Thursday, March 8

Yes, it’s been awhile since I’ve updated, but there hasn’t been much to tell – unless you’re interested in hearing about laying around an apartment watching old American sitcoms and juggling ice packs. Tom did end up riding his bike to watch some of the Mardi Gras festival. He didn’t see much of the parade, due to the huge crowds, but at least he got to take in some of the ambience of one of Sydney’s biggest annual events.

Sunday, I was able to go out for the first time since my crash – I was starting to go nuts sitting around, and much in need of some fresh air and a fresher vista. We took a ferry ride, which was wonderful, and then returned to Circular Quay (near the Opera House) to find that the Ferrari club was hosting a 60th anniversary event. There were 100-150 cars on display; all of them in primo condition, gleaming in the sun. We spent about an hour wandering around the area looking at the individual cars. Tom was in heaven, and told me a lot about Ferrari models, engines, horsepower, 0-60 stats; all of which I’ve now forgotten. They were very beautiful – mostly red, but there were some yellow and black ones, too. We finished the evening with a nice dinner out at a favorite pub in the local neighborhood where we live.

Monday, it rained most of the day, so Tom didn’t ride, and we spent most of the time just lazing around.

On Tuesday, it was a gorgeous day, so after Tom’s bike ride we took a ferry ride out to Watson’s Bay, which is near The Gap, or entryway, to Sydney Harbour. We hiked up to the viewpoint over the ocean, which is always spectacular, and spent about an hour walking around the park there. While we were out, our friends Walt and Ellen Hiltner called and we made arrangements to meet them for dinner at their local pub. It was great to see them – they are gearing up for the Sydney Corporate Games, which are put on by the company they own. This is a huge event, so they are really busy just now. We hope to see more of them after the event is held in two weeks.

We’ve had a couple of very spectacular thunder & lightning storms the past couple of evenings, and some pretty epic rainfalls. They’ve had a drought here, so the rain is much needed; it’s just too bad it comes all at once, since it causes flooding in lots of areas.

Our apartment faces the park, so each night we’re treated to a marvelous show of the bats arriving in the park at dusk. They are amazing to watch; they’re so huge it’s hard to believe they can fly. One night it was incredibly windy, and it was very apparent that they had to work extremely hard to stay airborne. It’s quite a sight to see these silhouettes against the night sky.