Our plane trip from Melbourne to Sydney went smoothly… if you blinked, you would have missed it – about 10 minutes after finishing the ascent, the captain announced we were beginning our descent! An hour trip overall.
The first thing we noticed about Sydney was that the city’s drivers aren’t quite as laid back as Melbourne’s – our taxi driver managed to beep and abuse before we had even left the airport. He was quite engaging, however, even if he did have a disturbing habit of constantly creeping at red lights, ensuring we were regularly in 
the middle of the intersection before the light went green.
Our hotel was a step up in class from our Melbourne one. We had booked into an executive suite on Albion St in Surry Hills – king-size bed, living area and huge flat-screen TV. What a shame we will spend most of our time exploring, not hiding in our room!
A good 90 seconds after arriving in our new room, we were out again, ready to explore. Walking out, we quickly discovered we were in the middle of Chinatown. We stumbled across Paddy’s Markets, and being around lunchtime, chose a little curry place. 
I had a simple (and mild) lamb curry with naan bread, and Em had a vegetable curry. Both were fabulous.
Having left the hotel room so quickly, we had no idea where we actually were. Using the mobile WhereIs, we were pleasantly surprised to discover we were only about 2 minutes from Darling Harbour. Darling Harbour is interesting – initially, it appears there is plenty to do, but there is that real contrived “touristy” thing happening here. The idea of having an Australian Wildlife Park crammed onto a pier seemed to smack of inappropriateness. The Aquarium next door was more at home in the area, but the advertising of “joint-pass” tickets for “only” $68 per person sent us packing.
Instead, we shot across the harbour, walking underneath the monorail, and visited the National Maritime Museum. We began with the submarine and destroyer walks – HMAS Onslow and HMAS Vampire respectively. The submarine was surreal. So small, so thoughtfully designed to contain so many people, it really would take a special person to serve on one. In the main control room, nine of us crammed in tight as a tour guide informed us that on a normal operations day, 22 men would man the same space. The HMAS Onslow spent its life listening and following Russian submarines around the Arctic Ice, obviously listening for either the grumblings of a Cold War or the first grunts of Anna Kournikova. Like Anna Kournikova, the HMAS Onslow never fired a shot in anger during its career.
HMAS Vampire was also a stunning walk. Built in the 1950’s and decommissioned in 1998 (I think), there are still remnants of the last crew’s activities, like sports rosters, and graffiti in the mess.
The main part of the Maritime Museum was also full of interesting history – the obvious things like Sydney to Hobart memorabilia, First Fleet information and famous passengers cruiseliners were on display, but the highlight for us was the Summers of Australia exhibition, which was walls upon walls of colour photos from the 1950s to 1970s, highlighting Australians affinity with water. There were images from all around Australia – including 1960s golf in Port Hedland!
We finished off our day hanging around the habour until Simon finished work. We met up with him and his workmates at a bar called The Watershed, which had a stunning view of the city skyline – and Little Creatures on tap! Simon’s workmates seemed cool, although they spent most of the time trying to extract embarrassing “family secrets” out of Emma. As always, Emma was able to put up the brick wall and maintain a code of silence. I think this will only encourage Andrew, Simon’s boss, to just make up embarrassing stories instead.
We finished off at a charming little restaurant near our hotel called Mint. Simon recommended it highly, and he wasn’t wrong. With Moroccan themes, Emma and I both tackled a lamb dish which was brilliant, while Simon’s dish also looked yum. Dessert was probably the highlight, with all of us ordering pistachio and orange icecream, with a little baklava on the side.
A good start for Sydney!
For our last full day in Melbourne, it was actually fairly uneventful. We began with breakfast across the road, where I ordered what looked like a small meal (omelette with cheese, mushroom and spinach), but turned out enormous – they must have used about 10 eggs in the thing! It was lovely, even if I could only get through half of it.
With the spices covered (I was making Pork loins with a Chinese Five Spice and paprika rub), we wandered around the city before falling upon the Eureka Sky Deck. It proclaimed to be the highest public viewing platform in the Southern Hemisphere (which we actually thought the Auckland one had proclaimed as well when we were there… we must have been mistaken). Upon reaching the top, having parted with $30 for the privilege to travel up the 88 floors at over 9 metres per second, we found a stunning view of Melbourne, Geelong and most of Port Phillip Bay. We were a long way up – I was convinced it was no higher than Auckland, but a great view nonetheless (later research showed the Melbourne version is a mere 60m higher). There was also an outdoor section, where you could wistfully pine through the wire mesh across the city.
Although we weren’t prepared to fork out the extra $12 each to go on THE EDGE – an extra platform that has a glass bottom (even with our savings on the spices!), we were satisfied that the Sky Deck is worth visiting, even just to get that “big picture” of the city. The Edge claimed to be for the hard-core people, but for us, the hard-core people were the ones at Auckland Skytower who actually paid to BUNGEE JUMP from the top. Scary stuff.
Getting there with only half-an-hour till closing time was a buzz – the butchers were screaming, and throwing ridiculous specials around – like a 10kg platter of scotch fillet steaks for $25. I wandered around six butchers before settling on 5 pork loins from local stock for nearly nothing. Wandering out to the fruit and vege place, we picked up some spuds perfect for mashing, sweet potato and green leaves (weeds, I’m sure) for a simple salad.
We had a late start today. It wasn’t Emma’s fault, and I maintain it wasn’t my fault either – I blame the Esplanade Hotel from the night before. We spent the evening (and part of the early morning) enjoying The Espy in St Kilda – four live acts on a Tuesday night isn’t too bad – and some of the acts were actually good! The others struggled though. It was great to catch up with Marcus again, and we swapped stories long into the night on the happenings of Melbourne and Fitzroy Crossing. Marcus suggested a 
great little café on the main strip of St Kilda before venturing to one of the great venues for up and coming Australian artists. Top night, but lousy morning!
a look. Wow! Apart from having all the You Am I singles from over the years, there were also vinyls from Metallica dating back to the early 80’s, and a Nirvana CD Single for Pennyroyal Tea… which I assume was very rare, because it was on sale at a mere $750! After dragging Emma around that store (but staying strong and not buying anything), we then went up the road into another record store – quite unremarkable, except for the fact that it is owned and run by Bon Scott’s son.
(Direct Factory Outlet). DFO is like HarbourTown on steroids. But like HarbourTown, we walked around and actually visited very few stores. Emma bought a new pair of trendy sneakers and some tops, and I tagged along, slowly recovering from the obvious drink-spiking that had occurred the night before.
be the “longest bar in Melbourne”. It was long), where I discovered that my taste for beer had finally returned. We also enjoyed a wonderful meal, and Azba even put a tiny piece of squid in her mouth. She then proceeded to pretend to like it. We were all very proud of her!
Another busy day today! After a lovely dinner last night (we used WhereIs to search for nearby restaurants and chose one based on its name), we were ready to go. Yesterday we managed to tackle two locations, which took all day, so we decided to keep to form – the King’s Domain and the Victoria Street Markets.
The highlights for us (apart from the tearooms complete with cheesecake) were the Glasshouses and the Herb Garden. The Tropical Glasshouse not only felt like home, but held a huge variety of tropical plants – including some from our patio! There were beautiful flowers, and also plants like ginger, coffee, and vanilla – which we learnt is actually a type of orchard.
From the Botanic Gardens, we ventured to the Shrine of Remembrance. It had been empty and closed when we first walked past it, now two hours later it was a hive of activity. We were denied access through the first entry as there was a major unveiling going on for some Victorian stamps commemorating the April 15 battle of Borneo (or somewhere) in 1918 (or sometime). We then noticed it was April 15. And there were lots of diplomats, and all flags at half mast. Who was to know?? I remember a similar situation when we were going around Australia, and decided to visit the national War Memorial in Canberra. We got close, but noticed there were far too many people milling around the area, and it looked like too much effort. 
It was only as we drove away that we noticed that not only was it November 11 (Remembrance Day), but it was dangerously close to 11am as well… (*Footnote – the News has just stated that they were officially unveiling this year’s commemorative ANZAC Day stamps. No wonder it was packed…)
I don’t have photographic proof, but I’m sure it will be on YouTube in no time.
For a change of scenery, Emma and I decided to shoot across to the other side of the country for some “touristy” things in Melbourne and Sydney. We arrived in Melbourne last night and leave for Sydney on Friday. First thing… it’s cold! Really cold! The maximum was 19 degrees, with the minimum around 10 degrees. We’re not used to this!
We started the morning at the Bayview on the Park, about 15 minutes tram-ride from the city (Just a quick question – why doesn’t Perth have trams? They seem to make so much sense and are quicker and more comfortable than buses!). After two hours of wandering aimlessly around the city, in and out of department stores and shops we decided it was time to do something more interesting. We began with Federation Square, and the Game On exhibition within. It was a real trip back in time, 
with 125 video games set up in a visual timeline of arcade from the 1960’s through to now. Most of the games were loaded up with credits and for $15 entry, you could read and play your way through the whole thing. I couldn’t help myself with the old favourite Dig Dug (remember the battles on that one Derek?). There were text-line games, reminding me of the “Choose Your Own Adventure” style games we used to write in good ol’ Basic back in the 80’s. They even had an Apple IIe on display! It was great. 
Unfortunately, like most exhibitions, I couldn’t take any photos.
WACA’s rooms, alas! It was a wonderful tour, with a Restricted Member running the tour – she had to wait on the waiting list for over 20 years to get her restricted membership, which allows her access to all games except the Grand Final, allows her four members entry (except finals – and with a fee), and no voting or committee rights. She has had this for 12 years, and is waiting to be added to the full members list. I think if you bend over outside the WACA to do up your shoelace, you get signed up straight away.
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