1995/11 Australia trip - Flight to Sydney |
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We started our flight by heading east to Chicago, so we could pick up United’s flight west to San Francisco and the connection there for Sydney. So, after about six hours of travel we were back over Minnesota again but now 7 miles up and pointing in the right direction. Northwest Airlines don’t fly to Australia any more so we didn’t have much choice but to go with United. The flight was almost two hours late getting off from Chicago, but we had four hours to kill in San Francisco so no big deal for us.
Chicago O’Hare looks a lot better than it used to, lots of soaring railway-like arches. They’ve even built a tunnel under the runway so you don’t have to run a mile to get from the B12 gate to your connection at the C12 gate. You used to be able to see the plane a few feet away, but had to go all the way down to the hub and back to get to it. Unfortunately, they must have got some rock video artist to design the tunnel lighting, as it’s all zigzag neon pulsing in time to the music. Just what you need when you’re trying to negotiate walkways and escalators with armfuls of luggage!
San Francisco airport looked much the same. The international section was full of Mexicans in sombreros taking big crates of shopping back home, and Filipinos with lots of kids.
This leg of the flight is about 15 hours and we should get into Sydney about dawn on Thursday, and look for a hotel to recover in for one day. We pick up our camper on Friday, as we wanted some time to look around the city first. Looking out the window, I can just see a line of red so about 2 or 3 hours to go.
Airport Hilton,
Sidney, Friday 10th
This luxury stuff is all very well, but not when I’m paying for it instead of the company. The cheaper alternatives were all full, so here we are at the Hilton for one night. It is convenient, however, with a bus service into Sydney which is 5 miles away, and only a mile or so from the rental company, where we pick up the camper in a few hours.
We couldn’t have asked for a better day, blue sky and over 80°. We took the bus into the centre of Sydney which is as noisy and busy as London, but much cleaner. It looks a lot like Vancouver. The traffic is fast and furious, but there are pedestrian malls with fountains and restaurants to escape to. It’s a lively place and they don’t mind spending their money. There’s both a monorail which snakes along over the main streets, and a double-decker train system that’s also up high over the streets along with the freeway system.
After lunch we walked around the Royal Botanical Gardens, looking at the weird and wonderful plants they’ve collected. They have tropical plants from all over the world, as it’s not meant to be just Australian plants. The jacaranda trees were blooming: hardly any leaves, but gorgeous purply blue flowers. Lots of other plants we’d never seen before, and flowers, bougainvillea, canna, 
impatiens, all over.
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Sydney (10.25) |  |
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We walked from there to the Opera House and then took the sunset cruise out around the harbour, but by then it had clouded over and was quite chilly. Too many clouds for a good sunset, but it was an interesting trip. We got dropped off at Darling Harbour so we could look at the new mall there and get something to eat before heading for the return bus. I had a grilled banana, cheese, and bacon sandwich which was surprisingly good.
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