It's Snowing Back Home and Raining Here

I thought I had it made in the shade. I found a coffee shop down the street that has free wireless Internet. Tom n Toms Coffee is similar to Starbucks or Second Cup, in that there are lots of them, but much better. Their Chai Lattes put Starbucks' or Second Cup's to shame. If you want coffee here, you order a flat white. I was going to type my blog and upload some pictures and videos at Tom n Toms, but later found out that the free wireless is only available until 7 pm, so I will just enter my blog at the hotel and upload the pictures tomorrow sometime. Stay tuned. I'll add some pictures to my previous blog too so check that out as well.

It's cold and rainy again today, but I can't let that stop me from touring Sydney. I ventured out and went to the Taronga Zoo. On the way there I stopped in Queen Victoria Mall and bought my Cher outfit - well, part of it. Susan, take note! (smiles). When I tried to get out onto the street I came in from, I got lost again. It's amazing how you can get so turned around in Sydney and lose all sense of direction, or maybe it's just me. Sydneysiders were very helpful and directed me in the right direction and coincidentally, there was a visitor information booth as soon as I got to the street, where I got a city map and that definitely helped me out. The map that the hotel provided was small and difficult to read. Another thing I have discovered here is that they don't say "you're welcome" like we do; they say "no worries" and "cheers" for 'thank you'. I think I like those terms better and I think I could fit in here quite nicely. They are so laid back and friendly, and it's nice to see.

I walked to Circular Quay (pronounced key) to catch the ferry to the zoo. Circular Quay is one of the trendy areas of Sydney with several wharfs and ferries going to various destinations. I ran into some more fellow Canucks who are playing basketball in the Games. I boarded the ferry without having to pay a fare - all the public transportation is free with our accreditation. When the ferry arrived at Taronga Zoo, I didn't want to go because it was raining so hard, so I got on the ferry and went back to Circular Quay and by the time I got back, the sun was peaking through the clouds. I decided to go back again and then it started raining again. Jeez, you just can't win against Mother Nature.



I decided to go to the zoo and the weather cleared up nicely, but only until about 5 pm and then it started to pour again. I AM in Sydney, right??? The local news station showed temps of 29 degrees in Cairns though. Cairns is further north and I am definitely looking forward to going there after the Games.

The zoo was spectacular and huge. There were giraffes, lions, elephants, kangaroos, koala bears, gorillas, a snow leopard and all sorts of funny little animals I hadn't heard of before. I think my best shot is of an Andean Condor. Take a look at the wing span of this bird. It's amazing.


There was a kodiak bear that I thought was a grizzly bear - it sure looked like one. It must be part of the grizzly bear family at the very least. I'll post that and the other videos on the blog tomorrow.

I need a foot massage after all the walking I have done today. That didn't stop me from going to the Sydney Tower though. The Sydney Tower is a Tower that reaches a scary height (I think I heard the announcer lady say 1/4 km or 820 feet) way atop the city where you can see 360 degrees of Sydney. Too bad the weather isn't co-operating more. Here's a picture of the city below.





I say I want to rest up my feet tomorrow because my first race is the day after tomorrow - Sunday here, but I want to see the Blue Mountains and that involves more walking. We have to pick up our timing chips tomorrow for our first race and then two days later we have to pick up the chips for our next race and then again five days later we have to pick up another chip for our third race. I'm sure with computers today they could figure out a way to allow us to pick up all three chips at once. Having to pick up our chips involves planning because the Athlete's Centre is only open certain hours and it makes it difficult to plan activities we may want to do, let alone post blog entries ha ha. Oh, the pressure!

I'll post the results of the races when they are available. I don't know how well I'll do, since I haven't ran for, well, it will be two weeks on the first race day. I'm kind of feeling unfit because of the cold I had before I left and still have the tail end of, but being the athlete and competitor that I am, I will give it my all.

Attention Green Team members: I have dutifully carried out my first assigned role as a member of the Green Team. My challenge, and I decided to accept it, was to see what Sydney does to be environmentally friendly. All the toilets here have the choice of 1/2 flush or full flush, and at several locations throughout malls, there are two bins - one for recycle material and the other for garbage. OK, I'm all done with that, can I get on with my holiday?


I think I'm still suffering from sea legs from being on the ferry ride four times today. I feel unbalanced, but then again, some people may say I AM unbalanced at the best of times! (LOL)