Chris, Riley, and Paul's Oz Blog (CRaPoBlog)
July 31: Bye bye Cairns, G'day Sydney
Where IS that taxi ...
We have lift off ...
(And this time Paul made it through security with only a minor search
of a small body cavity)
Note how their seatbealts are fastened, hand luggage stowed, chairs in the full upright position with table trays closed ... such good passengers.
Oops, I dropped another cigarette butt before I left ...
Sydney harbour
The Opera House (can't wait to hear the fat lady sing)
The Sydney Harbour Bridge — taken from our hotel window, after dinner
and a couple of frosties.
(we had to celebrate the fact that Paul's bag arrived)
There was a small problem with our hotel reservation. We meant to book rooms at the Macleay Hotel, but got the Macleay Lodge (I blame the internet). The Lodge is a "budget" plece meant for backpackers (i.e., has shared bathrooms and is "funky"). The uglies thought it was fine and insisted on staying there, me and the red-heads moved next door to the Hotel.
Tired, but warm and happy ...
It wasn't exactly clear to us what neighbourhood we were in, but according to the Lonely Planet Australia book (the traveller's bible), we were either in Kings Cross or Potts Point. Here's what the book said:
Kings Cross is a cocktail of strip joints, prostitution, crime, and drugs shaken and stirred; with a handful of great restaurants, smart cafés, upmarket hotels and backpacker hostels. It attracts an odd mix of highlife, lowlife, sailors, tourists and suburbanites looking for a big night out. Darlington Rd is the trashy main drag. This doglegs into Macleay St, which continues into salubrious Potts Point.
We had to look up "salubrious" in the dictionary, and it's a good thing. Our hotel(s) were on Macleay St, so we decided we were close enough to Potts Point to consider ourselves salubrious rather than trashy.
The views from our window (salubrious, er what?)
We had a fine dinner at a "smart café", but (sadly) there was no time for the boys to visit any strip joints ...