Los Angeles

We left Sydney on Monday afternoon, after being seen off at the airport by John's sister, Bernadette. We had a short flight to Fiji and a brief wait at the airport - I forgot just how humid it could get there! We arrived at 6 in the evening, and it was dark, but hot and humid! Wow. The flight to Los Angeles was good. There were over a hundred empty seats on the plane, John was by himself in a row of four, with the row empty behind him. So as soon as the seat belt light went off Natalie went to sit with John and used the three extra seats for sleeping, and Rachel and I had the three seats to ourselves. I slept a bit in my seat, and Rachel stretched out as much as she could in the two seats, and slept for about seven hours! I couldn't believe it. She was in a really good, deep sleep, too.

We got to LA in the early afternoon of the same day, as we crossed the dateline and got back the day we lost going to Australia. We just stayed at the hotel that day, resting and making use of the spa-like facilities. The following day, this would be Tuesday, we spent exploirng LA. We got off to a later start that we had hoped, due to the jetlag, and got into the city, by train, at about 11 AM. We went straight to Hollywood and walked along the Hollywood Walk of Fame, reading all the stars on the sidewalk (I'm surprised there aren't more collisions among the tourists - almost everyone was walking with their heads down!) and taking pictures of some of the stars we recognized! We say Grauman's Chinese Theater (http://www.manntheatres.com/chinese/) and the Kodak Theater (http://www.kodaktheatre.com/profile.htm) and saw the Hollywood sign on the hill, albeit from a distance!




























Our main destination of the day was the American Girl store. For those of you that don't know of American Girl, it's a well-marketed 'toy' for tween girls, where you can buy a beautiful, well-made doll that looks like you. So you can get almost any combination of eye colour, hair colour, and skin colour. They also make historical dolls based on life in a certain era. For instance, Rachel owns Felicity, a doll from (I better get this right) Williamsburg in 1774. She has a best friend named Elizabeth (who Natalie has - and these two dolls do resemble my girls). They also make a New Mexican doll named Josefina, Kaya is the American Indian doll, Molly is from the 1920's, and the newest, Julie is the daughter of hippies in the 1970's. I think you get the picture. Anyway, all these dolls come with their own story books, and you can buy beautiful clothes and other accessories, including furniture, for the dolls. At the stores they also have a hair salon and hospital for the dolls, and a portrait studio, and a cafe. It can all be a bit much (especially for the menfolk), but they've really done their homework and developed a very popular product. I like the fact that in this day and age where there is so much junk out there for tween girls (you all know what I'm talking about) American Girl is pretty good. I'd much rather Rachel play with her AG doll that have anything to do with the likes of Miley Cyrus!!!














So, we had a good couple of hours at the store, John survived it (just), and we went back for one last look at Hollywood before heading back to the hotel and on to the airport for our late-evening flight home.

Sydney Opera House and James Morrison

The night before we left Sydney (this is still that same Sunday!) John and I went to a show at the Opera House. It was entitled, "For the Good Times - Not New Year's Eve." The show featured the Australian Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Benjamin Northey, and featured Donald Cant, who also acted as emcee for the evening, plus Bernadette Robinson, and our favourite Aussie, James Morrison. They performed a couple of classical pieces, but mostly showtunes, blues, jazz, and other contemporary stuff, and it was an amazing performance. Both Bernadette Robinson and James Morrison appeared in the first and second acts, performing 2 or 4 pieces each time. James Morrison is truly a gifted musician, John just feels like weeping when he hears him on trumpet, but James' true forte is the trombone. He is also a wonderful speaker, telling stories about performances he's done, and funny things that have happened to him. If any of you ever get the chance to see him live anywhere, I would suggest you go. Whether you like that type of music or not, it's a treat just to hear him play and interact with the audience.























They finished with Auld Lang Syne, of course, and the Concert Hall was full of streamers celebrating the (Not) New Year. It was a fantastic way to finish off our year here in Australia.

Leaping Luke

Bernadette has a friend here in Sydney, and he happens to be a part-time winemaker. She gave a bottle of his wine (Leaping Luke Cabernet Sauvignon) to John for Christmas which we had the pleasure of enjoying with the winemaker himself, who joined us at Bernadette's house for dinner on Sunday night. The wine was excellent.


Leaping Luke, a.k.a. Jeff, is an American who did graduate studies in Sydney just a few years ago. Since then he has worked in a public relations role for a winery. About five or six years ago he was offered some vines to harvest, and with the help of a friend picked, crushed, and barreled some wine. A number of years later (2007?) he bottled his first batch, sent samples out for evaluation, and received stellar reviews. My personal opinion is that it has a tendency to evaporate far too quickly from the glass, and that is something Jeff should be very proud of.

This one's for you, Joe!

While in Sydney on Sunday, I mentioned that we were doing some souvenir shopping. Part of this took place in Rebel Sports on George Street. John found what he was looking for, and we also found some treats that were not on the list - and we had to share this with our friends from Batemans Bay (take a close look at Rachel's hat - that's for you, Sarah.)

Last Day in Sydney

Sunday was our last day in Sydney. The weather was beautiful: hot and sunny. We went into the city and had a look around Paddy's Market and Chinatown. The girls had one last look at Dymock's the bookstore that we go to every time we are in Sydney. We bought some last minute souvenirs to bring home, and just got our fill of the beautiful city, including walking up from Darling Harbour to Circular Quay to take the ferry back to Bernadette's place.






















We were also treated to the sight of a cruise ship going under the Harbour Bridge - I never realized just how big a cruise ship can be until I saw one docked at the International Terminal at Circular Quay, then saw this one squeezing under the bridge.

...and leaving.

Today, Saturday, saw the last of our things going into suitcases, and all the final goodbyes to friends and neighbours. It was especially hard, I think, because of the circumstances of this exchange, namely the death of Ivan, John's exchange partner. We've become close to all the neighbours and Ivan's parents and family, probably closer than we maybe would have due to the shared, but unique, responses to his passing. So, there were good laughs and tearful farewells this morning, disbelief that the year is over, and an emotional drive out of Clyde Road that last time knowing we wouldn't be going back.

Anyway, we had a good drive up to Sydney, saw a bit of heavy rain and hail up the coast, and are now here for a couple of days before we leave on a plane for the last time, to return to Canada. Keep checking back (especially all of our Aussie friends) because we will posting a bit from home, especially lots of snow pictures because I hear they are having lots of the white stuff this year.

Packing up...

Boxing Day was another beautiful day on the south coast of New South Wales. Part of me wanted bad weather these last few days to make leaving easier, but we've had glorious weather. John and his sister went surfskiing one last time (well, the first for Bernadette, last for John) down on the Tomakin River south of us. The girls just played all day and I sorted, organized, packed and cleaned!

In the afternoon we all went to the next-door neighbour's for a farewell get-together. I had to skip off early to take Natalie to the carnival in town (see previous post about Rachel's trip to the fair) - I had promised to take her on Tuesday night, but we were rained out and the only other opportunity was Boxing Day night! She met a few friends there and they had a great time. She even went on two of the faster rides at the carnival (only looked a bit off colour on one of them!), and had a marvelous time on the Thunder Bolt ride.

We returned to the party just after 10 pm, the girls eventually went to bed and John and I stayed up until 2, knowing that we'd have an early morning but not wanting to miss out on very important visiting.