Back to Sydney

Well, Mary and I are all checked into the the Sullivan's Hotel.  It's not a classy place, but very functional and conveniently located in Sydney.  I do admit that our motels during this trip have been a class (or two) below where Mary and I typically stay, but since we're in motels in Australia for 13 days, I went for "reasonable economy", even so they've run well over $100/day.  You could easily spend $200/day for motels to get "3 star" places and I was not inclined to spend that much.  So we ended up in Cairns having a 2 mile walk into town.  But on the positive front, we sure are getting our exercise!  LOL

We are both very impressed with Qantas!  For example on today's flight which left Cairns at 1:10 and arrived at Sydney at 4:10, we got a lunch!  I had a nice lunch (which came with a bottle of water) but a small can of soda and a cup of tea as well!  We were then surprised when they came around with ice cream bars!  The service is top notch, as well, with luggage arriving very promptly and extremely courteous staff.  I can't recall the last time I had a meal on a US airline - even on a 7 hour flight to Anchorage in 2005;  yet here we get one that didn't even cross a mealtime.  I sure wish they flew in the US...

We've been blessed with excellent weather while in Australia.  Our first 5 days in Newcastle had great weather with the only rainy day being last Sunday, our travel day to Brisbane.  During the 7 days we were in Brisbane and Cairns, we had nothing but sunshine (and lots of wind!) but during those days, the Sydney/Newcastle area had several rainy days.  But now that we're back in Sydney, the 10 day forecast shows nothing but sunshine!  This could have not worked out better if we planned it.

We're going to spend tomorrow getting used to the Sydney transportation system.  We have two bus lines that pick up right in front of our hotel that will take us most places we want to go.  Tomorrow we're going to buy a 7 day bus/ferry/rail pass for the whopping price of $43/person so we don't have to worry about paying fares each day, then take the Manly ferry under the Sydney Bridge to Manly Beach to visit Oceanworld.  

Wednesday is the Taronga Zoo, Thursday, Sydney Tower and the Bridge Climb.  On Friday or Saturday we'll probably take a 1 day Blue Mountain tour. 

So those are our preliminary plans.  Stay tuned for details as we explore Sydney.