Kate’s Quests

Sydney was awesome! I got back this morning and because it was an overnight flight to get home…I feel like this is just one long continuous day. It’s hard to believe that yesterday I was in Sydney and it was winter. And it was COLD! DJ and I got in on Thursday and wandered around. We got a hold of Shara (who also came in on Thursday) and Friday we took a wine tour. We stopped at Lindeman’s and one other one. It obviously wasn’t that great because I can’t remember the name of it. Lindeman’s wasn’t that good either. We got to see wild Kangaroo’s on the way too. That was pretty awesome. It happened too fast for me to get a photo, but there they were (about four of them) hanging out in a field similar to the one in the picture and just looking around.

We took a couple hour bus ride up into the Blue Mountains and stopped at the Wollombi Tavern for jungle juice and morning tea and biscuits. That was pretty good. Everything was made fresh. It was all outside and thankfully the weather was beautiful. It was gorgeous although cold and windy for the first few days. Then it turned cold and rainy and that was pretty miserable. After breakfast we headed up to the other place. I just remember that in addition to wine, they also brewed beer, including ginger beer. They served us lunch (a bunch of salad and a pasta dish) served with different wines and even paired with food the wine was just ok. Afterwards we went to Lindeman’s and tried more. Again, just eh. Of course this was a MWR wine tour (we were on a tour bus with a bunch of other Navy guys who are stationed on the Kitty Hawk) and of course these are stupid kids so we had a couple of them throwing up on the bus on the way back. Ew. I mean, come on…it’s a wine tasting. They shouldn’t be getting so shit faced that they can’t even stand up straight! Crazy. That was our only foray into MWR sponsored programs while we were there, THANK GOD!

Saturday, DJ and I headed to Clarke Quay and saw the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and the Botanic Gardens. We walked all day long and by the end of the day I was ready to drop! The botanic gardens were really gorgeous. I had no idea that Australia had so many wild parrots wandering around. It was very surprising! We also saw quite a few bats sleeping up in the trees. I also didn’t know that the Opera House is three separate buildings. They’re connected underground at the base of the building, but the white structures house different things. We didn’t spend much time inside, but the bathrooms were nice! hahaha.

Sunday we went to an Aussie Rules football game. That was fun. It was the start of the rain, but luckily we sat under an awning and managed to stay mostly dry.

Photo Sharing – Video Sharing – Photo Printing – Photo BooksIt’s a really fun game. Puts the athleticism of soccer players to shame. These guys run on a much larger field and they don’t stop!