Australia
Cenotaph

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    • Day 47

      Sydney, New South Wales

      January 30, 2015 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

      Second day at Sydney and we were exhausted from walking yesterday. We figured we walked about 12 miles on the VivoFit bracelets that Jeff and Ali have. Today it was off the Manly on the north end of the harbor to the beach there. The ferry from the main terminal "Circular Quay" was about $13 dollars round trip. Manly is a great little town/community that is on a bay with a large beach and a lot of little beaches around the larger inlet. The surf was really up from the gale force winds out in the ocean so the surfers were having a great time and it was very dramatic. We walked up the headlands in the National Park and got lost on the trail and finally found our way to the campus of a small college that used to be some prominent persons house in the area. We wondered the grounds and then down into town to eat at some natural food bar. We are so used to the small portions on the ship that we can barely eat a meal even when we split it when we go out. The dinner that we had at the Opera House was catered by one of the local area restaurants and was way to much food for us.
      The ferry ride back from Manly turned into a amusement park ride. The waves coming into the entrance were coming in straight from the ocean and hitting an outgoing current and standing up very tall. We had a two deck ferry and the at one point we turned into the waves and they were much higher then the boat. We got launched over one of the waves and everyone on board screamed just like a roller coaster as the boat came crashing back down into the face of the wave. Water didn't quite get into the upper deck where we were but I don't think anyone could have been standing on the outside deck below us.
      Rest of the day was spent walking the downtown and then having a fantastic dinner before we got the the worst of the waves. It looks to be a bad one tonight.
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    • Day 1

      Sydney

      November 7, 2015 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

      We vliegen naar Sydney vanuit Phuket, dus hebben we nog 1,5 dag uitgetrokken om de verhalen die hierover de ronde doen met eigen ogen te controleren. In tegenstelling tot Khao San Rd in Bangkok vonden we Bangla Rd in Phuket zeker de moeite waard. Er hangt een sfeer van 'alles kan en niets moet' met veel entertainment: breakdancing op straat, ladyboys, paaldanseressen, de bekende ping pong shows etc.

      Na de 'schokkende' indrukken konden we met een gerust hart de Dreamliner instappen naar Sydney. Helaas bleek dit met een low budget maatschappij te zijn, zelfs in een Dreamliner proberen zij nog zoveel mogelijk stoelen te proppen. Ook de 5 cm die de stoel achteruit kon beloofde niet veel voor onze nachtrust...

      Aangekomen in Sydney gaan we meteen door naar het appartementje van Marcus & Livia. Via Airbnb blijven we slapen in hun huisje en hebben we na 6 maanden hotels en hostels weer een beetje een 'thuis' gevoel. Zelf boodschapjes doen in de supermarkt en zelf eten koken (laatste keer was in Mongolië). Natuurlijk meteen gebruik gemaakt van de oven, heerlijke afbakbroodjes en lasagne :)

      Aangezien we bij Coogee beach zaten wilden we een paar dagen relaxen aan het strand. Helaas was het weer niet heel zonnig, maar in de middag zijn we naar 'Sculpture by the sea' geweest, een wandeling langs de kust van Bondi beach naar Bronte beach. Mooie maar ook bizarre kunstwerken zijn onderweg tentoon gesteld. Ook zijn we een dagje naar de stad geweest, natuurlijk naar het Opera house en naar de Harbour bridge waar we van het uitzicht genoten hebben. De laatste dag kon bestempeld worden als een stranddag. Met 20 graden lag het strand vol met bikini's en zwembroeken. Waar Anika nog haar jas uit kon doen, zat Mike volledig ingepakt in het zand. Wat een kou vergeleken met Azië.
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    • Day 12

      A Hotchkiss for the Day

      February 8, 2016 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

      Today I decided to just relax and hang out with the Hotchkiss family. I made this decision because I've just been go go go for the last couple weeks and needed to relax a bit. At about 1 am Zach put a brisket on his smoker to cook all night and day.

      During the day I got the opportunity to play guitar with both Jaxton (8) and Jaylin(10). They both have little ukeleles so we tuned them and then made up some songs. I strummed the guitar while they played the ukes. We all had a blast and both kids learned a thing or two. Along with enjoying the kids Lori and I chatted for a good long time about all kinds of things including family and life in general. It was great to get to know her and to have some solid conversation.

      Mid afternoon we took a walk with everyone along the coast. It was pretty hot outside and the kids struggled a bit. Despite this the walk was beautiful and fun. The beaches and cliffs are breathtaking.

      When we returned we played more and finally ate. Dinner was off the charts. It included smoked brisket and chicken, bleu cheese cole slaw, and homemade baked beans that were actually also cooked in the smoker. Everything was spectacular and it had been a while since I have had a sit down home cooked meal.

      After dinner Zach and I sipped some fantastic scotch and walked to the beach where we tossed the football and watched the ocean.

      To cap it all off Zach and I put down a few more drinks and watched Django Unchained. What a great movie.

      All said and done Sunday was relaxing and quite simply good for my heart and soul. I can't wait to see them again.
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    • Day 5

      Sydney

      April 23, 2016 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

      Well the journey to Sydney was not as bad as I expected.
      It was helped by a stop over in Dubai at Maz and Sue's apartment.
      The second leg was a 14 hour flight, but was ok especially with the usual
      good Emirates service. When we landed in Sydney, the taxi I'd booked online
      was waiting for us.
      Ours was the last flight in so our bags came quite quickly, and we where in
      the hotel by about 10pm.
      We decided to go straight to bed as we were all very tired.
      The hotel was ok not brilliant but I've been in a lot worse.
      The next morning we had breakfast then headed off to pick up the open top
      bus tour that I'd also booked online.
      We did both the city route and the Bondi beach route, so we got quite a
      good look at Sydney, which I may add, is quite a nice city.
      After the bus tour we headed for some food and decided to try a pub type
      restaurant not for from the port area.
      Sheila, Sue and I had fish and chips while Maz had burger and chips, along
      with two drinks each, and the bill came to just under 200 Australian
      dollars!!
      So nice as Sydney is, it's bloody expensive.
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    • Day 84

      Sydney

      June 24, 2016 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

      We had original planned to head to Manly today but the weather was overcast so we changed it up. Instead we headed back to The Rocks to check out some museums. The Rocks is a downtown district that was once a slum and now has been largely gentrified and contains museums and shops. Along the way we stopped for a quick coffee and as we sat the weather brightened up so we changed our plans again.

      We were already at The Rocks so we walked a couple block to get to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The Sydney Harbour Bridge is one of the iconic landmarks in the Sydney Harbour. It has amazing views of the city and harbour and was filled with runners. From there we headed to the botanical gardens followed by Observatory Hill, Darling Harbour and China Town. We didn’t plan our route very well because we crossed the city a few times. On the way back to Observatory Hill we took a break at the Lord Nelson for a beer. The Lord Nelson is a really old brewery that had an English vibe and was packed with people. Sydney is a great place to walk around. It has so much waterfront space because of the size and shape of the harbour. They have really done a great job at making the waterfront accessible to people.

      Observatory Hill had some nice views and a museum that we skipped. Darling Harbour felt very new and was filled with high-end restaurants and tourist attractions. We finished the day off by walking through Chinatown and enjoyed some tasty kebabs before calling it a night.
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    • Day 13

      Sydney - ankomst

      October 27, 2017 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

      Fredag 27/10

      En resdag.
      Sen utcheckning från hotellet i Ayers Rock och samma varma väder som dagarna tidigare.

      1.5 timme försvann under flygningen pga tidsskillnaden.

      Sydney var befriande svalt. Hotellet i fin art-deco-stil. Det blir nog inte mer skrivet idag!

      Lite till.
      Middagen var på en restaurang på 47’e våningen i ett torn och den delen vi satt i rörde sig runt och vi hann med nästan två varv. God mat, fantastisk utsikt om än lite hög ljudvolym.
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    • Day 14

      Sydney

      October 28, 2017 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

      Lördag 28/10

      Sovmorgon och lugn frukost. Soligt väder, omkring 20 grader.

      Vi tog en promenad till Darling Harbour och kom mitt i en broöppning eller rättare sagt en brosvängning eftersom den rörliga delen av bron höll sig i horisontalläge och svängde 90 grader för att ge plats för större båtar att passera. Det passerade inte en endaste båt så antingen öppnar man den som en turistattraktion eller så var det den regelbundna kontrollen av bromekanismen vi hade turen att få se.

      Dagen var vikt åt sightseeing med många fotostopp och Harbour Bridge och Operahuset fotograferades från alla tänkbara vinklar. Vi åkte också till Bondi Beach där det spelades Beach Volley under OS i Sydney. Sista punkten var en rundvandring på Operahuset med en väldigt bra guide. Mycket Höganäskakel där och guiden hade t.o.m lärt sig att uttala Höganäs helt rätt.

      Kvällen var fri men halva gruppen åkte, tillsammans med reseledare och guide, färja till Manly - en förort till Sydney. Vackert att se staden från vattnet. Där blev det hamburgare på en pub med Halloween-stämning.
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    • Day 16

      Embarkering på Celebrity Solstice

      October 30, 2017 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

      Måndag 30/10

      Att resa innebär alltid att vänta oavsett om man reser i egen regi eller i en resebyrås regi. I vår grupp är vi alla ordentliga svenskar vilket innebär att alla alltid är i tid. Vi kommer sist av alla men alltid med 2-3 minuters marginal så när vi har kommit säger alltid reseledaren: nu är vi fulltaliga så nu åker vi!

      I dag blev det mer väntan än förväntat. För några dagar sedan meddelade rederiet att ombordstigningen var senarelagd då hamnmyndigheterna skulle göra en inspektion av båten.
      I dag kom ett nytt meddelande att den var ytterligare försenad eftersom några (hur många är några?) av de tidigare gästerna hade drabbats av magsjuka så nu skulle båten saneras innan vi släpps in. Något vi är tacksamma för.

      Vi kom i god tid till båten och det var flera stationer som skulle passeras och till var och en var det en lång slingrande kö. Till slut kom vi ombord och kunde äta lunch (15:30!). Vi hade ätit smörgåsar vid normal lunchtid så vi åt bara lite glass som mellanmål. Rummen var klara först 17 och då förhoppningsvis även sanerade.
      Vi hade knappt hunnit besiktiga hytten innan det var dags för katastrof-övning och då fick vi gå fyra våningar ner.

      Utöver livvästar och livbåtar så verkar handhygienen vara det viktigaste här. Utanför varje matställe står en ur besättningen och tvingar på oss en klutt alkogel. Med tanke på den tidigare magsjukan på båten är vi bara glada för detta.

      Underkläderna höll på att ta slut så vi snabbade oss på att lämna in smutstvätten till tvättning och strykning.

      Det finns närmare 3000 passagerare på båten så det är viktigt med en väl fungerande logistik. Middagen var god och betjäningen utan anmärkning men det var å andra sidan inte fullsatt.

      Dagen avslutades med show i The Theatre, som rymmer ett ansenligt antal personer. Jag måste erkänna att jag blundade till lite i slutet så när den var klar blev det marsch till hytten och sängen.
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    • Day 5

      Sydney

      September 16, 2016 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

      Unser Flug von Bangkok hatte einen Zwischenhalt in Sydney, wo wir noch einmal durch die Sicherheitskontrolle mussten. Danach ging es im selben Flugzeug weiter nach Neuseeland.

    • Day 2

      Bit of music on the walk home

      December 25, 2022 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

      Stumbled across this guy walking back to the hotel. As you can see its a quiet night on Christmas Day

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