We hadn’t left the Crown Hotel until two o’clock this morning as we were still on British time, enjoying another couple of drinks. Returning to room 519 we got washed and changed and into our ‘jamas, and settled down to sleep.
After waking up at 4.00am and again at 6.00am, I held on until ten past seven then decided to get up. It was already bright and sunny outside, and a quick look at the weather forecast promised sunshine and temperatures up to 30°C. We wondered how we would get on regarding jet lag; would we suddenly be overcome with fatigue in the middle of the day, or would we be OK. Quickly working out the time back home, it seemed strange that it was still only 8.30pm on Monday night! 😊
We had last visited Sydney in March 2005, where we stopped off for a couple of nights on the way to Melbourne, so we were pleased to be back after 19 years. We decided to do the most touristy thing of all, and walk to the world-famous Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House, which Google Maps had informed us was 1.8 miles away.
We could also see an interesting-looking tower rearing up above the other skyscrapers; this was the 306 metre (1004 feet) Sydney Eye with its observation tower affording fantastic views over the city.
In addition, we’d discovered that our hotel had a rooftop swimming pool; this sounded a perfect way to cool off and relax later on. 😊
We therefore had plenty of things to see and do to keep us going.
After a good breakfast in the hotel of an egg and bacon roll each, washed down with fresh orange juice, we returned to 519 and I changed into my denim shorts, a t-shirt and my flip-flops. I loaded my bumbag with essentials such as lip balm, tissues, hand sanitizer and my phone before clipping it securely around my waist. We were good to go. 😊
We set off through the busy streets at a leisurely pace; we had all day. Referring every now and again to Google Maps to ensure we were going in the right direction, we followed the road, stopping off en route at a supermarket for a large bottle of water each. It would be far too easy to let yourself become dehydrated in the ever-increasing heat.
After passing an interesting tall building with windows of mirrored glass which proclaimed itself to be a Crown Casino, topped with multi-million dollar apartments, we came to a part of the road where there were many roadworks with no safe access for pedestrians. A diversion led us to a series of steps, and we climbed up, resting briefly on each ‘landing’ as we admired the views. Arriving at the top, we sat on a bench and relaxed for a few minutes, relishing the feeling of being in Sydney, Australia. 😊
We continued on our way until we came to the marina at Darling Harbour, with lots of modern, gleaming buildings, bars, restaurants and premium shops. Many private yachts bobbed gently on the water and seagulls screeched and wheeled on the warm updraughts.
Soon we had our first sight of a curved metal structure through the trees – Sydney Harbour bridge! Rounding a corner and going down a slight slope, we came across the bridge in all its glory, ferries and pleasure craft busily going to and fro beneath its distinctive steel arch. In many ways it reminded us of the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle, although it is, of course, much larger. 😊
Soon another world-famous landmark came into view – the amazing Opera House. 2024 sees the 50th anniversary of this unique feat of architecture, designed by Jørn Utzon and Peter Hall. Everyone can see the Opera House in their mind’s eye so you don’t really need me to describe it, but if I had to put it into words I would say that it looks like a couple of lotus flower buds opening up.
We walked right up and around the Opera House, taking lots of photographs. It also gave us a better angle from which to photograph the Harbour Bridge and, as the shutter clicked, a seagull flew into view and photo-bombed my picture! It did make it seem more authentic, somehow. 😊
There were a couple of cruise ships in port; the massive Ovation of the Seas and a Carnival ship out at anchor which was too far away for me to read its name. Passengers for the Ovation were arriving in their droves; taxis and mini-buses arriving at regular intervals, delivering all the Royal Caribbean cruise passengers. To be honest, all of the RCI ships are way too big for our preference. Going on the Celebrity Edge tomorrow, with its 2,900 passengers, is about as big as we will go.
By now the temperature had reached 28°C and we were hot and tired. A freezing cold beer was definitely in order, so we looked at the many lively bars and restaurants along the water front, and settled on one called The Whalebridge, a small brick building with lots of tables and chairs outside with excellent views of the bridge and the cruise terminal, and we took a couple of seats at a vacant table and ordered a draught beer each.
The beer went down very well indeed as we sat there people-watching and enjoying the ambience of this vibrant city.
Around one o’clock we decided to make our way back to the hotel for an afternoon nap, as we were flagging a bit now and were still on English time. We didn’t want to walk though; my Samsung watch told me I’d already done over 13,000 steps and it was just too hot to do many more.
We therefore went to the tram stop and asked an official which tram we needed to take us back to Goulburn Street, and he advised us we needed to alight at China Town. When riding the trams you have to “tap on – tap off”, this means you use your credit card to tap an NFC receiver at the tram station where you get on, and then tap again at your destination station. The machine then works out your fare and charges the appropriate amount to your credit card. If you forgot to “tap off”, or just didn’t bother, it had your credit card details anyway so it would probably charge the maximum fare. It’s a pretty good system really, another sign of modern-day technology, but for anyone who didn’t have a credit card or a smartphone (and there are still plenty around!) it would have been difficult to travel on the tram, as there was no conductor to whom you could pay actual cash! 😊
We alighted from the tram at China Town, and walked through this colourful area of the city, full of fantastic Chinese restaurants and takeaways, shops and hotels. There was such an eclectic selection of different eateries to suit every palate, not just Chinese but Indian and Vietnamese as well, in addition to the token Scruffy Murphy’s Irish bar and the ubiquitous Hungry Jack’s that, looking at the design of its logo and font, looks to be an Aussie part of Burger King. 😊
Arriving back at the Vibe hotel, we thankfully made our way back to room 519 and flopped into the bed, grateful for the cool air conditioning in the room. It was now 2.00pm, and we decided to set the alarm for three to give us an hour’s power nap and recharge our batteries. After all, it was 3.00am back home! 😊
When the alarm went off, seemingly after only a few minutes, we could have lain there longer, but we knew we had to try to adapt to the new time zone as soon as possible, otherwise we wouldn’t sleep tonight. We therefore thought nothing would wake us up like a refreshing swim in the roof-top pool, so we donned our cossies and took the lift to floor 8, walking up the remaining stairs to the pool and terrace on level 9.
It was not a very large pool, but the blue water looked cool and inviting, so after placing our towels on some vacant sunloungers, I kicked off my flip-flops and started to walk towards the pool. Ouch! OW! The ground was roasting and very uncomfortable under foot. Running back, I put my flip-flops back on again and walked to the ladder to descend into the water, leaving my flip-flops at the top. The water seemed cold at first, but was absolutely blissful after we’d become used to it!
We swam around for a while in a lazy fashion, then pulled ourselves out of the water and returned to our sunloungers under the shade of a large parasol, allowing ourselves to dry off a little, and just sitting there in a happy, half-awake haze.
Back in our room, we finished getting dried off then decided to go and visit the Sydney Eye, the tall tower we had seen from just about every vantage point in the city. It wasn’t far to walk, and soon we came to the fantastic multi-level Westfield shopping centre, which was full of amazing shops, many of them sporting signs such as PRADA, YVES ST LAURENT, GUCCI, ROLEX, BREITLING and LONGINES, and therefore well out of our price range. It costs nothing to look, however, and we enjoyed some window shopping at the clothes and shoes and luxury handbags before taking the escalator to Level 5, from which we’d take the lift up the tower.
After purchasing our tickets for the 5.15pm slot, we waited a short while for the lift to arrive, then took it up the 40 metre tower, our ears popping at the change in altitude. Arriving at the top, we exited the lift to a fantastic 360° view of the city spread out below us. We could see the rooftops of the other high-rise buildings below us and all the way over to the harbour, the Bridge visible between a couple of skyscrapers and some trees.
As we slowly walked all the way around, we could see right over the harbour at the boats coming and going and the Carnival ship at anchor. We couldn’t see the Royal Caribbean one as it was hidden behind a tower block (it was almost like a tower block itself!). We could see right over countryside and towns of houses, with a road snaking off into the distance, the cars and buses and lorries looking like Dinky toys. 😊
We saw an interesting old cathedral and, as I took a photo, I realised that the tower was casting a shadow over the cathedral and the green countryside beyond. It seemed to add something to the photo! 😊
After descending once again to street level, we saw that it was now 5.50pm and we realised we hadn’t eaten since breakfast. Looking around for a suitable eaterie (and somewhere we could enjoy a cold pint!) we spotted a typically-British looking pub called the Edinburgh Castle, and we went inside.
The pub was doing a roaring trade, many of the tables showing “Reserved” signs on them. Just as we thought we wouldn’t get a seat, we saw a bloke on his own leaving his table, so I nabbed it while Trevor went to the bar to order a couple of pints of VB. Perusing the menu, Trevor decided on a chicken burger with chips, while I ordered a delicious Club Salad consisting of cos lettuce, cherry tomato, pumpkin seeds, chicken and crispy bacon bits, all drizzled with a piquant lemon dressing. Yum yum. 😊
The pub was extremely lively and obviously popular, and the noise of the various conversations, laughter and shouting was tremendous. Quite unusual for a Tuesday evening; it felt more like a Friday night after work.
One we’d finished our meal and our drinks, we made our way back to the hotel. I was really tired once again and it was hard to keep my eyes open, so while Trevor watched some sort of sport on the TV I had another nap, forcing myself to get up after an hour or so.
Then I plugged in my laptop and did some of this blog and pottered around for a while in our room. At least we had free wi-fi so I could check emails, have a peek on Twitter (I still can’t bring myself to call it “X”) and look at Marine Traffic to see where the Celebrity Edge was. Her last port of call had been Hobart, Australia, and she was due to dock in Sydney in the early hours of tomorrow morning. 😊
At 10 o’clock we thought we would go over the road once again to the Crown Hotel. There were a few more people in tonight, and the large TV screen was playing a series of 1980s pop videos featuring the likes of Spandau Ballet, Human League, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and others. It was a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere and we enjoyed another pint each of VB. In fact, once again any tiredness had left me and we stayed in the pub for another couple of drinks. It was around 1.00am when we left, and crossed the darkened street to our hotel. No-one was around in the foyer, and we made our way silently up to floor 5 and our room. Settling down for the night, we hoped we would be able to sleep better. Tomorrow we would be joining the Celebrity Edge to sail to New Zealand, and we couldn’t wait! 😊