Sydney welcomes Sidney

Monday 29th January

Well, despite the efforts of klutz of Shanghai, Sidney and I are in Sydney. We arrived at about 7 am and had both managed to get a fair few hours sleep on the flight – something we never used to be able to do. It must be that practice makes perfect. We thought about trying to get a shower at the airport as we thought there was no chance of us checking into the hotel that early in the morning. It’s usually a 12 midday check in unless you pay extra. But instead, we thought, oh let’s go for it (airports are getting less interesting to us!) and when we arrived at the Crown Plaza our room was ready.

Nice hotel right on Darling Harbour and so about a pleasant 20 minute walk from The Rocks, where the Opera House, and Sydney Harbour Bridge are located (more on SHB later!).

So, showered, changed, drank cup of tea, unpacked a bit and off we went. First around Darling Harbour then through Hyde Park to The Rocks. The weather is absolutely beautiful (sorry, folks at home), blue skies around 30C and a nice dry heat.


Had a drink on the harbour and mooched around, taking it slow and lazy so that we could catch up on the culture and sightseeing we have done for the past three or more weeks. First impressions are of a beautiful city, buzzing but laid back, obviously modern and scenically beautiful with water everywhere, as you’d expect. Tonight a wonderful seafood meal on Darling Harbour. Tomorrow, who knows. But it certainly won’t be the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. We have decided against it as it could make Sidney ill for the duration for the three months yet to run. It is very, very high! Sidney’s view is that Sydney is best appreciated from the vantage position of a local pub with beer in hand!