Botanical Gardens, Sydney, Sydney Opera House

(Will post pictures tomorrow - forgot my camera tonight). Yesterday we went through the Cairns Botanical Gardens before going to the airport to fly to Sydney. They were lovely, but I had seen much of this type of flora and foliage in California and Hawaii. Cairns' humidity is about 95% and the temperature has been in the high 80's. Needless to say, Cairns is tropical and very hot!

Yesterday, we arrived in Sydney and went to the hotel just long enough to drop our bags off. We then headed to Darling Harbor to walk around a bit, have drinks, and eat. We had a meal already included in the tour. The meal was in a gorgeous restaurant and the food was divine. Really enjoyed it. I ate John-Dory fish (which someone said was the same as dover sole in the US). One has to be careful here about thinking they are trying something new. All the Aussies I have talked to said to make sure to taste the "mud crab". In a restaurant in Cairns, I was going to order it, but it was $90 for a crab. I saw someone else with a crab, which looked like a dungeness crab. After the waiter asked the chef, he informed me it was the same as a dungeness crab, so was glad I did not order it. I can get those in the States a lot cheaper.

I dropped in bed last night to get up this AM at 5:30 so I could work out a bit (with all this eating, I am growing exponentially!). I left on the bus at 8:00A for a city tour and tour of the Sydney Opera House. The Opera House is spectacular. It is unbelievable the way it is built. The design was based on a Danish archectect's design. It was expected to take only 3 years to build, but took 16 because of the problems in trying to make the "sails" for the building. There are no microphones inside of the building because acoustically it is built so that all sound is magnified as it would be with microphones, only naturally. Even the seats are designed to bounce the sounds off the wood and the seats are made ergonomically. One of my greatest regrets is that there is not a performance tomorrow night (the only night I have free). I would have loved to have heard the symphony or an opera within those walls!!

Many of the buildings in Sydney are made of sandstone...very beautiful and very clean. The hotel is located near Chinatown, which I love. One of the women and I took the light rail home last night from the restaurant, walked through Chinatown, and ran into a Korean street performer wearing a bed of roses (which he shared with us)...pictures to follow tomorrow. I forgot to bring my camera.

Something I found interesting...one of the Woolworth's stores is located in a very prominent part of the city. At one time, Woolworth's was not doing a very good business. Someone told them that the wealthy did not want to be seen shopping there, so the store "whited out" all the windows. It's revenues increased 7%! To this day, the windows are still "whited out".

Austalia's economy is booming...probably because it is selling most of its natural resources to China, which is buying alot of them. Australia has a Medicare system, but it is for all,not just for those 65 and older. They also have only one tax...not one for the states and one for the country. Everyone must vote or an individual could be fined $185 for not voting. There are mixed reviews on this process. Ecuador and Peru were the same. They have to pay a higher tax on unearned income than on earned income (for anyone interested!)

Tonight we are off for a night harbor cruise, and dinner and tomorrow we have free. Will try to post pictures tomorrow. Hope you had a great weekend.-