Crikey, it's hot!

Temps got up into the 100s today. We're lucky because our apartment has air conditioning (a lot of the houses here do not). We're also quite out of the danger zones of the bushfires, so we can't complain!

Still, though, this pretty hot!

 

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Duck mania

The duckie waiting to enter the harbor

Yesterday was the start of Sydney Festival, which is a month-long art & music festival to celebrate the start of summer in Sydney. As a kick-off to the festival, a giant rubber duck was floated into Darling Harbor. Of course we had to go see this!

The duck was created by a Dutch artist. It's been displayed in big cities around the world as a way to bring whimsy and fun to art. The artist also said he wants to remind people that we're all connected and the oceans are the world's bathtub.

There was a welcoming ceremony for the duck in Darling Harbor. There were lots of performances to entertain the families that came down to see the duck.

Some didgeridoo performances

We watched from the bridge, so we had a good view of all the water-based happenings. There was a tugboat ballet with one big tugboat, and 5 little duck-themed tugboats. There were also bathtub boats that delivered performers to the stage on the water.

The stage for the performers was built over the water at the end of the harbor. And there were LOTS of people down there watching.

All of the performances were duck- and bath- themed.

The band walking by

Finally it was time for the duck! First the swing-arm on the bridge opened.

And here he comes!

Isn't he cute?!

And for those of you who were wondering how he's propelled, here's a picture of the barge and tugboat that moved him.

He'll be floating in the harbor for the next week. I might have to walk down and see him again on a lunch break one day!

It was a good day to see a giant duck!

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Second Christmas!

We got a fun surprise this week: our Christmas package from my sis and brother-in-law arrived on Wednesday!

Even though it was a few days after Christmas, we felt especially in the spirit because she sent us this great fabric print of a Christmas tree at Ikea!

It folds up into a small bundle, so it's the perfect tree for our apartment!

We popped open a leftover bottle of New Years champagne, did some Christmas crackers, and opened presents!

A funny bottle opener for T

 

A craft book for me

 

Some good hot sauces!

They gave us a Living Social voucher for a fun day at the Royal National Park!

This is my excited-about-activities face!

And, in sisterly fashion, she included some things I miss from home!

Best sister and BIL ever! They made our week and our Second Christmas with their thoughtful, generous gifts. I'm a lucky girl!

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Manly to Curl Curl Beach

Unfortunately for Toby, I couldn't let another day off work go by without planning an activity. I almost bit off more than we could chew with the walk from Manly to Curl Curl beach. It was only about 3 miles long, but there was not much shade, lots of climbing, and almost 90 degree weather. If the success of a day is measured by how tired you are at the end of it, we had a very successful day!

We started our day with a ferry ride over to Manly. We happened to get seats outside so we had great views of the beautiful morning.

When we got to Manly, we headed up the beach to start our walk. It was surprisingly uncrowned for such a beautiful day.

View of Manly from the north end

Then we cut up the hill toward Queenscliff Bay and over to Freshwater Beach.

Freshwater was MUCH more crowded!

At the end of Freshwater Beach, we walked out onto big tide pools that jutted out into the sea.

This was Toby's favorite part of the day. He said it felt like being on Mars because of all the cool rock formations and red algae.

This is Toby's happy face

Then we headed across the cliffside toward Curl Curl Beach.

Then we were at the beach!

Curl Curl is a big beach. We walked around most of the beach on a little trail through the bush since trudging across all that hot sand wasn't looking too appealing.

On the other end of the beach was Curl Curl Lagoon.

Lots of people were swimming in spite of signs like this:

What!

We got some takeaway veggie burgers and found a spot in the shade to eat lunch and cool off.

After we finished lunch, we caught a bus back to Manly. It had gotten A LOT more crowded by this time.

Toby's worst nightmare

By the the time we got back on the ferry to head back to the city, we were beat. But not too tired for a gelato treat over at Darling Harbor!

And that was the end of our very successful day!

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