Winter wonderland

Thursday morning I awoke to the cacophony of Australian birds like the ones below. 

These are the kinds of birds that visit C's balcony.  How cool are they?  Answer: very.

After two flights, a four hour stopover in LAX (quite possibly the worst airport I’ve had the misfortune of visiting, and I’ve been to airports in Kenya, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic), and more than 17 hours in the air, I emerged in Toronto.  The sun had set.  It wasn’t 6:00 yet.

This morning, I awoke to the kind of silence only heavy snowfall can bring. It’s a calm, insulated silence. One that is only broken by the whoosh of wind rustling the bare tree limbs, and the rumble of snowplows.

A tug of the blinds revealed a scene straight off of a Hallmark card, or an ad for snow tires.

This shot isn't the best -- It lacks some perspective, no?

Thanks to global warming, white Christmases are no longer a given, even in Canada. But this year, old man winter is certainly delivering stuff.

There have already been a few “snow days” – mornings where the weather is deemed too dangerous for school buses to venture out. There is a good three feet of snow on my mother’s front porch, and an astounding five or so in the back yard.

Ahhhh...there's some much-needed perspective. Now do you see what I'm talking about? 
That there is my sister, Val and Chevy.  They are both awesome.

The dog’s house is under a foot of snow.  My mom dropped her GPS somewhere between the car and the house and hasn't see it since.  It'll likely make an appearance some time in April. The other day, they had to send in a helicopter to rescue some people stranded in their cars during a blizzard on a highway not too far from here.

They don’t call this neck of the woods the snow belt for nothing.

If I knew I had another four or five months of this to go, I’d likely be gnashing my teeth, moaning, you know: lamenting bible-style.  But with only four weeks here, I’m saying “bring it on.”

What we had to drive through to get to town this afternoon.

Macro Chevy!

Being Seduced by Sydney

Oh Sydney, you gorgeous enchantress you (insert sigh of contentment here).

Your sand-fringed beaches beckon me. Your undulating harbours delight.  Your parks and green spaces charm me.  Your lovely climate soothes me. Your myriad of shopping centres entice. Damn you Sydney.  You had me at Hello.

How lucky I am to be in this utopian city again. It’s a place that is no less beguiling the fourth time around. 

This time, I’m lucky enough to be visiting a very good friend of mine, who we will call C.  C has been living in Sydney since July and has been extremely welcoming to the road-weary traveller crashing on her couch.  Having been here a few times before, I’ve run most of the tourist attractions that interest me (Tauranga Zoo, the Opera House, the aquarium etc.) and after two months of hostels, I’m almost shamefully happy to just sit around an empty apartment all day and watch TV and occasionally cook.

Me with some sort of building in the background.

Hyde Park.

That’s not to say that I have been completely sedentary and loser-ish this past week.  I have been keeping somewhat busy. I’ve spent time rediscovering some familiar haunts such as the Botanic Gardens, Darling Harbour and Hyde Park.  I’ve visited a few of the many beaches.  I’ve avoided buying anything beyond essentials (this is a major accomplishment on my part.  The stores here are both plentiful and oh-so-pretty.  It really is a shoppers’ paradise).

Sydney skyline from the Botanic gardens

A few highlights of the week:

•  One night, C and I attended a get-together of Québecois living in Sydney (we figured being franco-Ontarian counted) at a pub in the trendy area known as The Rocks.  It was heaps of fun (as the Ozzies say).  There were about 25 or 30 people at the gathering and it was great to be around the Québécois humour for a while.  It was also so strange to hear people speaking French with a Canadian accent then with an Australian accent in English – many of the people had learned to speak English here and therefore had the distinctive Aussie twang. 

My first weekend here we somewhat spontaneously headed an hour and a half south to the city of Wollongong.  There we hung out on the beach, explored the downtown, and took in some of the local colour at a rather seedy pub where we both enjoyed a drink and spent the night (hotels/pubs/pokies/bars are common here).

One of the lighthouses near Wollongong beach.

Last weekend we headed north to Newcastle, a city that, for some reason, Lonely Planet named Australia’s place to be.  Newcastle does have its charms, mainly of the beach variety, and the YHA where we stayed was top notch, but the city itself was a bit odd.  Though there are a reputed 400,000 inhabitants, there was no obvious downtown.  Big buildings were scarce, and much of the areas we visited were a bit run down.  No matter, we enjoyed ourselves immensely at the beach and (mainly) avoided sunburns.

Wollongong beach

• 



The huge ocean baths in Newcastle.  They're basically ocean-fed pools next to the beach.  The water is calmer, warmer, and there`s no chance of sharks! They're fairly common at beaches here, but these ones are huge.  They.re actually the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere. 





The main beach in Newcastle

• I went snorkelling at Clovelly beach, a narrow strip of sand and surf between much more popular Bondi and Coogee beaches.

Clovelly beach.  While "snorkeling" (swimming with goggles) I saw quite a few fish, including a particularly nice blue one.

It’s a strange time to be here.  Not only is the Christmas paraphernalia out in force, but so is the Oprah mania.  The talk show queen is in the country officially to film two shows, and unofficially to promote tourism in Australia.  The government actually shelled out $3 million to bring her and some 300 of her viewers here in the hopes of boosting tourism.  Her antics have been dominating the news here for the past week.

The temporarily renamed "Oprah" house.  I feel bad for first-time visitors to Sydney whose view of the iconic building is marred by the stage and all the other eyesores.



The famous Bondi Beach. If you're needing a knock to your ego, this is the place to go. The beach is thicék with hard and bronzed bodies. 



Sydney Harbour bridge.

As you can see, I've been wandering around a bit barefoot here too. In the distance you can see Bondi.

A stunning cemetary overlooking the ocean between Bondi and Coogee beaches