Skyfeast at Sydney Tower

 Wednesday October 19th

Today is the Sydney tower.  It reminds me of the Space Needle in Seattle.  We have a reservation for a window table and based on what I've heard, I'm guessing it is like eating at the top of the Freedom Tower in New York or the view from the Rock in New York.

As usual, we were early, we intended to catch the 10:22 train but caught the 10:06 train.  We got off at St James and walked through the tunnel to the edge of the park.  We found a nice coffee shop about a block from the tower and enjoyed the first day of real sun.  Where we are has not had any flooding like what they are having in the south near Melbourne, but it has been cool and cloudy almost the entire time I have been here, so the sun felt good.  We had coffee to kill some time, then headed over.

The first store you see when you enter the tower is Prada, which sets the tone for the rest of the stores.  All very high end, all very beautiful.  We took the escalator up to the 4th floor (ground level was considered the 3rd floor) to the elevator to the tower and where we checked in.  First place I've been to here where we had to walk through metal detectors and have our purses searched.  The elevator was an express and took us up 79 floors - enough that our ears popped.

The view was spectacular, you could see all around the city.  The dining area was a round and was moving.  It made one complete rotation in an hour.  Our seating was for 1 1/2 hours. The buffet was broken up into stations and lined the inner circle of the dining room.  There two cold stations with salads and fresh oysters, boiled prawns and two types of crab.  The hot bar, which was in the center had curries, some asian style dishes, carved roast beef, carved ham, roasted pork belly and a variety of roasted vegetables.  I didn't make it to the desserts, I had a latte with Baileys instead for dessert, although my dinner mates enjoyed a variety of pastries from the dessert bar.

A UNESCO World Heritage-listed site in the heart of Sydney, the Hyde Park Barracks is an extraordinary living record of early colonial Australia. Originally built to house convicts, the barracks has also served as an immigration depot, asylum, law courts and government offices.

Australian Navy ships

Shopping mall

Whale Watching

 It's Whale Watching day!!  Tuesday 10/18, Suzan and I have been waiting for this adventure.

The boat left from Circle Quay (pronounced Circle Key).  Scheduled to leave at noon, we caught the 10:22 train and got there early, so checked in and had a latte while we waited.

The boat was a typical charter boat with two levels.  We opted to stay on the first level only because everyone went upstairs which ultimately forced some folks to come back down.  We had a great spot near the bow with what turned out to be an excellent viewing point for both the starboard and port sides.

The boat was a typical charter boat with two levels.  We opted to stay on the first level only because everyone went upstairs which ultimately forced some folks to come back down.  We had a great spot near the bow with what turned out to be an excellent viewing point for both the starboard and port sides.

About half a dozen folks sat out on the bow who, after the first spray of ocean water headed back in rather drenched.  As soon as the boat left the dock lunch was served, the intent to have everyone fed before we hit open, potentially rough, waters.  On one hand, it was nice to have lunch, on the other I wondered if it was wise to fill us all up then go boating.

Lunch was a buffet and of course no one listened to directions - go out the door on the starboard side and walk towards the stern to the buffet line.  Lunch was lovely - coleslaw, a version of pasta salad, tossed salad, roasted chicken, roasted potatoes, sausages, rolls, butter, tomato sauce (not ketchup - sauce!) and fresh fruit.  We had brought our own fruit, wonderful Australian Oranges.

Once we got out of the harbor things got a bit more rough, it was kind of like riding an amusement park ride - up and down, side to side with regular sprays of water.  They offered free drink to the first person to see a whale - won by the captain.  But I saw the first while rise on the port side - sadly no free drink.

As we went out, we had maybe 15 sightings but they were all just surface before diving.  Then dolphins joined us, swimming along our bow.

I went whale watching in San Francisco and even though we spotted over 40 whales, we never saw a whale breach.  I've always wanted to see one live - and today was that day!  Suzan got the picture, I wasn't fast enough, but she was happy to share.  I had read that this time of year mothers and calves are migrating south and were staying close to shore.  And that is what we found - close to a shore a female and her calf.

It was a fabulous day.  We cruised back in through the harbor to the quay past the navy ships and the opera house.

Australian Navy Sips

Opera house and ferry. There is a ferry coming/going from
Central Quay about every 10 minutes 

This is the Sydney Tower - where we are going for lunch tomorrow

BBQ Aussie Style

 Sunday October 16th we had an "Aussie" BBQ at Suzan's house.  Her entire family came.  Her daughter Sharlene and her family, David, Alex, Lucy and Sophia.  Her son (and Sharlene's twin) Shane and his wife Laurel and daughter Bethany.  Her daughter Danielle and her friend Russell and sons Tanner, Carter and Brady.  Margaret's daughter Renee came with her family Nick, Dominic, Sophia and Natalia.  

We had prawns on the "barbie", Australian style meatballs, sausages, potato salad, salad, Pavlova, ice cream cake and lots of wine and beer.  

One of my favorite things about visiting Suzan is that it is always a family affair.  We're going to watch her grandsons play softball, they all made regional/national teams.  Last time I was here we watched them play rugby.

Honorary Australian

 Six years ago I went on a river cruise from Istanbul to Amsterdam.  It was on that cruise that I met Suzan and Carrie and several other folks from Australia.  They declared me an honorary Australian which led to my first visit to Australia four years ago.  When I was here last, we had a small reunion with Carrie and another couple from the cruise, Dale and Charles.

We got together again on Friday the 14th at one of the RSL clubs for lunch.  It was so fun to catch up on what everyone has been doing the last four years and to reminisce about our cruise across Eastern and Western Europe. I probably have said this in my blog somewhere, but I never imagined a time in my life that I would travel like this, make friends from around the world, then visit them.  I often talk with friends about what we expected from life and what life turned out to be.  Mine turned out to be so much more than I ever expected.

Suzan, Carrie, Dale and Charles

Riverboat Postman

The riverboat postman is a boat that delivers mail to homes that, until recently, were only accessible by water.  The boat travels daily to deliver mail and also provides a cruise that includes morning tea, lunch and commentary from the boat's Captain.  Last time I was in Australia we did this cruise and it was one of my favorite activities.  Margaret, Suzan and I went together.

Margaret and Suzan

The postman travels on the Hawksbury River in Brooklyn, New South Wales (NSW) Australia.  It is about an hours drive from Suzan's house, a lovely drive into the rain forests of NSW.  It leaves daily at 10 am and returns about 1 pm just in time for the train back to Sydney.

Highlights along the cruise include a mental institution that was first for men, then for women, then became a retreat for government officials.  The site was picked because it was only accessible by water so it made it difficult for the residents to leave.  Add to that the river is full of jelly fish that come in from the ocean with the tide and swarm in massive groups.  This time the river was very muddy because of all the rain, but last time we were here we could easily see them - huge groups of them.

The homes have septic systems and cisterns for water and the captain made a joke of being sure not to mix them up when water is delivered, which is how homes get their water.  They have electricity that comes in to the homes and we noticed phone boxes at each of the public docks.

Along the river bank is the wreck of HMAS Parramatta.  HMAS Parramatta (I) was one of six River Class torpedo boat destroyers built for the Royal Australian Navy during the period 1909-16. During World War I they formed the Australian Destroyer Flotilla.  HMAS Parramatta (I) spent the period of September 1916 to May 1917 on patrol in Australian waters. On 10 May 1917 she sailed from Sydney in company of Yarra (I) and Warrego (I) for the Mediterranean, being joined en route by Swan, Huon and Torrens to form an Australian Flotilla of six destroyers. Following a period of training the ships were based on Brindisi on the heel of Italy for Adriatic anti-submarine patrols. On this work the destroyers were responsible for blocking the southward passage of submarines through the Adriatic Narrows into the Mediterranean and also the safe transit of Italian transports to and from Albania. There is a complete history of the Parramatta at https://www.navy.gov.au/hmas-parramatta-i.

Wreck of the HMS Parramatta

Main mode of transportation

Rock formations along the river were beautiful.