Sydney....and beyond!

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Hello All


Well, since the last time I wrote a lot has happened. Last Thursday, I was essentially stuck, mid flight, in San Francisco. I spent the better part of the day on the phone with various United representatives and travel people and at one point was informed I had been upgraded to Business class to fly from San Francisco to Sydney. Not bad…

I got late check out so I left the hotel at 3 pm and headed to the airport for a 1045 pm flight. When I went to go and check in, it appears United LIES. Yes, I had been upgraded, but just to ensure I was actually on the plane. In reality, I was moved back to the dregs of economy…but at least they gave me a bulkhead seat (LOTS of leg room) so it wasn't horrible. Instead of arriving on Friday morning in Sydney, I arrived on Saturday morning and after waiting nearly forever for my checked luggage, I finally got out and entered the wonderful world of Australia. Frank had arranged for a really nice hotel in the city center near Hyde Park (yes everything is named after famous locations in London here) so we headed back there so I could clean up, change etc. We had a lovely Australian breakfast looking over the park. (I don’t know where this baked beans for breakfast comes from, but I’m actually quite a fan.)

Anyway, we headed out around the town for some sightseeing. We went over the Anzac bridge and saw Frank’s neighborhood and had a nice cake (something these Aussie/Italians are quite a fan of). We kept driving around Sydney and FINALLY headed over the infamous Sydney Harbour Bridge and saw the Sydney Opera House. We stopped at a little park and took lots of pictures and went to Luna Park (think Coney Island). From there, we headed into some of the very quaint neighborhoods in the Sydney area and then on to Darlinghurst where I caught up with James from my Contiki tour over some tea and tapas.

On Sunday, we planned to head out to the Blue Mountains so we actually stayed in a hotel on the western side of Sydney in Parramatta. On Sunday morning we kept heading west to the Blue Mountains to the Three Sisters. We actually hiked down to the formations in the crazy wind and freezing cold. From there we headed over to Scenic World, where they have the worlds steepest incline railway, as well as a skyway gondola over one of the valleys, cable car and elevated walkway through the rainforest. We did all of the above and got some great pics as we hiked over the blue mountain valleys.

On our way back into the city we stopped at the Sydney Olympic village and saw all the venues etc. The torch has been converted into a cool fountain where you can walk into the center and supposedly not get wet. I think that may only apply when the wind isn’t blowing the water sideways, needless to say I didn’t try.

Sunday night we had dinner near the Botany Bay area and checked out some of the monuments to Captain Cook and the first settlements to Australia.

Early Monday morning Frank dropped me off at the airport so I could head to Melbourne. I arrived and caught up with Clare and looked at her photos from our Contiki trip as well as some others from each of our independent travels. We then headed out to the Dandenongs to see the infamous Puffing Billy head over the trestle bridge. Clare’s dad is a volunteer guard. We stopped and had some tea and then I got to take the train back to the city with a private tour from Clare’s dad. It was quite fun. Lol. From there Clare took me to have my first meat pie and then we headed into the city to pick up Graham from work. We drove through and I got a bit of a guided tour as to the sights of downtown Melbourne, and then we had a lovely dinner down near the University. Clare’s parents put me up for the night and Graham, Clare and I had a lovely evening catching up and looking at pictures. Unfortunately, due to the travel changes, I had a very limited time in Melbourne so on Tuesday morning I headed back to Sydney.

Frank picked me up at the airport and we headed south to Canberra, the capital territory and city. It’s about two and a half hours to get down there and we stopped on the way to have…another meat pie…which are quite popular down here. Once in ACT (Australian Capital Territory) we toured Parliament house and got some nice views from the lawn on the roof. Then we drove by the Old Parliament house and finally toured the extremely moving Australian War Memorial.

We headed back into the city and had some lovely Thai food for dinner. Frank had to go to Brisbane on Wednesday for work and then to Perth on Thursday to Sunday (after he changed his plans due to stupid United). So, he arranged for me to stay in a nice hotel in the city center so I can do all the touristy stuff quickly and easily. So, I am staying very near the central station and today I have organized several tourist plans. I am set to take the bridge climb at 2 pm this afternoon and I have a list of other things I would like to do while I am a tourist on a mission…lol. I am leaving here tomorrow afternoon to head to Adelaide until Sunday.

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