Tuesday

Well we knew the weather was going to change today. We woke up to 36 degrees at 8:00 this morning. It had been going up to about 25 degrees the previous couple of days. Instead of a cool breeze it was quite a hot breeze today. We decided to give our feet a break and take the train two stops north to Circular Quay. We caught the ferry:

And got off at:

We took the aerial tram up to the top of the zoo and had a wonderful view of the Harbour from the other side:

I'm sure you don't need my commentary to identify the animals:

It was calling for rain today and it spit a little while we were at the zoo.  While we were waiting for the ferry I had to pour water over the back of my neck it was so hot! We took the ferry back to Circular Quay, grabbed a bite to eat, then caught the train back to our stop. As we were walking to the hotel a huge wind suddenly kicked up. The sky had been getting more overcast all afternoon and the rain finally began. Just a fine drizzle, but I felt immediate relief from the heat. It began raining quite hard about about 6:00 pm. By 8 the streets were almost dry. We headed out for a late dinner around the corner.  Our server lived in Kits for a while, so we had lots to talk about.

Monday

Ok, now I remember how to blog properly. I got the photo situation sorted and edited yesterday's post to include the photos. They are at the bottom of the post but you get the idea. Here's to no more glitches!

In case I am giving the impression that the time difference is larger than you thought, it is Tuesday morning and I am writing about our adventures of Monday. I wish I knew how many kilometres we walked yesterday! Let's just use the technical term and call it A LOT!

We had a lovely breakfast in the room, which included the best mango I ever had. Off we went heading north towards the harbour. We passed St. Mary's Cathedral:

We walked through the Royal Botanic Gardens past Government House, the residence of the governor of New South Wales:

We walked around the Opera House:

Marvelled at this monstrosity:

We then headed over to The Rocks. This is a neighborhood that reminds me a bit of Yaletown in Vancouver. Lots of old converted brick warehouses, trendy shops and lots of cafes and restaurants. It has a lot of history as the part of Sydney where European settlement began.

This is an old tenement, actually a museum we are going to visit Wednesday:

Across the street is the youth hostel. When they started excavating to build it they found old foundations and tons of artifacts. It is an important archeological site detailing early European settlement, so they built the hostel on stilts:

This is inside the lobby:

We walked and wandered and eventually headed under the bridge:

We walked some more:

We found Canada:

We kept walking:

And eventually made it back to our hotel. We had dinner in and limped around...I mean relaxed for the rest of the evening. 

Sunday

Here we are at the gate at YVR raring to go.

It was a reeeeally long flight made longer by the fact that we left half an hour late at 12:15 am.  They served dinner at about 1 am, sandwiches and cookies about 4 hours later and breakfast about 8 hours after that. I guess they wanted to get us on an Australian feeding schedule. In between I managed to watch a couple of movies and doze off and on. When we landed the flight crew fumigated us - yes, they opened all the overhead bins and sprayed insecticide in them, then we had to sit there for 10 minutes while the spray settled over us. A lovely welcome!

When we got off the plane one of the business class flight attendants was standing there and recognized Brad from his travels, so they had a visit for a bit. Then the long trip through customs; we kept getting sent to longer and longer lines. Even though we didn't have any checked luggage I think we were one of the last to emerge from the airport. Finally into the sun and warmth!  We made our way to the airport train station and bought our reloadable Opal cards, which we can use on trains, buses and ferries. Here is the train we took into the city.

We had a 5 minute walk to our hotel. It was too early to check in so we dropped off our luggage and headed to Darling Harbour for a late lunch. It's going to be a very busy week in Sydney - the Sydney Festival is on, the 26th is Australia Day and the 27th is the first day of Lunar New Year. We got an email saying our room was ready so we headed back, stopping by the grocery store on our way. We relaxed for a couple of hours then had dinner. We went for a walk to Hyde Park after dark. Lots of people out, well lit paths, we watched a festival show for a bit then continued around the park back to the hotel. I would love to post a photo of the war memorial but my pictures won't load today. Anyway, that was our day yesterday.

On Our Way

Our flight to Vancouver was uneventful, just a wee bit of turbulence.  While still in Nanaimo we learned that our flight to Sydney was overbooked and they were looking for volunteers willing to give up their seats. We considered it but took too long to come to a decision so we lost our chance.

We are sitting in the Air Canada lounge,  just finished a snack and we're having a couple of drinks. We have about 45 minutes before we have to go to the gate. I really hope that we are both able to sleep on the flight so we arrive fresh and ready to go full speed!

Two weeks, two people, two carry ons, two backpacks, and one purse.  South Pacific, here we come!

A New Beginning

Well, it's time to revive the Blog!  One week from today, Brad and I will head out on the trip of a lifetime - a week in Sydney Australia and a week in Nadi Fiji.  Australia has always been a dream of mine.  I was determined to go there after high school, but I had no one to travel with, and I was too shy and scared to go on my own.  I am so excited to have the chance to go now!  Originally this trip was to be just a week in Fiji, but when we discovered that we couldn't get there without flying through Sydney, we extended the trip to 2 weeks.  The plan is to be tourists from dawn to dusk in Sydney, to see, do and experience everything, then relax and do nothing in Fiji.

I said at the beginning that this is the trip of a lifetime, and it is, but it is only one of many trips of a lifetime we plan on making (we've had two already to Scotland).  We are determined to travel and experience the world while we are still young and healthy enough to be active and enjoy what life has to offer.

I encourage you to travel, take music lessons, change jobs, start a business, get out in the great outdoors, take up knitting, learn a new language, join a choir, take a cooking class, do whatever it is that you love and that makes you happy - don't wait!  If you have the chance, do it!  And if you don't have the chance now, make the chance happen soon!  I challenge all of you to challenge yourselves to do something new in 2017, something that you have always wanted to do, but didn't think you could, didn't think you had time for, didn't think you'd be good at, didn't think you could afford.  Find a way! You can do it!

Two posts in one day!

Before we left Vatisker we went across the road to visit the couple who own the old MacIver croft that Brad's great grandfather worked.  A very nice older couple named Norman and Ann.  It turns out Ann is Nan's cousin, the lady we met in Stornoway the other day.  Ann's grandfather bought the croft from the MacIvers, but she didn't know anything about them, so was glad to learn about them.  They were very sweet.

A few people we've met have been surprised that the decendants of 2 Lewis people met in Canada and got married.  What are the chances! they say.

We drove to the ferry lineup then hung around town for a while. It was sad leaving Lewis, but we'll go back someday.  We saw dolphins right outside Stornoway harbour.  Read for the 2 3/4 hour ferry ride, it was just a little rolly this time.  A beautiful rainbow met us in Ullapool.  In driving down the road we caught up to the rain, but it didn't last too long.  We stopped at Castle Leod, the home of the Earl of Cromartie, Chief of Clan MacKenzie.  Unfortunately it was their last Open Day of the year and we were too late for it - we got there around 6:30.  Got to walk around the grounds and take some pictures though.  We found our B&B in Strathpeffer, Holly Lodge.  It was built in 1901, a big Victorian house.  Strathpeffer was a Victorian spa town, so lots of villas and hotels. It's built on a hill, so it's different as we've mostly been staying in flat seaside towns.

After a late dinner we went to the town square, where the pipe band and dancers perform every Saturday night through the summer.  Back to our giant room at the B&B for some relaxation.

2 Upper Barvas, the Matheson croft (the half across the road from the house):

A blackhouse:

A peat fire:

Driving into the mouth of the ferry:

Ullapool:

The castle of my people:

Our room at Holly Lodge:

Callenish Standing Stones yesterday.  It bothers me that this is out of chronological order, but I'm too frustrated to fix it:

Friday we went to the Council Hall and a lovely lady spent time searching for Brad's family on ScotlandsPeople, which saved us a lot of time and money.  She told us to get out and enjoy the sunshine, so we drove up to Upper Barvas, and found the croft that my gg-grandfather John Matheson was born on, that his father and grandfather worked before him.  The current leasee, Murray, was wonderful, he spent an hour touring us around the property, explaining the croft system, and telling us what he is doing with the land.  He gave us a bottle of homemade beer, some peat and 3 warm eggs from the henhouse for our breakfast.  He also weaves Harris tweed, and gave us a demonstration and some scrap ends of cloth.

We drove on and stopped at the Blackhouse at Arnol, then the Blackhouse Village in Guiranin (I know that's probably spelled wrong!).  Learned a lot about the way of life of the crofters.  It was a very hard life.

We stopped at the Callenish Standing Stones next, very mysterious and not a lot known about them, as they don't seem to be marking anything astrological.

We drove back to Stornaway to pick up the information from the Council office, then dinner at the Arts Club restaurant.

We catch the ferry from Stornoway to Ullapool at 2:30 this afternoon (Saturday, nearly a 3 hour crossing), then stay at Holly Lodge B&B in Strathpeffer tonight.  I'll post pictures then.