Bondi Beach

My first few days in Sydney were spent with friends who live 5 minutes from the famous Bondi Beach and the Bondi Icebergs which is a swimming club. I initiated cell phone service with Telstra (and it only took me 2 weeks to memorize my new phone number!) which includes 300 GB of data per month, 30 minutes of free international calling per month, and free global texting - all for $79 AUD per month which is about $50 US per month which seems like a deal to me! I also opened an Australian bank account with National Australia Bank (NAB) and transferred money I had already exchanged into Australian dollars into my new account.

I had a chance to play tourist while I was in Sydney and did the Coogee (prounounced Cood-gee) to Bondi coastal walk which was lovely and enjoyed Angelina whipping up crispy veggies in her air fryer - yummy!

The rest of my time in Sydney was spent on getting my bike put back together and dealing with other administrative things associated with basically moving to a new country.

Coogee to Bondi Coastal Walk

I also had the chance to have dinner with Angelina and her friends from the Bondi Icebergs Swim Club my last night in Sydney...I love that they get together every Thursday night for a meal...And ONLY in Australia have I ever seen a meat raffle! Prizes were given away every 30 minutes for those who got a raffle ticket and our table of 20 took home more than 4 prizes!

Friday morning (Feb 28) Angelina, her daughter Bernie, and Bernie's two kids - Stella & Jackson - and me headed north to Toronto where I would stay with Danny (another member of the Kane family) until I found my campervan! Angelina and the rest of the family were headed to Coffs Harbour on vacation for a couple of weeks and Bernie so very kindly offered to lend me her vehicle which was incredible and really helped me get around and get through the next couple of weeks!