Australian Cities

We have spent the last ten days in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. In our minds, we saved the best for last, as Sydney is one of the most beautiful and livable cities we have ever been. But, Melbourne is fantastic, quirky, has great neighborhoods and is a manageable size. And Adelaide may have a bit of a bad rap compared to the super-sized and more well known East Coast cities but we really enjoyed it, too.

Australia is great. People are friendly and we can speak to them! We have had really good and funny conversations with many locals. We met a girl at the bus stop in Adelaide who invited us out for drinks with her friends. We have talked Obama-loving politics with many an Aussie. And we have never seen as many good natured lovers of country as we did in Melbourne on Australia Day. Even more people celebrate Australia day than Americans do the 4th of July. Almost everyone had an Australian flag draped around their bodies, or Australian flag tatoos, or both. All Australians over 16 was drinking a whole lot on Australia and there were events and concerts and fairs and sports competitions and parades chock-a-block throughout the city. I don't know how the government paid for all the festivities in the midst of an economic downturn, I just imagine that Australians would not take news of a toned down Australia Day very well.

Another treat we have had in Sydney is that we have hung out with groups of Australians that we have connections to from other places. We went to a barbecue at Leanne Matthews' (the sister of my uncle Peter) house the other night and last night we went out with a bunch of young lawyers, one of whom we had met traveling in Africa 6 months ago. Oh yeah, and the tennis: Joe has been addicted to the Australian Open. It's been really fun to watch, especially when an Australian has been involved.

We have just a few days more of exploring Sydney, going for walks, visiting some of the many beautiful beaches that abound in this city, and watching the finals of the Australian Open before setting off to New Zealand.