June 6, 2010

Date: Sun, June 6, 2010 8:59:59 PM PDT
Subject: G'day from down under

G'day mates,

This isn't a long weekend, but I took a week off from work and am now in Sydney, Australia. I flew here Friday night via LAX -- on Qantas' new Airbus A380 -- sitting upstairs in the back of the plane. The Airbus A380 is an incredibly quiet plane, not to mention very high-tech. My seat had a USB port from where I could charge my iPhone along with another normal AC outlet! I won't say much about the flight except I had one of the best non-business class seats on the plane, and the ride was very very comfortable! And my fellow passenger was a software engineer from Miami who was going to Sydney for 3 days and complaining to me about the "short" trip.

The plane touched down in Sydney Sunday morning at 6:55AM, and it took me 35 minutes to clear customs/immigration and go to the airport train station. The immigration officer asked me why I'm only here for 24 hours, and I was almost expecting the standard grilling that happens every time after THAT question is asked, but something that's never happened before happened this time. Another immigration officer sitting in the neighboring booth looked at my passport, smiled and said "He's from the U.S., they get even less holiday time than we do!" My passport was stamped immediately (with a graciously welcoming smile) and I was allowed through :)

I took the train to CBD (Central Business District) and checked in at my hotel -- Sydney Harbour Marriot with a room with a harbo[u]r view!! The forecast was for rain but the skies over the city were blue for now (thanks to a miracle from a certain someone who prayed for sunshine for me and therefore should be sainted). I decided to take the ferry to the north shore and got off at Taronga Zoo, then decided to walk around the "Sirius Cove". The sign said it's 1580m to "South Mosman Wharf" -- where I would be taking my return ferry. I figured it's only one mile so it'll be a nice walk around with possible views of the city skyline. What the sign did NOT say was that this included a lot of uphill and about 300 steps to climb! Oh well, I found that out the hard way, but the walk was nice -- a few good views of the city and Harbour Bridge, then came to a beach where I was entertained by several dogs playing, and 3 of them fighting over a stick. It was fun :)

I got to South Mosman Wharf and the next ferry was going to be after 55 minutes (they run every hour on Sundays and I had just missed the last one). There was another older guy standing there and he started chatting with me -- and wouldn't stop chatting for the next 54 minutes. He mentioned that India's cricket team is "sometimes good", and that he doesn't like people from the Middle East -- he wanted "all them buggers" deported from Australia. Entertaining bugger if I ever met one!

I was glad to see the ferry when it arrived and took it to Cremorne Point, for another walk around another peninsula for more views of the city across the harbour.

Finally there was the last ferry from Robertson's Point back to Circular Quey. But I wasn't done torturing my feet yet, so (after lunch at a cafe next to the Opera House where I was busy shooing off some pigeons and seagulls from stealing my cake), I decided to go for another walk around Farm Cove, through the Royal Botanic Gardens. This was the only place all day yesterday that was a "repeat" from my last trip to Sydney in 2004-2005. There are some excellent viewpoints of the Opera House framed in front of the Harbour Bridge from this walk, and I remembered that from my last trip. It finally started raining along the way, so I decided to come back to the hotel...

Up until this point (around 4pm) I had taken roughly 300 photographs -- far more than my daily average on any international trip. Before the day was over, I had more than doubled that number!

Around 7pm I decided to go back out again. It was dark by now and the rain had also stopped. I went to the ferry terminals and boarded the last ferry of the night (7:15pm) to Darling Harbour, taking pictures of the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, the city skyline, and Darling Harbour under lights! This was all GORGEOUS!!! And also the first two times in my life that I had crossed under the Harbour Bridge -- I haven't even crossed under the Golden Gate Bridge back home yet!

After that was dinner back at the Opera Cafe, listening to a live band play and watching the "Vivid Sydney" light show over the "sails" of the Opera House. Another "birthday cake" later I made my way back to the other end of Circular Quey, standing in the occasional light drizzle to take even more pictures of the light show on the Opera House... the perfect end to an amazing day!

Now, I'm back at Sydney airport, sitting in the Qantas First class lounge (one of the perks of maintaining my status with the airline) and waiting for my flight home while eating mango pudding and listening to the final call of a Qantas flight to Manila about to depart soon (and sighing).... I still have some unfinished business over there too!

I'll be back home on Monday morning California time, then leaving for Switzerland/Italy/France on Monday night California time -- that trip will be a LONG one -- for the rest of the week.

I have more than 700 pictures to go through, so that will take some time. I'll send a note out when I'm done with that.

So until a few days from now from Lake Como in Italy,

Ciao,
-me.