Hello 2007!!!

Well! For some reason, it hasn't really sunk in as being 2007 yet. I guess it's because I'm used to having the new year come in the frigid cold along with a nice hot chocolate in my hands as opposed to warm balmy temperatures and some beers. Hmm...

Anyway, it's 2007 regardless of what I think. Okay, enough rambling!

The New Years Festival here is definitely one of the biggest holidays here, and Sydney claims it has the biggest New Years fireworks display in the whole world. After watching it just over an hour ago, I can't say I doubt that claim.

We rode our bikes down to the end of Balmain, where about 100 million other people were, to watch the famous fireworks. We jockeyed for a good viewing spot, which was hard to find, given the amount of people already there, but we finally found a decent place.

Midnight struck and it was the beginning of an awesome display of fireworks. There were (I counted five) that I could see that were all choreographed. The sheer amount of fireworks and the variety were simply dazzling. It was really worth it to go down there and see it.

Getting back home took much longer because I had to walk our bikes much of the time as the streets were too crowded with people to actually ride. Police were keeping the situation under control, and I can truthfully say I never felt unsafe. It was part of the experience watching the hooligans and the revelry though. It actually wasn't that bad. I've seen worse crowds in Seattle!

The moment the fireworks went off, so began probably the longest day I'll ever experience in my lifetime. It will still be Jan. 1 when I arrive back home in Portland and it'll only be mid-afternoon. My flight leaves Sydney mid-afternoon on the first. It's too much to comprehend at the moment. I'm going to bed as it's quarter past 3 AM.

Pic of the day

Fireworks are hard to capture for an amateur like me, so this is about as decent of a shot as I got of the fireworks from the bridge.

Wildlife

Today, all four of us went to the Sydney Wildlife World in Darling Harbour. It was about time I see some of Australia's famous animals up close and in person. It was very interesting and exciting to actually see some of the animals you hear about on all those nature specials.

Some of the highlights were the spiders, including the deadliest species in the world; the snakes, with also the deadliest in the world; several varieties of reptiles and lizards; brilliant butterflies; and marsupials, including koalas, wallabies, wombats, etc.

Our wild animal adventure left us very hungry for lunch - it was time to go have lunch at a pub. We stopped at the Lord Nelson Hotel - the oldest in Sydney - for a drink, but more just to check it out and so Raleigh and I could say we had been there. Kind of an interesting old place, that was. Then off to another pub for more drinks and some food. Adam and I both have good taste and ordered a steak with mashed potatoes. Hmmmmmmm...

We didn't get home until late afternoon and we hung out here at the house, played cricket at the park, and are watching some movies right now. A nice end to our Saturday.

P.S. - We are thinking of Austin and Haley down here, and just to let you know we say hi. You two will be married in less than 24 hours :-)
...
Also, as I have less than 3 days here, I'm posting more than one picture per day, just because I want to.

Pics of the day

One of the cuter animals in the park


A lazy Koala basks in the afternoon sun


Having a drink at the Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel

Confounding Weather

A last minute decision on our part, we figured it would be best not to go camping. The forecast said it would be bad weather, and we thought it wouldn't be worth it. So we didn't go.

We went on a hike in Sydney Harbour National Park. The weather was beautiful. Warm and sunny - a complete opposite of the forecast. We again had second thoughts.

We had lunch at Manly, and it was still warm and sunny. Where was the rain? Had we made a mistake in not going camping?

We headed up to Freshwater Beach after lunch where Raleigh went to surf. During the time we were there, the warm breeze turned chilly, the sun disappeared, and dark clouds filled the sky. Finally, the storm that was forecasted had begun brewing.

By the time we had finished at the beach, thunderclaps boomed down from the ominous sky and heavy droplets of rain cascaded down to earth. The storm had arrived.

On the drive home, we all agreed that we were glad we didn't go camping. Apparently, according to Adam, there was a severe weather warning for the area we were going to camp at. Camping in the rain is no fun anyway!

Pic of the day

Manly Beach on a Friday afternoon. Notice it is still nice and sunny...

True Relaxation

The past two days have been nothing but relaxation here in New South Wales. Sleeping in, watching The Ashes test matches, going to the beach, and eating at nice restaurants are what the past two days have been about. The weather has cooperated also - nothing but clear skies and warm weather.

Tomorrow we leave for two days of camping. I don't know much about where it is, but I'll fill in the details when I get back Saturday night.

Pic of the day

Sorry - not that good a picture of the beach we went to today.

Boxing Day

A tradition for well over 60 years, the Sydney to Hobart race begins every Boxing Day in the eastern part of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour). Today the race began at 13.00. We were not able to make the drive out in time to see it start, so quick thinking our Raleigh and my part led to us driving up to Dover Heights, north of Bondi. It was atop the cliffs that we actually got to see all the action; and I must say it was pretty cool. It was a great day for it too because it was more summer-like today with no clouds and a cool breeze. It was worth the trip up there to see it.

Boxing Day is a national holiday, so there are quite a few things still closed. But not any of the major retailers, as they carry out their after xmas sales - all the stuff left over from the holiday shopping. Christmas was quiet in the CBD (Commercial Business District). Boxing Day was not. In fact, going through the city on the way back was kind of a traffic headache for motorists, but even more so for pedestrians on the sidewalk! There were hoards of bargain hunters down there! It reminded me of Times Square in NYC. Just tons and tons of people. Heh...just wait until NYE (New Year's Eve) - it's supposed to be Sydney's Biggest Party!

Pic of the day

At the top of Dover Heights, and the very first of a huge group of boats makes their way out of the harbour.

Xmas in Sydney

Well...we followed the Rigby tradition of cycling through the city Christmas morning. We didn't think it would be too good because it rained heavily around 8 this morning, but it stopped and continued to clear as we biked around. The traffic was light and we had no problem biking around to the Opera House, and Hyde and Centennial parks. Some pretty interesting stuff to see. The only bad part was I forgot to put the memory card back in my camera so I have no pictures of the excursion. Sorry!

The bike ride was over by 13.30 and Raleigh and I were off to play cricket at the park when Laura just got off the phone to the Bridge Climb people. And just like that there happened to be two spots available at 15.55. Bang! We took a hold of an "offer you can't resist" - a very generous gift by my Dad - to climb the Harbour Bridge. So we climbed the bridge this afternoon. The weather was great - very clear and a little wind at the top; really an excellent afternoon to climb. It was very cool.

Afterward Raleigh and I looked for a pub that was open but Sydney was basically a ghost town today. Almost everything in Sydney is closed on Christmas. Oh well, we have a few more days to visit some more pubs. Meh...tomorrow is Boxing Day - another national holiday.

Pic of the day

Yes, we finally made it atop the bridge. And what a view we had! This is a pic our guide took, since we can't take anything on the bridge...

Manly

We didn't go to the Annandale congregation today, but decided to go to the Manly congregation for Sunday meeting. The Manly hall is one of the more interesting halls I've been in. It seemed rather narrow and small, like the Willamette Park hall. There appeared to be no parking lot either, almost like Willamette Park as well. The inside though was really cool. It was a modern theme with lots of clean lines, brushed metal, and lots of glass. Whiteboards were incorporated behind the stage, which were used during the public talk. They also keep the "modern" theme with wireless mics. I was most surprised to find the vaulted ceilings and the upstairs balcony, where the second school and library are held. A brother took us up to the balcony after the meeting and it reminded me of the Woodburn layout.

The people were really nice. We met some people that were very familiar with Oregon; one even had a business he had in Medford. I also met a brother that knew John and Janet Sharp. That was pretty cool - it's a small world!

After the meeting, we headed to another hugely famous beach - Manly Beach. It seemed like a very nice area. The only thing was the weather. It was like being back home in Oregon. Cool and wet. It thundered here around noon and must've rained about an inch today. A pretty dismal day as far as weather goes. It's still showering as I type.

Pic of the day

Alright, alright. I guess everyone needs a break from me. Here is Raleigh and Laura on the shores of Manly after the meeting.

More Markets!

After spending the morning in service in arguably one of the nicest areas in Sydney, at the tip of Balmain Peninsula, we went to the local market up the street from Rigby's for some lunch. But we weren't finished going to markets.

This afternoon, Laura, Raleigh, and I hopped on a ferry to Circular Quay, then a short walk to The Rocks, where we went to their markets down there. It was definitely more arts and crafts then Paddy's which is like a hodgepodge. We saw plenty of neat and interesting things, and we made an afternoon out of it. By 16:00 it started to rain (it was overcast, humid and not below 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit), but it was actually refreshing.

We had an excellent dinner. We had grilled leg of lamb with potatoes and squash. It was lip smackin' good!

Pic of the day

How boring! A picture of me. Oh wait, the Coat hanger and Opera House are in there too! Taken from the ferry en route to Circular Quay.

A Farewell to "Dutchy"

The morning started out with service; my first time out on this trip. It was an interesting territory because it was located very close to the city center. It was just a different atmosphere than what kind of territories we have back home in Sylvania; lots of people walking about, lots of little business, small flats or low to mid-rise buildings with intercoms. I would compare it to working in the West End of downtown (areas around I-405). I got to talk to some people but no one took anything. We finished the morning at a cafe where I had a really good iced coffee with ice cream in it. Maybe call it a coffee float? Pretty tasty though.

Straight from service we went to the downtown Paddy's Market, where you can find just about anything. It was very crowded, and a little chaotic, but we bought some stuff anyway. One random thing I noticed was that almost all the vendors were Asian, and actually I heard more foreign languages spoken than English. Proof again that Sydney is a very international city.

This evening was special because the folks in the Annandale cong were saying goodbye to a friend they had made over the past 6-7 weeks. The guest of honour for this special picnic at Bronte Beach (yes, we were just there yesterday) was a young brother by the name of Robin van den Akker, or as everyone affectionately called him, Dutchy. To make a long story very short, it was completely by coincidence that he landed here. He was originally headed for Melbourne but stayed here instead. He is a very cool guy. We had included him on our trip to Bethel, our hike and we worked with him in service. I have his email and we plan to keep in touch. Tonight we all said goodbye. He leaves for his home in Holland early Sunday.

Pic of the day

A small group from the cong said goodbye to Dutchy (green shirt, #9) after a 6-7 week vacation from The Netherlands.
(sry about the red eye)

A Busy Thursday

It was an easy sleep-in morning, but things soon picked up. It was a beautiful day and we decided to go to the beach again. This time we went to Bronte Beach, again on the south side of the harbour. There, I truely learned to the ocean's powers. It was too windy and the breakers too weird to do much surfing or even boogie boarding. So instead, all four of us went for a swim. It was during this time that I experience the magnitude of the ocean currents. The breakers were large and the wind pulled the water a certain way so that when we were out there, everyone was pulled either out towards sea or tumbled in to shore. Let me make this clear: I wasn't in danger of drowning - there are tons of people and lifeguards watching everything. It actaully was fun having to deal with the strong and strange currents. Want to stay within the flags, but it was too hard as the water kept pushing us toward the surfers or the rocks. In fact, it was really fun!

All this happened before mid-afternoon. Then we went to the world-famous Bondi Beach for lunch. Bondi is like NSW's version of a hot and happening famous SoCal beach. The beach and surf were like a parking lot of people. We didn't actually go on the beach, but ate at some of the numerous shops and restaurants surrounding the beach. Actually, we might've been better off going to Bondi to surf or boogieboard because the surf was so much better there. Oh well.

Then it was to the Broadway Shopping Centre to get a cricket set. Yes, cricket. That sport is like baseball is in America, maybe even bigger. So we bought a set and Raleigh, Adam, and I tested it out in the park. Not bad, and actually pretty fun. Raleigh and I are thinking about starting up cricket games when we get back home.

Still more...by 18:00 it was time for basketball. We went to play with some brothers for a short time and played hard it the warm breezy evening air. It was real nice.

Okay, back home now by 19:30. Time for dinner, then rhubarb crisp for dessert, then a friendly game of Age of Empires III.

Now after that, I checked email and now I am writing this. By the time I finish typing here it will be past midnight, Friday morning. I'm real tired so I'll go now. Bye!

Pic of the day

Bondi Beach - the most "pimped out" VW bus I have ever seen. Derek, you still in the market for one of these?

An Interesting Experience

Today we went on a hike with a group of friends/visitors to the Royal National Park about an hour south of Sydney. From the start, it was an interesting experience. Part of the trail weaved through shrubs not much higher than me, but also spectacular sandstone formations and cliffs that plunged to the sea below. The trail was never more than .5 km away from the sea, and often we were right on top of it. The elevation varied from the top of the cliffs to actual sand beaches. It wasn't that hard, but we had "older" adults that kept the pace reasonable.

An extra thing we didn't prepare for was the wind. On the tops of some of the cliffs, it was so gusty that we had difficulty walking forward. On one of the beaches, the wind was strong enough to pick up large amounts of sand and blow them every which way, making our legs sting like needles were being poked into them. But on another beach, there was no wind, not even large breakers!

But that was only half the interesting part. The hike followed the coast south for about 5 or 6 km, then headed inland to where some of our vehicles were parked. So as we headed inland, there were several forks in the road, and we had to make decisions. Only one person had a map, and they had been hiking at the park before. So we trusted her when she said to follow her. Now to make a long story short, it wasn't as easy as we'd thought it'd be. After one or two kms inland, our group got fragmented and no one in the group behind knew which forks in the road we'd taken because no one stopped to wait for them - mistake #1. But they caught up to us when they decided to follow footprints in the dirt. So all seemed well when all of us were together and the girl with the map told us only 1 km left to our cars at the lot.........................................5+ km later, we reached the end of the trail at a road in the middle of nowhere - in the middle of the Australian bush. Apparently, the map had been misread about 6 km ago, and we were another 5+ km back to our car - mistake #2. By the time we reached the road, no one wanted to walk another 1 km, much less 5+ km to our cars. Our only option, in the middle of the bush, with an approaching storm, was to signal for help from the passing motorists. It took several cars to finally give two of our party a ride to fetch the cars. Most everyone (including me) was dirty, slimy, and starving by the time help arrived.

So to sum up...we went on a hike in the bush and had to be rescued in the end.

Pic of the day

You asked for pictures of people, so here you go. This is the hiking group - save for me, who took the picture - at the start of our trek.

The Beach

Finally! After more than a week in Australia we made it to the beach this afternoon. It was certainly a nice treat to find warm sandy beaches. The summer has returned! I still don't know whether I feel sorry for those back home in the frigid, wet, and windy weather of the Pacific Northwest. Nah, just kidding. I actually happen to like cold stormy weather also and I hear I missed a big storm that moved through. In fact, that storm you had back home even made the news here!

Anyway!...we went to Maroubra (one of many beaches south of the city) this afternoon and it was really nice. Warm, sunny weather and not many people made it an enjoyable afternoon. Raleigh was able to surf, after the surfing bag that wouldn't open was finally opened by the beach patrol staff (I think they may've had to rip it open in the end). Me - well all I was up to was body boarding (boogie). Laura and Adam didn't even get in the water, but it was too cold for them I guess. But we all had a great time. This is the first, but certainly not the last beach I'll be visiting.

In other HUGELY important news, the Australians won the English in The Ashes, a tradition-rich cricket match between Australia and England. More about cricket when I return home...

A slow start this morning only got slower after we couldn't get Adam's surf board out of the bag.

Settling In

Today is only half over, but I'm posting this now so I don't have to do it before bed tonight. We had our Sunday meeting this morning and I continued to meet more people. The 'cong,' as people refer to congregations, has about 100 publishers and I think about 15 pioneers. But a lot of people were gone on holiday break and the meeting was small. In fact, so many people leave this time of year that they have to combine bookstudy groups for at least three weeks. Later today we're planning on going to a BBQ at some brother's house. That'll be nice.

Let me also tell you about Friday and Saturday:

Saturday - slept in and had good brunch at the local market, then went to play basketball with some brothers. Following that, Raleigh and I went to this other kid's house and had something to eat and watched movies. Had to bike home at 10:30 PM. It was fun and not too dangerous.

Friday - the weather reminded me of Oregon with overcast, chilly, and rainy weather. We didn't do too much expect go to Paddy's Market (like a giant farmers market under the roof of a Costco size building), and watch cricket.

Pic of the day


A quick shot of the Kingdom Hall that Laura goes to. It's got an Australian theme to it, and a cool brick parking lot, where a brother will direct you to park at every meeting, as the lot is rather small and akwardly shaped.

Landmarks

Today we went to see the landmarks that make Sydney, and the whole of Australia for that matter, famous. Our first destination was the Sydney Opera House, which we toured. It was spectacular. The tour was worth it and was the high point of the day. Of course afterward we walked through the transportation hub Circular Quay and the to The Rocks for lunch. Following a rather large meal at a quaint cafe, we headed up to the Harbour Bridge and summited the southeast pylon. We didn't do the bridge climb today - we had people that weren't able to do it in our group, we weren't wearing the right shoes, and it was too hot to climb it anyway.

After the bridge, we headed downtown and walked down George St, a main throughfare, all the way to Town Hall. It was neat to see Sydney in full force today, and the beautiful weather only made it better.

Pic of the day

The Opera House from atop the southeast pylon of the Harbour Bridge

Explorers

This morning/afternoon, Raleigh and I went biking around Darling Harbour just to explore some of what Sydney had to offer. There was plenty of restaurants chocked full of business people on lunch break, plus many of the tourists who were taking the ferries about the harbour. Of course, no lunch would be complete without a drink, so Raleigh and I popped into one of the well-established harbourside brew houses - James Squire (I think that was the name)- at the King Street Wharf. Both of us enjoyed their tasty pale ale after lunch.

On our excursion we took some pictures, for many to see and I'll show those off once I get home. But the biking lasted until late afternoon and before we knew it, it was time to go to meeting.

The Annandale congregation really seemed like a fun hall as well as warm and friendly on my first visit there earlier tonight. There are lots of visitors there besides us, so we blended right in. Lots of people we talked with in depth asked about Oregon, so we fancied them with tales of dark, dreary, drizzling days. Well, okay we told them it was a really nice place - very nice weather in the summer, not so nice in the winter. We talked about some other things too, but that just came off the top of my head.

The hall, being close in to cenral Sydney is quite a diverse group. Many different nationalities are represented, many from Asia and Europe especially. It was really nice. They received our love and greetings, sent them back, and did the same with about four other travelling groups.

In fact, there was a couple visiting from Latvia who actually were interviewed on stage about them and their experiences. It was really interesting to hear. I didn't get to talk to them at the meeting, but it didn't matter because a large group from the hall, including us, the couple from Latvia, and sisters visiting from England were invited to gelato afterward. That was nice talking everyone and sharing experiences.

It turned out to be a long day - we didn't get home from the "Cafe Italia" until near midnight. As I'm typing this, it's nearing 1 in the morning here, and I need to get to sleep.

See all you in cold and rainy Oregon later!

Pic of the day:

Standing at the back end of Darling Harbour; Sydney is in the background

Bethel

This morning we went to the Australian Branch office of Jehovah's Witnesses for a tour and then lunch following. It was really fun and interesting to see another branch operate and we got to see a lot of what is going on nearby, especially in the Pacific islands. There is a printery there, and the presses they have are the "hand-me-downs" from Walkill. And of course, lunch was fun and very good also.

Of course I went along with Raleigh and Laura, but we also invited a young brother, 19 or so, from the Netherlands - who also happens to be visiting Laura's hall right now - along. It was his first visit to Australia as well, so him and I were in the same boat.

We did meet quite a few people, and I won't go into too many details now, but maybe when I come back...

As for what we did Monday: not much, just some shopping and stuff, nothing too exciting, but still fun to see the city (we were mainly in Balmain). We did have a really cool thunderstorm here though - that was cool to watch.

Well, I'll be going to bookstudy in a few hours, and need to study my lesson so I'll stop here. More to come later...

Pic of the day

Sitting in the Bethel lobby before lunch with the latest Watchtower

G'day From Australia

Hello there,

I'm happy to announce that I arrived safely this (Sunday) morning at Kingsford Smith Int'l airport in Sydney. Today has been a long day and I don't feel like going into a huge amount of detail right now - I'm pretty tired and it's only 8 PM here. But we did quite a lot for a first day, and I'll supply those details later. For now, I'll start the tradition of "Pic of the day" with our very first picture to be posted on this blog.

Dec. 10th Pic of the day:

Nice shot of the city with the Anzac Bridge in the background, taken from a ped bridge