Sunday, 11th February 2018
It was a very peaceful night at Beechworth Cabins – we could only hear birds during the night and by the time our alarm went off at 7 am, we had a full choir of chirping birds. While Gerry showered I prepared breakfast and also sandwiches for on the way so that we would not waste much time getting off the highway. By 9.30 we were on the road again – ready to drive the last 600 km to Sydney.
Gerry took the first 200km approximately as we stopped at Tarcutta to fill up the car. Besides a petrol station, a snack bar and a little church, there was not much to see here – although it is actually a remarkable place as just as the Café was called Halfway Café, it was exactly half way from Melbourne to Sydney – 436 km south west to Melbourne and 436 km north east to Sydney.
The countryside was somewhat monotonous – golden rolling hills and plains and as I needed something interesting to do (otherwise I would fall asleep), it was best for me to drive a few kilometers. Although we had programmed our GPS to get to Wentworth Avenue I Sydney, there were quite a few listed and the information I had from Expedia about Song Hotel was that address without any reference to the area it was. At the last petrol station we had asked if they had WIFI and the lady told me that we could get free WIFI at any MacDonald’s.
So now to look for a Macdonald’s on the way so that I could get the exact location of our hotel from Expedia through Google Maps. We didn’t want to experience the same mistake when trying to get to Novotel on the Esplanade in Melbourne – I had picked up the first Esplanade from the GPS which took us to a residential area in Caroline Springs – 33 km further away from the Esplanade in St.Kilda!!
Finally we saw a Macdonald’s and we drove there and parked our car and went in to have a……….. milkshake! It was Gerry’s first ever going to Macdonald’s – let alone having a vanilla milkshake – which he thoroughly enjoyed!! Through WIFI got the exact location of the hotel and even after phoning the Song Hotel, we had the confirmation that they were located in the city.
Allowing for a few mistakes between Gerry the driver, and myself the navigator, we got to the hotel by 14.30 – a good time to check in. It was warm and sunny! We expected Sydney to be just that!
As the name of the hotel already indicated to us, it was an Asian Hotel, and our assumption was correct – everything was neat and tidy and we even had a balcony so that Gerry didn’t need to go 5 floors down to have a smoke. While I got the registration at the hotel sorted out, Gerry drove the car to the parking garage recommended by the hotel. In the meantime I redesigned the hotel room, as it was a twin bedded room having the beds against two different walls. ………By the time Gerry came upstairs the room looked good with the twin beds next to each other!
We just freshened up a bit and left the hotel to explore Sydney city! It was one straight road from the hotel through Hyde Park ( was somewhat confused, this park is nothing like the Hyde park in London!!) Along the road we came along the St.Mary Catholic Cathedral – beautifully designed in Gothic-Revival style was begun in 1868 and finished in 1928.
Further down Macquarie street, we came across splendid colonial buildings and of course the Botanic Gardens. The oldest building is Parliament House and the Mint dating back to 1816 and the former is still used as a Parliament House for the state of New South Wales and is actually the world’s oldest consecutively operating parliament house!
Finally we made it to the harbour side and especially the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I was just delighted with these views – normally it’s something I see in travel books or travel programs and now I was actually here!! And it was really busy with heaps of tourists ( loads of Asians!!). Anyway after taking some pictures with the Opera House and the Harbour bridge as backdrop, we strolled around the harbour – many eateries here and the one we chose was The Oyster Cove right along the quayside. Of course the reason, we chose this place was because they had oysters – my favourite seafood!
So we were lucky to get a table to have samples of oysters together with a couple of glasses of bubble wine. Oh it was just great – in the meantime evening was rolling on and the atmosphere was fantastic – everyone seemed to be having a good time – and so were we. Well after our oysters and bubbles we were quite pekish and as we were seeing such fantastic and appetizing meals going along to other tables, we decided to stay on for dinner – Gerry rump steak with salad and I had linguini with shrimps. While we were having dinner, Gerry noticed two cruise liners leaving the harbour just under the Sydney Harbour bridge – and one of the cruise liners was a Holland America Line – meaning that I still had another chance of visiting Sydney but then on a cruise!!!
After dinner another stroll along the quayside to where the ferries left off to other parts of Sydney harbour. From here we made our way back to our hotel and all in all, according to my steps app, we walked some 7 km that day!!
Back in the hotel, we sorted out everything so that we would have an early rising tomorrow morning – an exciting moment as this would inaugurate our last phase of our trip in Australia – picking up the camper van and delivering our rental car back at Sydney airport. Alarm should go off at 7 a.m.
