Stamford Grand North Ryde Sydney

... the ticket lasts for 24 hours &#8211; but why would you do it again) and the commentary was of the canned variety which was not great (in NYC we had live guides who at least added some character and spice to the tour.<br><br>Dinner was found in the Surry hills neighbourhood at a great little vege place where Jon and Paula, much to my chagrin, took my comment of 'touch my food, feel my fork' literally. I did have the mini ...

... light, headed to the top deck and waited for our first view of the Opera House. What a landmark!! Even the kitchen crew was up with coffee waiting, and we needed it. As we entered the harbor, the captain played the Australian National Anthem and "Australia is my Home", just another of his personal touches. The Aussies of course responded with a rousing chorus of &#8220;aussie, aussie, aussie ...

... 200 years there is a lack of culture spawning from it. <br><br>I've worked in 7 call centres, mango picking, twice a cleaner (best job ever), waiter, turf layer, tree planter, pruning, kitchen hand and a cook. In total 5 times i have been sacked or 'let go'.When tree planting we drove a car into a river and nearly drowned. <br><br>I slept in vineyards too hungover to work . Not that they care, they pay you on contract rates so if your not working its ...

... discount and 1 to try volunteer our services to the Syndey Marathon which is happening this Sunday. So hopefully even though its quite short notice we can be involved and do something useful rather than just stand and watch, we'll keep you posted. We wandered around the Circular Quay (in between the Bridge and Opera House) for a little while watching a show put on by Red Bull and managed to aquire some free cans, we like collecting free stuff. It was ...

... of like a cloudy lager but without the gas.<br>On Friday 24th we were back in Sydney staying with Shelley again and I spent most of the day by myself while She treated Ang to a posh belated birthday lunch in the Centrepoint Tower, a rotating restaurant overlooking the city. I checked out the museum which had an exhibition on the deadly creatures of Australia, like snakes, spiders &amp; jellyfish etc etc. Almost got caught up in a children&#8217;s presentation about global warming with ...

... alarm was going off! Daisy is clearly cranky with me (she knows something's up) and refused to come to bed with me but of course demanded to be fed as soon as she heard I was up.<br><br>Thankfully the cab arrived on time and then I was hurtling to the airport. Got my tax back on my laptop and here I am sitting typing this but cursing the original website (you ...

... that takes you through a number of towns. The weather was soon of no concern as we took in the amazing beachside sights that included craggy coves, public swimming pools right on the coast, and incredibly colored birds.<br> <br>After a long walk we headed back downtown and decided we would have a nice dinner on the harbor at a place ...

... in NSW & even took us across a lake by a cute cable ferry. Although it took longer, we passed through some beautiful countryside. Hunter Valley is the original wine growing region of Australia & is full of beautifully manicured vineyards, most of which provide wine tasting & will sell you bottles at a special (higher) price. In one of these, I was asked what type of wine I preferred but they had never heard of Rioja or Malbec so I tried their range ...

... and do it. Don't try to go in a bus from Queenstown, or even Te Anau, and do it as a long day trip. Because if you do it that way, you are looking at a long bus trip (or car ride) to sit on a boat for a couple of hours to get back on the road. It's a long day, too long, and it wears on you. Milford Sound is too good to be spoiled by too long a car ride. When doing a great walk, at least with the Routeburn in mind, recognize that if you do it ...

... valley towards the three sisters. The last of these was the highlight, giving great views of the "Three Sisters" as well as the valley floor (the floor of the car became transparent after we started across) and Katoomba Falls. When we're finished with this we catch the last bus of the day back to "Katoomba" town, arriving just in time to miss the hourly train back to Sydney (not kidding, one minute difference and we'd have made it - AGAIN!. Luckily we'd ...