Part 2: Sydney

We boarded the best airline I have ever flown; Air New Zealand. We were served a meal as soon as we took off. It was delicious chicken served with real metal cutlery. They also featured wine, champagne and beer if requested. We were all tired and slept much of the way. There was a movie shown but we had seen it before on another flight. The seats were comfortable and somewhat larger than on other planes. We landed in Aukland for a short while and then took off for Sydney where we arrived at 11:12 AM their time. John picked us up and took the two men to their Marriott hotel and then took us to ours in downtown Sydney. His son, David, was with us, and we all went to "The Rocks", a large section of shops. There was an outdoor market but it was closing down. We went to the harbor front to see the famous Sydney harbor bridge and the Opera House. They were beautiful at night. There were three pubs in the Rocks area, and we stopped into one for dinner. We had fish and chips, nachos, and I had a meat pie that was the best of the lot. We learned that Australia is big on meat pies. We also learned that they drink an enormous amount of beer, even though it is $4.50 per pint in many places and $33.00 per case. Of course the money exchange rate is 4 to 3 in our favor, (one of their dollars costs us $.75) but that is still expensive. We drank beer and listened to the Australian rock band. We stopped in at the oldest pub, Fortune of War, but drank nothing there. It was built, as was much of old Sydney, by convicts sent there from England. We were in bed by 8:30 local time. I don't even know what time it was to our bodies. All I do know is that it was Sunday and we had missed Saturday. We slept well in our luxurious room.
Monday I went to the money exchange and got $300 dollars Australian. We plan to use our credit card when possible to insure a fair exchange rate, if that is possible. We dressed up and went to tour the Four Seasons luxury hotel. It is a fantastic facility, but outrageously expensive. We were scheduled to have lunch there and were hoping to be comped another but it didn't happen. Evelyn and I paid $142 Australian ($112 American) for a delicious lunch. They did comp us two bottles of wine. We left there owing John the money because he put it all on his credit card. We will write him a check when we return to Indiana. We went to the other Marriott hotel for a soiree of beer and cigars on their rooftop. It was chilly but a beautiful night,and we had a great time. David and I walked back to our hotel and met a strange woman in a hotel lobby where I had stopped to visit the toilet. We tried to witness to her but she was interested in other things and spoke so rapidly that neither of us could understand much of what she said. John had driven the ladies back and waited for us. They stayed at the other Marriott. We were in bed by 8:30 again. We will be trying to catch up on our sleep for weeks.
Tuesday we were up at 8 and off to the awesome exercise room: many treadmills, weights, bicycles, etc. After a workout we went to the semi-heated pool jacuzi and sauna. We showered there rather than in our room and then dressed for a tour of the Intercontinental Hotel school of Tourism. It was interesting to see how they had their campus arranged inside the hotel. Afterward they kindly offered us a high tea featuring many pastries that included salmon sandwiches, quiche, bagels, chicken salad scones fruit tarts, meat pies and marmalade. All were delicious. It was late afternoon by this time and we went next door to a cigar bar where we smoked cigars in a rich old room that was very popular with the locals. We went from there to our respective hotels, not needing any dinner.
At 5:50 AM we took John and David to the Sydney airport. I drove in one of the most harrowing experiences of my life. They drive on the right side of the road! What a challenge that was. Since they were with us, we had no trouble getting there (although I was constantly on the center line, crowding the other drivers.) The trip
back was a nightmare. We were tragically lost in downtown Sydney because of the one way streets. Only through the Lord's mercy are we not still driving around town. We made many wrong turns but suddenly made one right one and found our way back. Even though John had left the car for us, I vowed not to drive it again. We met Louise and walked around the shops at the Rocks. She had lunch and we split a muffin. We found the men and went for a tour of the harbor on a boat. It was a delightful experience to see Sydney from the water side. In the evening we went out for dinner alone and ended up getting a pizza. We tried to get something else at another restaurant on the harbor, but could not get their lunch special in the evening. The special was two of three items: an entree (appetizer), a main (entree) and dessert. All this for just 29.95 Australian! We decided to try another day. We went to bed early as we were still catching up on our sleep.
Evelyn did not sleep well last night: up at 4:00 AM. Regardless we arose at 8:30 for exercise, etc. We met Louise and went for a lunch special of steak and fish for 12:95. I had a beer with lunch. Did I mention that the Sydney dwellers drank a great deal of beer? Many business people enjoyed a beer or other drink with their noon meals. It was a surprise to us. We walked up Pitt street (the location of our hotel) to a pedestrian mall. Much to my surprise I had driven through it the morning before while lost, even though no traffic was permitted. It was early enough that there were only delivery trucks on it so through I went. The ladies went shopping and we got separated while I waited for them. We rendezvoused at the hotel and had some cookies for dinner. Evelyn and I walked down to the Opera House and walked around inside. It is a magnificent, enormous structure. It was worth climbing the 40 steps just to get to the entrance to many of the theaters.
Friday Evelyn and I took a tour to the Blue mountains for $123 each. I only mention the prices to convey how expensive things are. We learned that the average price for a home in Sydney is $310k while the average income is $38k per year. Do most people reside in tents? We were in a four wheel drive "bus" with eight other people. It was a fantastic trip. We left at 7:00 with a native Australian guide who knew virtually everything about his country. We went to a wildlife park for breakfast and a tour of the facility originally built to care for wounded or injured animals until they could fend for themselves in the wild. There were all kinds of birds of many colors and nearly all of the animals associated with Australia: kangaroo, wallaby, wombat, koala, Tasmania devils, etc. We got to see most of them because we were early. They are mostly nocturnal and were going to bed. We drove on up through the mountains, taking roads many other tours could not take. The scenery was lovely and we had hoped to see some kangaroo in the wild. The guide was an environmentalist, but one with a true sense of nature, commenting, for example, how important it is to set controlled fires instead of protecting all flora until it is so thick and dry that a lightning strike burns thousands of acres and homes. He commented as to how silly people were that let the trees grow too close to their homes, giving themselves no safe zone in case of fire. We were taken to an old lodge in an old town for lunch of chicken, potatoes (sweet and braised) salads, and dessert. Again I had beer (recommended by our guide, Johnny Waite). It was my fifth try of Australian beers: Hahn, Tooey's Old, Tooey's new, Carlton, and now Amber Ale. ( I tried a VB later.) They were all delicious and not one was a Fosters. Most places won't even serve that stuff. Off we went up an old logging road to an area where we actually saw kangaroo in the wild. They were quite comfortable with us since tours come there almost daily. The guide even served champagne or mimosa drinks. Perhaps he was building our courage for the trip into the kangaroo den. We were able to get within 5-6 feet of them and could have probably petted them but didn't. We were taken to a ferry station for the ride back to the Circle Quay area where we were staying. It was dark and we were again joyfully worn out. We had an ice cream cone for dinner and went back to our room.
Saturday, our final day in Sydney, we decided to take a tour around the city. We stopped at Mrs. Maquarry's chair and a street diner that featured pies and "mushed peas". I thought that "peas" must be an Australian name for something else but had forgotten that pie didn't mean fruit pie: it meant meat pie. Ergo, there were indeed mushed peas and gravy on top. I was ready for dessert since we had eaten lunch but ordered one any way since we were at this famous place. (Back to lunch. I had wanted to try kangaroo meat, so we returned to the $29.95 special lunch cafe on the waterfront. We often split a meal and were set to order a kangaroo steak when we noticed a $3.50 surcharge for lunch on the weekend. We were the only ones in the place, and I was so disenchanted that we left and I never did get my kangaroo.) We stopped at what might be the world's largest indoor flea market, Paddy's Market in Chinatown. We bought many "T" shirts and games for the grandchildren back home. For our last evening in Sydney, we returned to the pub we visited our first night there and shared an enormous order of nachos, served in a large bowl and drank a VB beer. We were off to our final night in the Marriott.
Sunday we packed and I drove to the other Marriott to get the men. I refused to drive to the airport, however. We went there by 1:00 for our flight to Tahiti. John met us there and we sat around for an extra hour because our flight was delayed. We left at 4:30 and flew to Auckland. On the way we had a lamb pie dinner and watched "Hitch". We spent little time in Auckland and left for Papeete, Tahiti on Air New Zealand. We were immediately served another meal. We did go to sleep for a little while but arrived in Papeete at 5:AM, not well rested. It was now Sunday morning. That's right: we got our day back when we recrossed the International Dateline. The van we had hired was not there so John had to call the hotel to have someone else take us there. We just went to his central room and changed into our swimwear for a day on the beach. We could not check in until 2:00 PM. Most of us spent some time sleeping on the beach near a fresh water pool. The sunrise and morning were beautiful, looking across the water at another island, Moorea. Most of us were cooking in the sun but didn't mind. We were not hungry because we had eaten most of the night. We finally checked in and were all thirsty so I walked about a mile to a filling station and bought six 2 liter bottles of diet Coke. I must stop here because I realized I have drifted into part three.