The 20 Minute Shuttle That Wasn't

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The journey to the airport for the flight to Sydney was extremely stressful. We had booked the airport shuttle, which apparently would take twenty minutes to get there. What the hotel had not told us was that we would go though the usual rounds of hotel pick-ups and then take us to Spencer Street Station (now the Southern Cross Station for some reason). From there it was twenty minutes to a particularly inconvenient place in the airport. Then just to add to the stress, as we were flying with Virgin Blue we were faced with the usual Virgin queuing system where there is a single queue for all the flights regardless of how soon they are leaving. To be honest this one, seemingly rather trivial issue is enough to put us off flying with Virgin as check-in is always stressful unless you’re one of the ones there three hours in advance. The timing also coincided with the security alerts back in the UK and we weren’t sure what impact this would have an Australian domestic flights. In case you haven’t noticed, I was stressed.

We arrived in Sydney in the late afternoon and went for a walk to the Botanical Gardens. We reached Mrs Macquaries Point at just right for the sunset over the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. We didn’t realise that the Botanical Gardens were locked when it gets dark, which would substantially lengthen our walk back to the Opera House. Luckily the warden gave us a lift as he was driving through to lock the gates and ask everyone to leave.

Our apartment was located at Darling Harbour so we though we would get the ferry back from Circular Quay. It seemed like a good idea, but we did not realise that it stopped at five other places on the way. It hence took a lot longer than we expected.

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Photos

Opera House Sunset
The Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge viewed from Mrs Macquaries Point at sunset

Opera House Sunset
The Sydney Opera House viewed from Mrs Macquaries Point at sunset