Canberra and the Southeast coast

I made the drive from Sydney to Canberra, and stayed there for four nights. I like the feel of the city. It has about 300,000, but it is very spread out with parks in between the suburbs. The Parliament House was interesting. It has a lot of marble surfaces and I learned about the Australian government. It is very simlar to the three branch system in the US. I saw the US embassy and thought of the Simpsons episode where they go to Australia. The highlight was the National Gallery because they had a special exhibition of post-impressionism from the Musee d"Orsay in Paris. I saw Starry Night and other Van Gogh works, like his bedroom. There were also pieces from Cezanne, Gaugin, Picasso, and a few others. I really enjoyed the art and now I don't need to see it in Paris! My Irish roommates were too much fun. I'm lucky I only went out with them one night.
I took a bus to Batemans Bay on the coast. The water is gorgeous here and not too cold. I can walk out a few hundred yards and still be above the waves. There are kangaroos everywhere, and they let you up close around here. The weather is nice and warm, but a little humid. I found a good bottle of Cabernet Merlot from the Margaret River area in Western Australia. I hope I end up working there.
I am meeting a lot of Europeans and a few locals. Most of them are nice people, but bad roommates still exist. Well, I am off to the beach again today. I'll use sunscreen this time.

Heading South

After two weeks in the country, I have been to Sydney, the Blue Mountains and Hunter Valley. Of course, the Opera House is impressive because it is so big. I didn't know the whole white surface was made out of tiles. That must have been a lot of work. The beach was nice, but the water was as cold as Northern California. I'll be glad to leave Sydney because it's too crowded, noisy, and always smells of car exhaust. I guess I'm just not a big city person.
The Blue Mountains were great. There was plenty of fresh air, amazing scenery, and fun hikes along the cliff tops and down into the rain forest.
The Hunter Valley has a great relaxed wine country feel. It is a major destination for people from Sydney, as it is about two and a half hours away. The white wines were pretty good, but most of the reds were lighter than what I'm used to. Even some of the ones that had deep color and flavor tasted more earthy than fruity. But I still had a good time wine, beer, cheese, and chocolate tasting.
In Sydney I bought a car, and I will start driving South tomorrow. I would like to drive along some of the coast and visit some National Parks for some good hiking. I also want to buy camping gear to undertake some multi-day hikes.

I made it to Sydney!

After over 27 hours in transit, I am finally in Australia. The flights were fine except for when a nut fell out of its place inside the wall of the plane that took me from Auckland to Sydney. I watched the workers on the tarmac trying to fix it. There were at least two people standing and watching at all times. It's universal I guess. I took a long bus ride from the airport and saw a lot more brick buildings than I'm used to. My hostel is nice and I'll get around to the tourist attractions tomorrow. I think some sleep is in order.