It was so lovely to meet up with friends Sophia and John from my home town in Kent who have been visiting family in Hong Kong for the last three weeks. They arrived at my hotel and we took the short Star Ferry across from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon. There is a fantastic light show in Victoria Harbour called "A Symphony of Lights" that takes place every evening at 8pm An amazing multimedia show which has been named the "World's Largest Permanent Light and Sound Show" by Guiness Book of Records combining lights and music and narration involving 43 key [View Full Entry]

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I must say the 8.5 hour flight from Sydney to Hong Kong went very quickly enjoying a nice meal on the plane, plenty of film and tv choices and managing a nap too! My chauffeur was waiting at the airport to take me the 35minute journey to The Mandarin Oriental Hotel right in ther city centre and to my beautiful roon on the 19th floor The Hotel has recently had a multi million dollar make over and there is every gadget imagineable in my room! From remote control lighting, computer and message centre in the TV to a wet room and [View Full Entry]

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My last full day in Sydney took me on a trip to the Blue Mountains an area west of the city about an hour and a half by car I was in a group of 15 people plus our guide John Sadly the day was wet which was a pity because the mountains are beautiful and I was hoping to get some spectacular views Arriving in the mist we did find some kangaroos feeding on the grass while we enoyed a cuppa Then because the weather was not very favourable we were able to watch a very interesting documentary about the [View Full Entry]

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Having met up with Adrian, a guy from Zurich, who did the Backstage tour of the Opera House we decided to take a trip over to Manly about a 35 minute ferry trip from Circular Quay at Sydney Harbour The weather was a bit wet but we thought it might clear and you get some great views of the harbour from the ferry Once at Manly we had a lovley walk along the beach and up over the cliff just as the sun was trying to shine through Then returning to Circular Quay we got our shots of the Opera House [View Full Entry]

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Well I have been very excited about this backstage tour of the Opera House for my whole trip Not only had I been fortunate enough to have enjoyed the tour from the inside, with Annette, but now I was actually going to get to see behind the scenes too! The early morning started off a bit eventfully as I could not actually get into the building where I was expecting to gain entry! It was nearing the 7am meeting time and it was important to be on time, fortunately a secruity guard took pity on me and pointed me to the [View Full Entry]

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Well leaving Hayman Island and arriving in Sydney was a bit of a shock to my system as the weather was a lot colder than I had been used to! I had only worn short trousers since I arrived in Australia so I was grateful that my taxi driver turned up the air con in the limo on the way to The Shangri La Hotel in the Rocks area of Sydney about 20 minutes from the airport to warm me up!! From my room on the 27th Floor I had my first iconic views of the absolutely stunning Opera House and [View Full Entry]

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Annette and I arrived at the Opera House at 4.45pm to be greeted by our guide Peter to give us an idividual tour around parts of the Opera House We were lucky enough to be just the two of us so it was an amazing opportunity to see this incredible building in a very personal way He explained how the building had been full of controversy right from the early days of its conception Not only in the design of the building but the amount of money and time it was going to take to build. When it was finally opened [View Full Entry]

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A day to myself in Sydney sadly the weather was really wet so decided not do the Bridge Climb but rather spent the day walking around and discovering the city I seem to walk for miles but a great way to see everything The main Street is George Street which runs north to south and is the main shopping area I discovered the Museum of Sydney and Museum of Contempary Art The Royal Theatre in King Street and Town Hall Then past St Andrew's Cathedral and into China Town Next to the East and to the Darlinghurst area before returning to [View Full Entry]

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Sunday morning and another beautiful day here on the island After a lovely leisurely breakfast I headed up to the Stella Maris Chapel a wonderful setting for this interdenominational church Today Reverend Terry Ayling was conducting the non denominational service He was a lovely Australian guy, about my age, (yes young then!) who has the reasponsibility for conducting services here and on Hamilton and Day Dream Islands There were 10 of us at the service today including a couple who had been married at Hayman three years ago in the very Chapel We sang to a DVD and watched a video [View Full Entry]

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Well I mentioned that today was going to be a bit special and it certainly has been. I woke early with the sun streaming into my room looking out over the still Lagoon at Hayman Island Resort. A delicious buffet type breakfast overlooking the Lagoon in the Azure Restaurant was a perfect setting to begin another exciting day At 8am I met my other two guests for the day, Craig and Melissa (another honeymoon couple from Derby) as we headed over to the Helipad (I am getting rather used to this type of travel!!) for our initial flight to Fantaseas Reefworld [View Full Entry]

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