Happy Easter everyone!! Here in Australia, it is a four day holiday weekend, and most schools have 1-2 weeks off. To catch up with the last few days - Tom went on a great ride with Jason and Andrew Price (from the Sydney Cycling Club) on Wednesday. He took the train to Hornsby (about 1/2 hour north of Sydney) and they rode through the gorges in the Kurangai National Park. It sounded like a beautiful ride with great scenery, but just as well I didn't join them - over 40 miles and 4000+ feet of elevation gain! One of the highlights of the day for Tom was a snack stop where he ordered a fruit and yogurt bowl with honey. Even though EVERYTHING tastes good when you've been riding a bike, he said this was particularly excellent.

On Thursday, we went to the beach only to get stuck out there in a rainstorm - it poured for about 2 hours and we sat under the canopy and watched the rain and waves. It was actually kind of peaceful, and hardly anyone was there that day - for obvious reasons.... It is good to pay attention to the weather forecasts, even though it looks like the sun is shining!! Here's a photo of me with Smokey the cat, who lives at Wylie's Baths. He is very friendly - especially if you have some ham.

For Good Friday, we had an epic lunch with Walt and Ellen Hiltner. Ellen went to school with one of Sydney's premier chefs, Greg Doyle, and he and his wife, Jenny, own a beautiful restaurant called Pier. It's located in Rose Bay, which is a really pretty area of Sydney, and Pier is one of the few places where you are actually located out over the water. Walt had arranged for us to arrive at the restaurant by water taxi, which was very cool and a delightful start to the afternoon. Upon our arrival, the Hiltners introduced us to Greg and Jenny and we were seated at the best table in the restaurant - right out at the end of the pier. The views are just unstoppable - the harbour and waterfront homes and neighborhoods are spectacular. And the food - it was an unbelievable treat! We spent about 4 hours having a leisurely lunch, which made it a perfect afternoon. We felt utterly pampered.

Saturday was spent walking through the beautiful Sydney suburbs of Paddington and Woolahra. These areas are full of the traditional terrace houses which make up so much of Sydney's architecture. It is an upscale area, so the houses are beautifully maintained with lovely gardens. The streets are so quiet, that it's hard to believe you're just on the edge of a huge city.

Sunday was a little cooler, but one of those gorgeous crisp fall days where the air is cool in the morning, but the sun shines and warms up to about a 70 degree day. Just perfect, in my mind.

On Monday, we had a more successful trip to the beach - it was hot and sunny and the surf was up enough to break over the rock pool. I actually did some snorkeling in the pool - there isn't as much marine life there as in the open ocean, but I did see several kinds of fish and some nice coral formations. To me, snorkeling is like being in another galaxy. Your ears are under the surface, so the sounds of the upper world are non-existent and you are virtually weightless in the salt water.

We're now preparing for a couple of days in the Blue Mountains - I'll let you know how that is!!