G'Day!

I told you this would be intermittent service, so why are you always checking back when nothing has been added? Yes I know news has been REALLY delayed, but I’m on vacation, and I’m having a good time, so at least I have an excuse. Sunday November 23, 2003 We arrived into Sydney at little after 9am after very close to 14 hours at 38000 ft. Very little to report about the flight. QANTAS appears to be suffering cutbacks – no more printed menus in Economy, or hot towels to clean face and hands, or even staff to ensure speedy meal delivery. But the individual video monitors and the 6 movie selections plus prerecorded TV shows enhance expectations. However movies like The Hulk and Lara Croft are real let downs. Fortunately sleep is not at a premium and we arrived into Sydney refreshed. The only distraction is having to pass through the Duty Free shop on the way to Customs and Immigration. Talk about blatant commercialism! My old friend Ted was there to meet us in Arrivals and help us recover from the aftermath of the furor over a knife in Miranda’s luggage which caused the Australian security services to go into panic mode. The fact that they failed to find in on a second pass through the x-ray machines seemed to resolve everyone’s fears of a (veterinary) terrorist attack on Australia – even though the knife was still there! We finally made our way through the rain to the 21st floor of the Marriott Renaissance over looking the harbor and the Opera House. (I wish we could show you a picture of the view.) The rest of the day was taken up with a wet and windy lunch at the Café in the Sydney Botanical Gardens with Ted, Ann (an old workmate) and her husband Geoff and their children. Walking back to the hotel through the rain was not a fun experience. We were in bed by 7pm! Monday November 24, 2003 First thing to do today, buy umbrellas! Fortunately a convenience store across the street from the hotel has several different types for sale. Then it was on to The Grace Hotel (Miranda’s favorite) for a breakfast of banana glazed pancakes, and scrambled eggs on toast with bacon – and coffee! After some window shopping in the QVB (Queen Victoria Building) the Sydney monorail serves as transport to Darling Harbor and the Chinese Gardens. Discovering a duckling paddling madly around the outside moat that is part of the garden lake was sufficient reason for Miranda to pay the entrance fee. Although we found his family resting by the side of the lake it was only after we exited the gardens that we discovered the family had reunited! The gardens, a gift from the Chinese people, are very well planned with many pathways and water features that are well stocked with very large Koi. After a walk through the park and water features of Darling Harbor we lunched at an Indian restaurant - Zaaffran - over looking the harbor. The intermittent wind and rain drives us into a picture theatre were we see Clint Eastwood’s tension filled “Mystic River”. Oddly appropriate for the oppressive weather. Tuesday November 25, 2003 Blue sky! There are still some clouds. But it’s looking more like Sydney in summer; the harbor is green-blue, busy with ferries and the Opera House white. Well, OK, a sort dull cream, but it still stands out as the major landmark in one of the world’s largest harbors. We breakfast at one of the many eateries on Circular Quay and watch as the rest of Sydney comes and goes to work by ferry and train. The most important thing to do today is have the laptop tested. We learn that the modem card is faulty, and so a replacement is purchased. Its installed later in the hotel room. It works! I can post a brief note warning of the delays that look like plaguing this eBlog. The rest of the morning is occupied by a visit to Dymock’s for a book or two for the train trip to Perth. In the afternoon Miranda decides we should take the ferry to Balmain, one of the older inner city suburbs. Balmain boasts (expensive) terrace housing, narrow streets and Dawn Fraser (one of Australia’s most famous Olympic swimmers), and today rain showers. The evening is devoted to eating at Edna’s Table. We have been to this restaurant once before and are eager to again taste “flavors which are indigenous” to Australia. Ted has made a reservation for 6:30pm which makes us the first to be seated. The menu is extensive and features both the usual (fish, lamb, lobster, beef) and the unusual (wallaby, emu, crocodile) paired with native foods which add mouth watering flavors to the most ordinary of meats. My main course of Roasted Lamb Rump stuffed with Leaks, Oven Dried Tomatoes, River Mint Pesto and Parsnip Gallette is simply wonderful, especially the tomatoes. That’s the secret of Edna’s Table, the most intense flavors can come from the most innocent looking morsel on your plate. Miranda’s Chargrilled Fillet of Kangaroo, Potato and Candlenut Mash, Beetroot Jam, and Sangiovese Glaze is equally tasty, at least according to her. The small amount I taste is so rare that I keep thinking the rest of it will hop off her plate and make its escape down Clarence Street. Ted goes for a meal of sausages made from those Aussie stalwarts of emu, kangaroo and duck. Brand’s Coonawarra Cabernet goes well with everything. The only disappointment is the lack of staff which slows service to a crawl as the tables fill, and dessert takes too long to reach us and then looks like it was dropped on the way to our table. Oh well, life wasn’t meant to be perfect. Wednesday November 26, 2003 The morning is spent packing our bags and booking out of the hotel. My cousin Ian collects us for lunch, but before that he takes us on a small detour through the southern suburbs so Miranda can see up close what she has only seen before from the air – blue bays, vast white sand beaches and miles and miles of red tiled roof houses. Ian “shouts” us lunch at a restaurant called Le Sands on the beach at Botany Bay. The best fish and chips I’ve had in years! Later in the afternoon we board a twin engine QANTAS flight to Dubbo. Its only about an hour flight, but we get a small snack, complimentary wine, and tea or coffee! Why is it that local QANTAS flights have improved their service while international flights have reduced theirs? A bunch of relies (that’s relatives to you non-Aussies) are at the airport to meet, greet and get us to our motel, and then take us home for a “barbie” and a bottle or two of good Aussie wine. More important is the absolute lack of rain, even the clouds are gone by evening. Ngaire (pronounced ni-ree)(cousin) and her husband Chris suggest that they take a few days vacation and take us to the nearby wine country of Mudgee. We hadn’t planned for this but it’s a very welcome plan as Miranda hasn’t seen much of the Mudgee wines and I haven’t been there for more than 20 years.