Greetings blog visitor!
Welcome to this modest corner of the Internet, an online chronicling of my time in the fine country of Australia, former home to the thieves and convicts of yore, current home to happy, hard-working Aussies, and the birthplace of Uggz. I've created this space as a way to keep friends and family abreast of my travels and experiences in a way that is convenient to them and myself. It is my hope that you will find this journal both fun and informative, filled with an appropriate amount of humor and insight.
But enough of the formalities! As I am currently in Sydney, I think I know what you all want to see...
Ah yes, the Sydney Opera House! A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Sydney Opera House is one of the busiest performing-arts centers in the world, as well as one of the most recognizable pieces of 20th century architecture (you know you've made it as a building if you get destroyed by aliens in Independence Day). If this particular picture of the Opera House is slightly less than stunning, that is because it is now fall in Sydney, which turns out to be more of a rainy season than the autumns I am used to in Virginia. While it's no monsoon season, it does rain some just about every day, so much of my pictures will include overcast skies, which makes sunny days all the more enjoyable. Here's a much more pleasing view of the Opera House:
See what a difference blue skies can make?
What makes Sydney such an interesting place is that for such bustling, internationally-minded metropolis, it is a very green city, surrounded on almost all sides by national parks. Even at the heart of the financial district, you are only a short walk away from the vast and beautiful Royal Botanic Gardens where you can sit with the cockatoos
or just hang with the bats.
Just go an hour to the West of Sydney and you'll find yourself looking at the beautiful cliffs, valleys, and waterfalls of the Blue Mountains.
Sydney is just as fun, vibrant, and exciting as I heard it would be, and I look forward to experiencing all it has to offer. Obviously, there is life in Australia outside of Sydney which I also plan on encountering, but I will take that as it comes. As for you, dear reader, thank you for taking the time to read this inaugural entry, and I hope you come back for further updates on this Yank's life Down Under.
Cheers!
