Well, Sydney has turned out to be just as wonderful as we remember from when we were here six years ago. Unfortunately at that time, we only had a couple of days to explore so this week has really given us a great flavor for the city.
First off, we have once again lucked out with absolutely lovely weather the whole time we’ve been here. It has been just cool enough in the evenings to wear our light jackets, but otherwise our short sleeved shirts have been just fine. We did manage to buy some shorts and sandals for the rest of the trip, which should take us into warmer weather, so that’s been nice. We mailed back two boxes of our heavier clothing back home, so that has really freed up some space in our bags!
You might remember us mentioning a couple we met on our cruise through Milford Sound in New Zealand, Ian and Carol from Sydney. Well, they invited us to look them up when we got to town so they could show us around, so wee contacted them and arranged to get together last Saturday. Ian picked us up at our hotel and drove us to Carol’s condo, in the northern suburbs of Sydney. It’s a beautiful area with lots of rolling hills, heavily wooded with eucalyptus trees. Carol greeted us warmly and had even made a homemade date loaf for my birthday, complete with a sparkler in it! It was really tasty and kind of reminded me of banana bread. Anyway, they drove us around the coast north of Sydney to some spectacular lookouts over the ocean and bays and then we ended up at a great little dockside restaurant for lunch. Unfortunately, Carol had tickets to the ballet that night which she couldn’t get out of, so after dropping her off we went to Ian’s house where he made us dinner. All in all, they were absolutely lovely hosts and really made our time in Sydney enjoyable.
For my birthday, we had decided to do the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. Not sure how many of you have heard of this experience, but it is quite a popular thing to do here. After you check in, you sign a release saying you won’t sue them for whatever might happen, etc., and then they give you a breath test to make sure you haven’t been drinking. Since our climb was at 2 p.m., it wasn’t too hard for us to stay off the sauce prior to heading up!!! Then you get all geared up in a jump suit, harness, and radio with headphones so you can hear your tour guide as you climb the bridge. Basically, you climb up a couple of stairways that are like climbing ladders and then you’re walking along the upper arch of the bridge along a sort of catwalk. It’s all very safe as the company has been doing this for years, and you’re clipped to a guide wire the whole time as well as having hand rails to hold on to. Let me tell you - the view from the top of that bridge is completely AMAZING!! We were about 500 feet above the water and had the entire harbour and city laid out below us with unobstructed views to the west of the Blue Mountains and to the east of the Pacific Ocean. Really something to remember. Of course, we couldn’t take our camera or any other personal belongings up on the bridge, so we purchased a CD with pictures on it from them and maybe down the road I can post some pictures from up there.
The entire event took about 3 hours and was well worth every penny. It was about 5 p.m. when we got back down and we had planned to have dinner at a restaurant I had researched before heading over to the Opera House for a blues performance that night. Unfortunately, we had left the tickets to the show in the hotel room! Since our hotel was about 10 blocks from the bridge, we jumped on a bus and zipped back down to the hotel. Once in the room, we went right to where we thought the tickets were but lo and behold - no tickets!!! We tore the room apart and just couldn’t find them. Poor Jim was really stressed as he just wanted me to have the perfect birthday so I suggested that we just head down to the Opera House and see what they could do to help us. To make a long story short, they very kindly printed out new tickets and we enjoyed a really fantastic show. Of course, what do you think happened when we got back to the room that night? Right - we found the tickets in a pile of paperwork we thought we had gone through……geez……
Some “Australian” we’ve learned:
Instead of “The road is packed with cars“, “the road is choc-a-block with cars”, and instead of “We had lots of fun”, “We had heaps (or loads) of fun.” And then, of course, there is the classic Aussie fashion of shortening so many words, so rather than breakfast, it’s brekky and sunglasses are sunnies. I know there are bunches of others we’ve heard, but they escape me right now! Suffice it to say, it’s quite an endearing way of speaking.
So, that’s our time in Sydney. We head out tomorrow morning for Uluru, or Ayers Rock, in the center of the country. It will be about a 2 hour flight and we’ll be out there until the 19th, when we fly to Perth on the southwestern corner of the country.
Hope all is well with everyone!!!
First off, we have once again lucked out with absolutely lovely weather the whole time we’ve been here. It has been just cool enough in the evenings to wear our light jackets, but otherwise our short sleeved shirts have been just fine. We did manage to buy some shorts and sandals for the rest of the trip, which should take us into warmer weather, so that’s been nice. We mailed back two boxes of our heavier clothing back home, so that has really freed up some space in our bags!
You might remember us mentioning a couple we met on our cruise through Milford Sound in New Zealand, Ian and Carol from Sydney. Well, they invited us to look them up when we got to town so they could show us around, so wee contacted them and arranged to get together last Saturday. Ian picked us up at our hotel and drove us to Carol’s condo, in the northern suburbs of Sydney. It’s a beautiful area with lots of rolling hills, heavily wooded with eucalyptus trees. Carol greeted us warmly and had even made a homemade date loaf for my birthday, complete with a sparkler in it! It was really tasty and kind of reminded me of banana bread. Anyway, they drove us around the coast north of Sydney to some spectacular lookouts over the ocean and bays and then we ended up at a great little dockside restaurant for lunch. Unfortunately, Carol had tickets to the ballet that night which she couldn’t get out of, so after dropping her off we went to Ian’s house where he made us dinner. All in all, they were absolutely lovely hosts and really made our time in Sydney enjoyable.
For my birthday, we had decided to do the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. Not sure how many of you have heard of this experience, but it is quite a popular thing to do here. After you check in, you sign a release saying you won’t sue them for whatever might happen, etc., and then they give you a breath test to make sure you haven’t been drinking. Since our climb was at 2 p.m., it wasn’t too hard for us to stay off the sauce prior to heading up!!! Then you get all geared up in a jump suit, harness, and radio with headphones so you can hear your tour guide as you climb the bridge. Basically, you climb up a couple of stairways that are like climbing ladders and then you’re walking along the upper arch of the bridge along a sort of catwalk. It’s all very safe as the company has been doing this for years, and you’re clipped to a guide wire the whole time as well as having hand rails to hold on to. Let me tell you - the view from the top of that bridge is completely AMAZING!! We were about 500 feet above the water and had the entire harbour and city laid out below us with unobstructed views to the west of the Blue Mountains and to the east of the Pacific Ocean. Really something to remember. Of course, we couldn’t take our camera or any other personal belongings up on the bridge, so we purchased a CD with pictures on it from them and maybe down the road I can post some pictures from up there.
The entire event took about 3 hours and was well worth every penny. It was about 5 p.m. when we got back down and we had planned to have dinner at a restaurant I had researched before heading over to the Opera House for a blues performance that night. Unfortunately, we had left the tickets to the show in the hotel room! Since our hotel was about 10 blocks from the bridge, we jumped on a bus and zipped back down to the hotel. Once in the room, we went right to where we thought the tickets were but lo and behold - no tickets!!! We tore the room apart and just couldn’t find them. Poor Jim was really stressed as he just wanted me to have the perfect birthday so I suggested that we just head down to the Opera House and see what they could do to help us. To make a long story short, they very kindly printed out new tickets and we enjoyed a really fantastic show. Of course, what do you think happened when we got back to the room that night? Right - we found the tickets in a pile of paperwork we thought we had gone through……geez……
Some “Australian” we’ve learned:
Instead of “The road is packed with cars“, “the road is choc-a-block with cars”, and instead of “We had lots of fun”, “We had heaps (or loads) of fun.” And then, of course, there is the classic Aussie fashion of shortening so many words, so rather than breakfast, it’s brekky and sunglasses are sunnies. I know there are bunches of others we’ve heard, but they escape me right now! Suffice it to say, it’s quite an endearing way of speaking.
So, that’s our time in Sydney. We head out tomorrow morning for Uluru, or Ayers Rock, in the center of the country. It will be about a 2 hour flight and we’ll be out there until the 19th, when we fly to Perth on the southwestern corner of the country.
Hope all is well with everyone!!!
P.S.: I'll add more pictures shortly......internet issues......nuff said!!!!
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