We're back in the Land Down Under! It was here in Australia, almost three years ago, that we received the call to get home immediately with COVID quickly shutting down the world. Now we're back to finish up the exploring we didn't get to do last time.
It isn't that we have been sitting at home for the last three years. Being fully vaccinated we have managed two separate trips to Mexico in 2022.
We are currently resting up in The Grace Hotel in downtown Sydney. It is a beautiful classic art deco hotel built in 1928 but modernized in 1997. It's a one-kilometer walk to Circular Quay and the Opera House and a very walkable jaunt to the Darling Harbour attractions the other way.
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Nice To Be In Summer Again |
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The Grace Hotel |
The "resting up" part is due to the 16-hour Air Canada flight from Vancouver. Sitting upright in Economy is not conducive to sleeping. Nor is the almost inedible food Air Canada serves. All this for approximately double the price of a ticket from three years ago.
I also had a slight cold when I got on the plane and it managed to explode into a full-on chest infection by the time I landed. The hotel was kind enough to direct me to a walk-in clinic a few hundred meters away. I was seen by a doctor and had an antibiotic prescription within 20 minutes of arrival. The total charge was $80 AUD for the doc and $33 AUD for the Amiloxyn and nasal spray. 24 hours later, I'm feeling much better.
Enough whining for now. We are off to do some walking and exploring today before flying to Cairns tomorrow. Cairns, considered the gateway to Australia's Great Barrier Reef, is a tropical Far North Queensland city.
Deborah's pictures will tell the story of our Sydney stay.
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Queen Victoria Building Highbrow Shopping |
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Ovation of the Seas docked at Circular Quay
 Darling Harbour - King Street Wharf Modern telephone booth - oxymoron
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| Queen Victoria Building circa 1898 |
