New hat

Helen: What a difference a few hundred miles makes! Sydney is green and wet - it rained for hours last night. The only thing that crunches here underfoot are the cockroaches and the small blue jellyfish on the beach (that I told C not to stand on as they were probably poisonous just before I inadvertently trod on one and shreiked when it made a loud popping sound as I burst its air sack.)

We arrived here via several embassies in Canberra - a wierd Milton Keynes sort of a city - lots of monumental architecture and big boulevards...but lacking in atmosphere. Everyone on the streets had sensible hair and suits - most of them work for the government. We had hoped to be in and out in one day...but, predictably, I guess, getting the visas took longer than anticipated (we now have Mongolian and Vietnamese visas though - only Russia to get - got all the endless paperwork (no clue what it says as it's all in Cyrillic) and we're going there tomorrow)). So, we were stuck there overnight and had a few hours for sightseeing - I asked C which of the many 'National...' museums/galleries he wanted to go and see and he chose the Portrait Gallery as he said these are usually the smallest galleries. Hah! The one in Canberra is huge! (but also not very good so we whizzed through it). Saw a protest tent village outside the Old Parliament House - Aborigines and something about land rights - but no one offered to explain anything about it to us, and I couldn't help thinking they'd slightly missed the point. There were no actual polictians near their protest - they're all at the NEW parliament house just down the road...

Now we're in Sydney with our friends from Scotland Al and Hazel who live in Bondi. Reassuringly they don't sound a bit different from when we last saw them 3 years ago. Very comforting to hear a Scottish burr again. We've been to the Opera House to see Shostakovich (!) and I've got a new hat as the old one really was beginning to fall apart and I felt very unfashionable with all the beautiful people in Bondi.

Right, time for a cup of tea...
Hxxx

PS must mention the Melbourne Motorshow - it was full of manicured, made up birds in off the shoulder dresses and high heels who didn't know anything about cars. What's that all about? (C says I should try a bike show - the ladies there are in bikinis apparently!)