My Little Garden

It is getting to be Spring here so I went and bought some plants for my patio. Some of them are Australian originals. Hopefully they take off!

Sydney Part 3

The Sydney Casino. You can't see it so well, but there are water falls all over the forn of the place. That red bus was my savior the first day of my trip. It took me to al the sights and kept me dry.
The famous Bondi Beach. It was so windy that day, you can tell by the siz of the waves! While walking down the street the darn wind almost blew me over.

This church was started in the 1800's and the two spires were just compelted in 2000. Talk about a long construction process! It looks like they are still working on it!
I was so happy it cleared up enough on Sunday for at least one of the outdoor markets to open. They close this whole road and put up the large canopies every weekend. This market is in an area called the Rocks. It is one of the oldest areas of Sydney. One thing I thought was funny about this area, since it is right by the docks, they used to have a problem with rats coming off the ships and bringing the plague. So they built this huge wall to stop the rats from getting into the city!
This is an old convert on a rock cliff that is now a ritzy girls private school. I thought it was a really pretty building

Sydney Part 2

More Sydney Pics. First this is the Queen Victoria Building. It used to be a produce market and it is now the big mall in the city.

This is the center dome in the Queen Victoria Building (or the QVB).
There are 2 clocks like this one in the QVB. Every hour they play music and act out scenes.

The tallest building in Sydney is the Sydney tower. I didn't go all the way up this time, heights not being one of my favorite things, but you can even walk on the outside of the very top of the building.
The Sydney clock tower

Sydney - Prints Charming

Now don't get me wrong, the Opera house and all the sights were great. But my favorite thing about my weekend in Sydney was visiting the shop of a local fabric company, Prints Charming. I got to meet the designer and talked with her for awhile and got to see all their fabric they had silk screen in the shop! They are going to have classes to teach you silk screening and I might have to return to Sydney for that! Of course I left with plenty of goodies from the shop. They were so nice they even let me dig through their scrap bins to find some really good stuff!

Sydney!

Over the Queen's Birthday Weekend I went to Sydney. And of course, with my luck, it rained the whole time I was there. We are talking torential, flooding rains. Kinda ruined my plans of walking all over the place. So I took the bus instead. I still got to see a lot of the sights and it was still a good weekend. And go figure, I woke up this morning to leave for my 9 am flight to blue skies. The Opera house was really amazing, but beleive it or not, the coolest part was the bathroom! I didn't feel right taking pictures inside there, but it was so neat! The wall of stalls was curved like a bunch of waves and the sink was this long piece of flat metal and the water fell to the back and went into the wall. i am doing a bad job of explaining, but if you are ever in Sydney, be sure to use the bathrooms at the Opera House!

My First Footy Game

Sunday I went to my first game of Aussie Rules Football. So totally different from American Football, but quite fun to watch. The ball never stops moving and the players beat each other up and wear no protective gear. It was a fun afternoon. Aami Stadium is the footy ground in Adelaide. The team I saw play was the Port Adelaide Power vs the Hawthorn Hawks. The Hawks won which was sad for the home team. But I picked my team to support (They do not say they route for a team here, you don't want to know why) and it is not one of the 2 Adelaide teams. Of course I had to find the team that had the best team colors ever, black and gold! Of course they are the worst team in the league right now, but I am used to cheering for the not so great team!

On a different subject... People have been telling me that in the marina I live on, there are often dolphins that wander in and jump around. I did not beleive anyone onthis but then this morning I saw them! It was so awesome to look out my living room and see dolphins! I tried to get a picture but they were too fast. Hopefully next time I will catch them!

My Bike

Everyone here seems to ride bikes everywhere. So this weekend I went out and bought a bike of my own. I forgot how much fun it is to ride a bike! I had so much fun I went for a 20 mile ride Saturday. There are tons of paved trails close to my house, plus bike lanes on most of the roads. I think I will be doing a lot of bike riding while I am here!

Shelby

Just because my blog would never be complete without a picture of Shelby!

Weekend Market

A while ago I had went up in the hills to the town of Stirling to their monthly market. There were fresh fruits and vegetables, crafts and flowers. A lot of the small towns here have these.

FINALLY!!!! I have internet at home and can update this thing! And as long promised, here is a picture of the view from my apartment. This was on a windy day so there are bigger waves coming in at the shore. Pictures of the apartment still to come once I get all my furniture here!

The City of Churches

Adelaide was once known as the city of churches. Here are just a few of the beautiful churches in the city, or as Australians call it, the CBD (central buriness dictrict). Most are made out of stone that was mined from the hills just outside of the city.

Torrens River

The North side of the city is bounded by the Torrens River. There are parks all along it with boat launches for rowing clubs and really nice trails where I have been running while I am staying in the city. Odd fact - Swans here are black. And they have red beaks. I overheard a little girl telling her dad all swans are black with red beaks. I guess she has never been to the states!

Sunday I switched hotels and I am now staying in downtown Adelaide. Pretty different from the beach. This is the main shopping area in downtown, Rundle Mall. It is actually really big, several city blocks long and there are these groups of stores they call arcades all up and down the street.

I thought this was pretty funny! Mom, I thought you would really enjoy it. There were bronze pigs all over in this area, I don't really know why but people seem to use them as benches

So I went to Cleland Wildlife Park this weekend. It was pretty neat, although it was too hot to get to hold a koala. I did get to pet one and I fed kangaroos. I can't tell you what some of these animals are, but I was right up next to them. This place just lets you walk through a huge park and go right up to the animals. Except for a few of course that are dangerous. It was a little freaky at first, you walk down this sidewalk and little rat like things just come running in front of you. But I got used to it and it was really a nice time.

This is the big fountain in the center of downtown Adelaide. It is in a square called Victoria Park. I think there were Aborigines there that day screaming in another language, a little freaky

Here I am with the Adelaide skyline behind me. All those lights are for the Cricket field. I guess that is a realyl big deal here.

This is the pier by where I am staying. They call it a Jetty and the road leading to it is Jetty road. Creative, huh? Above it, that is Jetty road with all the shops and cafes and then above that is the little square, callled Mosely square, at the end of Jetty road in GLenelg where I am staying.