Sydney here we come!

Sher and Jer start the trip of a lifetime! Qantas Flight # 008 LAX - Sydney

~ AUSTRALIA ~ NEW ZEALAND ~ TAHITI ~
Let me share some highs and lows (seriously there were none to speak of) and my thoughts of our trip to Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti this summer. Highs: Qantas First Class service (sitting with Dakota Fanning and her mom, Aunt, tutor and manager in the LAX Admirals Club) All the Normal Sydney area tourist traps: The Opera House, The Sydney Harbour Bridge, The Rocks Area, The Sydney Arboretum, The Blue Mountains, Manly Beach, Bondi Beach, Darling Harbor, The Chinese Friendship Gardens, Chinatown, Paddy Market, the Paddington Area. Cruising up the Sydney Harbour out to Manly Beach. Not having to explain why you were ordering tea with a meal (or anytime for that matter). Finding a little sidewalk cafe right in Sydney Harbour that we could walk to in the morning from the Marriott and have breakfast.

Surfers Paradise Sunrise

A shot I took about two weeks into the trip of sunrise on the Pacific Ocean at Surfers Paradise.

- The Marriott Resort in Surfers Paradise, QLD - The Brisbane Hilton, QLD. The 65 kilometers of pristine beach from Coolangatta to Brisbane. The Australian Zoo (Steve Erwin's) in Beerwah, QLD (cleanest Zoo I've ever seen). The Green Mountains (up north). Cruising up the Brisbane River in a ferryboat. The fact that the level of service on Air Tahiti Nui is EVEN BETTER than the first class service on Qantas (which was World Class). Finding Opal cuff links for me. Australian Opals are the one jewel thing that Australia is famous for. Having a "XXXX GOLD" at a 150-year-old beer garden where they still use wooden casks to serve beer from. Things that blew my mind: Driving on the wrong side of the road with a car that had the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car. Car companies that I have never heard of before (Holden) [which is really GM marketed for AUS market].

Sher & Jer with Opera House & Harbour Bridge

More things that blew my mind!



Turning light switches down to turn them on. Toilets with no visible sign of a refill bowl (and bathrooms with a drain in the middle of the floor) that allows you to drain a full tube or sink in about two milliseconds. 240-volt systems (nice for warming water for teapots though) - not good on hair dryers brought from the US (with an adapter) that doesn't change the voltage. Not having one-dollar bills, but having $2 dollar coins that were smaller than their one-dollar coins. Not having pennies or quarters, but having 20-cent pieces that look like half dollars and half dollars that look like silver dollars with scalloped edges. Having nickels that look like dimes and dimes that look like quarters. Not paying tax on food (and a lot of other stuff). Sticker shock (even with the exchange rate) for certain things like petrol and meals. People who are pleasantly shocked when you try and tip them. Realizing that a weather forecast of 30 degrees is actually warm. And that a FAIR weather forecast means that have NO CLUE what the weather will be.

Sydney Harbour Bridge from Circular Quay at dusk

Shot of the Sydney Harbour Bridge from Circular Quay at dusk
Sydney (as well as Brisbane) is actually a very Business like city and that Surfers Paradise is where the Japanese, New Zealanders and Australians go on holiday. It was like 45 miles of Miami Beach and Honolulu strung out together. Realizing that Australia is made up of six States and that most of the Australians don't care about how many there are and only care about their own state. When they talk about the AFL, they are NOT talking about US! But rather about footy as they call it. ("State of Origin") is like the Super Bowl competition in Australia.

Where it all started

The Rocks Area (Sydney) is where the British Penal Colony first started and where the prisoners built the housing for the officers and men. This was actually the beginning of Australia.

Lows: Not realizing that flying from Sydney to Coolangatta is NOT an international flight (and therefore) Jet Star (Qantas' version of Southwest Airlines) charges you for luggage for everything OVER 50 kilos. Making reservations at the Conrad Hotel in Brisbane and then showing up at the Hilton Brisbane without a reservation. Not being able to find a restaurant with Morten Bay Bugs (really sweet small lobsters) on the menu. The fact that the First Class level of service on Air Tahiti Nui is EVEN better than the first class service on Qantas. UNLIKE Qantas, they do not have a reciprocal agreement to use the Admirals Club at LAX when flying First Class. NOT finding any Opal jewellery (sic) that Sherry liked (but did find non-opal stuff she liked). Trying out Vegemite. This stuff tasted like well salted axle grease. (Well. . . maybe NOT THAT GOOD)! It must be an aquired taste.

The Blue Mountains (Australia's Grand Canyon)

Sher & Jer in the Blue Mountains (Australia's Grand Canyon)

The Greater Blue Mountains Area was inscribed on the World Heritage List at the 24th Session of the World Heritage Committee, held in Cairns from 27 November to 2 December 2000.
It is an area of breathtaking views, rugged tablelands, sheer cliffs, deep, inaccessible valleys and swamps teeming with life. The unique plants and animals that live in this outstanding natural place relate an extraordinary story of Australia's antiquity, its diversity of life and its superlative beauty. This is the story of the evolution of Australia's unique eucalypt vegetation and its associated communities, plants and animals.
The Greater Blue Mountains Area consists of 1.03 million hectares of mostly forested landscape on a sandstone plateau 60 to 180 kilometres inland from central Sydney, New South Wales. The property includes vast expanses of wilderness and is equivalent in area to almost one third of Belgium, or twice the size of Brunei.
The property, which includes eight protected areas in two blocks separated by a transportation and urban development corridor, is made up of seven outstanding national parks as well as the famous Jenolan Caves Karst Conservation Reserve. These are the Blue Mountains, Wollemi, Yengo, Nattai, Kanangra-Boyd, Gardens of Stone and Thirlmere Lakes National Parks.

A morning at Featherdale Wildlife Park

A cute little Koala

These guys sleep most of the day away and only eat the leaves from eucalyptus trees. They have very little nutritional value, which is also the reason they sleep so much. We caught this guy awake! By the way the are NOT Bears. Just plain Koalas.

The High rises of Circular Quay behind me.

Jerry At the Harbour at Circular Quay

Circular Quay, Sydney

A Transport Hub, a Meeting Place, a Starting Point
Circular Quay in Sydney is the harbourside transportation hub of the city's central business district. It is a major city terminal for buses, trains and ferries.
Actually it's hardly circular, despite its name, and is more like a horseshoe that opens out to the harbour where the ferries ply.
For the first-time visitor to Sydney, Circular Quay is a convenient starting point for a discovery tour of the city.
You can see one of the many jet ferrys that are a popular way for people to commute around the Sydney Harbour Area.

After Walking over the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Jerry in North Sydney in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, with the Sydney Skyline in the background.

Our dollar is worth more than theirs (.77-.82 per A$1 for the time we were there), but their prices seemed higher. Typical breakfast in the hotel was A$30 for one, so if you take 30 X .77 that comes out to $23.10 U.S. but then you don't have to tip and you don't have to pay taxes on it. If it says A$30, the price is a TOTAL of A$30. Ithink the ferry boat trip back to Circular Quay from this point was A$4.20, but much better than the walk or the swim back from North Sydney.

Sher and the Opera House.

Getting ready to go in the Sydney Botanical Gardens.

The Harbour at Circular Quay

The Opera House photo taken from the Harbour Bridge.

Other comments about the trip: To start off when we got to LA and went to First Class on Qantas from American Airlines, the change was VERY obvious. When we checked in with Qantas, they asked us to wait for the boarding announcement in the LAX AA Admirals Club (which I don't get to go in when flying first class on American [does that seem weird or is it just ME]). While up there, we were sitting with Dakota Fanning and her family. (Actually her mom, tutor and aunt.) She was treated just like a movie star (go figure) and finally her agent (or PR guy) arrived and they took off. I really thought they might be on our flight to Sydney, but retrospectively, they must have been doing pre-release promos for "War Of The Worlds". It must be difficult to be a kid and have the whole world treat you not only as an adult, but also as someone with celebrity status. Sherry had no idea who she was, (but she knew that she was someone special because of the treatment Dakota was receiving), but I recognized her right away.

ONCE IN A BLUE MOON!

The Oprea House lite up in blue for the State of Origin Games playoffs.

Cruising down the Parrametta river to Sydney Harbour at night (after a day spent visiting the Blue Mountains) and seeing the Opera House illuminated in blue in honor of the "State of Origin" (game being played for the championship) between the Cockroaches of NSW (the Blues) and the Queensland's team (the Maroons). The Hotels we stayed in Sydney was the Marriott Circular Quay, NSW.

When they talk about the AFL, they are NOT talking about US or our AFL! But rather, they are talking about footy as they call it. ("State of Origin") is like the Super Bowl competition for Australia. The above shot shows how serious they are about it there.

Sydney is actually a very Business like city, but realizing that Australia is made up of Eight States and that most of the Australians don't care about how many there are and only care about there own state was something I found interesting.

Going on the ferry out to Manly Beach

The Sydney Opera House from our ferry.

This was the view from our jet ferry looking back at the dock
area at Circular Quay (on the right side of photo) in front of
the Sydney skyline.

Sydney Harbourside Cafe

One of the many Harbourside Cafes we enjoyed eating in. Most of which seemed to always have Pumpkin Soup on the Menu.

On to Auckland New Zealnd then Papeete,Tahiti

The Auckland Grand Chancellor Hotel was memorable, but not in a positive way. (Realizing that this hotel has NO elevator and your room is on the second floor.) I do have my photo album done, as well as my website is now online so that these pictures can be seen there so you can check into my electronic album. I really got carried away this time though, with the photos, but like I tell everyone, it took me 35 years to get there the first time, and if I waited that long again, I would be 95 and not feel like taking too many photos then. People have said; "Are you glad you did it, and would you do it again?" My answer to both is YES!!!

Flight Crew from Air Tahiti Nui This was our Flight Crew from Air Tahiti Nui on the trip from Auckland, New Zealand to Papeete, Tahiti on an Airbus 340. Very good crew and their service was exceptional!

The return trip was long and somewhat tedious, (4.5 hrs from Auckland, New Zealand to Papeete, Tahiti and then another 8 hrs from Papeete to LAX) but it also had several highlights, but the two days in Auckland was NOT one of them.