We’re in Sydney where I’m teaching at Material Obsession. I love this shop! I read Kathy Doughty’s blog and it’s great fun to meet her and the ladies who frequent her shop.

We came in on the day before class started. Steve and I had that day to wander around Sydney. We walked out onto the Sydney Harbor Bridge. A very nice lady offered to take our picture so here we are:

Sydney is a harbor city. Lots of water. The famous area with the bridge and the Sydney Opera building is very walkable. We walked to the center of the bridge and over to the Opera itself in less than an hour. This is the Opera as seen from the bridge:

As we got closer to the Opera I realized that the white parts are not really white, they are more creamy in color. And as we got even closer I realized that all of that light area is made from tile!

Here’s an even  closer look:

Who knew!? I don’t know what I thought the Sydney Opera Building was covered with but I’m sure it wasn’t tile. I does, however, make sense once you think about it.

We shopped – well I shopped and Steve was patient. We found some presents for folks at home. I bought a green bangle bracelet made from resin that I love. It was too expensive but I knew if I didn’t get it I’d regret it. I didn’t buy any of the lovely designer clothes I saw. I tried to buy some blue jeans but Australian jeans don’t fit me any better than US jeans do. Oh well. I have a lot more luck buying fabric at the quilt shops!

We went to dinner at Cafe Sydney which is on the top/5th floor of the old Custom’s House. The Sydney Public Library is on the 1st and 2nd floors. Very nice. This building is right on the Circular Quay. If you stand at the front of this building and walk right you go to the Opera, go left you go to the Harbor Bridge. There is a train station in front of the Custom’s House that blocks the view of the harbor – but you can see over the train station from the 5th floor.

We had to visit ‘the facilities’ that are part of the library area early in the day. This is how the doors are marked:

Perfect for a library!

Our table for dinner was outside. It was cold and windy but they have propane heaters and blankets on each chair that kept us warm. The food was really fine. A very nice woman and her son were sitting nearby and she offered to take out picture. They were from Connecticut and it was there last meal before getting a the flight home. The lights out in the harbor and across the way were really pretty. You know, sometimes it’s worth it to spend more money on a fine meal in a spectacular place!

I really have to share these photos of the last bits from the Katoomba area:

We’ve seen at least two Goldsmith streets – this one I got a photo of. It’s fun to find your name on a street!

This van with the dots/spots is seriously fun. I asked Steve if he would be OK with me painting dots on my car (a 2007 Ford Fusion). He said no. I guess I can go along with that – it is in excellent condition. But when my car is 10-15 years old it is very likely to get some spots.

This tiny wren came right up to us when we hiked at Wentworth Falls. I was tiny – smaller than my fist. Aren’t the browns and grays pretty?

We went on an adventure! This 4 hour bushwalk (hike) at Wentworth Falls that included waterfalls and lots of stairs. It was beautiful! The air was crisp and we were out of the wind most of the day.

I found out before we set out that there was a strange storm at home with 80 mph winds that bent the pole that holds the shade over our pool. Thankfully it bent the pole and didn't pull the roof off. (Thank you Christopher for taking the shade down before more damage was done.) It's odd when this sort of thing happens when you are so far away that you can't do anything about it.

See, we don't look worried at all, do we? We ran into 2 other hikers and managed to get some photos of the two of us together. Nice.

Lots of falls.

Amazing scenery.

Stairs. Up and down. Up is harder. I spent a lot of time focused on where my feet went. The stairs were actually good to look at. Carved out of the rock, they were lovely. In many places we stepped on blocks of stone – that was the path. Way cool.

We took this shot after walking up these stairs. It was good place to catch our breath. Great photo!

I posed on the rock below at the waterfall. I didn't get all the way on the rock because I kept wondering who would rescue me if I fell and broke my leg. It's hell getting old enough to worry about that sort of thing! I worried about my 'hat hair' and I'm happy to see that it's not so bad!

Well, I was in the lead for a long time so I shouldn't complain – but I'm competitive so I can't say nothing! I got an email from Ami Simms about the current World Series Quilt Challenge. I've written about it here before. I'll put an image of my quilt below to jog your memory. You can 'vote' with your dollars for the quilt you like the best… I do hope it's mine! If it is, please do take a moment to move me out of the cellar! Click here to go to the page to vote.

Remember that all funds raised from these votes and from the auction of the eight quilts go to fund Alzheimer's research.

We got up this morning to clear skies, cold air and wind – which is better that cold, wet wind. There are a variety of hikes around the cliffs. We bought trolley passes which allowed us to get on and off in different places.

On the walk up through town I spotted some lovely flowers outside a flower shop. Do orchids really come in this shade of blue?

And these were pretty. I'd have gotten a bunch but we're moving around too much.

We're in the Blue Mountains. Do they look a little blue there behind me?

There are cliffs that look a little bit like the Grand Canyon. The Three Sisters are a famous rock formation…

We went over to Scenic World and road the (sort of scary) cable car across the canyon. We also rode down into rain forest at the bottom of the canyon and the railway back up. In all cases I was busy enough holding firmly onto the rails that I did not take photos.

And one last photo to share is of the crosswalk sign. I do love the signs in Australia. I don't know if it's just that they are different, but I think the graphics are better. This says 'crosswalk' better than the signs at home do.

We left Canberra and headed to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. We drove through lots of sheep stations (ranches). In fact, we saw the Big Merino in Goulburn. I didn't go in the shop and now wish I had.

The backside of the Big Merino cracked me up…

The countryside was really lovely…

We've seen kangaroos, wallabies, and wombats on the drive. These are all big enough that you really don't want to hit them with a car but it's obvious from the roadkill that cars are hitting a fair number of these animals. We saw this wallaby on the drive…

On all of our drives we've seen these fire danger signs. Australia is a dry continent and they have been in drought for many years. This year they have gotten more rain so the arrows on the signs we've seen point to low-moderate. Notice the highest danger – catastrophic.

I bought some pretty candy. Steve got the lemon drops which are pretty tasty. The flavor I bought is sort of unusual, but it's a good color.