Sydney

We decided to visit this part of the planet when dear friends of ours moved to Sydney last November. It was a great inspiration to travel to a place we'd otherwise not visit because of the distance.

Our friends live in the center of a happening neighborhood so we went to a great breakfast place. Since we are all up early, we could sit outside in the brilliant Sydney sunshine.

The weather in Sydney is like LA weather. If the population of LA had grown significantly in the early 1900’s and if the Pacific Ocean moved inward through the city of LA, these cities would feel quite similar. Sydney doesn’t have the pollution though. The people seem fit and health conscious. There are endless restaurants and endless sunshine, palm trees and summer breezes from the water. 

After breakfast, we walked to a nearby park and then to a ferry that took us past the Sydney Opera house and delivered us to the fancy Rocks District. We went under the famous Harbor Bridge -- we could see people walking over the top of the bridge which is apparently a popular thing to do.

parents and kids on the ferry

you probably haven't seen this before. 

Our friends recently moved to a place with a pool and the kids enjoyed playing with their kids. We took it easy and just enjoyed being in a home. It felt so spacious after the campervan.

Monday we moved slowly and finally got out to the incredible Taranga zoo. The zoo was founded in 1916! It's 69 acres and filled with animals we had never seen.. and many we'd never heard of. The zoo has an amazing city view. Sydney (like London -- not like LA) has lots of amazing waterfront parks and green spaces. The Brits seemed to understand that the public needs space to hang out around natural beauty.

the zoo has a gondola. jack was cranky here.

they have a ropes course for kids, another for older kids, and one for adults.

wombat

koala!

view from the Sumatra tiger area

view from bridge built in 1916 that leads to the waterfront by the zoo.

Tuesday morning, we got up early to fly to Airlie Beach, Queensland, our launch point to see the Great Barrier reef.  We took an Uber to the airport. The Uber driver chatted with Ryan (in the front seat). Ryan told him we were going up to the GBR and he mentioned that the reef is actually repairing itself. Mother nature is a lot more resilient than we give her credit for.  He talked a bit about the Australian economy which he said was not as flexible as the US economy. Somehow the topic of California was brought up and when Ryan mentioned the population of CA was 39 million, the driver replied 'aren't most of those illegals?'

Other nonsense was reported to us but the point is how small the world has become in some ways. Ryan reminded me that Rupert Murdoch was born in Australia. This is not a liberal country. It occurred to me that citizens of other countries might read Breitbart. The driver was spouting the same far-right talking points that I hear on Fox news. How did he hear that stuff? 

My friend and I went to a mall on Monday -- the mall had a Target. Walking around I thought I could be in the US. All of the people dressed the same as Americans. They are ethnically diverse like Americans.  I guess this is what Tom Friedman has been talking about for 20 years. Globalization has made the world smaller.