...And Courtney Arrives

Trip Start Dec 31, 2008
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Trip End Mar 27, 2009


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Flag of Australia  , New South Wales,
Thursday, February 19, 2009

Courtney safely arrived from San Francisco on Wednesday morning, and I gave Andy my phone so I could arrange to meet them after my Negotiations class that morning.  I expected Courtney to be tired and napping when I got back, but by the time I called them, they had already gone and done everything Andy and I had done the previous day, and were now downtown wandering around.  Courtney also brought with her some spectacular weather.  The previous ten days in Sydney had been virtually all rain, but once Andy arrived, we've seen nothing but sun and 80 degrees. 
I met them at Circular Quay (the main transportation hub in downtown Sydney, right by the Opera House), and we immediately hopped on the ferry to Manly Beach, one of the world's best surfing beaches and located at the eastern most point of Sydney Harbour, on the Pacific, and on the north side of the Harbour, where I had yet to venture.  The Manly ferry ride is a half hour long and gives some pretty spectacular views of Sydney Harbour, the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, downtown, and all of the beautiful homes that line the Harbour for miles.  It's essentially the same as the harbor cruises that you can pay big money for, except for this only cost $9.  Manly was a cool little town, with a big shopping stretch with lots of restaurants, bars, stores and most importantly, ice cream, of which I am addicted. We stopped and had lunch at some seaside café and watched the surfers as we ate.  The waves there are pretty huge and the beach is really nice and long- probably as long or longer than Bondi and much larger than Coogee.  We walked the coastline up near some cliffs and just generally explored the area for a few hours before returning back to the town to eat some of the aforementioned ice cream.  We returned on the Manly ferry in the late afternoon, walked around downtown for a while (which included an epic search for a hair iron for Courtney) and then returned to my place to grab some sleep. 
We went to a tapas restaurant near my place for dinner, which was really good, but then Courtney decided she was ready to head to bed, which is understandable after that travel day she had.  Andy, Ryan and myself went down to King's Cross to go out and went to our Wednesday evening staple, the World Bar, until probably 1 or 2 am or so.  We were climbing the Harbour Bridge the next morning, so we needed to get some rest. 
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