How to eat passionfruit

Meghan demonstrates how to eat passionfruit. First you slice it, then you scoop out the glowing, radioactive yellow, goopy pulp with greenish seeds, and then you pose next to the Sydney harbour bridge and enjoy...







Well, okay, sometimes they are a bit tart... but Meghan loves them anyway!

The Sydney Opera House

The Sydney Opera house is one of the most distinctive and iconic buildings in the world. Along with the Harbour bridge, it frames the Sydney harbour and provides an instantly recognizable symbol for the city. Here are a couple of the pictures we took on our walk across the Harbour bridge:



It was night by the time we walked back, and the scene was simply spectacular:

Finally, a panoramic view from the ferry wharves at Circular Quay:

A few more pictures...

Sam, our relocation agent, drove us around to some neighborhoods in Sydney and its suburbs. We drove out to some of the beaches (including Maroubra, Coogee, and Bondi). The beautiful sandy beaches are separated by rocky cliffs. The beach neighborhoods could be fun places to live in, but they are a little too far from the University for us. Here is Shami looking out across the bay towards Sydney. Notice the Harbour bridge in the background.



Here are Shami and Sam with the Tasman Sea behind them.





In Newtown, one of the neighborhoods near the University, we found a used book store briming with old dusty books. Shami had fun, but we were taken aback by how expensive even used books are here! Would you pay $5 for an old musty yellowed paperback novel?

The view from our deck

This is not a picture postcard, it really is the view right from the deck of our (temporary) apartment...

Down Under

The lights of Sydney at dawn, as our flight comes in to land...


We were met at the airport by Sam, our extremely helpful relocation consultant. Here's Meghan heading to the car.


Unpacking in our temporary apartment. For the first month, we have a small, furnished one-bedroom place in Kirribilli, across the harbour (we have to learn British spellings again) from the Sydney central business district.


Our living room, right after the cable guy brought us our wireless internet receiver (on the window sill). In a confusing reversal of the usual situation, this box connects to the internet through a long-range radio signal, and provides us broadband access through an ethernet cable.

Bon Voyage

Farewell dinner at Sean and Jeanine's place.


Lined up at Caitlin's just before we leave for the airport.


Checking in for the flight at Syracuse with all our bags. Notice Shami catching up on his sleep after a long, sleepless night of packing and cleaning.


We had an uneventful flight, with layovers at Pittsburgh and San Francisco, although the dubious terror alerts meant that we could not carry on water or hand cream. Anyhow, here is Meghan at dinner in the San Francisco airport, posing with Mitty (?) the koala bear.

Packing and shipping

It was a massive job, but with a lot of help from family and a few sleepless nights, it finally got done...

Da taking out boxes to ship.


Ma undertakes last minute clothing repairs amongst the chaos of packing.


Notice Meghan having a really bad hair day!


Rows of bins, labelled and stacked in the basement.


Dinner on the floor after packing away all the furniture.

Out with the old

A minivan-load of stuff, off to recycle...