Exploring Sydney

G’day mates!

Been in Sydney for a couple of days and trying to get over the jet lag associated with the flight.  It’s sort of interesting in that while I am a day ahead, the local time is such that it’s 7 hours earlier than what I would be doing in Portland.  Sure it’s also a day later, but Staying up till 7 or 8 is more akin to staying up till 2 or 3 in the morning.  I made it to 7 last night and am working on extending that time tonight.  If I had planned better, I should have done Auckland first since it is east of here so the overall time difference wouldn’t have been as bad…it is 2 hours later there.

The flight from Dallas wasn’t too bad.  Ok, fine…it was pretty sweet.  First, I had no one sitting next to me so I was able to sort of spread out as far as where my stuff was splayed out.  Second, the chairs were mostly lay flat.  I gotta admit that it felt like the leg section slanted downwards so rather than bone flat, the torso was flat but the legs had a little slope to it.  Tons better than anything you could get in coach, but I had to curl fetal to get comfortable (yes, I am expecting you to feel bad for me….do it!) Third, the Qantas attendants were pretty awesome.  Super nice and helpful.  They fed us a late dinner and breakfast and pretty much left us alone for the rest of the flight.  I mean you could go to the galley whenever you wanted to get drinks or munchies, but after dinner they shut the lights off until about an hour and a half before landing.

 

Seat Arm with seat adjustments.  Flat...massage...it was nice! As always, click to embiggen

Dinner was a Korean steak thing with kimchee that was hot enough that I ate around it after the first bite.  It was good though, don’t get me wrong.  Breakfast was French toast and it was yummy.

I know you want to know about the lounge, but it was underwhelming.  I realize that my imagined lounge with Isaac from the love boat mixing drinks was a tad unrealistic, but all it turned out to be was an area with couch-like seating along one wall so you could sit around in the light and not bother anyone sleeping.  Sure you could have a drink but it wasn’t like you were sitting at a bar.

Customs at Sydney airport was pretty sweet.  They have e-customs where you put your passport in a machine that reads it and gives you a card.  You take that card down to the passport checking area and instead of a person, you put it in a machine that has a camera compare the cards data to your face.  I saw a few people turned away so either they no longer look like the passport photo or something else was going on.  I guess I looked like my photo so was allowed through.  Then picked up my luggage and went through customs proper where I was told to get into line 6…the exit line!  Boom.  Like 20 minutes and I was done.

Took the train into Sydney.  They have these rechargeable cards, the Opal card, like they have in Rio.  You charge them up with however much you want and then you just swipe the card as you get into and out of a terminal.  The busses and ferries apparently use the same thing too.  I will be checking that out today when I go on a ferry ride.

I got into town around 7:30 in the morning so obviously I couldn’t check into my room yet.  They did let me change clothes and then stored my luggage for me until a room was ready.  I took off and started walking.  I am about a mile of the harbor so that’s the direction I went.  They drive on the wrong side here so they also walk on the wrong side on the sidewalk…or at least the locals do.  There are so many tourists here that you can sort of throw that out the window, but I tried to keep to the left.  Tons of people, btw….Sydney is a beautiful city, but there are a ton of people.  Down to the harbor bridge, out onto it, through the Royal Botanical Gardens, past the government house where the queen stays (I think) when she comes for a visit and then back around to a mall for a bit of lunch.  Chicken kabob wrap with garlic sauce.  Yum!  By that time, my room was ready to I came back, checked in, showered and tried to figure out how I could stay awake rather than zonk out like my body wanted me to. 

Didn't see the Queen, but her lodgings look pretty sweet

Sculpture in the Botannical Gardens

Lily pads had some nice blooms

They had a section with tons of ferns.  I touched a few for you, Stacy!

Makers and I enjoying the view of the Opera House

Turns out my room has a kitchenette!  So I headed down to the local Woolworths and picked up some breakfast fixings…and Diet Coke, of course.

I found a brewery that was relatively nearby so I hopped on the train to near it and headed there.  Their sampler trays are “paddles” mainly because they ARE on a paddle.  This place had some good beer!  The Rocks Brewery.  Interesting thing so far: everywhere I have gone to eat, you order your drinks and food at the bar and then they bring it out to you.  Maybe I have been eating at lower level places (they have been awesome so far, btw), but you don’t sit down and get waited on. 

 

One down and 4 to go at The Rocks. 

Had a burger there…real Australian Wagyu beef…and it was good.  They had “sweet mustard mayo” on it which reminded me of a Mr Show skit.  I wonder if that link will work...since I am searcing in Australia, is it blocked in the US?  Let me know

I made it back to my room around 6:30 and managed to stay up till 7 before dropping.

Woke up yesterday around 4.  I figured that wasn’t too bad so I started getting ready for the day.  I was climbing the bridge at 9:25 so there was plenty of time to get there. 

What can I say about the Sydney Bridge climb?  It was pretty awesome.  I have to admit, friends, I have a slight issue with heights, and there were a couple of moments, mainly when we were on some catwalks out on the underside of the bridge but still WAY off the ground that were just grates you could see through that were pretty uncomfortable, but other than that, it was incredible.  Our guide, Daniel Poole, was excellent.  So good, I remembered his name.  Had a good set of stories to tell not only about the bridge but the sites you could see while doing the climb.  I guess the one downside it you have to wear a Sydney Bridge Climb jumper during the climb, but since it was spitting rain, the fact that my clothes remained dry was actually pretty sweet.  You wear these radio headphones the whole time so you can hear the guide as you are strung along.  There were 15 people on my climb while I think the max is 16.  I, of course, was the odd man out but that was okay.

You basically walk out on the underside of the bridge until the arches start.  Then climb “ladders” up to the top arch and walk up that until you hit the top.  Then you cross over to the other side and walk back down the other arch, climb down the ladder on that side and then back to where you started.  I thought I was going to be a bit “oh shit” on the arch of the bridge, but it’s like 6 feet wide and the path/steps are in the center part of it with rails so there was never a vertigo moment.  I hands didn’t even hurt from over gripping when I was done.  Totally recommend it if you are ever in Sydney.  A bit pricey, but totally worth it.

 

Just got onto the arch to begin the climb.  You can see how wide it is.

Midway up with Sydney in the background.  Connected at the hip to a cable the entire walk.

Same place as before, but with the Opera House

My Climbing group at the top

In the middle of the bridge with the Australian flag in the background

Went to the Australian Hotel for lunch.  Daniel recommended the chicken parm, but they had pepper kangaroo pizza so I did that instead.  Gotta eat something different, you know.  It was pretty good.  Had cranberries and red peppers on it.  Not a huge fan of peppers, but it was a good combo.  I may have had a pint or two while I was there.

 

Pepper Kangaroo Pizza...and a beverage

Afterwards, I went over to the Sydney observatory to check it out and then down to Darling Harbor that has the maritime museum and the Sydney Aquarium…along with many restaurants and shopping.  There was a ton of construction going on down there as well.  Seems they are doing a massive urban renewal effort and it will be pretty nice when they are done. 

I did the aquarium which was pretty good….I don’t know…I got to do it with a huge crowd of Chinese tourists who tended to push in front of me to see things so that was a tad unpleasant.  But they had seahorses, octos, nautiluses as well as a couple of walk through areas with sharks and rays and what not.  I mean it’s no Monterey or even the one in Chicago, but it was decent.  Of course, one clue that it might not have been the best was you could batch purchase tickets to the wax museum for a discount one for $40 and 2 for $65 or something like that.  It was fun and at least they had jellyfish.

Time flies, huh?  I wanted to hit the Maritime museum but it was 4:30 when I got there and they close at 5.  I wandered back to my hotel to figure out where I was going to have dinner.  All hail Yelp.  Went to The Rook which was on the top floor of a nondescript building.  Thank goodness for the reviews that mentioned you had to pay attention to find it.  Find it I did and had a lobster and bacon roll.  Yum!  It was almost a hipster place though.  Mixed drinks and bartenders who would have been right at home in Portland.  They even had Aviation Gin (made in Portland, btw).  Really nice place and the roll was super good.

Lasted until 8 last night and now it’s time for a new day.  Going to hit the Opera House and wander the waterfront for a bit.  Then take the ferry out to Manley as it apparently shows you everything a harbor tour would but for the price of a ferry.  Then hitting the “best burrito in Sydney” according to Daniel while out there.  Not sure what else, but I guess we will find out.

Until then remember:

It’s our time, the people’s time

Love to all!

Jim