Hi, friends,
We spent two wonderful weeks in Sydney, Australia. Some observations:
- Aussie wine is 4x more expensive than the US. The popular wines we drink, e.g. Lindemann’s, Rosemont, Yellowtail, aren’t as popular as the smaller boutique wines, which they don’t export to us.
- Sydney is one of the most expensive cities in the world – a BLT is $14 US and a pint of beer runs about $11 US. Salaries are higher and the economy appears booming with little evidence of recession as we feel it here.
- Aussie winters are mild and beautiful. 75 F was typical and the air/water the purest we’ve ever experienced. Traveling off season is the best for fares, crowds, weather and service.
- Australia is the size of the US but has 21 million people, half in Sydney and Melbourne. Great jumping off place to Indonesia, SE Asia, Tasmania.
- Sydney is one of the most visited places in the world. Darling Harbor had 300 million visitors last year – almost the entire population of the US!
- Sydney is foodie heaven – half dozen eateries of all types of food for every block. Fantastic coffee, cheese, wine and produce. Cheapest eats are in China Town.
- Great public transportation – buses and trains with day/week passes.
We met some wonderful people: SGI Buddhist friends Rajini and Bjorn Johnssen, Greg Johns, General Director of SGI – Australia (what fortune to meet him!!), Jolanda udVen from Netherlands on the Blue Mountain Tour. Chris Foley of Wanders-Travel.com set up a wonderful tour of Hunter Valley.
Hope you enjoy the photos as much as we enjoyed the visit. Click here to see them.
G’Day, Mates!
Joy and Roger
Joy Yoshioka is a retired high-tech exec who has lived in Redding for four years. She co-writes anewscafe.com’s Wine on a Dime features.
