Sydney, The Rocks, Walsh Bay

Monday March 6, day 36 was our last day with our RV. We drove 127 km or 76 miles, leaving our campground before 7 AM. We had to be at JUCY by 9:30 to turn in our rigs. Dave and I followed the RV GPS and it took us through the city streets. Oh my, so crowded and so narrow. At one point, there was a merge and we heard a bang. We did not realize it then, but the truck next to us had hit our RV with his mirror and put a gash in the back side. Luckily, no one at JUCY noticed it so we did not have to deal with accident reports or insurance.

We stood around for a couple of hours on a very hot morning, waiting for our busses to arrive. They finally picked us up and drove us to the Sydney wharf where we had tickets with Majestic Cruises for a lunch cruise. As always, the food was delicious and the cruise of Sydney Harbor was beautiful. We had our first glimpse of the Sydney Opera House as well as much more of the skyline. We passed under the Sydney Harbor bridge which people can climb. Our friends Sallie and Sue had plans to climb it in a few days.

There was a Chinese man in flowing white robes and long white beard. We, or at least I, think he was someone important as he was surrounded by about 20 people who took care of all of his needs as wells as photographing every move he made. I was not able to get a full face picture so Google only says he is a Chinese religious person.

After the cruise, we got back on the bus and were taken to our hotel, the Radisson Blu. This was actually only a few blocks from the wharf.

After checking into the hotel, Dave and I wandered around looking for souvenir T-shirts and found ourselves back on the wharf. We wandered in to The Fortune of War for a beer. This is hailed as the oldest pub in Sydney and we thought that was neat. Later, we found out that several pubs make that claim!

Sydney, Bondi Beach, Watsons Bay, The Rocks, Gap Park, Woolloomooloo

Tuesday March 7, day 37 was a Sydney day. After breakfast at the hotel, we boarded a bus for a city tour. Some of our stops included a park in a peninsula where we saw and sat on Mrs. MacQuaries chair. We had our picture taken below a huge tree (Moreton Bay Fig) and hand fed lorikeets.

We also stopped at Bondi (pronounced BOND eye) beach for a walk on the sand. This the beach were the sand volleyball games were held when Sydney hosted the Olympic Games. The water here is so beautiful, no matter which beach we are on.

Later that afternoon, we had a tour of the Sydney Opera House. It was neat to hear the history of this venue and the architect who designed it, Jorn Utzon. It was designed to look like bird’s wings. We saw the refreshment wing, concert hall and opera hall. We were not supposed to take photos inside, if anyone was on stage. Unfortunately, there were people in both halls but we managed to get a few photos. The outside shells look pearly white from a distance but are actually both cream and yellow tiles.

We were supposed to let our tour guide know if we were going to walk back to the hotel rather than take the bus. We planned to take the bus but missed the street where it was parked. Oops, we walked back without giving advance notice.

It was hot and there was a bar along the way that we had visited the afternoon before. We stopped again to cool off with a beer. The walk continued and we enjoyed all of the old architecture.

We had dinner that night with Sallie and Sue at an Oriental restaurant named Mr Wong. It was located in one of the many narrow streets, called lanes, that look more like an alley. Our friends Pat and Julie had recommended it and told us where it was or we never would have found it. The restaurant had 3 levels and we ate the the basement level. The wine cellar was in an old open elevator shaft and 3 stories tall. They had over 1200 entries on their wine list!

Sydney, Manly, Queen Victoria Building

Wednesday March 8, day 38 was an open day, almost completely on our own. Dave and I started by walking to the Queen Victoria Building, a very old building converted to high end shops. The architecture, stained glass windows and clocks were really neat. I wandered into some of the shops because I was looking for a little black purse. All of them were way out of my price range.

Then, we went back to the hotel and put on our swim suits. We were headed back to the wharf to take a ferry to Manly beach. The trip was about 45 minutes each way. We chatted on the way over with a young man who had been born and raised in Sydney. He suggested we lunch at Manly Pavilion, right by the beach.

After lunch, we sunned on the beach for a couple of hours, people watching. I am amazed at what some people think is proper attire in public! Before heading back to the ferry, we had a beer overlooking the beach.

On returning to the hotel, we cleaned up and got ready for the group Farewell Dinner held at the Radisson. Of course the meal was delicious and in many ways, we were happy to see the long trip come to an end but it was bittersweet because we had met so many really neat people and would probably never see most of them again.

Sydney, San Francisco

Thursday March 9, was our last day of the trip (March 9 would last about 36 hours as we headed home).

About half of the group had left very early in the morning, continuing on a 6 day trip to the Outback. Dave and I had breakfast with Dave and Barb, then caught an Uber to the airport, another new experience for us.

We had plenty of time in the airport so we had a couple of screwdrivers. One vision center had a moving head…. very weird…the picture below does not do it justice. I wandered into Prada to search again for my little black purse. I found one I liked and asked the price. It was $5600. I told the clerk it was about $5000 over my budget and he laughed. It was more like $5550 over my budget.

The long flight to San Francisco was smooth. We watched a couple of movies and were served a couple of meals but did not get much sleep. I was concerned about SFO because we only had 2 hours 40 minutes for a layover. We had to retrieve our luggage, go through Customs and back through TSA. This airport is one of the most efficient I have ever seen. We accomplished everything in about 45 minutes.

We finally boarded the plane for our last flight to New Orleans. I was so anxious to get home. I had missed Boo so much!!!

We were met at the airport by friends Joel and Lanna. There is more about that evening in our post, Spring 2023.