Welcome to Sydney

We left Minneapolis on March 1 for phase 2 of my sabbatical - this time visiting Tony Sloane at Macquarie University in Sydney.  Tony is also a computer science professor and he visited me in Minneapolis a few years ago, and this phase is intended to continue our joint research project.

We are spending the first 7 weeks in the central business district (CBD) of Sydney - where many of the iconic Sydney sights are located.  We are within easy walking (or running) distance of both the Sydney Opera House and the Harbor Bridge.

When Tony and his wife Nikki visited us a few years ago, we learned a few things about Sydney.  Nikki spent some time exploring our coffee shops looking for coffee to match what she was used to in Sydney.  This was not so easy since Sydney has a rather sophisticated approach to coffee.  There are coffee joints everywhere in the CBD, and the care and attention paid to coffee is remarkable.  Our first stop was at Pablo and Rusty's - one of Nikki's favorites - where I also bought some coffee for use at home.  The second is Peggy's (yes, she had coffee!) decaf mocha from a trip to the suburb of Newtown.

We enjoyed a real treat with Tony and Nikki this first week by going to see the semi-final match between Australia and South Africa in the Women's T20 Cricket World Cup at the historic Sydney Cricket Grounds.  We had seats in the old pavilion built in the late 1800's.  We had tickets to both semi-final matches but the first match between India and England was rained out, so India went through to the final since they had a better record from the earlier round-robin phase of the tournament.  Eventually the rain cleared and we could catch this match with Australia.  But the rain kept quite a few people away so the stands were pretty empty.  Luckily Tony and Nikki could explain the rules to me as the match went on.  Much of this was already well known to Peggy since she watched quite a bit of cricket on her trip to India last year.  It was a close one, but Australia won and the local fans were happy.

The birds in Sydney are amazing.  At Macquarie I've seen cockatiels and parrots just flying around.  In Sydney there are plenty of ibis, but they can be aggressive going after human food.  You'll see them around trash cans (called "bins" here) and thus they've garnered the nickname "bin chickens".

On Sunday (March 8) we did the cliff walk from Coogee Beach to the famous Bondi Beach.  The route was paved and somewhat full of people on a nice Sunday afternoon, but the scenery was quite impressive.  If you're looking for a place to be buried, you'd be hard pressed to beat the cemetery just outside of Coogee.  It looks out over the Pacific Ocean and wouldn't be a bad place to spend eternity!

The beaches along the walk are beautiful.  This first shot is at Coogee beach, the second and third are at Bondi.

So far COVID-19 hasn't been too much of an issue, but it did cause some panic-buying of toilet paper, so there were some empty shelves in the grocery stores.  Thankfully, Tony and Nikki have an abundant supply since they've been buying theirs in bulk online through a supplier that gives half of the cost to charity.  They were kind enough to set us up with a good supply until this panic passes.

We're having a very nice time in Sydney and can't wait to see what is next.

cheers~
Eric & Peggy