TD's Australian Adventure, finally.: Here For You

Last day in Sydney, last day in Australia. We could say it feels like we just got here, but it really doesn't. We've done so much, seen so much, and met so many wonderful people along the way. Its been better than we could have ever imagined and we really owe it all to Gram, we wouldn't be here without her, in more ways than one.

Our last day in Sydney we only had one official thing planned which was the Bike tour. The bike folks told us to eat a big breakfast ahead of time since there would be no lunch stop on our ride. We decided to fuel up at a place called Bill's in the Darlinghurst neighborhood, which ended up being a 25 minute trek from our hotel. It was completely worth it. Jen and I ended up going with the dish they are most known for the Ricotta Pancakes with banana and honey butter. I wish we would have taken a picture (Sorry Andrew). Just imagine fluffy pale pancakes over a bed off caramelized bananas and you pretty much have it. So good.

From Bills we headed back to The Rocks. It was quite a trek there as well. So much so that Mandy's knees started bugging her, so she decided to skip the bike tour and just meet us back there later. She figured it would be better for her to avoid any more Melbourne-style metro bus run-ins or pedestrian dragging incidents and we don't blame her.

The bike tour ended up covering pretty much the same areas we had covered the day before while just randomly walking around, but we were able to absorb a bit more of the background history this go round. Australia has a really interesting past, and specifically Sydney. Pick up a book about its early settlers once you're done reading this of course. It really makes you feel privileged to be living in the present.

On the bike tour we went half way across the Harbor Bridge, which was slightly terrifying since you can see through the grates as you look down. We can't believe people pay $200 bucks to spend hours climbing to the top, no thank you.

We made a quick Pub stop where Jen and I spotted a film crew filming something. Security was practically none existent, so it was probably a Mentos commercial. The rest of the bike tour covered Darling Harbor, Chinatown, Hyde Park, Royal Botanic Garden and the Sydney Opera House.

We met up with Mandy back at the bike shop and funnily enough she ended up taking a walking tour of The Rocks where she learned the same historical information and visited some of the same spots our bike tour did, just at a slower pace. We are happy to report she did not drag any elderly woman along on her walking tour, so Melbourne did not repeat itself.

We didn't really have any plans until dinner so we just wandered for an hour or so around the city and headed back to have dinner at our new friend George's establishment the Harbour View Hotel at The Rocks as we had promised the day before.

Our waiter was a great guy named Rob, who had actually been to Seattle before and was a huge Sonics fan, back when they were a team of course. Think Payton and Kemp era Sonics. He had a similar sense of humor to Jen and I, so we actually had a pretty fun time just joking around with him and riffing off each other. We had the whole restaurant to ourselves since we arrived right as they opened for dinner, it felt as if we had rented the whole place out which was really special.

Mandy went with the Risotto. Jen and I ordered the Lamb Shanks, in Gram's honor. She was a big lamb fan and we felt it a fitting tribute for our last night in Australia. While were were snacking on bread and olives George stopped over and greeted us. We told him all about our visit to Watson's Bay the previous day and what an amazing experience it was and how peaceful we found ourselves, with our backs turned to Sydney, as we looked out over the Pacific at the spot where everything begun for Australia. We told him all about Gram and about how she was the reason for our visit. We also told him about all the little things that had occurred along our way and felt as if Gram had been guiding us in certain directions and about how his leading us to Watson's Bay felt like Gram's final directional signal. He seemed very touched by this, which was great because all the randomness that has happened while we've been on this journey, beginning to present, is something we have never experienced before and we were certainly not expecting.

While we were chatting our gorgeous dinners arrived and George left us to enjoy. The lamb shanks were the BEST we have ever had, and we'v had some really excellent lamb shanks in the past. For dessert Jen and I had the molten chocolate cake and Mandy had macaroons. They were both delicious. Breakfast and Dinner today were the best meals we've had In Australia. If you are ever in Sydney you must stop at the Harbour View Hotel under the Harbor Bridge in The Rocks for dinner, seriously.

As we were finishing up dessert George came back with his card so I could email him the blog, and allow him to catch up on our journey. As he handed us the card he also handed us a sheet of lyrics he had printed out after hearing our story about Gram. He thought the lyrics were very fitting with our connection to Gram. Dad, you'll love this. It is a Neil Young song and the title of today's blog entry. We can't really express how touched we were by this and how emotional we were after each reading the lyrics, it was as if Gram was sending us a message from above. We will say that some tears did flow as we looked out over Sydney. We felt so thankful that Australia was the place Gram wanted to go to more than anywhere in the world. We know we would not have had the same experience anywhere else and with any better people than those we've met here. Gram, we're here for you and because of you. We'll love you forever. Thanks Australia for letting us do this for her.

Here For You - Neil Young

Where your summer days come tumbling down
And you find yourself alone
Then you can come back and be with me
Just close your eyes and I'll be there
Listen to the sound
Of this old heart beating for you
Yes I'd miss you
But I never want to hold you down
You might say I'm here for you

When the winter comes to your new home
And snowflakes are falling down
Then you can come back and be with me
Just close your eyes and I'll be there
Listen to the sound
Of this old heart beating for you

Yes I'd miss you
You might say I'm here for you

In the spring, protective arms surrounding you
In the fall, we let you go your way
Happiness I know will always find you
And when it does, I hope that it will stay

Yes I miss you
But I never want to hold you down
You might say I'm here for you
Yes I miss you
But I never want to hold you down
You might say I'm here for you
I'll always be here for you

Thank you Australia, we love you and we'll be back your way someday. T&J

P.S. George, if you are reading this, we hope you have read the rest of the blog, we know its a lot of info to get through but we think you'll enjoy it, hopefully. Thank you for being the final chapter to Gram's Australian Adventure. It's really meant a lot.

Random last day Sydney Pics: