Sydney

We arrived to Sydney a day late, due to a passport crisis...lack of passport if you will. Arrived at the airport Monday morning to find that Dean's money belt was missing from his pack. You can imagine THAT feeling....we thought he had been robbed. Turns out, after numerous phone calls and filing a police report, that it was in Hokitika. It had fallen out of his bag and lodged between the bed and the wall. So we rented a car (kind of a "rent a wreck") and drove six hours roundtrip to retrieve it! It was a good feeling to have it in hand. Made it to Sydney on Tuesday and went straight from the airport to "Bonza" bike tours. Had a guide that took us all around the city...great tour! We were surprised to find that everyone on the tour was American...we met very few American's in NZ.

View of the Sydney bridge, which we rode across....we pretty much looped the entire city...

The Opera House from afar. This is when the rain starting POURING down. We got soaked. We still had a few hours of the tour to go...by the end there wasn't a dry spot on us.

Note the soggy appearance....and the "Really? Rain again?" look.....

The botanical gardens is full of huge fruit bats. At sunset they fly all around the city. Pretty spectacular, especially around the church spires....After hot showers we explored a nearby trendy neighborhood and had dinner.

The next morning we did more poking around...the neighborhoods are great. Beautiful old buildings and cafe's. We then went out to the Sydney Fish Market. We missed the big fish "sale"...toooo early in the morning. However, the shops are filled with fresh fish of every kind. Had sushi for lunch. That night we went to the "red light" district of King's Cross. Not as "red light" as I had expected. I think it is becoming trendy. In fact, the pizza place we went to was downright snazzy. Now on to Melbourne....