Anzac War Memorial

In Hyde Park there is a beautiful monument to the fallen soldiers of World War I and II called Anzac War Memorial.

Chinese New Year's Parade

Having a good time watching the Parade.







Bear got to meet a very cool traffic police officer and look at his car.








This was the crowd behind us. It was amazing to me how many people were out there.




I love these dragons! They are my favorite!!






There were so many people we could not get to the curb so I held my iPad up and watched the parade through that.





We were luck and got to go see the final celebration of the Chinese New Year in the form of a really cool parade.
It is the year of the snake.

We got dressed up and looked like the tourist we are. K-Cars and Matt look good.

Coffee & tea

In every place we've stayed there has been an electric kettle. Tea is very big here. I have been drinking instant coffee. I brought along my favorite white chocolate hot chocolate to add to my coffee. I have been adding it to instant coffee every morning. It's not bad and significantly better than no coffee. I have discovered the joy of a good cappuccino. Here they sprinkle powdered chocolate on the top of it. It is lovely!!! I do not know if that is how they do it back home or not.

At the house I am staying in now they have a cappuccino machine, I don't know how to use it. damn it! I do not want to risk damaging someone else's stuff with my incompetence. This mountain retreat belongs to one of Kendra's co-workers and it is lovely.

Both Bear & K-Cars prefer a mocha when having coffee. Bear has been having chai tea and lattes as well the last few days. He's still sleeping, because he is still sick. We are driving from the Blue Mountains today down the south coast. Hopefully laying on the beach will back the sickness out of him.

It is raining and has been all night. It's a soft and soothing sound.

Bronte Beach

Bronte Beach is very small beach and as a result has really rough waves and a strong rip tides. It was exhausting just being in the water trying to float. It was as K-Cars says "Full On"! It was scary how hard it was to keep my head above the waves. Bear loved it!

We met K-Cars good friend Bianca who enjoys playing in the ocean as well. K used to live in Bronte for three years and was in the ocean there daily.

Night view of Sydney

On our way back from Manly Beach the harbor was lit up so beautifully I took tons of pictures. Here are just a few.

Hyde Park

Hyde Park is a lovely spot we walked trough almost every day we were in Sydney. It is huge with majestically huge trees providing great shade. There are Museums and St. Mary's Cathedral on the edge of the park and the Anzac Memorial in the center. The QVB (Queen Victoria Building) is an upscale and impressive shopping center. We had a great coffee there and window shopped.

Walking through this park is very tranquil. It is quite and soothing.

The first picture is a view of the park from the statue of Queen Victoria which Bear, Matt & Kendra are in front of.

The fountain is really impressive with four different statues of warriors.

K-Cars, Matt & Bear are on the edge of Hyde Park right before we went into the Australian Museum.

We started doing action photography while in Hyde Park one morning. The first one is me pushing a tree.

I love the one of Bear wearing a building as a hat!! :-)

k-Cars is being a weather vein, and Matt is holding up Captain Cook.

Bondi Junction & Trains

Bondi junction is an end of the line stop with a great and colorful market just outside the train station. Bondi is also a beach and a vibrant community. We walked to the Bondi Junction, affectionately also refereed to by the locals as The Jungle, after Kendra parked her car for the week. We exchanged our money at the bank behind us in this picture and then took our first train ride.

There is not tons of leg room on the trains, although most of them are two levels. They are quiet and sway gently. It would be super easy to fall asleep and totally miss your stop. Yesterday we took the train an hour to go to Featherdale a wildlife park where we got to feed kangaroos (woot!!!) and get our picture taken with a koala. Both K-Cars and Bear took a nap and I was responsible for noticing when we got to Blacktown, our stop. Thankfully Bear woke up and noticed a sign for Blacktown. I was totally sucked into my book and lulled by the swaying of the train I had not heard any of the announcement made.

K-Cars has a friend that lives up here in the Blue Mountains and commutes by train into the city 2 1/2 hours each way 5 days a week. Holy Smokes!!