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| A sunny day view of a portion of the Sydney skyline. |
We’ve certainly been busy over these past many days. Between the immigration issues, missing package, ordering Tom a new laptop, and some added supplies from Australia, every moment of our days have been fully occupied.
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| Navy base in Sydney Harbour. |
Yesterday, we made a bus trip to Manly to a pharmacy and health food shop for a few items. Without a car during these 40 nights in Fairlight, we haven’t wanted to bother Bob for every little trip we need to make. We’ll be here another 23 nights.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Bob would take us anywhere we’d like to go, but we haven’t wanted to take advantage of his kindly nature. It’s enough he’s taken us sightseeing and grocery shopping on several occasions. He’s insisted.
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| Amphibious navy ship in Sydney Harbour. |
Public transportation is easy in Sydney. With the free Hop, Skip, Jump bus plus the paid bus and the Manly ferry, it’s been fun getting around so quickly, only using a taxi on a few occasions, such as on Monday’s appointment at the immigration office, which required a taxi for a portion of the trip.
We added plenty of money to our OPAL cards used for payment for buses, trains, and ferries. It worked out quite well for us and is so convenient.
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| There’s a restaurant, the Sydney Tower Restaurant, at the top of this space needle for 360-degree viewing of the city. |
Yesterday afternoon, our “missing” package finally landed at the Geeveston post office. Anne, our thoughtful past landlord, immediately turned it around using the funds we’d left to forward it to us here in Fairlight. It’s expected to arrive in four or five days, most likely by next Tuesday.
Late yesterday, Tom’s laptop arrived at our mailing service in Las Vegas, Nevada. This morning, Eric, our rep, informed us it would be AU 521.85, US $400, to ship it Fed-Ex overnight, which isn’t really “overnight” when there’s no way it will arrive tomorrow when it has to go through customs once it comes.
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| Garden Island Jetty in Sydney Harbour. |
Most likely, it will arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday next week. In the interim, we’ve adapted as best as we can. Tom spends time on his smartphone while I busily work on our posts, photos, and future travel plans.
His lack of a laptop right now has made me realize how dependent I am on helping me with research daily. It will be great to have him jump in and help at will, instead of handing him my laptop to look something up while I busy myself with cooking and household tasks.
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| Manly Municipal Council building in downtown Manly which we visited yesterday, on a sunny day. |
We haven’t had a house cleaner since our arrival although we’ll have someone next week. I haven’t scrubbed floors and bathrooms in so long I can’t recall and look forward to Bob’s cleaner coming next week. We like to keep our living quarters clean, so we have both been running around tidying, sweeping, and trying to keep our current “home” as spotless as possible.
Today, it’s raining again, and we’ll stay put. We do make a point to explore every sunny day but have little motivation to get out in the rain. I’m trying a new recipe today and bit off more than I can chew with the multitude of required chopped ingredients and steps in the preparation and cooking.
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| View from our veranda, late yesterday afternoon of the Carnival Spirit leaving Sydney Harbour and heading out to sea. |
Since there’s no rush, it doesn’t feel stressful, as I’ll do it in stages as the day progresses.
Hopefully, your day is low stress! Be well.
Photo from one year ago today, March 30, 2016:
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| There was never a shortage of beautiful scenery in New Zealand one year ago. For more details, please click here. |