Sydney

Having spent a few days on the Central Coast, NSW, we returned to Sydney for one night and day. Despite around 8 previous stays in the city, we still love coming back and soaking up the atmosphere.

Having dropped our cases at a “mid-town” hotel in George St, we headed down to Circular Quay where we were greeted with a huge cruise ship, Diamond Princess, initially blocking our view of the Harbour Bridge and setting sail for Beijing later in the day, with about 2,000 passengers taking 23 days – no thank you!

We settled for a 25 min trip on one of the newer Harbour ferries to Watsons Bay (where the famous Doyles fish restaurant was full of lunchtime diners). This and the return trip provided an excellent view of many of the Harbour delights and countless photo opportunities, despite our earlier trips.

After a brief look at the rock art works of an Aboriginal artist, Bardayal “Lofty” Nadjamerrek, in the Museum of Contemporary Art, we couldn’t resist sitting by the Opera House in the sunshine, with a glass of sparkling wine, looking over to the Harbour Bridge – an iconic setting which Dave and Pam will remember from a previous visit when we couldn’t tear ourselves away until the sun went down and a couple of bottles had been emptied.

This time we had to leave to get ready to meet Aussie friends, Sean and Anne, at a great fish restaurant called Fish at the Rocks, where we conversed non stop until we were the last ones left. The previous weekend, super fit Sean had run 45km in the Blue Mountains, up and down peaks, across creeks and a river up to his waist – it made my jogs along the Bridgewater Canal seem incredibly tame.

The following day, we had a few hours to spend before catching the Indian Pacific train to Adelaide. We walked to Darling Harbour and Cockle Bay in the sunshine and had a first look at the impressive National Maritime Museum, with an exhibition called Planet of the Sharks providing some thoroughly scary pictures and stories about these creatures that have inhabited our seas for 400 million years.

We also viewed the Australian Welcome Wall which lists many of the 6 million people who have made this country their home from elsewhere. Anyone or their forebears who has migrated to Australia can apply to have their name listed – an example of how proud most Australians are of their country.