Sydney Harbor and The Digeridoo

Had a great morning in Sydney. This is really a beautiful and vibrant city. It's the type of place you could easily live. Although it is really expensive.

This morning we went on a boat tour of Sydney harbor. It was a beautiful morning with clear skies and temperatures in the high 70's. On the tour we went under Syndey Harbor Bridge, passed by the Sydney Opera house (which is close to our hotel and we'll tour tomorrow). We also passed by some beautiful homes on the harbor and some of the beach areas.

Afterward we went to the Darling Harbor area which is really nice. It's a tourist type of place, but lots going on ... shops, places to eat, outdoor parks, etc. We let the boys play at an outside park there for a little while and then headed in for a exhibit on the digeridoo. At the park the boys also wanted to try a small bungee jumping thing, so we let them do that.

The digeridoo exhibition was really good. It was interesting to learn that the sounds made through the instrument are actually mimicking Aboriginal words. Some of the sounds also mimick sounds of animals and the instrument is combined with singing and dancing to help tell stories ... sort of like oral tradition type of storytelling. We also learned how to make the noise of the instrument and all tried it afterward. To make the sound, you have to keep your lips together and then blow through them, making your lips vibrate (like making a car sound when you were a kid). Since Judy doesn't have much of a top lip, this was a little bit of a challenge for her (she's going to hate me for writing that). For her, it was more of a Digeri- Don't. The rest of us quickly became digeridoo experts and were annoying everyone around by our continuous playing. As you can see from my photo, I was the most intense one of the bunch (Big surprise, right?) It looks like I was about to blow out an eyeball. It was a lot of fun!

This afternoon we let the boys jump in the pool for a little bit and then headed back down to Darling Harbor for the evening. We had dinner together this evening in a little restaurant overlooking the harbor area. Judy, Pat and Zach had a traditional Australian lamb dinner. I decided to try something different .... kangaroo! Yep, that's right. They eat the cute little thing down here. Apparently it's pretty good for you ... no cholesterol, little to no fat. It was pretty tasty I have to admit, although I probably won't make it my regular meal. I was a little "jumpy" about ordering it. And I hope it agrees with my system ... don't want it "bouncing" around in my stomach all night long.

Tomorrow we're heading over to tour the Sydney Opera House and then are thinking about heading out of town to see the Blue Mountains. Till tomorrow ...