Friday Night Misa went for a sleepover so Katka and I had a date night - shopping at K-Mart. We actually had a nice sushi dinner and walk around Chatswood first, so it wasn't all about the shopping. We were getting tired of the hard, hotel-style beds in our apartment so we bought some duvets and another mattress topper to make them more comfortable. Saturday night was the first great night of sleep I've had since the first night here, when I was so tired I could have slept on the concrete balcony.
Saturday morning Katka and I went to the Kirribilli markets: row after row of crafts, jewelry, clothing, food, and assorted items for the home, most made by the proprietors. I had to run to Manly to pick up Misa, and after lunch Misa and I went to the Kirribilli market and then to Chatswood for more shopping. We went to a pet store and they had some unusual animals for sale, including Japanese quails and chipmunks. I think the chipmunks were very cute, and really not much different than the gerbils or guinea pigs they were selling, but it was still odd to think about having chipmunks as pets. Katka met us for dinner at a specialty burger place, on par with Fergburger in Queenstown, NZ.
Sunday morning I went out shopping as we waited for it to get a little nicer before heading to Bondi Beach. While I was there I started thinking, wow, I go shopping a lot here, almost every-other-day I go out shopping for food, and Katka too. Then it hit me, that this is how many Europeans still live, shopping every day to two. It is caused by two factors, not using a car, and a small refrigerator. Each time I go shopping I am limited by how much I can carry, and even if I brought home more we wouldn't fit it all in our fridge. The advantage to this is that we always have fresh bread, fruits, and vegetables, much tastier than the same items from the grocery store back home. The oranges are perhaps the most noticeably different, they are so juicy and sweet, and imported from America. It is quite frustrating to be eating oranges here better than we get at home, when they are from home.
After my shopping excursion we headed to Bondi Beach, but ended up at the Taronga Zoo. The weather didn't look great, and we thought the zoo would be better on a cloudy day than the beach. So we took the ferry across the bay to the zoo, and of course as soon as we got to the zoo the sun came out.
Taronga Zoo is built on the side of a hill with a great view of downtown Sydney. The setup is great, they take you up to the top of the hill on a gondola, and then you walk down to the exit on the bottom of the hill. On the map they have large green dots showing you the main route down, and on the actual path down the hill they have matching green dots so you know you are on the right path. Then off the main path you can take walks through areas you are interested in, like "Big Cats," "Australian Walkabout," "African Safari ," "Reptile World," etc.
Many of the animals were especially active, probably because it was not too hot. Our highlights included the koalas (of course), three tiger cubs playing, the duck-billed platypus, the Himalayan Tahr (mountain goats), the gorillas, and of course the wallabies. Like everything in Australia the zoo closed early (5pm), so we were home in time for a night of TV, something we get about once every two weeks. Our favorite show here now is My Kitchen Rules, a cooking show sort of in the style of American Idol. They are in the semifinals now, with four pairs of amateur cooks left. They will be crowning the champions this week and everyone is watching it and talking about it.
Today Misa went to school with me so Katka could run errands and write, and so Misa could do her homeschool and watch her shows. I continue to get a lot of work done, and it is fun to have Misa here with me.
Tomorrow Katka and Misa are going to Canberra for a few days, so I'll be here in Sydney alone. I'll probably just work late every day so I can take a day or two off next week.
