Blogs from Sydney Harbour, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania - page 5

Whilst on the free walking tour earlier in the week, we were given a flyer which was advertising crab racing at a bar around the corner from our flat, which took place every Monday night. So we decided we needed to check it out. The crab racing was taking place at Scu bar which is right under the largest YHA hostel in Sydney – this should give you a good picture of what the place looked like already. Filled with travellers and students, jugs of beer/snakebite everywhere you looked and all you can eat pizza – safe to say Will felt right at home! We of course had to indulge in the all you can eat pizza – and I think we got our money’s worth managing 4 pizza’s between us. And we were here for ... read more

It's really hard to say exactly why I do some of the things I do. I think I get restless without something to look forward to and suddenly I'm jaunting off to parts unknown. Such is the case with this spontaneous trip to Sydney. With a string of days off and nothing to do, (at least nothing that I wanted to do), I found myself searching flights to see where I could go. Oahu was at the top of the list since I've yet to climb the Haiku Stairs and after a years worth of running, this seemed like an excellent time to get to the top without too much trouble. Flights were oversold and so it was on to the land down-under for me. Sydney out of LAX was wide open in coach with plenty ... read more

Days 5 and 6 Monday October 31, 2011 - Day 5 The Quantas work stoppage has been terminated. We hope our flight tomorrow will be available. They expect it will take hours before they can get the planes back in the air and they still have to deal with the backlog. We received a confirmation email this morning but it had 3 different airlines listed on the confirmation so it is a bit confusing. We have been told to call in 24 hours before our flight which is 1:30 in the afternoon. Since we cannot do anything about it right now, we head out for our fun adventure. We had reservations for the Sydney Bridge Climb at 10:00 am. Lisa dragged Jim along even though it was not exactly on the top of his list of ... read more

Travel days and Days1 and 2 We left SFO at 11:00 PM Tuesday October 25 on our flight to Sydney and thought it was going to be the flight from hell. 14 hours in coach with the possibility of screaming babies and someone kicking the back of our seats is not our idea of traveling in comfort. With a $300 pair of noise cancelling headphones (well worth the money), three vodka cranberries, and Jim's small white pill from his doctor made the trip the best long-distant flight we have ever experienced. We were able to get about 6 hours of sleep and arrived in Sydney Thursday morning feeling pretty good. Getting through customs and security was made better with a stop at the duty free shop to purchase a couple bottles of Johnnie Walker Black and ... read more

In just two days we will be embarking on our European Cruise aboard the Pacific Princess. The Mediterranean Few regions can lay claim to so many must-see places. The ruins of Rome, Renaissance treasures in Florence, the magic of Venice, cosmopolitan Barcelona, exotic Istanbul, as well as hidden jewels like Portofino, Dubrovnik and much more are not to be missed. Greek Isles Athens, located on the mainland, gets the lion’s share of attention, but no visit to the Ionian Sea would be complete without sampling isles such as Santorini, with its dramatic volcanic cliffs, Mykonos and its whitewashed villas, and Katakolon, where the ancient Olympics were born. Holy Land Some of mankind’s greatest figures — mythical and historical — dominate this region. In Jerusalem, you’ll walk in the footsteps of prophets and kings in a city ... read more