FRUSTRATED (WITH SHITTY WI FI) IN SYDNEY...

NOTE: Later, I have slowly but surely been posting a few pictures at a time so keep coming back to see them all!

It's Monday, January 3, 2011 and I have been struggling with this internet access all day!   I am unable to load pictures and keep getting knocked off the site so I am throwing in the towel...will post pictures from NYE, etc., some day, some time and at some other place.  xo S&G     Back posts if interested in reading (sorry SueB):

JANUARY 1, 2011 – Saturday - NEW YEAR’S DAY – SYDNEY – A new year and a new font!

We slept in until after 11:30 AM then I got on the phone to my family (Shelley, Tim, Jon, Jordan and then Mom) in Washington State (told them all about the evening’s festivities)!   Had a birthday chorus by the Reisher men than was sweet and found out what everyone was planning to do this evening. Also received lots of birthday wishes!

By the way, this note is for SueB, I MADE BREAKFAST—yes, on my birthday I wanted French toast and Geoff has never eaten it or heard of it so I made it and it was a hit!   So, Miss Bailey, I DO STILL KNOW HOW TO COOK!  J 

We are sitting around listening to music and I uploaded and viewed the pictures from last night.    That’s about it for now.

Geoff will cook me dinner later (I requested his Spanish omelet) followed by the special Sara Lee birthday cake!  Not sure if we will budge from here today…could use a little down time before we finish our sightseeing around Sydney and leave on Wednesday to head to Christchurch for more touring! 

Geez, another decade begins..time sure flies!   Love,Sue & Geoff xo

PS   We spent the evening at the Circular Quay cinema watching “The King’s Speech” and it was a great movie!   We both highly recommend it!  J

January 2, 2010 – Sunday – Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach walk – After a long bus ride, we spent several hours walking from Coogee Beach along the coastline to several other beaches (including Tamarama where Geoff lived in the 1960s, Bronte Beach) to Bondi Beach!   Beautiful views:



Where Geoff lived above Tamarama Beach!



...although the huge cemetery next to the beach was not something I expected to see!  

Other than that, the views were incredible.   It started to cloud up after we got to Bondi so we went to catch a bus—along with hundreds of other people—and about 2 hours later, we finally caught a bus back to downtown Sydney!   It started to rain, thunder and lightning so we headed back to the apartment with a stop at the train station “Hungry Jacks” (it is the same as Burger King except for the name and some of the sandwich names, like “Aussie Burger”)!    We walked home the 2 blocks in light rain and then watched Australian Broadcasting Company TV—very entertaining with NO commercial breaks!   Enjoyed watching the production about Mary Whitehouse and how she took on the BBCs programming years ago!    Love, Sue & Geoff xo

Back notes:

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2010 – BOXING DAY IN SYDNEY – Got up to Skype with SueB and got to Skype with my sister, Jan, in Arizona!   Chatted with SueB in New York City and she is worried about being able to get home because of the snow storm coming to the east coast!   We great to see her even if the connection wasn’t the best!  J 

·         We went down to Circular Quay and walked around because we missed the start of the Sydney to Hobart sailboat race! (darn).   There is a lovely street market that I will come back to tomorrow and spend some time looking around. 

·         We bought 7 day multi-transport passes to ride the buses, trains and ferries around Sydney.

·         It was overcast when we started out but the sun burned it all off and was a very warm day!

·         Went to The Australian – had pizza and beer.  *The Australian would have been the oldest pub but it was torn down in the early 1900s because of the plague and relocated.  Called my brother’s home and talked to Katie, my Mom and my brother!   They had a nice Christmas dinner and day!   Was fun to talk to them!!!   Tried to reach my sister, Kathi, but could never catch her.

·         Rode a train from Circular Quay to Surrey Hills to go to Strawberry Hills pub and listen to jazz—joke was on us—no jazz because it is “Boxing Day” (Google it to find out how Boxing Day started!) but we watched England kick the Aussie’s asses in cricket and had a few beers!

·         Wandered back to the train station and found our way back to “The Mint” and found a train station about half a block from us that we didn’t even notice before!

·         We ate snacks then popcorn and watched “The Titanic” which I have never seen—it was very good in spite of the commercial interruptions!

·         My first “Boxing Day” celebration and it was grand!

·         Love, Sue & Geoff xo

MONDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2010 – In Sydney – I was exhausted and we ended up sleeping in almost to noon!   It rained likes cats and dogs last night after we got back last night and it was rainy earlier in the morning but it is just overcast as we head out to the street market!

·         Geoff left me to wander leisurely through the street market while he went on a walkabout to check a few places out.   An hour and a half later (I thought of the fun Katie and I had in Rome looking in shops and shops and more shops—I did use some of my Christmas money and bought a fossil heart shaped pendant!) we rendezvoused and he told me there is a big cruise ship in port a few blocks from where we are.

·         Saw “Rhapsody of the Seas” and at first I thought I was looking at a huge office building then realized that it was THE SHIP!   Wow, after watching “Titanic” it was amazing to see this ship!

·         We took the ferry to Double Bay (got to see the cruise ship from another angle, the harbor bridge and the opera house as well!).   Disembarked, it started to rain a bit so put on our rain jackets (that $45 was well spent, Bev!) and walked through trendy areas there.   Bought some produce for dinner (I am cooking tonight for a change!). caught a bus back to “the Rocks” area and got to see Edgecliff, Kings Cross and a few other areas on the ride back!

·         Walked back via a downtown area that had lots of pretty Christmas decorations and a tree!

·         I made chicken stir fry and we drank a lovely bottle of Jamison’s Run Merlot (made in Australia) while listening to Frank Sinatra and watching the harbor lights from our apartment!

·         Ever since we got back there have been almost hourly loud booms (very loud).   Geoff thinks someone is starting my birthday celebration early!

·         Excited about tomorrow night—Geoff has my Christmas/birthday surprise planned to start around 6:30 PM—can’t wait to see what we are going to do!  J

·         Another lovely day in Sydney!  Love, S & G xo

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28,2010 – Parramatta – An hour long ferry ride from Circular Quay and we were on the Parramatta River and then had a picnic lunch along the river at the end of the ferry ride.   A walk around a lovely city then a bus ride to the Olympic Village and caught a train back to Sydney!

My surprise Christmas/Birthday gift from Geoff was revealed after a nice fish n chips dinner—we walked through town (I was thinking we might go up the Sydney Tower—wrong!), then walked back to Circular Quay (I was thinking perhaps an evening cruise—wrong!), we walk to the Sydney Opera House (I am thinking we are going on an opera house tour—wrong!)!

It was a delightful production at the Opera House called “Not New Year’s Eve 2010” and it had the Australian Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by an Austrian (NOT Australian), starring a brass player named James Morrison (he WAS great) and about 100 member choir backup for some of the songs as well as a woman named Anabel Chaffee who had a magnificent voice and a man who sang in other languages (Roy Best) and the MC named Don who also had a great voice!   One of the highlights was Sergio whose last name I don’t remember but he could play the xylophone and put on an entertaining show.   

The whole thing was fabulous and it was really a thrill to get to see a production in the infamous Sydney Opera House!    Big time points for the special surprise, Geoff!!!!    Love, S&G xo

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBRE 29, 2010 – Manly Beach – A sunny day so another ride on the ferry from Circular Quay(about 30 minutes), a giant beer in the pub at the Manly Wharf,

 another picnic lunch on the beach near the ferry terminal, a short walk through Manly and voila!   On the beach…the south Pacific and it was the first crowded beach I have seen on this trip! 

It was beautiful  in spite of all the people!  We walked along the great walkway from that beach to the next one ("Shelly" Beach-->wrong spelling in my opinion)

and it was just perfect weather and the views lovely!    Another great day followed by a return ferry ride, a wonderful dinner prepared by Chef Geoff and I just finished the laundry!    What will tomorrow bring? Love, S& G xo

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2010 – Sydney – I had a pretty sleepless night so we stayed around the apartment and had a slow day.   In the evening we went first to Chinatown and had the best I have ever eaten sweet and sour pork plus shrimp fried rice at Golden Century Seafood Restaurant (a place Geoff had eaten at before)!   It was quite a restaurant with tank and tanks of live fish, lobster, crabs of all sorts.   They only wanted $168 a kilo (about 2 lbs.) for lobster, crab and some of the fish!    Geoff also checked the wine list and found bottles of some sort of wine for $9,800 per bottle.   Now keep in mind that the US dollar and Australian dollar are just about equal so the amounts are NOT less!   We did not have that wine or that crazy priced seafood!   Afterwards we went back to Circular Quay area for the rest of the evening    Love, S&G xo

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2010 – NEW YEAR’S EVE IN SYDNEY – We thought we might take a bus ride to Bronte but decided against it since there will be literally thousands of people on buses today wanting to get into the city for the big party tonite!   We ended up in the Apple computer shop where I could write a few emails and check messages and Geoff could get some advice about his iPhone pic download issues.   Then to Woolworth’s for a pie and chips lunch then onto “Paddy’s Market” famous for Sydney and what a huge market it is!   They have the best buys anywhere for souvenirs to jewelry to you name it---it was gigantic and had a great produce area where the fruits and veggies were half the price (or less) than in the grocery stores!   I highly recommend a visit to this huge market that is open from Wednesday through Sunday, 9 am-5 PM!     Chinatown was getting ready for the evening festivities as well setting up booths to sell things in their food alley/court!   Their new year’s celebration isn’t until the end of January when the year of the Rabbit begins!

Geoff left me for an hour to enjoy meandering around the market and he went off to get a haircut.  We headed back to our area of town on the bus and in search of my birthday cake and some wine and beer—managed to get the wine and beer but had to settle for a frozen Sara Lee cake from the Woolworth’s store since the bakeries were shut down early for NYE!   Bummer!

After a rest and some dinner (prepared by Chef Geoff) we changed and headed out to Darling Harbor for the festivities!    

DJs are playing along in the fancy pubs on the wharf, lots and lots of people and families and excitement in the air.   They had a barge anchored at the end of the harbor where the free bands were playing and at 9 PM they put on a beautiful fireworks display (for the children and those wanting an early evening!).   The crowd thinned a bit and we got great seats right in front of the band and listened and be bopped to music until 10:45 PM then headed back towards where we stay to go to the other end of the harbor where the Observatory is located (visited it during the day and got great harbor pics from there).  

We joined the throngs of merrymakers up on the Observatory Hill and watched the New Year ring in!   What a display!   What a crowd!   1.5 million people celebrating MY birthday (yours, too, SueB, Annie Z and my Dutch friend, Johanna—where are you and Sebastian now?)---what a party!   I got a nice birthday/NYE kiss from Geoff!

We had been chatting,  prior to midnite, with a local couple who had been sitting in their chairs since 3 PM and they both wished us a Happy New Year and me a Happy Birthday!   We waited a few minutes for the initial crowd to disperse and then headed back the few blocks to our place along the streets with the thousands of people headed home or to NYE parties.   Sydney was well prepared for the crowds and it was a perfect evening.    The day had been around 84 degrees and cooled down to high 60s for the evening.    The southern hemisphere stars were out in full force and we couldn’t have asked for a better night for the party!   I really can’t even describe it all adequately—lighted boats on the harbor, the Christmas trees still lit and then the beauty of the fireworks over the water!   It was surreal to me.   I didn’t get any great pictures but at least I got some to remember the night by.   My 59^th Birthday Party in Sydney, Australia—wow!

We were up until almost 3 AM…making phone calls (Geoff to the UK, me to Florida to SueB since the west coast was still sleeping), me drinking wine, Geoff having Peroni beers and just enjoying the noise from down on the streets below! 

HAPPY 2011!   LOVE & GOOD CHEER, Sue & Geoff