KatieTheKat

As promised, here are some more coherent words about the last couple of days from my mom's perspective:

First Impressions
Somewhere over the Pacific and south of the equator I looked out the
porthole and saw the Pleiades low on the horizon. Up above the Seven
Sisters (another name for that eye-testing cluster of stars) I saw Orion
reclining; the mighty hunter was taking a rest. I couldn't see Taurus, so
I hope that he won't be taking the hero unawares. I can't wait to get out
under the night sky--which will be happening tomorrow night, the first one
of our Overland Trail Trek.
I was spoiled on arrival in Sydney, not only was Katie waiting for me
outside when I cleared customs--the only problem encountered there being
that they had to process my passport separately since it was bent to
conform to my shape rather than that of the electronic scanner--,but
Katie's flatmate, Kelly, was circling around to pick us up and take us back
to the flat in her car. Guess what? In Australia everything (almost) in
built of brick. It was like a city of wise little pigs, all having learned
their lesson and eschewed the wooden house. They have obviously lived in
security from wolves for a long time because the houses are charming with
decorative additions to the facades and interesting alternatives to the
rectangular box.
I was further spoiled by the weather contriving to be a balmy 27
degrees instead of the blistering 40 of a few days ago, or the downpour of
a couple of weeks ago. Katie told me of the weekend disturbances in an
area south of the city where race riots happened just before I arrived. We
saw none of it during our day in the city.
First stop was a trip to the nearby mall. Yes, a shopping mall. I
had to shop, what can I say. Sunglasses and a hat. Now I'm equipped. A
quick stop at the flat to put together some lunch and then we walked to
Maroubra beach. Totally different from Botanical Beach where Katie and I
finished off our Juan de Fuca hike last summer, but reminiscent. Lynne