I thought it would be good to begin my first post of the new year with some intention setting. My heart’s intention is to continue courageously in the direction of my dreams! I feel like the following three images help to sum up those intentions.
The rest of our time in Sydney was a glorious blur with Christmas and New Year’s happening as well. We celebrated our first Boxing Day, Dec 26th, with one of the most delicious meals we’ve ever had at a restaurant called Nour. We ordered the Festive Feast since this was our first Christmas without any family or friends to celebrate with and I was still stuffed the next day.
We had an adventure day on the 27th with Dave’s friend that he met while living in China back in 2007 and his lovely wife. They live outside Sydney and were gracious enough to pick us up and take us exploring. We started out driving through the Royal National Park on our way to Stanwell Tops and took in some incredible views from Bald Hill of the coast, Sea Cliff Bridge and many brave paragliders. We continued on down the coast and made our way to Kiama to see the blowhole and finished our wonderful day with the sunset at the lighthouse in Wollongong. Not knowing very many people on this leg of the adventure makes days like that truly magical!
Another thing that we were able to do was to go to the Taronga Zoo and finally see some of the native animals. We went on a Monday hoping that it would be less busy than the weekend but a vast majority of Australians take at least three weeks off of work during the holidays, so even though we arrived right around the time they opened, it was already very busy. We got lucky though and were able to reserve the last two slots for the koala experience which was very exciting. It was only about a five minute session where you can’t touch them, and to be able to see them up close was special.
We learned while we were in Sydney that the National animals, the kangaroo and the emu, both of which we saw at the zoo, were chosen for the Coat of Arms because “they are unique, native Australian animals, and are believed to symbolize a nation that always moves forward, as neither animal can easily move backward.” I thought that was very cool and progressive.
We finished off our time in Sydney with the once in a lifetime opportunity to see the New Year’s Eve fireworks go off above the Sydney Harbor Bridge. We were very fortunate to have our Air BnB located where there was a park right at the end of our street that provided a spectacular view and wasn’t crowded or chaotic. I know that statement lets my “walker” show, as my younger friends say, and I have no shame in that. I was happy I was able to stay awake for it and I was happy I was able to go to bed immediately after it was done. It was exactly how we wanted it to be.
On Saturday the 3rd we arrived in Melbourne for two and half weeks. Our Air Bnb is in a nice highrise building on the Southbank just across the river from the CBD so there is lots to see and do. We have plans to go on a wine tasting tour in the Yarra Valley on Saturday and bought tickets to the open grounds at the Australian Open on the 18th, so we have some fun things to look forward to.
I hope that everyone’s new year is off to the best possible start and that we all are able to continue courageously in the direction of our dreams! Sending you love wherever you are!
♥️Alison
