WWOOFing

My last couple of days in Sydney were very nice. I tried to walk from Bondi Beach down to Cogee (a very popular coastal path) but it started to rain on me so decided half way that it was OK to just go back and get ready for my night at the opera. I walked myself down to the opera house in the drizzle with just enough time to have a glass of wine before being seated. The house and stage were actually a lot smaller then I thought they would be, but that could be because I was sitting in the front row. I thought I was going to be in the front row of the balcony, but no. Front row. I was starring at the orchestra and I know they could see me because I kept having inadvertent eye contact with the first violinist. Crazy. Wonderful.

Saturday I took a tour of the Hunt River Valley which is a wine country a few hours North of Sydney. I heard about the tour through MeetUp.com. Great web site for any city in the world. Ending up really enjoying the day with Sam, a guy trying to start up this little tour business, and a few Aussie girls and a German. We had a really nice time. We started at a wild life preserve where kangaroos just jumped right up to you. Touched a koala too. Also, emus and wallabies abounded. I fell in love with a vineyard called Hanging Tree and if you see the pictures you'll know why.
-first cultural fun fact: the girls were telling me that rabbits have a bad rap in Australia for being feral, so they are trying to get rid of the Easter bunny and have an Easter bilby instead. Check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Bilby
They even make chocolates in the shape of bilbies instead of rabbits.

I'm now an hour outside of Canberra, the capital of Australia, with my first WWOOFing stay. A lovely retired couple is letting me stay and eat for free as long as I help them around the grounds. It's not really a farm as much as a beautiful country home. I'll be weeding and riding the lawn mower and things like that. Today we cleaned out the garage in the rain. Very nice people and really great food. Can't believe I'm not paying for this.

So far, so good.