Pat w's trip report Syd.
 

Sorry, by accident hit the post botton.

Anyway, the hotel did not have a concierge and as a result, the staff could not answer some of our questions.

In SYD we did the Aquarium, the POwerhoue Museum, (Aquarium the best I ever saw and POwerhouse Museum was so good you can spend a day there) Darling Harbor, The Monorail (got an all day pass on New Years Eve and it was open until 2:00am) took the ferry to Manley (also, getting a bit tacky, but the beach is beautiful and the ferry ride over is great, especially when you pass Sydney Head) We did the hop on hop off bus and also went to Fetherdale and the Blue Mountains. In regard to Blue Mountains, yes I would do it, but spend more time in Leura. It is beautiful and a great place for lunch and shopping for crafts/art. I was not impressed with Katoomba. We enjoyed Featherdale, but get there early. The buses are there by 11:00am

The highlights of course were the dinner cruise on New Years EVe. Yes it was expensive ($250UAD) but it was a once in a lifetime experience. The food was great and it was open bar. BTW, I found out after nearly two weeks that "Light Beer" in AUS isnot like light beer in the US. Our light beer is lower calories and lower carbs. Aussie light beer is LESS ALCHOL. All the time I thought I was being good with my calories and I was just not even getting a buzz...Was enlightened while on the New Years EVe cruise. The boat was in the boat parade and we were positioned between the fort and the opera house for the fireworks at 9:00 and Midnight. The crowd onboard was great. We were the only Americans, except for one ex pat now married to an AUS and living there permanently (lucky him) If anyone goes on this next year, unless you like LOUD music book a table upstairs where it is quieter. We'll never forget the fireworks and that evening.

New Years Day. What better way to start the year than a Bridge Climb! We climbed the bridge at 5:15 on New Year's Day. Bernard was our guide. He was awesome and so was the climb. Again, we were the only Americans in our group of 12. As we were going up the bridge Bernard enlightened us to the fact that there is another bridge that looks just like the Harbor Bridge, but it is one year older and one foot longer and guess what, it's in NJ and 15 minutes from our house. Its the Bayonne Bridge. Unfortunatly, it does not share the beutiful placement of Sydney Harbor Bridge.

I recommend going late in the day as possible, before the twilight pricing kicks in. We were rewarded with a view of the sunset over Darling Harbor as we descended. For anyone who is concerned about going I have two words, DO IT....

I'm going to close now but just want to mention to great restaurants: Pancakes on the ROcks, in the Rocks and Harleys in Potts Point. Both again have great pizza's and pastas as well as Pancakes! For Chinese we liked Golden Century in CHinatown.

I hope you enjoyed reading these posts and if anyone has any questions, please let me know.

Cheers,
Pat

That's a great report, Pat, and I enjoyed every line. You have taught me at least one thing of interest, about the "twilight pricing" for the Bridge climb... a bit cheeky, I reckon!

I do agree with your assessment of the Powerhouse Museum, so I hope some readers will follow your example.

Come and visit us again, will you?

Hi Alan,
Glad you liked the report. I enjoyed writing it. My thoughts keep going back to AUS, especially when I am dealing with wind chills here in NJ of 30 below zero F.

Yes, if you book the last bridge tour in the daytime pricing, it works out great.

Sorry, I missed you while in SYD. Mucky and I both arrived at our hotels withing 5 mins of each other after both families being up in the Blue Mtns. We were probably in Leura and at the 3 sisters at the same time all of you were. Probably saw you up there and didn't even know it was you.

As you say, next time. Just have to save up 270K FF miles for business class again!

Cheers,
Pat

ttt

topped for carmen94