We arrived in Sydney about 5pm on Saturday, after traveling for an exhausting 24 hours - Phuket, to Bangkok, to Singapore, where Scoot added a 4 hour delay to our 3 hour layover, then on to Sydney at last. Since we will be visiting Sydney twice on our trip, it will be the last stop on our Australian tour, we decided to focus on the CBD (Central Business District). We stayed at the Mantra hotel, which is walking distance to pretty much, everything.

We unpacked and headed to Darling Harbor for dinner. It was Australia Day weekend and that meant there were lots of people and things happening: live music, a swing through a curtain of water that stops just long enough for the swinger to go under (see video on Flikr), and street performers of all kinds. There were some fireworks that were ok, but we were downwind, so we got the smoky view and ash fallout.

Sydney is a jewel of a city. It is sparkling clean and full of parks, gardens, sculptures, architecture, beautiful people, and of course the iconic landmarks. I got the impression the population is young, healthy, fashionable, and financially strong. Prices for most things however are outrageous. A bottle of water is $4.50Aus or about $3.60US. That would be bad if we'd come here directly from Dallas but it was especially tough to take given we were paying $0.30US for a bottle of water in Thailand. Groceries and restaurants are similar, a hamburger and fries are $20, beer was $17 for a six-pack, and a case of 24 cokes was $27. OUCH!! During the week the CBD is full of nicely dressed women and men. In the evenings, the women wear <b>very</b> short dresses or very short shorts and skimpy tops with <b>very</b> high heels (some of them looked like they were wearing Teddy's). The patio bars are packed and there are lines to get into the nightclubs. I don’t think we could have picked two cities that were more different than Sydney and Bangkok.

On Sunday we walked to lovely Hyde Park for the last weekend of the Sydney Festival. While we ate lunch, we watched a quartet (of five?) play cartoon theme songs for a group of dancing little kids (it made me miss Hunter even more). After lunch we wandered around the park and fountains and statuary.

Monday was Australia Day (like July 4^th for Aussies) and it dawned gray and drizzly. We headed to Circular Quay, along with thousands of other people, where we enjoyed an aboriginal dance accompanied by a didgeridoo, street artists, musical performances and various roadside stands in the Rocks. After a short break at the hotel to get out of the rain, we headed back to Darling Harbor, in the drizzle, for the fireworks. This time we checked the wind direction and then found an up-wind spot to watch the show. We were definitely rewarded for our willingness to sit out in the wetness for a few hours. There was music mixed by a popular local DJ - a blend of rock and pop that was really good. The fireworks were phenomenal. Awesome sprays and showers of sparks close to the water as well as the typical aerial display, really the best I have seen in many years (and a bit of a surprise given the disappointing fireworks we saw on Saturday night). The fireworks were primarily launched from barges centered in the harbor, but they were also launched from several other spots (skyscraper rooftops, Darling harbor bridge, the head of a giant Parrot) to make an even more dynamic display. Even when we thought they were done, it turned out that they were just letting some of the smoke clear and then they started up again. The show lasted over 30 minutes. Awesome!!!

It was still raining on Tuesday so we took in a movie, American Sniper, and wandered into a few shops. This is where we found a great deal on a zoom lens (75-300mm) for my camera. Now I really can compete with Bill. His is bigger, heavier and cost a lot more, but isn’t much better J.

Wednesday was really rainy so we walked to the New South Wales Art museum. It was nice (and free) but nothing fantastic. On the way home we went through the Royal Botanic Gardens. Another plus… since my camera is smaller and lighter we had it with us (Bill’s was at the hotel) and since it didn’t cost as much we were willing to get it out in the rain - I got some great wet flower pictures. I also saw my first large spider. It was probably 4" long tip to tip with a body the size of a quarter. Bill had warned me about the spiders and snakes in Australia but it is still something to walk under something this size.

The sun finally came back out again on Thursday, so we decided to take a hike. I chose one of the shortest trails I could find, 10km or 6.5 miles, from Spit Bridge to the Manley Ferry. Little did I know it was all up and downhill along the coast. It took us about 5 hours with a picnic lunch break and many stops for pictures (flowers, lizards, spiders, and beautiful coast line). I was definitely limping into Manley, where we got the ferry back to the CBD.

Friday, another beautiful sunny day, we went back to Circular Quay for lunch. Bill has been talking about Fish and Chips since we started planning this trip so we found a place near the opera house. Bill ate it all (big surprise) but wasn’t impressed. After taking another hundred or so photos of the Opera House we walked back through the Royal Botanic Gardens for more flower photos.

We finished our first visit to Sydney with a second trip to the Rocks (a historical area beside Sydney Harbor) for the weekend market. We repeated our lunch from the previous weekend - Corn on the cob and a Turkish Gozleme (like a Quesadilla with cheese, spinach and chicken), wonderful. The stalls had lots of interesting things and good variety, not your typical T-shirts and Tchotchkes. We then headed across the iconic Sydney Harbor bridge. For $150Aus you can walk up the support structure but you can walk along the roadway for free (which is what we did). The views were wonderful so we again took hundreds of photos. After crossing the bridge we visited Luna Park, a small older but cute amusement park.

We’ve had a great time in Sydney even with the variable weather and I’m looking forward to coming back for a 2^nd visit. It’s time to pack for our next stop, in Melbourne.

Higher resolution versions of these photos can be found at Flikr in the Patong Album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bill_and_ dessa/sets/

...Bill and Dessa