Manly Beach, Sydney.

Good morning. It's about 9.15 AM and I am writing to you as I am washing our clothes in the bath!! Yes, it's nice to have a bath.

How did we get to have a bath? You though we were backpacking? Anything is possible... I assumed we would be staying in dormitory-style hotel or guest house...(...read more...)...

Last night, as we took our nightly stroll along the beach we watched a girl run onto the beach.

She was so excited that she was pulling on her wet suit as she ran...

Over the sand she ran. She couldn't get out to the waves fast enough! It must really be an exhilarating feeling to get that fired up about something. it's the first time I've seen anyone so eager to participate in a sport. It was exhilarating just to watch her.

The past 5 days have been raining.

At least E.J. got to see this beautiful city in the sunshine once.

Sydney is of course spectacular, as I remember it.

The harbor area is breathtaking.

We have toured the city area, the harbor area, darling harbor and the rocks.

...The Opera House ~ Day & Night... The Historical "Rocks" area, one of the the first landing grounds for Australian Settlers... [lots of Irish!!]... ...Beautiful Architecture...
...The Olympic Stadium...
...Botany Bay...
...The Harbor Bridge by Day & Night...

Here is Vibodha looking ever so small beside the overwhelming Opera House Building.

SEE SYDNEY, in its full glory, click: Sydney in March

This city has vibrancy, energy, beauty, fast pace, great architecture, great public amenities and sights to see, superb beaches.

I would definitely consider living here.

It was like stepping back in time, everything was the same, even the kebabs I used to have to set out, the steaks, the king prawns... the selection of food was EXACTLY the same. Scary!!!

The "Oaks", the place I worked evenings in when I was here with Elaine, 11 years ago.

It's is a pub/restaurant in Neutral Bay in North Sydney.

We have just arrived back from an afternoon trip out to Botany Bay and La Perouse.

This was was Captain Cook's first landing place.

We had a picnic lunch.

After Botany Bay, we visited the new Olympic Park, the site of the Olympic games 2000.

It's a big venue and they look pretty organized. [See more of the complex on our 'Sydney in March' page].

Last night we stayed in the City and saw the Harbor area at night, it was beautiful, we have added the pictures to the Sydney page.

Sydney in March
a spectacular Visual Tour.

The Manly Corso (their term for the pedestrianized area) is humming with tourists. The sun is shining and the beach is packed and it's now time for us to pack AGAIN!!

We are once again on the move... Tomorrow at 5.30 we leave Sydney for the Outback.

It's a 12 hour bus journey from here to Broken Hill.

From there we will head on to Adelaide...

We arrived in Broken Hill this afternoon about 1pm and checked into the YHA.

The room is good, only AU$56.00 for 2 nights, which is reasonable.

The great thing is that we can do our own cooking here, they have a stove, fridge and cooking implements.

The only downside is that the bathroom is down at the other end of the corridor from our bedroom.

It is a very sociable place, we met a few other guests.

The town of Broken Hill itself looks cool. It is a mining town, developed and sustained from the many large mines nearby. (see the Mine Tour, below)

The buildings look like they could be out of a movie set.

It reminds us very much of another beautiful town called Ferndale, in Northern California.

There is only 1 drawback to Broken Hill, as far as we can tell.

Once you get here, the travel agents charge a lot for tours to see the amazing sights of the Outback. (like this one)

It is hard to see everything without a good guide... Definitely get a guide!

It cost us $100 Australian Dollars, and was worth every penny.

We recommend Fred.

We took our tour with Fred, who is a character and a half!!

He provided us with a fantastic day-long tour.

We went to see some of the beautiful & amazing sights of the outback.

We saw emus, and even a lizard, but not one kangaroo!

It was an experience which I can find no words to describe, so instead, you can take the visual tour. The Visual Australian Outback Tour...

There we all decided to "take the pub test".

Like fools we allowed ourselves to chose a potato and balance it on our heads.

Next we were to roll the spud down our noses into the funnel they had placed in our shorts!!!!

Still we didn't suspect, as the landlady was very convincing. So the competition started, me, Nina and EJ.

As she said go, before you had time to roll she had poured cold water in the funnels and you were covered, looking like you had just wet yourself.

We laughed hysterically. Don't get caught out!!!

We were numbers 566 and 567 THIS YEAR already, with over 24,000 people falling for it in total. (She has been hit in the mouth twice by people without that needed sense of humor...after all if we are all going to be that stupid as to put a funnel down our trousers then we deserved it didn't we??)

We also saw a mine, a sheep shearing station, the most beautiful lakes, and even crossed a train bridge on foot...

They're all here at The Visual Australian Outback Tour...

Today we went to the Delprats Mine. What a fantastic tour.

We went down to level 4 (of 21 available levels) 450 feet under the ground.

The conditions that miners actually had to work in were appalling, no wonder they were always on strike.

I wouldn't even have gone down there in the first place.

The 2 hours tour explained how the miners worked, and showed the equipment they used.

See: The Mine Tour, 450 feet under ground.

Lastly we went to see the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, which was once again well worth a visit. We could not believe the service they operated and E.J. and I were both choked up while watching the video.

This is the peace of mind that thousands of people need to be able to live in safety.

The other informative service we found out about is: The School of the Air.

E.J. is my hero.....

Remember our friend Vistara, the one we met in India.

Well, between Pune, India (Jan 00) and now, we managed to lose her contact details.

All we knew was she was a landscape gardener and lived in somewhere in Perth!!

You will not believe it. Vibodha went to the "Yellow Pages" at the airport, with two 20 cent coins, & managed to pull her number from 4 entire pages filled with lists of gardeners!

He tried two numbers he felt might be it, and on the second try Vistara answered the phone!!!

She doesn't normally answer her phone at the weekends, we have since found out, but she happened to be walking by it on her way to the garden to fetch something and decided on the spur of the moment to answer it...Yahoo!!

Now if that is NOT a SIGN that we are to get together nothing is!!!

When we arrived at the Fremantle train station, Vistara and her friend Nis picked us up.

We went straight to the beach... what an introduction to Perth, to Fremantle and to Nis and Vistara!!!

We unpacked my bikini and E.J.'s swimsuit, left our rucksacks in the boot of the car [the trunk], and joined the festivities on the beach.

I think we will like it here!!

We went swimming, and E.J. and Simon spent a while jumping off the pier. (see photo, right)

Simon is the jumping figure on the left and E.J. is on the right.

We had a lot of laughs including burying E.J.! He's so entertaining.

Check it out here:
E.J. - Everlasting Joy

The kids entered a sand castle competition and this is Danica and her friend Pia's entry. The winners had parents help!!! {Just for the record...}

So now we are staying with Vistara, Nisargam, Simon and Danica at their home in Fremantle.

It is a ten minute bike ride to the BEACH.

Nis has kindly opened his home to us and we are forever grateful. We have a lot in common. Isn't life wonderful!!

We have been doing Dynamic Meditation on the beach.

At 7am we cycled to the beach with Nis and Simon. There were 5 others on the beach that morning to meditate. It was beautiful to meditate in such beautiful surroundings.

When we were finished E.J. and I stayed behind for a long swim.

Life here is great. E.J. is helping Vistara with her leaflets and business image - she bought a laptop - and he is teaching her how to use it.

We had raw beans in a red pepper. (see photo) NEVER try this yourself, unless you know what you're doing.

I spent an hour hanging my head over a toilet bowl.

Ick.

Actually I was quite impressed with the way my body reacted so quickly to a food which it thought was harmful so I learned a very valuable lesson.

I think I'll stick to cooked veggies!!!!

The class itself was great and I got to hang out with quite a few Brits, which was cool.

Here are the ladies...

We made delicious yummy pie which no one could eat 'cos 90% were ill !!!!! Ah well.

I came home to E.J. and the family who had all been swimming with a dolphin on the beach at sunset!

Who had the better experience ?????

The energy accordingly to the Tibetan calendar was the Pancreas, and the pancreas dispels poisons....... no coincidence.

Nisargam is fantastic with wood, and creates these beautiful lyres, among other things to sell.

If you want to buy one, he can ship them anywhere in the world. e-mail us and we will send him your information.

They are about $220 US Dollars or £140 Pounds Sterling. If you are near Perth and you want to make your own lyre you can do that too! An amazingly creative experience!

Check it out: Pulse Art Studios, Lyres and Musical Instruments

Here is Vistara in Nis's beautiful garden, the house has beautiful energy both inside and outside and everyone is so happy all the time.