Be forwarned, only a masochist should bring a camper van into downtown on a weekday. Lesson learned.

Our Opera House tour was really quite interesting.  We learned that an international competition was held for the design of the building in 1957. An unusual concept by Danish architect Jorn Utzon was originally discarded, but then re-examined and selected at the last minute. The iconic design actually went through many iterations -- the original drawings showed an open design with no external walls and there had been no engineering consideration for how the famous roof line could be built or supported. Each section of the sail-like roof was eventually redesigned as a segment of perfect sphere which greatly simplified the construction process. However, ballooning costs and construction delays made the whole effort extremely controversial. Started in 1958, it was finally completed in 1973 with Queen Elizabeth residing at the grand opening.

After the tour, we wandered a few blocks away and managed to achieve a major milestone. Finally, after almost two months, we were at last able to satisfy Dex's quest for a crepe. (We had failed to do so in Luang Prabang in January and ended up with a very unhappy son.) Today, the Four Frog’s Creperie came to the rescue. Yeah!

Dex finally gets his crepe!

Our evening agenda included dinner plans with Bec, a woman we had met at Gorak Shep, near the Everest Base Camp in Nepal. We arranged to meet her at Circular Quay on her way back home from work and take the ferry together back to Manly. We joked that we weren't sure we'd recognize her as during our last meeting we were all bundled up in the lodge with stocking caps permanently affixed to our heads. It was great to see each other again. Bec does marketing and promotional work for a couple different charities in the city. I also hadn't known that she comes from an extraordinary large family. With five older and five younger siblings she landed squarely in the middle.

It was great to get caught up on what we each have been up to. She quizzed the kids on their favorite country, food and experience while we were able ask about her family, job and post-Nepal trip to India. As has been the case time and time again on this trip, we feel very fortunate to have met Bec and to have had the chance to spend time with her. We extended an offer to stay with us if ever she is in California. If our luck holds out, 1744 Fallbrook will be a very busy place when we return.