I just returned from a one month trip to Australia with my husband. While we were away, I sent emails to friends and family about our travels. Here is the first one and I'll be posting each of the others separately. Enjoy!

November 6th

We are now in Alice Springs and I'm sending this email from a cafe with free wifi - coffee, toast and internet for breakfast.

We had some busy days in Sydney and managed to see lots in a short time. Our first two days there was hot (37 degrees last Tuesday) but then it cooled down and we had a few showers which made it more pleasant. We had two days walking about Sydney - one day we saw the Opera House and the historic buildings on Macquarie Street. I've been surprised at how many beautiful historic buildings there are in Sydney. On another day, we walked about Darling Harbour, Chinatown (much smaller than Vancouver's) and went to a huge market (over 1000 stalls). On the hottest day, we took a ferry to Manly and walked the beach. I was melting by the end of the walk. It was Melbourne Cup (horse race) Day and we had lots of fun people watching as so many people were dressed up and most of the women were wearing fancy head ware (feathers, etc.). Another day, we took the bus to Bondi beach and watched the surfers. There certainly are beautiful sandy beaches here and the water temperature at Bondi was 19 degrees celcius. From Bondi we walked to Coogee Beach along the cliff top and along the way there was a waterside sculpture show of over 100 exhibits. They were amazing and of course we took a few photos. The walk was supposed to be about 5 km. but it took us 2 hours, so we guessed it was actually much longer.

We have had some great meals and there is lots of good seafood but the prices are steep. Many cafes charge two prices - one for take out service and another (about 2xs higher) for table service. Most places also change you an extra 1.5% if you pay with a credit card.

Yesterday we flew to Alice and we will spend the next couple of days touring around this area before we head off to Kings Canyon.

Today the forecast is for hot again (37 degrees), so we have on our sunscreen, hats and long sleeved shirts.