Sydney Day #3

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We had several items planned for Day 3 in Sydney, but the evening before Pat came down with some GI problem, so a good portion of the day passed in the hotel room. By mid afternoon he was feeling a bit better, so we ventured out to the Victoria Building, the former central Post Office building converted into a high end shopping area and then to the Australian National Maritime Museum. We walked around the Victoria Building but managed to keep our credit cards in our pocket. There is a monorail loop running around the area south of Darling Harbor so we took that over to the Maritime Museum. The biggest attraction there was the postwar destroyer, HMAS Vampire, the last of three Daring class destroyers built in the late 40s and early 50s. In fact Vampire was laid down in 1952 but not commissioned till 1959. She sailed with the RAN for about 30 years and came to the Museum in 1990. We had a guided tour with a few other people and it was interesting to see the differences in design detail compared to the USN ships we’ve toured. For example the helmsman’s position is on the bridge of US ships, while on Vampire he is in a closed room one deck down and a bit aft in the conning tower. Neither is right or wrong, just different. There were many things that were very similar, driven by the function being accomplished.

We then finished the tour of the Museum proper and rode the Monorail back to the Victoria building prior to walking back up George St. to the hotel. Since we would be flying to Melbourne in the morning, we got all packed before hitting the hay for the night.

Since we don’t have other things to talk about, here are some comments on the writing of this blog. First, after a busy day it takes a lot of mental energy to write this, so there have been a few days we’ve just not been up for it and crashed. Secondly, we’ve been pretty cheap regarding Internet access and have not wanted to pay if we could avoid it. In Sydney the hotel offered 30 minutes per day free however, you could only access it from the lobby. So after writing a couple of these, we would trot down to the lobby and upload everything as quickly as possible. We are sorry for the irregular schedule, but hope you’re enjoying the blog as much as we’re enjoying the trip. Since we didn’t take many pictures today, we’ll post some that we’ve taken the last couple days. Let us know what you think of the blogs so far.

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Photos

Sydney Harbour Bridge
and Ferry

HMAS Vampire
at the National Maritime Museum

Connie
at Watson's Bay outside Doyle's

Emu
At the Sydney Zoo

Norfolk Island Pines
These are neat looking trees

Sydney Airport
There were Gloria Jean's all over Sydney and Melbourne. We think they started in Peoria, IL.

Comments

[Jane Locacio]

Enjoying the trip with you.
Free wi-fi! We are so accustomed to it here, it seems so unlikely that you would have to "save up" your blogs, and then quickly upload them when you can get a free 30 minutes or so. Hope you continue to feel better. You are both looking great, and like you are having the -- so far -- trip of your lives. The pictures are reallyt interesting, and the history you provide along with the places you visit are just amazing. Pat seems to really get the facts and figures from all those ship and airplane museums...guess practice makes perfect.

[Jen]

I like it!
I'm really enjoying the blog and glad to hear you are having such a good time! Can't wait to see all the pictures when you get back!