Feb 25. Bondi and downtown.

A trip to Bondi beach turned into an adventure for Barbara and me. Alison took us on the bus. Sydney has a great system. You scan on and off with an Opal card (you can also use a phone) and it takes you where you want to go. Lots of interesting architecture and sites to see on the trip.  Really interesting neighbourhoods.

I talked to a young fellow with his surfboard on the bus. He was interested in my accent! We talked about surfing in NS and he allowed it would be too cold for his liking.

The beach is really beautiful with lots of people having fun but, we were told, not the usual crowd. We settled for a beer on the patio. 

Bondi Beach

A beer at the Return Service Club.

It was mid afternoon by the time we got back. Cam was nice enough to take us to our hotel (the Four Seasons). We checked in and got settled then went to explore. 

Our room has a great view of the harbour and we walked out to the opera house. Really fantastic.

View from our room.

Jim and Barbara at the Opera House

The Opera House

I bought a new pair of of sunglasses. We tried on hats but decided against any of them just yet. So much to see. 

We had had a big lunch so decided on a shared app and a drink at the hotel bar for supper. Say hello to the $24 martini!

The hotel is really comfortable. We had a great sleep and now have to decide on the next day's adventure.

Feb 24. Sydney

Our first day in Sydney. Alison and Cam Seccombe were kind enough to pick us up at the airport and take us back to their lovely condo on Darling Harbour.

Cam and Alison used to live in Ottawa years ago and Barbara got to know them through CAC when she volunteered with that group. While she had not been in touch for decades, she reached out to them and they invited us to stay with them for our first night.

Cam and Alison with Barb and Jim

After we got cleaned up, they gave us an orientation tour of some of the sights. Really lovely city and we got to see some of the areas we'll visit later in the week. It was a warm and sunny day so light clothes were broken out. I think we'll need to pack away our coats. 

We went to a local Coles store where I picked up a Sim card for my phone. This was the first time I had done this and it worked smoothly. I got a prepaid Sim from Optus that gave me 28 days of unlimited calls and texting plus 36 Gb of data, all for $30 AUD. That's a bargain. It can be refilled if need be as well.

Cam and Jim went to a local pub for a couple of pints and then back to the condo for a lovely supper, more wine and beer and great conversation. We're adjusting to the time change pretty well but crashed early.

Their condo has great views. 

Towards downtown Sydney.

Lots of construction around the city. This is the new casino. 

View of the rock cut by their condo with the Darling Bridge in the background

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Feb 22 - 24. The Longest Night

Started out with a local beer at the Hilton
Garden Inn, Halifax

Travelling  to the other side of the world involves long distance and long times. While it seemed reasonable to go from Halifax to Toronto to Houston to Sydney in one long trip, it certainly means lots of time at airports and in the air. Halifax to Toronto 1.5 hrs. Then a 5 hr wait to before the 3.3 hr flight to Houston. Then a 3 hr wait to get on the plane to Sydney. It's night by then (we got up at 5 am) and after 17.5 hrs over the Pacific, being fed three times.. It's dark almost the whole trip. I saw a shooting star while staring out.

Did I mention security? At every airport of course with immigration at Toronto and Sydney. I somehow lost my sunglasses at security screening at Toronto and by the time I discovered it, I would have had to got out and back through the whole process again. I decided not to.

We arrived in Sydney at 7 am on Monday morning. We left the Halifax airport at about 7 am on Saturday. Longest night of our lives!

Reading on the plane

Fortunately we have a row of 3 seats for the 2 of to spread out in. The entertainment system is first rate. And while it's a bit bumpy at times. Time passes with movie watching, reading and trying to sleep.

Feb 21. The Adventure Begins

Barbara ready to go

Bags are all packed, the house is essentially shut down and neighbours all queued up to look after mail, the plants and the driveway. With that, we headed down to the Hilton Garden Inn at the airport to get ready for the flight out early Saturday morning.

It works out pretty well. We get two weeks parking for the car for each night's stay so we'll spend the night at the hotel when we get back on March 24th, just after midnight, and that gets us the full 4 weeks included. Who wants to go digging out a car in the middle of the night after its been sitting outside for a month in winter? I have my CAA card with me.

It is an early start tomorrow so we don't anticipate a late night. We still have some small details to look after like downloading Netflix movies in case the entertainment systems are lacking.