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Published: June 25th 2009
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Day 70
We arrived in Sydney in the evening after a swift three hour flight from Cairns. We witnessed a new level of greed aboard our flight as the airline in question streamed live TV to each of the seatback TV sets......if you swiped your credit card through the reader built into the headrest! Suffice to say we read our books instead. Anyway, we arrived in Sydney and caught a cab to the apartments and then the fun began! The first room they put us in had the loudest fridge in the world in it! It sounded like it contained a pinball machine or something equally noisy and after ten seconds Marta decided we were moving. Our hosts duly obliged and we moved to a different room which meant we gave up our spectacular view in favour of a decent night's sleep........harsh but fair.
Day 71
The first day proper was a bit of a write off as they tend to be when you move to somewhere new. We got up fairly late and went for brunch after walking around aimlessly trying to find somewhere we liked the look of..........not junk food but not too pricey......somewhere nice! Anyway,
stomachs filled and we went for a wander around. First impressions were that it is a lot smaller than London and far less busy, not quite what we were expecting but a nice place and far more cosmopolitan than anywhere else we have been in Australia. We then went to do some food shopping and this turned into a bit of a nightmare as we had a weeks worth of food and we had to carry it in baskets as the stupid supermarket didn't have any trolleys. Our anger was compounded later on when we found a better supermarket which was closer to our apartment AND had trolleys!......such big problems....sigh........!
Day 72
Today we did some proper 'tourist activities' starting at the Chinese Gardens. Now this might seem a bit crazy as we spent a fair amount of time there but you know what, we miss it! I never thought I would be saying that before we left home! Anyway, we wandered around for an hour or so then went down to Darling Harbour to get some lunch. We picked a restaurant after seeing an elderly couple sitting outside eating these huge steak sandwiches which looked very nice
indeed! We headed inside, sat down and ordered. Fifteen minutes later we were met with sandwiches half the size! Clearly if you sit out the front you get bigger portions to entice new customers! To add insult to injury you are charged an extra $5 per person on a Sunday.......just because it is Sunday! What is that all about??? After we had digested our lunch experience we walked a bit further down the harbour to the National Maritime Museum. Now we weren't really interested in the museum, it was more the big warship and the submarine out the front you could go in! Now you would think this was at my behest but I can assure you all, Marta was more excited than me! The submarine was really cool but I don't know how you could stay on there for any period of time. it feels big enough for about two people not the fifty odd crew it took. We then moved onto the ship, the HMAS Vampire to be precise. We took a guided tour which was interesting and I got to sit in the Captain's chair and launch the missiles!!!! (well, to pretend to at least)
Day
73
We started the day with a visit to the Sydney Sky Tower, taking in the panoromic views. Afterwards we took a walk through Hyde Park and made our way to the Barrack Museums. It was a beautiful building but was a little bit scary as one room showed all the hammocks hanging as they used to be for the prisoners. It was deadly silent in there and not the kind of place you wanted to stay in for too long.....spooky!
Day 74
We started today with a walk through the Botanical Gardens (another Botanical Gardens!) Like all of them, it was a very pleasant place to spend some time but the view at the end was quite spectacular as we got to sit in the sunshine eating our lunch looking at the Sydney Opera House. Quite possibly the best place I have sat to have lunch outside! We made our way around to the Opera House and proceeded to take hundreds of photos of both the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge! We then took a guided tour of the Opera House which was very informative and was a must do given we had come all
this way to see it. When the tour finished we caught a boat from Circular Quay which passed under the Harbour Bridge and back round to Darling Harbour. A cheap way to see the sights rather than paying for a tour in case anyone is ever in this part of the world!
Day 75
We had another lie in today as we are starting to feel tired now. All the moving around takes it out of you and we are looking forward to some relaxing time in Fiji! We made our way to the Harbour Bridge and went into the museum which is in the south east pylon. It tells you the history of how the bridge was built and then you can climb up to see the view from the top.....very nice indeed! We crossed the bridge over to Manly.......and then walked back (!?) as it had to be done! We then did some shopping in preparation for our trip to Fiji (sun cream etc)...........boring but necessary.
Day 76
Today we caught the ferry to the Sydney Olympic Park.....oh dear.........this is not a fun place to go. It is like a ghost town and it
makes you wonder what will happen in London when the games are over. They clearly spent a fortune building it all and it basically has no purpose anymore. From a tourist perspective it is a complete waste of time, nothing to see and nothing to do! Never mind, you can't expect everything to be great!
Anyway, we move on to Fiji tomorrow for some r & r which we are both looking forward to. Not sure about the facilities where we are staying so we will probably update you all when we get to New Zealand. Hope you are well and that you are all enjoying the start of summer at home! Keep the comments coming, its nice to hear from you all! As always, if you spot any typo's........we don't care! 😊
Take care,
Nick & Marta
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Barbara
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FAB
Oh wow it all looks fantastic especially the Wombats bottom only joking is it winter there? you both look happy and relaxed Love to both of you Babs XX