Sunny Sydney?

...you can contact me through my blog, my personal email, via facebook, or at mobilemarypoppins@gmail.com. Thank you all for your support so far!!

WEEK 13

Dear Lincoln, Lilliana, Leni, Juliana, Evyn, Jack, Faye, Chloe, Emerson, Lake, Rita, Violet, and Ella,

Before I left Melbourne, everyone told me that the sun always shines in Sydney. Well, I haven’t seen a lot of sun recently, in fact it has rained most days I’ve been here. And I didn't bring my umbrella with me, but I met a very nice man in a restaurant who gave me his. He thought it was very funny that Mary Poppins was traveling without an umbrella. He didn't think my straw hat or my inflatable globe were going to keep me very dry in the rain!

I decided to take a train from Melbourne to Sydney because it is better for the environment than flying. Because they were fixing the train tracks, I had to get a bus for some of the journey. The whole journey took 13 hours. That’s the same time that it took me to get from Christchurch to Wellington on the train and ferry. Remember it only took 12 hours to fly from Los Angeles all the way to New Zealand. It shows you how fast planes are!

In Sydney I stayed with Taeus, Cypress and Pepper. I felt very at home with them because they used to live in Los Angeles. And their dad is from New Jersey and was at school with Lincoln’s mom (just a few years ago, of course!) He is part Native American and their mom is part Indigenous (another word for native, or original) Australian, which means that they are descended from the original people in both American and Australia. How cool is that?! You know what is also cool...? They had an inflatable globe. I'd never seen one other than mine before and I think theirs was a little better as it had pictures of animals on it.

Pepper is a teeny, tiny baby. She is only 4 months old, and she is so good. She gives the best hugs and loves to snuggle. Taeus and Cypress both help their mom and dad look after Pepper.

Taeus loves to play soccer. He is 6 so he has been playing for a couple more years than Lincoln, who also loves soccer. Taeus is really good, but he does have an advantage because his dad is the soccer coach! He’s a great soccer coach and gives them really interesting exercises to do.

While Taeus was playing soccer, Cypress and I looked after Pepper and also played on the swings for a while.

Cypress sometimes likes to help her dad out by collecting up all the soccer balls.

Cypress is a very talented young artist. She is 5 and every morning she does an art project.

I think she might be a famous artist when she is older. I hope I can own a painting by Cypress one day! Maybe she can help me illustrate my book. She has already made a whole book. She let me take some pictures of it.

I'm not quite sure how she wrote her name on this balloon backwards. That's clever!

I also took pictures of some of the paintings that she and Taeus have done that are up on the walls of their house.

Then I saw a painting that their aunt did so I could see where their talents come from.

Taeus showed me his soccer trophy, and also his journal. Every day he writes about what he has been doing.

They do miss living in America, but they love living so close to all their new friends. Especially the ones with the huge 6-kid bath tub! It's like a swimming pool (they'd all been swimming before they got in the tub to get clean).

While the kids were at school, their mom and I took turns to go to the gym and also to look after Pepper. It was a good week. We got really fit! I also went exploring in Sydney.

The best things about Sydney are the beaches; the worst things are the buses! The buses are very expensive and lots of the drivers are rude and unhelpful, and it’s difficult to find out information about where they go, and they are usually late. So everyone likes to drive but the roads are quite small so there is a lot of traffic, which means it gets very polluted. If I ever lived in Sydney I would live by the beach and never leave it! That’s where my cousin and his wife live. My cousin is from England and his wife is from New Zealand. They live at a beautiful beach called Clovelly. I visited them one day and I cooked dinner for them because they both have jobs where they have to work really hard.

The next day, for a change, the sun finally came out and I had a beautiful day walking by the beach.

The best thing I saw was this water station. Down by the beach you can fill up your water bottle with really good drinking water. All through Australia I have seen great facilities for getting good drinking water so you don't have to always buy it in plastic bottles.

When I eventually figured out how to get around on the buses (I think I cheated a little, like I’m not sure I paid the exact right fare a few times because they make it so confusing!) I had a really good time. One day I went to visit my dad’s cousin (his favorite cousin) who lives near a place called Bondi Junction. There is a huge shopping mall and at the top you get a great view over the whole of Sydney. Just check out those rain clouds!

I found a couple of magpies who were also enjoying the view.

I saw another interesting bird I’ve never seen before. It’s called an Ibis and it has a very long beak. It’s really big. Look at the size of it compared to the seagull.

One day I went to a place in Sydney called The Rocks.

There was a cool market going on, and it’s also the best place to take pictures of the most famous sights in Sydney, the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

I saw this guy in the market who was demonstrating how he melts and shapes glass with a super hot flame.

The Rocks is an area exactly under the bridge. The bridge is so huge, I couldn't believe how big it is.

Sydney is built around a huge harbor (they spell that with a “u” in Australia, which is why it’s the “Harbour” Bridge) and there are many bays, so one way of getting around is by boat. There are many ferries that take people from one side of the city to the other, or just into another bay.

There are so many art galleries around The Rocks, because lots of artists hang out there.

I found an art gallery that had a special exhibition on. It was photographs by an American photographer called Annie Leibovitz. It was amazing. There were hundreds and hundreds of photographs (even more than I’ve taken, can you believe it?!) She has taken photos of many famous people, like President Obama and The Queen of England. Those are her work photos. She’s also taken lots of photos of people she loves, like her mom and dad, her family, her partner, and her children. I loved those best of all. I wonder if I’ll ever have an exhibition of all these photos I’ve been taking for you.

This super cool fountain is to celebrate the Tank Stream where Sydney once got much of its water from.

My favorite thing I saw was this environmental cafe. Everything it is made of and everything it uses has been recycled. It's called the "Greenhouse" because it is so good for the environment.

I was really, really sad to leave Taeus, Cyrpess and Pepper. I will especially miss Pepper’s hugs. Their mom and I became really good friends and we’ve decided we are all going to take a vacation together one day, probably in Spain because she speaks perfect Spanish. I can’t wait. Next week I will tell you all about my new friends Chloe and Holly, who are taking me camping!

All my love,

Susie xxxx