We say goodbye to Sarah who has to fly back home to San Francisco and get going on her 2011 Sales Quotas at SalesForce.com and we fly to Sydney.
We brought the three girls to Australia in 1995 and stayed for a week in Sydney and another week on the beach at Noosa Heads, just north of Brisbane. This is our first trip back and we are going to be based at Terrigal, about an hour north of Sydney, at a place owned by some California friends.
Terrigal is a very cute beach town with its array of sea-front shops: Fish and Chips; Surf Shop; a small Supermarket; Surf Lifesavers station; small boutiques; travel agents and several cafes. We have a great time exploring the place and swimming (the Ocean is warm and the beach is very good) and we jog around the headland each morning (just 30 minutes but including 105 steep steps) and then go for a swim. Lots and lots of people are out exercising and I feel as though I am doing an old man’s shuffle as the younger ones whiz past me.
We catch the local bus up to the main shopping area and get our first exposure to Australian prices. Aus $ is about equal to a US$ now):
Cinema $18; back to school plastic backpack for an 8 yr old $35 (perhaps US$5 at Target in California?); 6-pack of Corona beer $30; One bottle of Tiger Beer $8 (In Thailand it was $2). Single Corona in a bar advertised at $8.50; café breakfast of toast and eggs $16- coffee extra at $3.40 (no refills); Starbucks coffee $3-$4. John Grisham’s latest book (hardback) is $50 at the airport shop. So we think that Australia is between 30% and 100% above US prices. Later, in Melbourne on a hot day, we go into a bar for a beer each but end up sharing a single pint at $9.
But life is good and Australia is a fantastic place to be at any time but particularly during the California winter.
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