10. Meeting Janine at Hartley’s Crocodile Adventure. Janine didn’t just sell us our tickets — when she heard we were driving in Australia for the first time, she made sure we knew everything we needed to about round-abouts and the route to Cairns. When we left the park, she surprised us with a packet of maps and brochures. Incredibly, when we returned to the park three days later, she remembered us and called us by name.
9. Shopping the incredible Tarot selection at the Adyar bookshop in Sydney. I’ve never been in a metaphysical bookshop where the staff had more pure enthusiasm for their subject matter and wares. Thanks to the help of the fellow at the Inquiries desk, I now own a copy of my second-favorite Tarot deck of all time: the Tarot of Durer.
8. Dinner atop the AMP tower. Even though the tainted tartar sauce wreaked havoc with me later, I loved our romantic dinner high above the glittering lights of Sydney. It was a dinner experience unlike any other.
7. Discovering meat-flavored potato crisps. Okay, why don’t we have “meat pie and ketchup” potato chips in the states? Or the ham and cheese? Or chicken with lime? I’m spoiled now — barbecue and sour cream & onion just won’t do.
6. The day trip to the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. The only thing that could have improved this side-trip would have been taking it ourselves, without depending on a motorcoach group tour to get there. Our chilly rainforest walk, despite the unexpected change in the weather, was a great way to spend the afternoon.
5. Shopping for Digeridoos in Kuranda. What an unexpected pleasure: instead of a tacky, touristy Wal-Mart approach to selling Australian artefacts, Ris at Doongal Aboriginal Art and Artefacts actually taught me about culture, the music, the nature of a digeridoo’s sounds … and gave me lessons on how to play, to boot.
4. Spending a lazy afternoons on Sydney Harbour. We took a cruise, but loved the standard ferry trip even more. We ate cake and drank coffee in the shadow of the Harbour Bridge. We stumbled on a puppet shop in the Rocks. We watched the world go by.
3. The Opera House Tour. We thought the Opera House in Sydney looked impressive from a distance, but a walking tour through its two largest performance spaces, led by a woman clearly in love with the building and its history, gave us an entirely new perspective.
2. The SkyRail to Kuranda. Dangling hundreds of feet in the air in silence so perfect, we could hear the birdcalls, waterfalls, and windsongs in the rainforest below us.
1. Making love on the beach with Clyde. Sun. Sand. Two people in love, alone for the afternoon, with nothing around for miles but surf and rainforest. (Included in this one are also our late night and early morning hand-in-hand surf walks, even though we got drenched each time the icy waves came pounding over the rocks.)
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