Exploring a bit of Queensland and New South Wales

That day I built a snow(wo)man in Colorado with my family seems like ages ago.  The weather in Queensland has been nothing short of warm and gorgeous.  I am becoming quite spoiled and am curious what the worst of winter will feel like.  It doesn't yet feel like Autumn; no leaves are falling from the trees and the temperatures drop only into the 60s during the evenings.   Do you see any sign of Winter in the photo below?

Last week, Hugo, Thibaut and I took a trip up north.  We went to the Glass House Mountains on our way to the Sunshine Coast.

We swam at Dicky Beach near Caloundra, ate delicious food including fresh Barrumundi (fish) and a veggie burger with "the lot"--meaning everything (this case included relish, sauce, onion, beet root, lettuce, tomato and a fried egg), chatted over coffee, gazed at stars while walking on the beach at night...it was lovely. After a full day, we spent the night at a hotel & gaming center (a hotel with an additional bar and pokies area), ate some breakfast in the hot sun and began our day with a hike on Mt Coolum, lunch and then more time in the ocean--only this day the waves were very strong and steady.  It was incredible to experience.  Trying to transverse the coastline in knee-deep water towards Hugo was a workout.

A couple of days later, we flew south to Sydney in New South Wales and met my dear friend, Ryan.  He and his wonderful partner, Jay, were in town for a mix of business and pleasure.  (Jay had more of the business responsibilities while Ryan and I had the pleasure of catching up and enjoying the city with the Frenchmen.)  On the first night, we all took a ferry to Manly Beach.  Hugo and I watched as the seagulls dove for fish alongside the boat.   Upon our arrival to Manly, we watched a couple of bats in a tree, tried to impersonate their sounds and then found a lovely restaurant where--oddly enough-- we all ordered the same dish.  Out of all the times I've eaten out with friends...that has never before happened.

One of the highlights the next day --after a great breakfast on Darling Harbour-- was watching Jay and Ryan take a trapeze class in a suburb west of the city.  I took snipits of video for them; it was incredible to watch the progression of steps.  People began with swinging from a bar a few meters off the ground and then they end up a few stories off the ground...swinging, flipping and finally, being caught by a professional trapeze artist and pole dancer.  Quite impressive.

Ryan and I explored the cafe and vintage store-filled neighborhood of Newtown and stumbled upon Sydney park where there was both a youth running race and a dog obedience class.  (you could arguably say that it was a youth obedience class and a dog running race).   That day also included a ferry ride to Neutral Bay where we enjoyed examining the architecture of the houses in that part of town.  Before returning to the CBD (central business district) we came across a wonderful cafe on the water and treated ourselves to tea, pumpkin soup, falafel pita and some caramel bread pudding that would knock your socks off.  That evening, I had to say goodbye to both Ryan and Thibaut which wasn't any fun.

Now that we are back in Brissy, Hugo and I are arranging to move again!  Also, I am going to try to get my Queensland driver's license this week.  We will see how the lines are at the Australian version of the DMV.

Fun, fun, fun...  Take care everyone!

NEW ADDRESS: 

18 Payne St

Auchenflower, QLD 4066

Australia