Insider's visit to Sydney

Sydney is a beautiful city. Some neighborhoods remind me of London. There are row houses everywhere then a high street with cool restaurants and shops, little grocery stores, and lots of people.

My friends had arranged for a sitter the night we returned from Airlie Beach. We went to a vegan wood-fired pizza place. It was really good food. Then we had gelato at a hip gelato place that looked a like a night club. Interesting vibe but it worked. 

lots of cool murals here -- this was near the pizza place

Today we visited the science museum. They had an exhibit called Future Park. There were many different large digital scenes all over the walls. They provided drawings of people, animals, buildings or whatever each scene called for. You colored your person and then scanned it into the people scene. Then your person came to life. 

my person for the village

dancing with her new friends

balls that changed color when they collided

transportation village

 I also colored an alligator with pink and yellow stripes. I scanned it then watched it slither across the sea life scene. Entertaining.

Since we are staying with friends, this part of our visit is quite different from the New Zealand part of the trip.  Our kids spend most of their time with our friends’ kids who are 7, 9, & 11. We don’t need to plan much as we are staying in a home. The grocery store is nearby and our friends know where to go. Our kids no longer complain. They don’t fight much either because they have other people to interact with now. This is the reason I did this trip. Anytime I have the opportunity to travel with friends, I’ll do it. Our family dynamic is much more mellow when we are with other families especially when our kids get along so well with theirs. 

Sydney has pretty amazing indoor pools for when the weather is crummy. Crummy weather is the too-hot summer weather apparently.  Jack was intrigued by the stories of the big slides and cool features, so we visited the Ryde Aquatic center. 

It was nice to get out of the sun for a bit. The kids ran around while I listened to a podcast called Lovett or Leave it. Everybody wins.

When we got home from the pool, the kids jumped into the pool at our friends' apartment. Lots of pool time.

This is a random tangent but I learned the Australian economy has not had a recession in 26 years. They’ve had 2-3% growth every year. After the 2008 crash, the government apparently infused the economy with enough cash that it didn’t dive. 

Back to our activities: Today, it was projected to be 97 degrees today so we headed to Manly beach. This is a large, very popular beach especially when it is hot hot hot. The beach has a very strong undertow so swimming is only allowed in very narrow stretches of the beach where life guards can see everyone. Apparently the other famous Sydney beach, Bondi, has a similarly rough current. There is a reality TV show about all the people the Bondi life guards save from drowning. 

We played in the beach for several hours. This consisted of being knocked down by the waves and counting to 5 about 200 times ( 5 kids in our group ). I really didn't mind because it was nice to be cool. The water was probably 75 degrees but it felt cold compared to the air.

After the beach, we had another amazing vegan treat at a gluten-free bakery.  Kate and I shared a snickers donut and a "couch potato" donut ( a chocolate chip donut with chocolate glaze with potato chips covered in chocolate and sea salt on the top). The donuts were so extraordinarily good that I wrote a google review.

Last night, we had a sitter again so we went out! We went to another vegetarian restaurant. They served asian-style tapas and beer from their own small-brewed batches. I am surprised Seattle doesn't have more extraordinary vegetarian places. It's very impressive what Australians can do with vegetables. We sat next to a loud group of gay men who were drinking a lot and thus were very loud. One of our friends told us the loudest dude reminded them of this guy:

I can't tell how much this attitude dominates Australian culture. It is something they seem to share with the US though. I've been surprised at how many anti-government types I've interacted with here. They all fit a similar profile -- middle aged - older worker class white men. They seem to make their feelings known very quickly because I obviously don't know these people. 

I have not seen anyone asking for money here. I didn't see it in NZ either. I have seen a few homeless people but no obviously mentally ill people either. That doesn't mean they don't exist of course. It is just that you'd only have to go to one Seattle tourist attraction to see that part of our society in full. It must be really shocking to tourists. I quickly get used to not seeing that level of suffering. It's a nice break.