Sydney

I picked up an iphone yesterday, and tinkering with it is threatening to derail my efforts to ever post pics and commentary of our trip to Australia, so this is a bit of a mammoth post picture-wise.

We were able to do and see a lot during our 17 day visit, but kept the pace of things adequately slow. We were based in Sydney, staying with my friend Carlisle, with a few overnights in places to break up the city living. I'll make posts dedicated to each of the places we went, but aside from Sydney, we spent a night in the Hunter Valley wine region, a weekend in the Kangaroo Valley, about 2 hours south of Sydney, and 4 days in Byron Bay, up the coast to the north of Sydney.

For the time being though, let's get the big one out of the way -- Sydney. I'm not at all a city person, but even I was quite enamored with this place. I don't think I've been to a more picturesque city, with breathtaking views of both natural and manmade scenery pretty much everywhere you look. It has a very chill atmosphere, tons of international people (and therefor international food!), it's clean (!), and public transportation is good if not a bit expensive.

Perhaps Syndey's biggest asset is its many green spaces. The Royal Botanical gardens are the most central and sprawling, and thus probably the most famous, but there are throngs of smaller, harbor side parks and trails through the forest that make it incredibly easy to put the hustle and bustle of the city out of site and mind.

So here is a mess of pictures that hopefully will give you a feel for the place. I was going to put some descriptions along with the pictures but I think they're all pretty obvious. If you have any questions stick them in the comments and I'll be happy to elaborate. Next up, either tonight or tomorrow, will be the Hunter Valley. Mmmmmm...........wine.