Unfortunately, when we woke up this morning it was cloudy and raining. That cancelled our train trip up to the mountains as we wouldn’t be able to see anything. PlanB – Norman came over and picked us up and took us for a drive up to Palm Beach which is the northern most point of Sydney. We had an authentic Australian burger there. This is much like our burgers but it has a fried egg on top. After lunch we drove back into Sydney through a wilderness park, past the Olympic park (Olympics were held here in 2000) and ended up at Norman’s place in an area called Greenacre. We had a cup of tea, looked at some pictures and Norman drove us back “home”. More visiting, watched some television and off to bed. Hoping for nice weather in the morning so that we can spend our last day in Sydney in the Blue Mountains.

Another lazy Sunday morning at Ruth and Sasha’s. Richard and I tried vegemite for the first time. It has a weird, salty, pasty taste much like a gooey soy sauce. I can say that I didn’t care for it but Richard ate his toast and asked for another.

About noon the four of us took the bus down to Circular Quay. There we boarded a ferry for Manly Beach, one of the most popular beaches in Sydney. After about a 40 minute ride through Sydney Harbour, we docked at the Manly Beach Promenade. We walked by a number of shops before we reached the beach. As the weather is quite cool here (it is still winter), we walked along the shoreline admiring the many, expensive apartments and shops that line the walkway. We nipped into a little pub and eatery and had 3 glasses of wine and Richard had a beer. We all shared a plate of hot chips. That little snack cost $52 Australian Dollars. I would have ordered a cocktail but it was $18!! We had heard that the alcohol was ridiculously expensive in Sydney. They weren’t kidding!! Our saving grace is that the Canadian and Australian dollar is pretty much on par. In the US we would spend $35 on a couple drinks and snacks but the credit card came out at $50 anyway!!

We retraced our route back home, Ruth prepared a wonderful meal of linguine with an authentic Italian pesto sauce (absolutely divine!!) and we settled in to watch some authentic Aussie television. Russell Coight – All Aussie Adventures was silly and hilarious. We then watched the movie Red Dog which is the story of a legendary dog from Western Australia that travelled around looking out for people. Much like our own Littlest Hobo. We turned in fairly early to get some sleep for the adventures that await us in the morning. Good night everyone!!