Sydney 101

---

Well, our introduction to Sydney was a bit rough!

An outstanding flight on Asiana again, but after collecting our bags, we did several laps around the baggage hall, while various people gave us conflicting directions to the "Express" exit. Car rental was great, and the GPS got us pretty simply to the Best Western in Lidcombe. It turned out to be, lets just say, a "diverse" neighbourhood where we had booked, and the apartment was 1 star at best. Next time we use our Wyndham points to book a "free" stay, we'll ask lots more questions, and hope that Google street view is updated.

After one day and night, we emailed our travel agent Jason, who very quiclky suugested some great quality spots in downtown where we can see all that the great city has to offer. His suggestions have worked out really well, and our strong recommendation for others to use Jason (Downunder Travel, Calgary) has been upgraded even further.

We're now in a gorgeous kitchenette suite in the Mantra Hotel, very close to the Sydney Harbour, Rocks shopping and dining district, Botanical Garden, etc. etc. Located on Bond Street, all the suits probably are sniffing at the casual, "Canuks", but we're spending our share of the GDP on latte's, so I think they will let us stay.

The harbour tour by boat was fantastic, lots of local lore over 230 years of history. Saw some great whale activity near the main harbour entrance from the ocean - probably the best we've ever seen. I'd forgotten how "maritime" these harbour cities are - really feels like Halifax, but of course 20x bigger. The city is not too crowded, and with great weather today we covered lots of area on foot. The average coffee shop density is 2.3 per block.

---