A Sydney Vacation

Australians do love their holidays. No complaints at all, but it's a bit funny that a country with 8% church attendance has both Good Friday and Monday for Easter off, whereas in the U.S. (43% church attendance), I never had either day off. I honestly have to believe that this has something more to do with the country's attitude towards work-life balance than religious devotion. Just observing, definitely no judgement here. Especially since, as I don't work Tuesdays, I've ended up with 5 days off. I'm happy for the holiday, whatever the reason.

As I mentioned before, we didn't get around to planning any trips out of town, so we've been vacationing in Sydney. The advantage, of course, is that we get to spend considerably less money and sleep in our own beds.

On Friday, we decided that our mandate was to use our neglected National Park pass, which is set to expire in May. We took a drive less than an hour south of Sydney to Royal National Park (according to their website, it's the 2nd oldest national park, after Yellowstone). We took a short hike and picnicked on a track that was primarily coastal, with a little beach combing and a small bit of bushland. Can you even believe this is just 30kms outside the city?...

You can see from these photos that it was an insanely nice day.

Yesterday was almost as beautiful, but very windy. And, I woke up with a headache (actually, I went to bed with a headache that never went away). I sulked around cleaning the house in medium amounts of pain all morning, until we finally decided to get outside. We took the picnic blanket to Cremorne Point, a pretty park one suburb over with a great view of the Bridge and the Opera House for an afternoon of reading on the blanket while watching the tourist jet boats speed by.

At some point, I realized that I hadn't had a cup of coffee in two days, and decided that was the cause of my headache. Sure enough, a half a cup of coffee later, and I was right as rain. Sad to learn that my addiction is so strong, but at least it was a cheap and effective fix, and I became instantly much more tolerable to live with. 

Our big adventure yesterday was getting all dressed up and spending the evening at the opera on the Harbour. I'm not a huge opera goer, but I always enjoy it when I do go, and to see it outdoors, looking at the water, with a glass of bubbly on a perfect autumn night was just marvelous. La Traviata is on offer for a 3-week run. The story is remarkably silly, but you can't care about such trivialities. The production is a dream - beautiful voices, glorious costumes, all illuminated by a gigantic faux-crystal chandelier (you must see this video of the building and transport of the chandelier). Oh, and the fireworks. Of course, fireworks, perfectly placed. I do hope that this will be a success and they'll bring the idea of opera on the harbour back again. It's the sort of thing that is just so Sydney - the best parts of Sydney. 

Today, we've been invited to an Easter dinner with friends. I've got my pie on the oven, and am ready for another lovely, leisurely day, Sydney style.