Sydney Day 2

Day 2 was most definitely an adventure. With not really a plan at all we had about as much fun as humanly possible.

Waking up at 7 a.m. (went to sleep at 9 p.m.) allowed us to get a fresh start to our exciting day. We set out of the hotel walking left (because we hadn't been in that direction yet). We found a breakfast cafe serving "full English" breakfasts and sat down to chow.

After filling up the belly we rolled out in search of something to surprise us. We had heard about Bondi Beach and decided that we'd jump in a taxi and see what happens.

Arriving at Bondi Beach was like something out of a movie. Perfect sand, perfect weather and a boardwalk with shops all down the coast. We decided to walk down the shops area so that we would know what awaits us after we went down to the beach and I'm glad we did because we stumbled into a surf shop "Dripping Wet" and saw they were advertising surf board rentals. Yes, now that's what I'm talking about. http://tweetphoto.com/14437659

We slurged for cheap board shorts, towels and more sunscreen and headed to the waves with our huge rented surboards. I burn very easily (thank you geneitcs) so I lathered up with sunscreen. Three hours later, we were so exhausted that we could hardly move. I felt like I was already sore in the shoulders, arms, back and neck and dread the waking up for tomorrow.

While returning our surf boards I got word that legendary surfer "Kelly Slater" was staying in the hotel next door to the surf shop because of a huge surfing competion held that weekend...that is even more awesome to add to today.

We grabbed our bags and headed off the beaten path to look for some lunch. We always try to find a local spot and doing that is not always easy but is always rewarding in some way or another. Finding ourselves in a residential area we saw a lunch spot called "Greens" and sat down for a smoothie. At the table next to us was a 70 year old man that asked us where we were from (I guess we stick out quite a bit).

After chatting awhile we got his name and contact info and decided to "Google" him to see if all the stuff he talked about was true...it was. Pretty cool life story. His name is Alan Cholodenko.

We started our walk back to the bus area and grabbed a bus to Watson's Bay where many big cliffs and photo spots are a definite, plus, from Watson's Bay we could take a ferry back around the Opera House and into Sydney proper.

Lots of beautiful scenery here in which (as expected) a photo or video won't really capture the feeling because you don't get the sun warmth, ocean breeze, salt-water smell or hear the waves hitting the rocks by simply looking at the photos...

After circling around the Opera House and taking more video (soon to hit my Youtube page) we took a taxi back to the hotel to rejuvinate and headed back out to catch the Sydeny rugby game, and I'm now a big rugby fan. We tried to see if there was a game we could go watch but never heard a "yes" from anyone so we didn't plan to go see one (we were asking the wrong people). We will try again in Melbourne.

We had another great evening at a local pub watching the match with other locals and eating/drinking local food and brew.

FACT: I have not seen ONE Fosters or even an advertisement for it.

After that we headed back to sleep. The jet-lag, sunburn and surfing is knocking us down quite a bit later in the evenings but we'll prevail in the end.