Sunday May 20, 2012
Sydney, Australia- 60 degrees and rainy
Had a relaxing departure from Uluru to Sydney. It was a 3 hour flight where we were served lunch, a delicious meat pie and a movie. We arrive in Sydney at 5:00 PM and unfortunately it was raining. We claimed our luggage and headed for the bus and did a quick city tour then headed to our hotel, the beautiful Menzies Hotel located right in the city center, it was great! Our room 816 was large and offered a king size bed.
Once our luggage was delivered we changed and walked to an Italian restaurant Giovanni's, close to the hotel that was highly recommended and it was delicious. I had Gnocchi with bolognese sauce and if there is a change you would like to make, just ask, they were very accommodating. Still a light rain as we headed back to the hotel at 10:00 PM.
Monday May 21, 2012
Sydney- 72 degrees and sunny...hurray!
MENZIES HOTEL IN SYDNEY
Woke to a fantastic sunny and warm day for our first introduction to Sydney. Today was a full day to explore this beautiful city on the harbour. Our first stop was a panoramic view of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. 2 very famous Sydney landmarks. The view from across the harbour were breathtaking.
Next stop on to our private guided tour inside the Opera House. It is quite impressive and even more impressive when you get close up and see the texture and architecture of the structure. Inside was very interesting as well. We were able to sit in and view a practice ballet which was fun.
Our final tour was to the Opal Factory where we saw a short presentation, had a light lunch and time to shop for opal. Here is the only area of the tour that I would say...SKIP. Really a big waste of time, yes the opals were pretty but the pricing was insane, so unless you are really prepared to spend thousands of dollar, I would suggest moving on.... Our whole group walked in and out, so no one was impressed. We now had free time to explore the city on our own which was great! Our first stop was the gorgeous Queen Victoria Building, a Victorian shopping mall with beautiful architecture, stain glass windows everywhere... just gorgeous for a mall. See photos below:
Next stop was to the oldest neighborhood in Sydney, The Rocks District. A wonderful area on the Harbour. We walked to the top of the Harbour Bridge for a view of the city and Opera House. You can actually climb to the top of the archway of the Bridge on a guided tour which gives you wonderful views, it takes approx 3 hours round trip and a cost of over $250 per person.
We then walked to Circular Quay and onto St Marys Cathedral. By now the weather was perfect so we relaxed around by the beautiful cathedral grounds and just took in the sites.
PHOTOS AROUND THE CITY:
This evening our wonderful tour director Peter had a surprise for us and would not tell us until last minute what it was, so we returned back to the hotel and were told to wear comfortable shoes because we will be walking often....everyone was so excited with anticipation and this turned out to be a huge highlight of the tour! They planned a progressive dinner at Darling Harbour and let me tell it it was fabulous! Not only is Darling Harbour beautiful and buzzing with excitement and lively activities. the restaurants we went to were delicious! Our first stop was at I'm Angus for appetizers. The choices were clam chowder, kangaroo or a wonderful salad. Since I don't eat seafood or kangaroo I chose the salad and it was very good.
Next were our entrees at Stacks where I had the best pizza ever, next to the one I had in Venice, Italy. The main course were fabulous and everyone seemed to agree. We had 5 entrees to chose from, I only remember 3, the pizza, Salmon over fresh asparagus and Steak over garlic mash potatoes. Everything looked wonderful and delicious. I really liked the decor and feel of this restaurant and would recommend a visit here if you are ever in town.
Our final restaurant was Adria where we had dessert and coffee and got to sample blueberry crumble, banana creme brulee and bread pudding. All were delicious, but my favorite was the bread pudding. What a wonderful evening, we all enjoyed going to a different location for each course and I thought this was one of the best meal experiences I ever had with any tour group, so this is a must suggestion when you visit and why not go with Collette Vacations? They did a fabulous job from beginning to end......The end to a perfect day!
Tuesday May 22, 2012
Sydney- 72 degrees and sunny!
Another incredibly beautiful day down under! One our way to Koala Park with a stop at Bondi beach first. Very nice beach in Sydney which I was surprised to see...did not expect it to be this nice..
We arrived back to our hotel around 11:30AM with free time to explore the city again. He went back to Darling Harbour in the day time, had lunch at the Hard Rock which was really good, but the service was very poor. Did some shopping and also visited the Star Casino which was really pretty. Not only was it a casino, but it also had a lot of shops and restaurants. I tried my hand at the slots with $5 and won $20, so not bad...
This evening we had to meet our group in the hotel bar for cocktails, compliments of the hotel manager. We then went to Sydney Harbour to board our sunset harbor dinner cruise. We were on the top level (#3) and this could have been a nice event if it wasn't for the fact that they squeezed you into this tiny place for dinner. It was ridiculous and so hard to move around. The dinner was very good and it was nice after dinner to head outside to get views and photos of the skyline at night which was beautiful...........
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