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Published: November 3rd 2005
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Hello from down under!
We are having a great time. The weather has been very nice - very warm but with a breeze. It is, however, the fly season. Those pesky little buggers fly around you and follow you as you are walking. You can slap at them all you want (which is what is affectionately known as the "Aussie wave"), but they know what they are doing as they are professionals. Perhaps I could teach them a little something about beer.
We purchased a three day pass that allowed us to board the Sydney Explorer and Bondi Beach Explorer busses. The pass also granted us access to all bus, train, tram, and ferry systems in the city. It was a great deal. The Explorer busses took a little over two hours from the first to last stop showing us the location of many points of interest while giving us our bearings of the city. We could hop off and on as much as we wanted.
We took two ferries as well. One was a harbour cruise where we saw such places as the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Russell Crowe’s modest 14 million dollar condo
as well as other high dollar real estate nestled on the bays. It was neat to see the city from the harbour. The other ferry was the 7 mile ride to Manly. We walked around, went to the beach, made a purchase for some lucky sole who shall remain nameless at this time and then headed to the bar. Imagine that.
The Sydney Opera House is quite an architectural feat. We went on a tour but we could not take pictures inside the halls. The inside of the house is unique as well. The Concert Hall can seat 2,690 and the Opera Theatre can seat 1,547. There is also a Playhouse that seats just under 400 that we did not get to see. The organ in the Concert Hall is deceiving. It does appear large but one would never know that it has over 8,000 pipes and is something like 30 feet deep. The Opera House took over 14 years to complete. The initial estimate was $7 million and the final cost was $102 million. Sounds like a Cargill project.
Next to the Opera House is the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The “Coathanger” took over 8 years to build
at a cost of around 6.25 million dollars. It was built by 1,400 workers and opened in 1932. Now, over 150,000 vehicles cross each day. It is twice the height of the Opera House. Mary went on the bridge climb. You can see a pic of her below. It was a 3.5 hour guided tour. She had to climb ladders, catwalks, and steps up the actual bridge arch.
We made it over to “The Rocks” one night for dinner. The Rocks is named for the rugged cliffs - not as prominent as it used to be. This is the home of the Sydney Observatory. At dinner time, Mary tried kangaroo - which I liked, and I had a well done steak that was ordered medium rare. The best part of the meal was the bread - we had to ask for more.
In City Centre, we checked out the Queen Victoria Building which is now a shopping mall, and the Sydney Tower. The Tower tops the city skyline. It is 1,000 feet above the ground. It is the thing that looks like the Space Needle in Seattle. We went to the top one evening and saw some spectacular
views of Sydney.
Darling Harbour was fun as well. We visited the National Maritime Museum which also included a tour of the HMAS Vampire Destroyer, HMAS Onslow Submarine, and the James Craig - a restored iron-hulled sailing ship that was built by Bartram, Haswell & Co. in Sunderland, England in 1874. I can’t imagine being on the submarine for anytime at all. It was very cramped. The last captain was 6’4’’. I don’t know how he did it. Darling Harbour is also home of the Sydney Aquarium. We met an acquaintance of mine, Chuck, at the aquarium and explored the massive tanks there. We could also enjoy the tanks from down under as they had underwater walkways.
While Mary was climbing the bridge, I went to and Aboriginal Art Centre and then to Chinatown. While at the art centre, I saw a free show that gave me an introduction to the didgeridoo - a 3 foot long hollow eucalyptus tree that has usually been attacked by termites and has bees wax on the mouthpiece. The performer was very good explaining the instrument, its uses, and followed with excellent performances. After the show, I wandered around Chinatown. There, I
found plenty of shops and a great Dim Sum restaurant. It was so good I went there again with Mary the next day.
We have made a couple of adjustments to our itinerary. After Cairns, we are planning on heading down to Melbourne, then to Tasmania, back to Sydney for a couple of days, and then on to New Zealand. We would like to tour the wine country just outside of Sydney.
As for the food review, it will have to be up to me as Mary is out touring right now. I liked the beer - Mary said it had little flavour. I like Victoria Bitter and Carlton Black. Tooheys is good as well. One interesting note, if you order lite beer, it really is. Mary ordered a lite and it had 2.5% alcohol. Here, you get what you ask for! The food, is okay. As I mentioned earlier, Mary's kangaroo was good while my steak was shoe leather. Mary had a meat pie - she will have to fill you in on that later. My opinion? Food "B-", Beer "B". The jury really should still be out, we have a couple more weeks...
Well, we
are now off to Cairns. Scuba diving and snorkeling imminent!
We look forward to hearing from you!
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Lori
non-member comment
Awesome!
Mary's view from the bridge looks spectacular! Thanks for the tales from down under. I look forward to hearing you wine review on you way back thru. Mary: Did you catch any fish?