New South Wales - 5 days of sun - The Rabbit Hole - Kaninkolo

Cheers!
Juha and Ian were planning this trip around NSW to visit the branches of Ian's business, and we girls decided to go along with the guys.

Got to see Sydney (nice to see it again after 1999), especially Manly with it's nice ocean beach and great beach volley and surfing culture. The sunny ferry trip from Circular Quai is definitely worth experiencing, with it's great views of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge combining the Northern and Southern parts of the City. There are so many beautiful boats and houses on the hills by the sea... Still both Shirlene and I managed to fall asleep in the ferry after walking in the city the whole day!

[There were terrible racial conficts going on in Sydney the same time, evidently they have been writing something in Finnish newspapers as well. Fortunately we were in the Northern Beaches while the riots took place the Southern part of the City. The racial violence is said to be the most ugly in decades.]

From Sydney we took a car Tuesday morning and drove to Canberra. Along the road we stopped in a few little country towns, Bowral was very nice. We girls tried to kill time reading (Harry Potter: The Half-blood Prince) and sitting in cafés while the gyus were working.

It was a wonderful trip in very nice company - still it was good to be back home yesterday night :) Special thanks to Ian and Sherilyn and Marc and Malvina for great company and hospitality.

Below some photos (gotta find a nicer way to publish them...). See ya!

Yeah, some woman called Victoria has got a lot of beautiful places named after her...

The Queen Victoria Building has been described by Pierre Cardin as "the most beautiful shopping centre in the world". This outstanding example of Byzantine architecture, which occupies an entire city block, was built in 1898 to replace the original Sydney Markets. Later, it accommodated a concert hall, which eventually became the City Library. The building was remodelled in the 1930s and used for different purposes, including municipal offices. In 1984 it was completely refurbished as a shopping centre, with more than 200 shops. (http://www.sydney.com.au/qvb.htm)

All the Christmas trees are covered with tonnes of decoration, but this was extraordinary with it's chrystals and stuff. Victoria building, of course.