We finished our whirlwind visit to Sydney and caught an Uber ride to the RV rental shop where I was briefed and given the keys.  Keep left they say, but my problem is keeping right in the lane.  Is tough but I’m getting better.  Enjoyed a last day in Sydney, Miranda actually, on the shore of Botany Bay.  Lovely water, today urban on the inside, but the shore is parkland.  

This land is old or new, depending upon how you look at it.  We arrived here some 40-60 thousand years ago.  Science should be able to define it better than that.  It is still at work.  We did not arrive in America until 12-14 thousand years ago.  Ditto.  So, Australians like to say the occupation has been longer here.  But, there is really no structure on the continent that is earlier than 19th Century.  Everything is new.

Arrived Sydney a few days ago to begin acting more like a tourist and less like a bushman.  We changed into casual clothes from field clothing for the flight south.  The heavy fabric felt so strange.  Our behavior has not changed so much; we walk about, but here each morning begins with a train ride into the heart of town.  Our lodging is in the Waterloo District south of downtown and the harbor.  

We left the plateau with its chilly nights for a few days of truly tropical climate before leaving for Sydney.  Yesterday drove south along the coast past banana orchards and sugar fields.  Stopped at lovely and deserted beaches where breakers lapped against coconut palms.  Found more Cassowary and heard our last Bird-of-Paradise (Victoria’s Riflebird).