Sydney Opera House

The Sydney Opera House is an architectural wonder and a national treasure. They even made an opera here that's called the 8th Wonder of the World. It sure is beautiful; you could sit for hours looking at it and the bridge. It's an incredible experience being here- you almost have to pinch yourself that you're seeing all of this:

There's quite a story behind the building of this structure. It was built in the 1960s with a planned budget of $7 million but went way over at $102 million. It got to a point that the Aussie government stopped payments to the architect to try to control the spending- he left the project all together and it was completed by a totally different firm. There are actually five theatres in total- the Concert Hall (with a seating capacity of 2679, a bit larger than Roy Thomson) and then the Opera, Drama, Playhouse and Studio Theatres. This is one of the top tourist attractions in Australia. Over two million watch performances in the five theatres each year.

The building has 'shells' that make the sides and ceilings of the structure:

Though the shells appear uniformly white from a distance, they actually feature over a million tiles in two colours: glossy white and cream:

Believe it or not, there are over 1 million tiles shipped from Sweden that make up the roofs. From start to finish, it took over 10,000 builders to complete the structure. 

We saw a play here- it was a revival of a 100 year old french farce called 'A Flea in her Ear' with sex, revenge and plain old comedy. It was fun to watch but the experience was surreal. Being in the Opera House watching a performance had a feeling that this was something very, very special.

Not to be outdone, we came out of the theatre to see the Sydney Bridge lit up:

Sydney is certainly a fun, stunning city and we're having a blast!

Sydney- Australia

What a city! With a population of almost 5 million, it's got flavours of Vancouver, New York, Seattle and Toronto all rolled into one. The people are very friendly, it has hundreds of open air restaurants, there are all kinds of chic, high-end and unique stores and the downtown core includes a botanical garden, the Opera House, Macquarie's Point (that reminds you of Vancouver's Stanley Park) and a fabulous waterfront all situated together:

It's also very cosmopolitan, much like Toronto, except for ethnicity. Apparently there was a White Australia policy making it difficult for Asians, particularly Chinese, from entering and working here. These policies were eliminated in the early 1900s but didn't come into full effect till after WW II with the encouragement of first non-British, then non-white immigration. The colour mosaic is not as pronounced here as it is in Toronto.

We're in a downtown section called Potts Point which is quite upscale except for one rather seedy section about 2 blocks away. Apparently this was a favourite spot for US army personnel who were on leave during the Vietnam war. They frequented 'lady pleasure' shops and along with it brought the drug trade. We now have our bearings and we're staying away from there.

We have tickets to the Opera House tomorrow night so it will be interesting to see it upfront. 

Brisbane to Sydney- Australia

The drive from Brisbane to Sydney is 1,000 km along the Pacific Coast Motorway. We thought it would be right by the ocean and we would see miles and miles of beach but the motorway is actually inland 99% of the time. 

During the drive we couldn't get over the number of sugar cane and banana tree farms, then cattle ranches and then miles and miles of woodland like you were driving through Northern Ontario. Then it would open up to the mountain range and ocean and you'd feel like you were on the west coast of Canada.

We stayed on the coast at night and we weren't disappointed: 

Byron Bay- this is a favoured tourist area for Aussies and International travellers. The village motto is "cheer up, slow down, chill out" and there are many surf and tie-tied shops around with a lot of people in bare feet.  Tiny in size (only 5,000 permanent residences), it has some beautiful beaches for surfers and whale watchers. Note the two surfboards (second pic) identifying where it is ok to swim and surf- the guards look out for stingers and sharks.

Coffs Harbour- nice beaches with one in particular for swimming. They have a pier that used to have a train running along the pier out to the ships 100 years ago full of cut trees as forestry was their prime industry.

Nelson Bay- my favourite by far! Quite a cute town with a lot of beaches (note hardly anyone in the water). This was the first village with a harbour for boats and it actually felt a bit like the Boulevard Club.

So far we've driven over 3,400 km and we're still together (that's almost the distance from Toronto to Vancouver) . One negative about the roads are that the signs make it hard to navigate. As you know, we're 2 MBAs with PMPs and Type A personalities 'suggesting' that one is right and the other is wrong. We're ditching the car tomorrow in Sydney for the sake of our journey and our marriage!

Brisbane- Australia

We heard from people who have visited Australia that it feels a bit like Canada and it's true. We didn't notice it as much coming down the coast with the ocean beaches and sugar cane farms but once we got close to Brisbane, the feeling of 'home' got quite real. 

After 3 months of Asia, coming into a city with English as their first language, very little garbage lying around, English street signs, real parking spots and bins to actually put garbage- it has a sense of Canada. We can speak English to Aussies without the translation issue even though the accent confuses me at times.

Brisbane is a delight! With a population of 2.1 million, it's big enough to offer a lot but small enough to keep a charm about it. The city itself has been built around the Brisbane River and there are beautiful condos and office buildings along the river downtown:

You can climb the main bridge and it is lit at night:

Brisbane has the world's largest Koala Sanctuary- which is a true statement but only because koalas live in Australia their sanctuary is the bigger than other cities:

I met Rory, a 2 year old male Koala, weighing about 6 kilos. He seemed cuddly but with sharp claws. His main diet is eucalyptus leaves, he will grow to weigh about 12- 16 kilos and live up to 16 years.

The sanctuary also had a lot of Kangaroos and Wallabees:

The main difference? Kangaroo are generally bigger and have legs which are longer between the knees and the ankles. This makes the legs kind of oversized for kangaroos with respect to their body whereas the wallaby has more compact legs.

They say to watch out on the highways in the mornings and at dusk as they come out at that time; I really hope this doesn't happen to us! Then again, we don't get up early a lot and we're off the road before it's dark. We're retired, remember?

Travelling Down the East Coast of Australia

What a beautiful country. We've travelled just over 1,000 km from Cairns to Rockhampton on the east coast of Australia on our way down to Sydney. The coast is stunning:

There's a large stretch of mountains going down the coast called the Great Dividing Range or Eastern Highlands, the 3rd longest range in the world:

We saw hundreds of sugar cane farms along the way:

Australia currently ranks seventh among world sugar producers. Note the Palm trees in the background, another great visual showing how hot Australia is.

Yesterday we did some trekking (nothing really- about 15 km of trekking the Finch Hatton Gorge in the morning and the Cape Hillsborough National Park in the afternoon). At the National Park there are some gorgeous beaches: 

You will note no-one is in the water, you know why? We later found out it's a great place for stingers. The incredible thing for us was that there were no signs! And if you get stung, you have to pee on it or put vinegar on it immediately or you might go into cardiac arrest. PLUS, we found out later that there are sharks in this area. PLUS, there were warnings of a 4 meter crocodile in the water waiting for someone stupid enough to go in. But we didn't see or hear anything when I did this:

We now know that if there is no-one in the water, it's not just because it's a work day!

Australia- The Great Barrier Reef

We've arrived 'down under'- it's called that because Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere and 'below' many other countries on the globe. Our first stop is Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral system. What a monumental experience.

It's over 2,000 km long (that's like going from Toronto to Winnipeg) and actually made up of around 2600 different reefs that go from the north and down the east side of Australia. It's called a "barrier" reef because in-between the Australian coastline and the reef is a large and deep channel of water.

There are more than 1,500 fish species that live on the reef and there are 6 species of sea turtles that breed here. We went out by boat for a day of snorkelling and it was fantastic:

The real beauty was in seeing the majesty of the reefs and the fish and turtles living together. It was magical:

We saw reefs waving in the ocean and their 'hair' moving back and forth:

We saw hundreds of different kinds of fish eating from the reefs:

The magnificence of The Great Barrier Reef is the size. These reefs seem to go on forever and there is so much sea life. It's one of the best highlights of our journey so far; we wished we had booked more time.

On our boat, we met up with a fantastic group of people who set us straight on a few things regarding Australia and the people. First, Uggs are only for tourists- it's way, way too hot here to wear them anytime. Also, they don't own the word 'Ugg' and there are at least 30 different companies that use the name to sell their 'original' product. And it's always hot in Australia. It goes from hot and tropical (northern Australia) to real hot and hotter in Sydney by Christmas time. A lot of Aussies have never felt snow in their lifetime. 

As for their language, they shorten everything as much as they can. They go for a 'sano' which means sandwich. Have you heard the word Oz? It has nothing to do with the movie. It's short for Australia, then Aussie, then Aus, and then they decided to shorten it again and change the spelling and just say Oz!! They shorten as much as they can and sometimes you can't follow them (plus their accent is hard for me, not as much for Cathy).

We haven't seen any kangaroos or koala bears yet, so there's much more to come!

Beautiful Singapore

Did you know that the island of Singapore is a country? It's actually an "island city state". With 5.6 million people, it's a bit larger than the city of Toronto in population and physical size and it's located between Malaysia and Indonesia. Singapore's downtown is breathtaking:

We had drinks and nibblies on top of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Casino complex:

It's a huge casino, theatre complex and shopping arcade that has a light show by the bay nightly.

And I treated Cathy and Becky to a real Singapore Sling in the Mozza Restaurant and Bar:

They make it to an original recipe of Dry Gin, Cherry Brandy, Benedictine DOM, Lime & Soda.

Singapore has a superb Orchid Garden Park. You don't have to be old to appreciate orchids (even though I'm old now) and it is truly stunning to spend some time walking about:

There is a VIP section where they have developed a particular orchid flower for 'VIPs'. The white orchid was created for Princess Diana and the purple orchid was developed for Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge.

There is so much shopping, it almost looks like one big shopping mall. When we were walking around, I was wondering how the shops could be profitable with such a small population:

But with over 15 million tourists visiting the island yearly, it has all the big name shops here (Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Mont Blanc, Dunhill, Prada and Tiffany & Co to name some). The one negative aspect for a shopaholic like me is that I only have one bag that I'm bringing around the world so the amount I can buy is limited. It breaks my heart seeing all this good stuff because we still have another 30,000 km of trekking to do. I guess window shopping will have to do!

Next up- unfortunately, Becky leaves us after a truly fabulous time in Asia and we fly to Australia!

Foods in Bali

Here's the "Eat" part of the Eat Pray Love book and movie. Not only do people come here to pray and love but there is also a crowd that come here for the food. I am admittedly a meat and potato person so I didn't think I would ever in my wildest dreams willingly go to a raw vegan restaurant and it happened with Cathy and Becky doing the coaxing. Did you know that raw vegan restaurants don't even have ovens? Here's what we had-

On the right is a cold quiche made with no pastry or egg or ham or cheese. That's because everything is raw. It's nothing that I could possibly describe as far as taste but the lettuce beside it tasted like a salad.

The top plate they called cannelloni but there was no pasta or cheese or meat and it wasn't cooked because- per above- raw vegans don't cook (I wonder if it's a lazy thing?) The pretend pasta was sliced zucchini. 

And the plate on the left was what they called pizza. Instead of pizza dough, the base was some kind of flax seed crust and green crap and the toppings I'm not even going to guess at (I told Becky that she will never- ever- have time with me in a raw vegan restaurant again in my lifetime).

To make up for this disaster, we went to a Bali cooking class and had some excellent food:

                                

 

For appetizers we did a mixed cooked vegetable Sayur Urab (something I could eat), then sweet and sour Tempe (even though it was Tofu I ate it all), Tuna with Sambal Matah (raw sauce), Bali Satay and Balinese Chicken Curry (like a sweet and sour) with Black Rice Pudding for dessert.

The sauce and spices were fabulous. It's different than Indian, Thai or Vietnamese spices and really tasty. 

The food is quite reasonable price-wise. The downside is that beer is the preferred drink, wine is not generally available (probably due to the heat and importing it in) and you have to look at menus before going in for sparkling water versus soda water.

Next up- Singapore

Bali- Fact and Fiction

Bali is one of 3 places in the book and movie Eat, Pray, Love. Julia Roberts was the star of the movie staying at a gorgeous real cheap villa, the scenery was breathtaking, the people seemed wonderful and it looked like paradise. Being here for a while now, things have somewhat changed since the book was published in 2006. Here's an update-

Fact or Fiction- you ride a bike to get around

Fiction- you almost can't find a pedal bike. Motorbikes have taken over the road thanks mainly to the Chinese cheap bikes. In fact, we've seen thousands and thousands of motorbikes and only a dozen or so bikes. We did see a small tour operator in Ubud offering electric bikes with a back-up golf cart for those who get tired (they said it's primarily for the Chinese who come over thinking they can just get on a bike and pedal- and when they can't stay up, they just pack it in and travel the road by golf cart!)

Fact of Fiction- the scenery is breath-taking

Outside of the major cities, it's a fact. There are terraced rice fields and all kinds of vegetables and spices growing along flats and hillsides:

But in Denpasar, Ubud and Sanur it's pretty well like anywhere else in Asia- just big with lots of people.

Fact or Fiction- people come here to find their inner peace and balance

Fact. There are a lot of yoga and retreat centres here, like the one we stayed in. And Julia stayed at an Ashram much like the one we had across the street from where we were:

In an Ashram, you have chores to do and you stay for free or a minimal amount to yoga and contemplate the meaning of life. It's noted that the younger crowd were staying for weeks and months (you wonder how they manage it with real life).

Fact or Fiction- villas like the one Julia rented are reasonable

It depends on 'reasonable'. For Julia, she hasn't made a picture in the last 10 years less than $20 million, so around $500- $600 U.S. per night is probably reasonable. But we didn't see any like this. Bali is inexpensive compared to other Asian countries but there are no 'reasonable' villa deals, although food is cheap.