We slept in until 9:00 am, and then packed a lunch and were out the door by 11:00 am. We caught the Sydney Rivercat down the Parramatta River to Circular Quay, the hub of Sydney Harbour. From there, we took a ferry to Manly. We ate lunch beside the beautiful beach, which was closed for swimming (as were most of Sydney's beaches) because massive waves were predicted along the coast. After we left Manly, we took two ferries to get to the Aquarium. As we were shor...

Last day of 2007, a year we will never forget!! It had been an incredible year for the Lewis family, and as we bid farewell to 2007, we all understood it signaled the nearing of our trip's end. We greeted 2008 with mixed emotions, sad that we were finishing our world tour, but excited to go home and resume our lives. One of our first orders of business when we return home, however, will be to choose a new dream to work towards. In preparation for the evening's ...

Barry and Elaine returned our rental car at 11:00 am. Our total bill for the 16 day rental came to $865.00 Canadian, which was great value as far as we were concerned. When they got back, we headed for the Olympic Park for a personalized tour by Elaine. She had been a volunteer in 2000 and been assigned to assist the Canadian team. She still gets Christmas letters from Diane Jones-Konihowski, a former world class pentathlete who stayed active in sports after ret...

The drive to Sydney was pretty and we saw some lovely scenery along the freeway. However, at one point we got lost, having taken a left instead of a right. We paid $4.40 in toll fees to head in the wrong direction and, when we turned around, we had to pay it again! Argh! We eventually got to our destination, a beautiful two storey home in Constitution Hill (the suburbs of Sydney). We immediately felt welcomed by our new hosts - Elaine and her mother, Beryl. Elai...