We've had a very nice final day in Sydney/Australia following a somewhat bleak day yesterday. It rained heavily for most of the day, and it was cool. Cynthia and I wandered around the shops a little to make some final purchases, but we preferred to be inside. I finished reading Gilgamesh by Joan London, a writer from Western Australia, and the story was evocative of that place. Last night we had a fine dinner with Margaret, Susan and her parents at their home. The oysters and bouillabase were outstanding, and the company charming. Their view of the city skyline is inspirational.

Today it rained in the morning, but not enough to deter Cynthia and me from walking down to Potts Point and around the shoreline to Mrs. Macquarie's Seat overlooking the Botanical Gardens, Opera House and Harbour Bridge. We continued through the gardens and up to the State Library of New South Wales where we went to an exhibit of the Australian photographer David Moore. My favorite pictures were of the Opera House under construction in 1966 and 1967. Others were appealing as well.

Susan and Margaret picked us up for a yummy lunch in Surry Hills, followed by a visit to Bondi Beach where the surf was wild and beautiful. I had a short walk and foot bath in the ocean. They returned us to our hotel and we bid adieu, with hopes of seeing each other again sooner than later in the U.S.. Cynthia and I have packed our bags and laid in some final provisions for the journey home. We're gearing up for the trip and eagerly looking forward to our reunion with Jasper and Z. I'll post again from Greenfield, Massachusetts.

The rain fell heavily at times this morning, postponing our planned trip to Saturday markets. I still took a run in Centennial Park, then Cynthia and I walked to and around Potts Point before meeting Susan and her mother for lunch in Surry Hills. Potts Point felt intimate, will nice shade trees, terrace houses and a great view of the harbor. The day cleared to bright, warm sunshine.

Our lunch was good, and afterwards we met Margaret at her office. Judith, Cynthia and I went to a market of goods and foods at the Fox Studios complex, then met Susan, Margaret and Alex for chocolate beverages at Max Brenner Chocolatier. We visited other specialty food shops and boutiques in Paddington and Surry Hills. We parted for the evening, with plans to do more shopping and dinner tomorrow.

I feel myself mentally transitioning back to life at home. I cheered myself this morning with the prospect of buying and decorating a Christmas tree next weekend. The lights should fend off some of the dark drear. Here the Christmas decorations have been out since I arrived, but don't feature lights. Rather there are glittery stars, red balls and Christian adornments. I'm not quite in the mood for Christmas here. Tomorrow morning Cynthia and I will head to Bondi Beach where cold and dark will be far away.

We've made our way to Sullivan's Hotel in Sydney, but I must say I'm smitten with Perth and Western Australia. Perth is a gleaming and yet charming city, with a great outdoor presence from early morning to late evening in the central business district where we stayed. We found ourselves in the midst of a wide choice of excellent cafes and shops, housed in old brick and stucco buildings with open doors and windows. The sky is brilliant there too. The ethos seems to lean a bit towards "frontier wild west" with many folks flying in and out of the city from the numerous mines in WA. Our B&B host in Nannup as well as our cab driver today told us tales of working in various capacities in iron ore, diamond and uranium mines, the overall theme being that the money to be made is extravagant but the lifestyle quite unique. It's such a big country, with these extremely remote outposts. Our B&B host showed us a picture of her sitting in the center of this enormous wheel from a 250 ton truck. I've never seen such a massive piece of machinery.

The southwest of WA was different, between the agricultural interests, the beaches and the forests. We drove through a national forest of karri trees - tall and straight eucalyptus with a high canopy and ferns at the floor. In other places the marris dominate, and they boast substantial trunk girth and a broad canopy. The wildflowers are lovely too, and the state flower, the kangaroo paw, is prolific. This area is far from desert, and yet it too has relatively few people.

But now where back in the thriving metropolis of Sydney for our final days in Australia. I do hold dreams of returning to Western Austrailia.

Last night we returned to Perth after meandering back via Augusta and the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, notable as the spot where the South and Indian Oceans meet, Redgate Beach to sample Western Australian surfing culture, and Margaret River where we had lunch. The lighthouse and beaches were unbelievably gorgeous, the water filled with colors from light green to deep blue. The township of Margaret River was bustling and crowded with noisy construction trucks. Following lunch we went on to the Margaret River Regional Wine Center where we heard an informative overview of local winemakers and purchased a very small sampling. This made Cynthia's day. As the day was getting on towards evening, I was eager to head north ahead of the active animal time. Many of the towns in the area end with "up" - Yallingup, Manjimup, Nannup, Balingup, Dardanup, Giddyup (just kidding.) We noted the signs as we drove another 3 and a half hours up to Perth. Both of us were beat, and we retired immediately upon arrival.

Perth has much more to offer than we can do in a leisurely day. I think we'd both like to return and spend more time at the beaches, Rottnest Island, Fremantle, the museums, etc. On first impression this is a gorgeous place. I was in need of a slow day today, after the trials and tribulations of driving over the past few days. After returning the rental car this morning, we took a bus up to Kings Park and Botanic Gardens which is a lovely spot overlooking the city skyline, the Swan River and the Canning River. We spent the day there and had a slow, fantastic lunch, what Cynthia aptly called a "peak experience", at Fraser's Restaurant. Yum yum. We are eating very very well in this country.

And so are many of you eating well, I imagine, on this Thanksgiving Day in the U.S.A. I wish you all a great day of good eats and good peoples. Cheers!

Yesterday I published my blog post with the "last call for flight ... to Perth" ringing in my ears. In my haste to catch the flight I neglected many details of the weekend on Kangaroo Island. The lighthouse outside our cottage at Cape du Couedic was tall and proud, built in about 1909 of local sandstone with a red cap on top. The lighthouse at Cape Borda was a bright white, more squat structure. The New Zealand fur seals emit a rather pungent odor, signalling one's approach to the water. The local oysters also rank very highly in my experience. Cynthia and I shared a half dozen before catching the ferry at the place calling itself "Fish" in letters cut out of rusted, corrugated metal. This place also displayed an antique Indiana license plate superimposed with a wooden carved fish. The proprietor spent the American summer in Scituate, MA. The drive on Friday night to our cottage dissuaded us from crossing the island again on Saturday night to see the fairy penquins come in to the caves, but we saw other very interesting animals.

Our flight to Perth was uneventful and we picked up our rental car and came dowm to Nannup yesterday afternoon. The countryside is beautiful with sheep and cattle grazing, wine vineyards, fruit orchards and rolling hills. Nannup is a charming little town, calling itself the "gardener's village." Fittingly, flowers abound and it smells good too. We slept well and had an excellent cooked breakfast this morning. I finished reading Tim O'Brien's "July July" on the terrace and then we set off to see big trees down south. Unfortunately my evasive maneuver, this time to avoid a lizard crossing the road, was less successful and landed us in a ditch. Thank god we're both okay, with only sore shoulders from our seat belts. Lots of people stopped to help, and we now have a replacement rental vehicle on the way. We'll take tomorrow as it comes and count our blessings.

The drive from Penneshaw to Cape du Couedic on Friday night was a white-knuckle crawl as dusk turned to dark, and the roads were strewn with evidence that speed kills. I made an evasive maneuver once to avoid a scurrying possum, but was forced to slow down numerous times as wallabies and kangaroos looked out at us from the road with expressions that said something like "What are YOU doing here?" I don't think they minded what side of the road I drove on, but rather that I was on the road at all. After two and a half hours of driving, at 10:30 p.m. we got to our dark lightkeeper's cottage where our headlights landed on yet another kangaroo awaiting our arrival in the driveway. We fumbled around to find a back door with a key. Once inside we were thrilled to discover three large bedrooms, a gorgeous old kitchen and living room, fine wood floors and charm abounding. I slept very well.

Saturday we celebrated Cynthia's birthday among exquisite wildflowers and creatures. At Admiral's Arch we watched the New Zealand fur seals, the young frolicking and the old bulls facing off. At Cape Borda we took a bush walk and came upon a kangaroo and an echidna, and on the return journey over the dirt road we saw more echidnas, kangaroos and wallabies, including little joey who quickly burrowed into mama's pouch, feet and tail sticking out as she bounded away. Once back at the cottage we enjoyed a wood fire in the kitchen stove, simple fare and an excellent Kangaroo Island cabernet sauvignon, followed by champagne and chocolate courtesy of Margaret and Susan. Cynthia pronounced it her best birthday ever! It was truely a memorable day in a very beautiful place.

Sunday we meandered back to Penneshaw, stopping to walk amongst the eucalyptus favored by koalas and looking up at the big males in the tree tops and the mothers and young ones lower down in the branches. They are really fun and quite relaxing to observe -- they don't move too quickly you know. We also stopped at Clifford's Honey Farm. KI is famous for being a protected area for the pure strain of Italian bee, the Ligurian. We sampled different honeys and ate honey ice cream made there. It certainly ranks very high in the annals of Christine's Ice Cream Hall of Fame.

We had some time in Penneshaw to drink coffee and eat fish and chips. And we returned the rental car safely, the windshield wipers lever getting more accidental use in the intended turn signals. Getting the placement of those controls is harder than driving on the left side. The ferry ride back was lovely and we got back to the hotel at 10:30 p.m. Today, we're off to Perth and the southwest part of Western Australia.

We have a little spare time to spend at this gaming/internet space - there's not much "cafe" to it - before catching the bus/ferry to Kangaroo Island. Donald Rumsfield and his entourage just whizzed by outbound towards the airport, so traffic and tension should disperse.

Cynthia did indeed have a productive tour of the awesome food market here yesterday. We enjoyed pate, cheeses, cucumber, bread, figs, cherries and other nibblies in our room last night, then had a walk around in some quaint residential neighborhoods. This morning I took a run around the Festival/Arts Center, riverfront, cricket grounds and central shopping district. We packed our things, and I went off to the Underdale campus of UniSA for meetings this morning. I put more pieces together, and everyone was very generous with time and explanations.

I met Cynthia for lunch at a very nice tea bar and we walked around the food market again, my first view of it in operation. It's open Thursday - Saturday and has many stalls of breads, sweets, cheeses, meats, produce and many specialty items, many locally produced. The trick was to resist buying what we can't transport or consume, but the temptations were many.

My favorite new Australian phrase, which I heard for the second time yesterday, is "and Bob's your uncle" when a positive resolution has or will be reached. As in, "You pay off your parking fines and Bob's your uncle."

We're both looking forward to this weekend sojourn, during which I expect to be far away from a computer. And we'll celebrate Cynthia's birthday with the fairy penquins tomorrow - wa-hoo!!