We didn't just go to Australia to go to Australia. We had an ulterior motive. You may recall that our youngest, Abigail, left for Australia on June 9th (my birthday) for a six month internship on a very large dairy farm. Her internship was ending, so we were going there to meet up with her, tour around and fly home with her. Isn't that just the best excuse ever to "have" to go to Australia?!
We left on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 2018. Our first flight was at 5:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day, traveling from the Central Wisconsin Airport to Minneapolis, Minnesota. After a 4 hour layover, we were on our way to Los Angeles. From there, it was on to Sydney, Australia!
Here we are, all smiles at the airport and on the airplane, happy to finally be on our way! Our Amazing Adventure was finally, really, truly beginning!
(Hint: Click on any picture to see a larger version!)
We were pleasantly surprised that there was more leg room on the overseas flight than the other two flights we took. It really wasn't totally awful to fly economy in the main cabin. It was a very long flight -- 15 hours to get from LA to Sydney, but we knew that. As it turns out a quick Google search revealed that Australia is the absolute furthest place on planet earth from North Central Wisconsin! Yes, our daughter chose to spend six months as far away as she possibly could from her friends and family!
Our very first view of Sydney! We arrived at 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning, November 24, 2018. We lost a day in travel because we crossed the International Date Line, which puts Sydney 15 hours ahead of us.
When we got our luggage, we had to go through Customs. We were given a form to fill out while on the airplane. The form has questions about items you may be bringing into Australia. Things like food, money, cigarettes, etc.
It asked if you were bringing in more than 25 cigarettes. I answered "yes." I had a carton (10 packs) with me for my personal use while there. Cigarettes are very expensive in Australia and they don't carry my Marlboro's so I brought enough to last our entire trip. When Customs asked me about them, I stated that I had ten packs (one per day) for our trip. It was for personal use only. We were taken to another area, where there were two Customs Agents speaking with us. We were told that they could allow three packs each for me and Greg (seeing as he was traveling with me), but that I would either have to dispose of the other 4 packs, or pay the Customs fee, which amounted to $89! YIKES! Because they are around $20 a pack in Australia, it was pretty much a toss up as far as cost. As Greg and I were discussing what to do, we decided to just pay the $89. I was reaching into my purse for my debit card and stated once again that they were for personal use only, one pack per day. Suddenly, a third agent walked past out of the blue and said "no fee, don't worry about it. Thank you for being honest." And they let us go! Let me tell you, we hotfooted it out of there before they could change their minds, all the while saying "what just happened?" Wow!
After we got through Customs, we found Abby, who met us at the airport! It was so great to see her again! Smiles all around! She had a bit of a problem getting to Sydney, as day before she was supposed to leave, the girl who said she would drive her there (about a 4 hour drive from the farm) claimed she was ill and couldn't take her. Abby scrambled and managed to make arrangements with her boss and the farm to hitch a ride on the farm's private airplane, which was already going to the Sydney area, to take her along! She flew to a town in the suburbs of Sydney and spent the night at a hotel and then took the train the next day to the airport (with two large suitcases) to meet us! It turns out the girl who said she would drive her went to Sydney without her! She has no idea why this girl screwed her over, but suffice it to say that some people just suck.
Because we didn't have a lot of time in Australia and we arrived at 8:30 in the morning, we had to hit the ground running! There was a shuttle waiting at the airport to take us to our hotel but we couldn't get to our room right away because it was too early. They held our luggage for us so we could start our adventures without worry. Our first stop was the famed Sydney Opera House, but we had to figure out how to get there (this was the only time we had to make our own travel arrangements). Abby was already familiar with the train, so we walked to the train station and let Abby make the arrangements for us to take the train to the Opera House. This was only the first time Abby took charge and got us to where we needed to go!
The train station was really incredible! Considering that we live in North Central Wisconsin and don't have train service, and even when we lived in Milwaukee, there was nothing like this, it was quite incredible to us! Your opinions may vary. LOL
Because the Sydney Opera House is so fabulous, I feel that it deserves it's own blog post and will have that done shortly! In the meantime, I'm going to move along with other Sydney sights. After the Opera House, we visited the Sydney Harbour. We were totally enthralled with everything we saw at the Harbour! Hopefully, you will be, too! One of the first things we saw at the Harbour was the Sydney Harbour Bridge and this gigantic cruise ship! Some of the people on our flight were going onto this ship, which was going to cruise to New Zealand! It was named the Princess, and played the theme from the Love Boat when it left the Harbour!
Not only that, but there was also this notice on our table: They were seriously not kidding about the gulls!
They are quite obnoxious, but we enjoyed watching them!
My lunch was chicken salad and fries. Quite delicious! Greg had a burger and fries and Abby had Fish and Chips (fries).
Here are a bunch of pictures of the area of Sydney where our hotel was located. We stayed at the Sydney Rendezvous Hotel, which was very nice!
The Marketplace.
Another view of the Marketplace area. I must say, Sydney is quite beautiful!
The view out our hotel room.
I LOVED this building with all the greenery growing on it!
I thought it was really interesting, how the signs for the shops were above the sidewalk, so it was easy to see what was where.
I liked the view of the buildings from this vantage point.
The work on this building really amazed me, as it was actually occupied while the construction crew was adding more floors! The picture on the right shows some of the construction crew heading up the elevator to the job site.
Funny story here! Well, maybe not so funny, depending on who you ask. On Sunday, November 25, we were to be picked up at 10 a.m. Because it was early, Greg and I decided to go for a walk. We happened upon a building that had an incredible marketplace inside. It had all kinds of vendors (many not open yet), including lots of fresh veggies and seafood. Just about anything you could want. It was really amazing! After walking all around, we found an exit. I said to Greg "we should leave from the same way we entered, so we don't get lost. Of course, he said not to worry, he knew where we were! (Famous last words!). We left the Marketplace and started walking back to where we "thought" the hotel was located. After walking and walking and walking and walking and not finding the hotel nor George Street (where the hotel was located), we realized we were hopelessly lost. We didn't have as much time as we thought and I started getting paranoid. After more walking and walking and walking and walking, we finally asked someone. What he told us caused us to walk even more, and was not helpful (to say the least!). We stopped another person and asked him how to get to our hotel. Greg first asked him if he was from Sydney, so we knew if we were talking to someone who actually knew the streets! He gave us the right information, and we had to backtrack about 1/2 a mile to get to George Street. We then had to walk another 1/2 mile or more to get to our hotel. We were running out of time! We couldn't call Abby at the hotel because I don't have an international phone, and we couldn't use Google maps to getus there for the same reason. We KNEW Abby was going to be mad (to put it lightly. All we could say was "Abby's going to have a fit and scream and holler at us, and we just have to take it. We (Greg) screwed up! Oh, geeze, Abby's going to be SO mad!" We finally got back to the hotel with TWO MINUTES to spare before we were picked up! Abby, as predicted was madder than an old wet hen, and we got our butts chewed out! Totally understandable! She had packed up the rest of our stuff (most of it was already packed and ready) and was watching for us out the hotel window, while chatting with Erica about us not being back yet! I can only imagine how concerned she was as the time got closer and closer for us to leave. When she saw us, she got all our bags together and brought them down to the hotel lobby.
Two rules came out of this incident. Number one: Greg agreed that we will leave any buildings the same way we entered so we don't get all turned around!
Number two: If we go anywhere like that alone again, we are to leave my phone with Abby and take Abby's phone with us. That way, she will have WIFI on my phone through the hotel, and I can use her international phone to message her so she can help get us "un-lost"!
Let me tell you, it was not quite so amusing at the time, because we had to take that shuttle to get us to the airport to get to Brisbane! I shudder to think what would have happened if we had not made it back in time. BUT, God was smiling on us, once again, and even though we had to walk MILES, it all worked out! And hey, what's a trip without a few mishaps and getting lost! "George Street" will always hold a special place in our hearts, to be sure!
Here are pictures of the Marketplace that totally screwed up our navigation!
This was just an area we wandered through when trying to find our way back to the hotel. I thought it was very pretty!
For those of us in the States, this is just weird! This is a public bathroom! And no, I did not go in and check it out!
So, that's pretty much it for our general Sydney adventures! It really is quite an awesome city, and quite metropolitan! There were so many different cultures represented just walking down the street! It truly boggles the mind of this (apparently very sheltered) inhabitant of North Central Wisconsin!
The next entry will be all about the incredibly stunning Opera House! Here's one of my pics of the Opera House, just to whet your appetite!
If you've read all of this, thank you! I told you it would be "wordy" and loaded with pics and I wasn't lying! Thanks for following along with us on our Aussie Adventure!
Love, Peace and Prayers for all!
Julie and Greg (and Abby)
3 comments:
I read every word of it. Thanks for all the details. Greg must be feeling pretty good to be able to do all that walking. Is Abby glad to be home or is she ready to go back? What an adventure for all of you. I’m looking forward to your next blog. Marilyn
Hi Marilyn, Greg was feeling really good during the whole trip. He had some issues when we visited the zoo, but he made it with a little extra air conditioning help at one of the souvenir shops. We were all very happy at how well he did! Abby is very happy to be home and has been spending time reconnecting with her friends.
That was mean of that girl not to drive Abby to Sydney but thankfully it all worked out. Also strange what happened at customs but it's good that worked out too. It's been maybe 6 or 7 years since I've been on a train in Sydney and a lot has changed since then but the train stations themselves don't change much. I recognised most of what you photographed except for the newer buildings. The bridge and of course the Opera House are so iconic as is The Rocks area. Enjoying all the photos and you write a great blog. I have to say it made me somewhat homesick. Looking forward to the next blog. Thanks for sharing.
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