Day 1

Fortune smiles on us as there is a 13 person maxi taxi waiting at the Sydney airport for us so we don’t have to split into two taxis.  I try to initiate a conversation about gas mileage with the taxi driver but he merely stares at me, smiles and keeps driving.  After several fruitless attempts, I conclude that either he does not speak English or I’ve managed to do something so utterly offensive that he is refusing to speak to me.  To make myself feel better, I settle on the former being the reason.

Our Air BnB owner, Inna, meets us to let us in the apartment. We end up talking for two hours about her story and our travels.  She was born in Latvia when it was still part of the USSR but her family managed to get permission to leave.  Australia was the first visa to come through so she ended up here. We excitedly tell her we are going to Latvia in a few weeks.  It was another connect the dots moment from Sydney to Latvia.

We find a close by Australian pizza place with live music and talk about how the trip has changed our outlook and perspective.  For me personally, I started thinking about in London we were talking about hundreds of years of history, which turned into 2,000 years with the Roman Empire in Bath, England, which turned into 5,000 years with Stonehenge, which turned into 180 million years with the Daintree Rainforest.

Day 2

Those of you reading my daily blogs, you are well familiar the Chinese visa saga. The day of our appointment at the China visa processing center has finally arrived.  With all the work I’ve put into the visa application, there is going to be an international incident if I don’t get our visas.  No sooner than we walk into the visa center than the chaos starts.  We are split into four groups, the photocopy of our passports don’t have signatures, I’ve put our US address and phone number instead of the local Australian ones.

The clerk is behind a solid, clear, bullet-proof plastic window.  Hmmm.  I guess people don’t react well to getting their application rejected.  I’m thinking it’s a good thing they have it if I’m the one who gets rejected.  We sort everything out and I breath a sign of relief as we are told our Visas will be ready Friday unless there is a problem.  I am warry of the qualifier the clerk non-chalantly tacked on at the end but it’s the best I can do.

We checked John into the Sydney High School Honors Program that is the reason we are in Sydney.  He will be staying at the Sydney Intercontinental Hotel while we are relegated to our somewhat austere but functional Air BnB. Leanne takes Ashley and Ashlynn to the Museum of Sydney.  John is free for dinner so we head to his hotel in a taxi.

I met the coolest taxi driver (by far) of the trip so far.  He is Indian and moved here from his village in the Himalayas of India near the Pakistani border.  He wanted to leave his village so he applied for different country visas and similar to Inna, Australia came through first.  He said he would have preferred London and I’m left wondering just how many people live in Australia as their second choice simply because Australia is apparently superfast in processing and granting visas.  He says his goal now is return to his village as his entire family is still there but he will have to settle for 6 months driving a taxi in Sydney and living 6 months in his village.   

Day 3

Today is the day we are going to get out and experience Sydney and all it has to offer.  Yes, we going to take Sydney by tourist storm.  After a couple hours, I look at the time and realize it’s already 11am and the only thing we’ve taken by storm is the apartment’s microwave.  “Carpe diem kids!” I say.  “Ok. Carpe a half of a diem kids” as it’s 12:00 by the time we get out of the apartment. We walk to the Sydney Harbor which takes us through Hyde Park and the Royal Botanical Gardens. I must say the Sydney vibe is a surprisingly laid back and relaxed one; especially in contrast to Tokyo.

 We have frittered away enough of the day, that it’s now lunch time.  Rather than skip lunch and push the kids to the brink of melt down, I concede that lunch might not be a bad call.  After lunch, we wrangle over whether to buy a multi-attraction pass or just pay as we go. After what I consider a fine mathametical analysis, I conclude that will be maximize our savings and ROI by buying the multi-attraction pass and using it on the most expensive ones. For example, if we go on the hyper charged, splash-down jet boat ride, it’s AU $85 and we save $43.34! 

I’m feeling proud of my real world math lesson until Leanne says “So, you want us to go on a jet boat ride in the middle of winter where we’re going to get soaking wet with freezing cold ocean water and be miserable for the rest of the day so that you can save $40?” Hmmm “maybe we should just stick to the pay as you go approach.”  

Now its 2:30pm and we still haven’t done anything.  The zoo closes at 4:30pm so we settle on a sight-seeing boat cruise around the harbor.  While chilly, it’s a clear day with brilliant sunshine reflecting off the water which makes for great pictures.  John’s program lets out at 4pm and we meet up with him. After retelling the events of the day, John shakes his head in dismay and says, “do you want me to plan your day tomorrow for you even though I won’t be there?”

We attempt to salvage the day by going to the The Sydney Tower which is 309 meters tall with the observation deck (“eye”) at the top.  We thoroughly enjoy the tower eye experience as we catch sunset from the top of the tower. Leanne and I then go out on date night with live piano music and our now clearly defacto Italian cuisine.

Day 4

If you’ve been reading the daily blogs, you are now familiar with the Chinese visa saga and today is the day to pick them up (if nothing has gone amiss).  Our travel agent has told us not to mention our desire to go to Tibet until after we get our visa so I have stressed over and over with the kids, do not mention Tibet when were inside, don’t even think of the word Tibet, they could have mind reading pandas hidden in the plants.  

While we are waiting, I’m reading the proposed intineraries you travel agent has sent when I feel a tap, tap on my arm.  “Ummm…dad, I thought we’re not supposed to talk about Tibet?”  “That’s correct.”  “Then why do you have a packet that says Tibet itinerary in big letters on the cover? They may not have mind reading pandas hidden in the plants, but that guard over there probably reads English.”  Ok, I almost blew that one but apparently no one in security is monitoring the cameras as we successfully get our 7 Chinese visas.

We decide that four of us need haircuts.  Back in the states, good ol Supercuts would have us in and out 45 mins.  No problema. Alas the hair cutting place I picked is no supercuts.  After 45 mins, the stylist is still on Justin’s haircut (the first one to go).  I swear he’s trimming each individual hair one-by-one.  Three hours later, we exit with stylish new haircuts but with another Sydney day threatening to vanish on us.  I’m dreading telling John that somehow, despite the odds, we managed to fritter away a second day in Sydney without him at the helm.  No Bueno.

On to the zoo!  Overall, it was one of the best zoo experiences I’ve had in my life.  The animals were more active than most other zoos.  The highlight was the gorillas.  There were ~10 of them and they were moving, shaking, swinging, eating and climbing. Leanne says “they must not keep them all doped up on tranquilizers the way they do in the US.”  Exactly my thought.  I am heartened to see that I’m not the only one in the group with a skeptical side.

We wrap up the day with pizza at an Italian restaurant.  The hot topic comes when I ask the kids to pick their top 3 places we’ve been (out of 8). Luckily this is difficult because they tell us they’ve loved everywhere we've been.  Mission accomplished so far!

Day 5

Could today be perfect?

 The day starts with sneaking out early with Justin for breakfast with his parents - the early kid gets the sweet breakfast.  A few of get holy with a mass at Australian's largest and oldest cathedral nearby our airbnb.  We then walk just a block (love the convenience) to Australian Museum, an impressive combination of anthropology and natural history.  Since its like closing for renovations in 2 weeks, we hit it right before we can't visit it.  

We anxiously await the Honors Performance Series concert at Sydney Opera House where John was selected to be one of 300 musicians from over 12,000 auditions for his spot in the High School Honors Choir.  Its a huge honor and the concert blows it out the park.  So professionally done and well worth giving up our tour guide for the week.

 Its 10 pm and we forgot about dinner so we order pizzas back at the airbnb, feeling grateful, giddy over the day's accomplishment.  From God to culture to beautiful music to pizza.  

Is there such thing as a perfect day? 

Day 6

It’s our last full day in Sydney and it’s time to shed more stuff that sounded cool when we bought it but have lugged it 18,000 miles and not used it yet.  We have a box all filled up that I have to take to the Australian Post Office (APO) to see if I can get shipped back home. The after effects of the China visa still linger and I’m mentally preparing myself to do battle with the APO. I’m doing stretching exercises and calisthenics.  I steel myself for battle, pick up the box and announce I’m off.  Leanne looks at me and says “well, at least you’ll get some good fodder for your blog.” I break out in a wide smile and my eyes gleam like the Grinch at Christmastime. 

I walk up to the counter and you’ll never believe this.  There are 5 employee and 2 customers.  I walk up to a clerk who is resting in a chair behind the counter looking like he’s half taking a nap.  He hops up and after letting him know I need to ship package to the US, he springs into action.  He re-tapes my box (which I pathetically had tried to tape shut with white medical tape in the absence of real packing tape), weighs the package, gives me the price, hands me the form and says he can assist in helping me fill it all out.  

I am seized by a moment of panic.  This is all going way to too smooth and I’m not going to have any material for the blog. I contemplate listing the contents of the box as TNT, liquid nitrogen, enclose and other parts for making a bomb as a joke just to ensure something interesting happens.  But my more rationale side wins out and I complete the form with the real contents listed and walk out amazed.  

Next, Justin, Corey, Ashlynn & I head off the Sydney Aquarium.  The Aquarium does a really good job of highlighting that if all the deadly insects, wildlife and plants of Australia don’t kill you on land, then one of the deadly jellyfish, sharks, eels, fish, etc will most assuredly kill you in the water.  Justin had researched ahead of time that the aquarium offers scuba diving with sharks.  

Justin, Corey, Ashlynn & I are now in the behind the scenes area of the aquarium getting briefed for our shark dive.  These are  7 – 10 feet sharks that either are Great Whites or are dead ringer, doppelgangers for Great Whites.  Leanne tells me later that the guide who was with her in the tunnel while she took pictures said that if they feed the sharks too much, they aren’t as active so they only feed them Mon, Wed and Fri and somethings skip Fri if they are too lethargic.  Leanne asks him “if today is Mon, they haven’t eaten since last wed, don’t you think you should feed them?”  The guide deadpans back, “what do you think your husbands doing in the tank?” Suffice to say, that no one got eaten allowing our trip to continue on.  

The day finishes with Leanne, John and I going to the performance of Opera’s Greatest Hits at the Sydney Opera House.  The performance was a wonderful mix of arias from the Barber of Seville, Carmen and others. The accompanist on the piano also doubles as the host and he gives us an explanation of the upcoming Opera aria.  For a Puchinni aria, he says that the count dresses up as a poor student when courting his lady to ensure that she loves him for him and not for his money.  Ok, I get that, makes sense.  Then the 65 year-old accompianist host addes in “you know, like Trump did when he was courting Meliania.”  The audience (presumably non-Americans) roars out their laughter.  

Oh great, can’t even get away from the Trump jokes 15,000 miles away in the land down under at the prestigious Sydney Opera House.  The couple sitting next to me looks European and I think they might be eyeing me for my reaction.  I’m tempted to lean over and say “Eh, were from Canada, eh, we don’t like the chap either.”  And that is how we wrap-up our Sydney visit.