Sydney, Beautiful Sydney!

My first glimpse of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House was from the air as we flew into Sydney - they appeared as beautiful, scale models of these iconic structures, that everyone in the world recognizes.

Since our flight from Hervey Bay and Brisbane didn't connect with the flight to LAX, we had to spend the night in Sydney - cool, huh?  It was quite a treat, for sure!

We got into Sydney at noon, checked into a hotel at the airport, got on the bus, and headed into circular quay, where the bridge, the Opera house and botanical gardens are located, as well as the rest of downtown Sydney.  It was great to take the bus in, as we got to travel through the neighborhoods, into downtown.  We saw lots of neat architecture along the way.  It was a beautiful, clear, warm day, and it was like a dream, to finally be going to Sydney!  Of course, Lee has been there many times, but this was my first trip, and you're right, it won't be the last! 

The beautiful Sydney Harbour Bridge on a perfect day!

Proof!  We're REALLY here!!

There's that amazing Opera House. 

Lee with the Opera House

Ok, I can tell you right now, you're going to get sick of pictures of the Opera House, although, clearly, we didn't!

This shot was taken from the steps of the Opera House.  We had lunch on the water at the restaurant with those white umbrellas that you can see in front of the city scape.

Some of the Opera House structure, up close

This is one of the fan-shaped sections, where you can see the individual tiles

And at a distance - isn't it striking!  We kept thinking of our friend John, who is an architect!

One of the ferries, coming into the harbour, and of course, the bridge.

More Opera House!  Don't worry - you're going to see it from every possible angle!

Isn't this spectacular?

The Opera House with the city behind it

Lee got this shot as we were heading into the Botanical Gardens

There were dozens of cockatiels in the botanical gardens.  They are grazing quietly here, but later they were flying around and screeching!  They are very loud, grumpy birds!

The gardens with the city in the background

The Opera House and Harbour Bridge from the walk around the waterfront

And another one!  I'm sure there's something different about this shot.....

There were a lot of stone overhangs along the walkway

Here's Lee, under another one

Another great shot of the bridge

Make this picture bigger, and read the inscription over the bench

This was an amazing tree with the most incredible, huge root system that we'd ever seen!

See how big they are?

Here's Lee, standing in what could be a small room!

And after our picture-taking, we discovered this "resident" in one of the root spaces - YIKES!  By the way, Australia has HUGE spiders!

The Harbour Bridge with the Opera House, heading towards sunset

This was another interesting tree, with lots of hanging roots - or root "wannabes"

Sydney

And again with the bridge and Opera House!

Downtown, seen from the Botanical Gardens

Here is another tree, with a huge, bulbous trunk

If you expand this picture, you can see what kind of a tree it is

An IBIS bird!  There were lots of them, all around the gardens.  They have amazing, huge curved beaks!

Cockatiels, resting on a sculpture

One of the many gorgeous sculptures in the gardens

The beautiful pond

The pond and I.

The pond, scuptures and reflections

This is a shot of the back of the Opera House.  We were walking back from the gardens, and the sun was beginning to set, making a golden relfection on the windows.

Ok, make this picture bigger - the little figures you see at the top, and to the left of the picture are people walking across the top of the bridge!  We're definitely going to do that next time!

The Sydney Opera House as the sun is beginning to set

Like most cities, you can find entertainment along the waterfront.  Here's a fellow playing the didgeriedoo!  He was making the most amazing sounds with it.

There are lots of ferries departing from the harbour there.  You can go to Bondi Beach, Manly, the zoo, etc.

Another shot of the waterfront, with the pink-tinged sky

The Opera House at dusk

We had dinner at a great Irish pub in the Rocks district.  The Rocks is where the first ships from England unloaded their convict passenters, and the city of Sydney was begun.

It was a quick but fabulous visit to Sydney!  I have a whole list of things to do the next time, including a tour of the Opera House and seeing a performance there.  Sydney is such a beautiful city, with lots of green space and friendly people.  We are looking forward to exploring the city in depth on our next visit!

Hervey Bay...

We left on our long-planned trip to visit with Andy and Linda Mason and their daughters on Monday, April 12th.
 
We flew from SFO to LAX on American Airlines.  We got on that flight just fine, and even got to sit together.  When we got to the Delta gates in LAX, we both had such strong, not good, memories of our attempted trip in October.  However, this time was different!  We not only got on the 15 hour flight to Sydney, but we got Business Elite seats!  How lucky were we??  Let me tell you - this is the way to go!  The seats were at a slight angle, and were kinda like pods!  The seats reclined to the absolutely flat position, so you could sleep (and we did!).  The pods had their own screens for entertainment and announcements, the service and food was fabulous!  We were very happy campers!

Here's Lee in his "pod".  Notice the glass of champagne that we were given while waiting for the hordes of people to get seated/settled in "and others", which is usually us!  We had real pillows and down comfortors, too.  We also had a little amenities kit that included fuzzy socks, toothbrush and toothpaste, eye mask, hand lotion, etc.  Very cool!

This is the other end of the "pod".  You can see the foot rest, and the screen that is in it's stowed position.  The silver handle there releases a large tray.  All meals were served on linen table covers, and with real china and silverware.  The food was very good, and the wine was, as well.

We left LAX at 10:30 pm.  As soon as the flight attendants could get up, they were serving wine and drinks.  Then we had hor' dourves, salad, soup and choice of entree.  I had the crab cakes, Lee had the pasta.  Then came the dessert choices, we both had the cheese and fruit platter.  After all that food, and several glasses of wine, it seemed appropriate to recline our seats to flat and SLEEP!

 

We both slept for at least 6 hours.  I was aware that during the night, the "mid-flight snack" was being served to those who were still awake - couldn't imagine being able to eat anything else!  We had breakfast about an hour before we landed in Sydney, which was great as well. 

We were late getting in, as we'd had head winds all the way across the Pacific and we departed Los Angeles late as they had to remove a checked bag for a passenger that failed to board the aircraft.  Lee had allowed a two hour window to catch our flight to Brisbane, so he was a little worried as the flight got later and later.  But, we landed, got through Immigration and Customs without a hitch, then hustled over to Quantas, where we got checked in.  We were fortunate that there were seats all the way through, so our luggage was checked through, and we headed out to the gate to catch our flight.  We got into Brisbane just after 10:00 am, where we had a 4 hour layover.  We left Brisbane at 2:00 pm, and got to Hervey Bay at 2:50.  At that point, we had been flying for over 24 hours.  I can't imagine how tired we would have been had we traveled in coach, and not slept, as we were both pretty exhausted at that point.!

Andy, Linda and Brittany's smiling faces greeted us in Hervey Bay (Sam was in school) and it was so great to see them!  We had a great drive through Hervey Bay, then out to their house.  They have a beautiful home, right on a lagoon.  It's a real holiday house!

The entrance to the Mason mansion!  Note the double doors to the left - that's the guest house!  We had all the comforts of home, including a 50 inch plasma TV!!  We told Andy and Linda that we were never leaving!

Another shot of the front of their home.

This is inside the dining area, looking out to the back.  The entire back of the house opens up, to bring the outside in.  It's amazing!  And of course, they have the weather to suit bringing the outside in!

Their outdoor kitchen!!  How cool is that??

The pool - isn't this a beautiful space?

The pool and the lagoon.  And the beautiful clouds in the sky, reflected in the lagoon.

Some of the gardens, and Jesse the cat.

Linda and Jesse - as you can see, he's a big boy!

There are a pair of swans that live in the lagoon, and swim by frequently.  I really liked the reflection in the lagoon.

Here's the pair of them, on the lawn.  I think that they were contemplating coming in the house!  Australia has an amazing array of birds - many of which we'd never seen before.  Ibis were everywhere, there were a pair of nesting eagles and every morning we were greeted with the "dawn chorus" of bird song, most notable of all were the kukaburras!  We loved it!

Jesse the cat on his favorite sleeping place on the patio.

This is Charlie - he's a rescue cat, and probably can't believe his good fortune!

This is Coco.  She's a beautiful cat, a little shy, but very loving.

On Thursday, we went into Hervey Bay and had a great walk along the Esplanade.  There were great sculptures and the sea is out beyond the greenery.  It was a beautiful, warm day.

There was an amazing exercise circuit there.  Here are Brittany and Sam, joining forces to make the eliptical machine go!

The beach!  Andy and Linda live about 5 minutes from this beautiful beach!

Another great beach/cloud shot.  We took a nice long walk along the beach, and yes, I found sea glass!  Brittany found a great piece of sea glass as well. 

Andy and Linda took us to the Bamboo Land!  It's a nursery that sells many, many varieties of bamboo and ginger plants.  The fabulous thing about it is that they have all of the varieties they sell planted, with the dates they were planted, so you can see how big they will get!  And that's a good thing, as some of these bamboos were HUGE.

This is a great shot of a ginger blossom.

Photo op!  Here's Andy and Linda, and some clowning around!  There's the river in the background, too.  This is on the grounds of the Bamboo Forest.

Ok, here's a serious shot

And us, too.

After the Bamboo Land, it was time for lunch.  So we went to the Howard Hot Bread Bakery, where they make savory pies fresh every day.  They were delicious!

Here we are with our pies!  I had the curry prawn pie, and Lee had the beef and mushroom pie.  They were fantastic - light and flaky crust, delicious filling!

Lee and Andy!  Full and happy!

This is one of the old "Queenslander" homes in the area.  It was built in the late 1800's, but has been fully restored.

Here's a real Australian treat - a Pavlova!  Now, all of our Kiwi friends will disagree with that.  It seems that Australia and New Zealand both claim to have created this incredible dessert.  We don't really care who did it - it's just fabulous!  We are thankful, however, that we can't get it over here!  It can just be a "down under" treat!  The pavlova itself is made of merangue, then filled with heavy whipped cream, and topped with fresh fruit or other toppings.  Unbelievably good!

Linda had to work on Sunday afternoon, so Andy and the girls and Lee and I went out to dinner at the Boat Club, right on the water.  There's a great whale sculpture there, which was a perfect photo spot!  Here's Andy and the girls.

Here's a close-up.  Sorry that it's so dark.

This was Monday morning.  Lee got this shot of Samantha before she left for school.

And here's Brittany, all ready for school.  We drove her to school on Monday morning, so we could see where her school is.

A great shot of Brittany and Sam in the garden

Here's Sam and the girls who live on their street, out waiting for the school bus.

And here are our dear friends, who get up at 0'dark hundred, on their day off, to take us to the airport for our 6:45 am flight to Brisbane!

Andy and Linda

We had such a great time visiting with the Masons' and sharing their lives!  They are very busy, and the girls keep them hopping!  They live in such a beautiful place!  It took us years to get over to visit them, but it won't take us years to go back again.  Thanks, Andy and Linda, for a wonderful, relaxing week!  For all the wonderful meals and the pavlova and for just being you!