Alix says:
Yay to blue skies and sunshine!  

Colin and I are kickin’ it here for a couple weeks in the lovely lair of our dear friend Andrew, aka dogdogplatinumfox.  We could not be happier!  Three years ago the dog left NYC and Boston for Sydney and he has never returned, making it splendid to hang with him!

It’s about 15-18 degrees celsius, so in the 60’s Fahrenheit…..sunny and somehow there seem to be a lot of people out and about considering it’s a Tuesday afternoon.  Sydney is bustling with all it’s harbors and the central downtown right on the water, nice to sit out on the harbor while eating lunch eh?  Also a bit hilly in some areas, kinda San Fransisco-ish.  Modern, tall glass buildings and classic British colonial buildings are all of downtown which is a cool juxtaposition (sp?), and lots of trees and little parks – a big plus.  The buses are like our NYC subway, quick and extensive and all the streets have a bus-only lane so it’s speedy when the other cars are stuck in traffic.  Anyway, public transport is a big plus

Ok so we did a lot of the major things- the Opera House, strolling around the Rocks, watching boats under the Harbor Bridge (which we’re gonna climb one of these days..), Darling Harbor, walking thru the Botanic Gardens was dope because all the birds flying around are parrots – it’s so nutty!  I mean, not really Toucan Sam parrots, but parrot-y, cool colors.  There’s a lot of tropic lush-ness in general, then next to super tall deciduous trees….interesting.  Also hanging from the trees around the Gardens were all these bats!  Hanging upside down sleeping, sometimes spreading their wings and squawking.  They are fruit bats, so they fly around in the night to gardens and such eating fruits and berries.  We saw ‘em later in the night and it was cool to see these bat silhouettes against the moonlight, like Batman! 

Monorail around the CBD (central business district) is kinda BladeRunner and sleek!  And the Centenial spear, looks like it’s outta the Jetsons and at the top is a spinning restaurant and great city views (side note: in the restaurant at the top of the Needle in Seattle my stepdad, sister and I stopped the restaurant from spinning!!  No joke.)

The little green guy on the crosswalk sign is backwards here.  Interesting.