Happy New Year!

First fly update:  As I write, I’m sitting in a hotel lobby/bar with a green fly swatter in one hand and typing with the other.  This hand is sometimes interrupted as I swat one the little buggers off my face.  They are winning as I have on more than one occasion hit myself in the forehead as if having a “eureka” moment but actually trying to smash my tormenter.  We are now in the “Red Center”, this area does not supply the big juicy horse flies of the Blue Mountains, here they are mean, midget flies that dive for lips, ears and nostrils.   I find myself waving my arms about my face and shoulders, screaming like a banshee…

In other news….. I loved the Hunter Valley, or The Hunter as it’s called locally.   The mountains in the distance and the valleys and meadows covered with vineyards and cows remind me of the best of Sonoma and Santa Rosa.  The boutique wineries offer free and friendly tastings.   Also, I adored where we stayed — a young couple runs a small winery with 6 acres under vine and a few attached turn-of-the-century rooms with a vast wrap around porch.

Another fabulous part of our time in The Hunter was meeting up with Joe and Fiona who have just moved to Australia from London.

Last year as we anticipated what a year of chasing the sun might be like, Tony said, I want to ring in New Year’s Eve in Sydney.   It really was as grand as we hoped it would be.  As we rolled back into Sydney from the wine country, you could almost feel the anticipation building in the city.

“Revelers”,  as the  2 million people who flock to the harbor are called, began filling in the parks and the quay at 9am on New Year’s Eve.  2 million people I will remind your is almost 10% of the countries population and almost half of Sydney’s population.  It was a buzz every where as the whole city prepares for a party.  [We spent the morning walking from Bondi to Bronte (thank you Audrey).

We watched the festivities from the Royal Botanical Gardens – – there was an aerial acrobatic show to keep the millions entertained until the “real” show began.  Also, I was completely mesmerized by the huge, fox like bats that circled above our heads all evening.  They were magnificent!  At 9pm the family show shot off from the barges in the water.  This  firework extravaganza would be bigger than anything I’ve ever seen, but it’s just the prelude to the midnight spectacular!

The countdown began as the crowd shouted 10, 9, 8….then 12 minutes of amazing fireworks exploding on the barges that flank the bridge and on the bridge itself, it was gorgeous!  Then the music stopped and the a voice announced, “Ladies and Gentlemen,  Her  Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II” and we hear Queen Elizabeth inaugurating the Sydney Opera House 40 years ago, then fireworks explode from the iconic roof.  My favorite part came near the end as white lights flowed from the side of the bridge like water rolling off a dam into the harbor below.   It was all I had imagined.

New Years Day we hiked from Manly to Spit.  Stunning!!!

January 2nd, we headed to the Red Hot Center of the country to see Ayers Rock or Uluru.  As we disembarked from the bus that brought us to the hotel, the driver said, “Remember folks, this is not a holiday, this is an experience.  It will feel like one too.  Ladies and Gentlemen it will be 43 degrees today.”   That’s Celsius, aka 110 Fahrenheit….. oh and you know there will be a few flies…..