Down Under - February & March 2003

Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 22:34:31 -0800 (PST)
From: Cruise Buddies 
Subject: Homer Simpson in Australia
To: the.wack@eloptac.com

If Homer Simpson was here would he play a Diggeri D'oh?

Pops

Joseph & Christina Harlan - On vacation somewhere in the world!

Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 22:26:50 -0800 (PST)
From: Cruise Buddies 
Subject: Renaissance Hotel Disappointment
To: the.wack@eloptac.com

Okay, we're going to get our grumbles out of the way.  Just letting you know that in 
advance.  We've stayed in the loveliest places in Cairns, Ayers Rock Resort and at the 
Four Seasons here in Sydney.  We're not going to let this stupid hotel damper our 
vacation.

We checked in at about 10:00 this morning.  We didn't expect the room to be ready 
because normal check in is 3:00PM We were told the room would be ready at 12:30.  
Cool.  So we did a walk about in the Quays and the Rocks.  We really enjoyed that.  
There was an open weekend street market with lots of interesting stuff.  We lunched 
at a little bistro and both enjoyed it.  I shot lots and lots and lots and lots of 
pictures of the area but mostly the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge.

At 2:00 we checked back at the hotel.  Sorry, the room is still not ready.

Back to the Quay for a VB (Victoria Bitters), watched the street performers and 
watched the people.

Back to the Ren at 4:00 - yes our room is ready.  It's small and has virtually no 
storage.  More space is occupied by the cash bar than drawers for clothes.  The 
hotel gym and pool are under construction and not available.  If we want to do a 
walk about on a treadmill we have to walk 5 minutes to a neighboring hotel to 
use their gym.  And it's not a flat walk.  It's like climbing a six story building.
If we want to go for a swim it's the same song second verse.  Of 
the four restaurants in the hotel two are closed and will reopen March 15 (Beware 
the Ides of March) which is a week after we leave.  Our choice for breakfast is 
"Colors" restaurant and $24.00 AU each.  Yep, Mom will have her Bran Flakes with 
skim milk and it's $24.00 (That's about $15 US) We can call home from the room 
using the hotel phone but there's a $2.00 charge for picking up the phone and 
dialing a toll free number.  There is Internet TV for $19.95 per day unlimited 
access (This Internet Cafe is charging $.15 AU / minute).  There is no lobby.  The 
lobby furniture is literally outside the front door!  The reception desk is decidedly 
temporary.  And it's after 5:00 now and our bags still have not been delivered to 
the room as promised.  Gripe, gripe, gripe.  You get the point.

We are disappointed with the Ren.  Compared with the other hotels we've stayed at 
(every one was truly first class) the Ren is not even a distant second best.  It's 
just plain terrible.

But...

We can see the Opera House from our room on the 21st floor.  There is a Starbucks 
within a 1 minute walk and a pub across the street from Starbucks.  This Internet 
Cafe is exactly across the street and Mom can buy Cadbury's here.  And best of 
all, just outside the Ren's door is the wonderful world of Sydney, Australia.

We're still going to have a great time.

A growing concern ...  The power converter or the power supply for my camera's 
battery charger appears to have died.  If I can't charge batteries I may run out
of power and not be able to take pictures.  Fortunately I've got an analog
backup system with me - It's the Canon Elph!

Mom & Pops

Joseph & Christina Harlan - On vacation somewhere in the world!

Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 15:54:18 -0800 (PST)
From: Cruise Buddies 
Subject: Sunday in the park with George
To: the.wack@eloptac.com

Okay, there's no George here and we didn't spend it in the park.  But it is Sunday.

We did tourist things today.

After our morning in room coffee we made our way to Circular Quay and paid for 
passage aboard the Captain Cook II.  It's not like we just got off a major cruise.  
We needed just a small cruise break.  It was the Coffee Cruise through and around 
Sydney Harbor.  BTW, The Pacific Princess, the oldest ship in the princess fleet 
was docked there.

The CCII cruise was delightful.  It was a bit windy and drove us into the sheltered 
cabin.  But we had beautiful sights and I took many pictures.  Did I say Coffee 
Cruise?  We had tea!  We passed by Manly Cove and saw Manly Beach.  It was an Olympic 
venue three years ago.  The Opera House is magnificent viewed from the harbor.

Mom will tell you we walked and walked and walked the rest of the day.

We crossed Martin St.  I'll have to go back and take a picture because that's the 
location of the Australian GPO.  I'm sure that means something to Steve!  To the rest 
of us it's the Geographical Point of Origin for all of Australia.  Everything in 
Australia is measured from the GPO.

We made it to the City Center which is now a major shopping district.  You can find 
almost anything there.  And I did find a power transformer that I can use to charge 
my Canon camera batteries (That's a big relief!).  We also stopped in at the QVB 
(Queen Victoria Building).  Sarah's co-worker Catherine told her that the prices 
in the store go up as you go up each floor.  So Mom and I went into the basement 
to check out the sales, LOL.  We did have tea on the main floor.  Mom also ordered 
a Lammington.  She's seen recipes that require a lammington pan but didn't know 
what it was.  It turns out to be a cube shaped cake with chocolate frosting on 5 
sides and a sprinkle of coconut.  It was tastee!

We wandered The Rocks for dinner.  The Rocks is the first area settled in Sydney 
and is at one end of the Harbor Bridge.  We finally ate at the Rocks Cafe.  I had 
Chicken Teriyaki and Mom had a shrimp salad.  We've found the food in Sydney 
around Circular Quay and The Rocks to be pricey and leaning to seafood and always 
excellent.  If you don't like seafood your next choice is Italian, lots of pasta 
lots of risotto.  Pumpkin is a big favorite for the vegetarian risotto.

Monday was a continuation of tourist stuff.

We bought a five day Sydney Express pass which gives us unlimited use of busses, 
ferries, the Bondi Express and the Red Bus.  The Red Bus is a hop on hop off bus 
and we rode it for the day.

First stop was the Opera House.  It's only about the third or fourth time we've 
been there and worth going again!  We walked through the Botanical Gardens to 
Mrs.  MacQuires Seat.  The seat was carved out of the existing rocks for Mrs MacQuire 
so the she could watch the harbor.  It was carved by convict labor about 1800.  
Steve warned us that Australia is filled with criminals!  (LOL) They're called 
POM or POHM (Prisoners of His Majesty).

Back on the bus through Kings Crossing to Woolloomooloo where we got off and had 
lunch at Harry's Cafe de Wheels.  It's a famous little curbside eatery.  The fare 
is simple.  Mom had a hot dog, I had a Beef pie, mash, mushie peas, and gravy.  We 
had to eat standing up.  It was a tastee meal.  Some of the note worthies that have 
eaten there are Elton John, Olivia Newton John, Marlena Dietrich.

The Red Bus picked us up again and we rode it to the Sydney Fish Market.  Wow!  
That's a cool place.  We've seen a seafood item on many menus called "bug" and 
we finally saw one.  It's uglier than lobster and really looks like a bug.  It 
must be tastee because it is offered almost everywhere.  Lots of sights and odors 
at the fish market.

Star City was a short walk away.  It's *THE* casino in Sydney.  We didn't go in 
but will go back.  

We called home from Star City and talked with Sarah, Rebecca and Benji.  

Another short walk to Darling Harbor and the Sydney Aquarium.  The highlight of 
the Aquarium was the Platypus.  The Platypus is one of only two monotermes.  The 
other is the Echidna which we saw in Hobart.  They are the only mammals that lay 
eggs and suckle their young.  He was swimming and putting on a show for us.  Mom 
also liked the Penguins.

The big Red Bus took us back to Circular Quay.

We had Chateaubriand at Wolfies for dinner.  Mom kept thinking of "Wolfie Mozart, 
Humphrey Bogart, Genghis Kahn, and on to H G Wells" (Talking about Neil Diamond!!!  OW!) 
And she had Pavlova again.  Each time (four now) the pavlova has been slightly 
different and always excellent.  Pavlova is like the national desert of Australia, 
named after the famous ballerina What's her name Pavlova.  It always has meringue 
and fruit.  The meringue is not crunchy like the cookies, but last night's version 
had a crunchy crust and a soft meringue inside.  Most of the ones that I have had 
also served ice cream on the side but last night it had double cream on top.  
Fresh fruit is essential and passion fruit is a favorite because the sweet-sour 
of the passion fruit offsets the sweet of the meringue nicely.  Kiwi is also good 
as are strawberries and raspberries.  ot seen are ap (Pops is back in control of 
the key board!  Mom was getting a little carried away!  She said a "Brief" description 
of Pavlova.  I didn't know she meant a brief novel!  I have no clue what 
"ot seen are ap" means!")

I had my tripod with me and shot some long exposure pictures of the harbor bridge, 
the opera house, the Sydney sky line and the Southern Cross.  Yeppers!  I got a 
couple pictures of the Southern Cross!

Mom and Pops

Joseph & Christina Harlan - On vacation somewhere in the world!

Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2003 18:01:26 -0800 (PST)
From: Cruise Buddies 
Subject: coffee
To: the.wack@eloptac.com

OK you guys listen up, there is no such thing as a cup of coffee in the country 
of Australia, If you try to order one you get the question, well what kind.  And 
the answer isn't "house blend" or "Columbian" or even de-caff.  The answer has to 
be something like short black, tall black, long black, flat white, latte, 
cappucino, or a host of others that I don't remember or can even begin to spell.  

Drip, perk, or filtered, is just simply not in the country, it all starts with 
espresso, a short black is a little bitty guy, tall or long is bigger, maybe 
served in what we think of as a coffee cup, but straight espresso, flat white 
is two shots of espresso, and steamed milk or maybe cream, and the rest we all 
know from Starbucks, The folks here have gazillions of "coffee" shops and sit 
there drinking their "coffee" all day long, the lattes in cute glasses.

To make it all more confusing is the homes that we visited in New Zealand served 
coffee made with a French Press and that was also available in the cafe in 
Ayers Rock and they called it "plunger coffee" and it was pricier than the 
espresso.  go figure.

Grandad always used to say that as you traveled east to west across the US 
the coffee got weaker and weaker.  We've found out where that cycle starts, 
it's the International Date Line!  The coffee in New Zealand and Australia 
could walk (on water!) to the US!

In the morning we have instant coffee made with our "electric jug." hmmmmmmm!

Joseph & Christina Harlan - On vacation somewhere in the world!

Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2003 18:30:41 -0800 (PST)
From: Cruise Buddies 
Subject: Back to the Future
To: the.wack@eloptac.com

We just had to remind you that we are still in the future.  You'll have a nice day 
tomorrow, sunny and clear.  It's what we've got today.

Yesterday (Today to you guys (LOL)) started out cloudy.  After a breakfast we jumped 
on the Bondi Express and made our way out to the harbor entrance.  It's a place 
called "The Gap" which has towering cliffs, raging surf and the Tasman Sea to 
the east and south and a view of the Sydney Skyline to the west and north.  It's 
a beautiful spot.  And just off the cliffs are homes with a beautiful view of both!  
It would be a cool place to live.

Mom has always had a soft spot in her heart for "Charm" We arrived at the world 
famous Bondi Beach and found it full of charm.

We walked down to the beach which was clean, and white, and very very soft.  There 
was a sign saying "no dogs, no frisbees, no balls, no games, no food." I personally 
would have liked to have seen a sign that said, "If you're a smoker, keep your butt(s) 
off the beach."  Not that cigarette butts were a problem but they were noticeable.  
The wind was blowing very briskly and flags denoting the swimming area covered about 
5% of the entire beach.  Swimming is between the flags only.  Oh, yes, the water was 
very very very cold!

Now Bondi Beach is a "tops optional" beach and most of the guys were wearing tops!  
The water was cold.  The surfers were wearing wet suits!

We sat on the beach for about an hour and then walked along the road that fronts 
the beach.  We saw lots of little shops.  Very few of them bigger than an average 
garage back home.

We did stop in a "New Zealand Ice Cream" store.  Mom had a yogurt with frozen passion 
fruit.  Passion fruit is the flavor that gives Hawaiian Punch its, well, punch!  
They had an interesting funnel/auger machine that mixed the two together as it dispensed 
it into the cup.  I had two scoops.  One of Macadamian Nut Ice Cream which is what you 
would expect.  The other was Irish D'lite!  It was a mixture of Irish Creme and 
Irish Whiskey.  YUM, YUM, YUM!  Mom found herself a Bondi Beach t-shirt (Penny, eat 
your heart out!)

We sat down again and watched a guy unfold his wind surfing parafoil wing/kite, 
rig it up and surf out into the crashing waves.  In a few short minutes he had 
sailed the entire length of Bondi Beach three times!  It was cool just to watch.

The Bondi Express took us back to Circular Quay, Starbucks (See Mom's Coffee email!) 
and a very short toes up in the room.  It was ONE Quality snore!  Just one, but it 
was high quality.

We jumped on a Ferry to Darling Harbor as the sun was setting.  Sydney is truly a 
beautiful city.  In Darling Harbor we had dinner at the Blackbird Cafe, recommended 
by several tour books.  Well, our advice is DON'T.  It was filling and got us to 
today but it wasn't memorable at all.  We walked over to Star City, THE casino in 
New South Wales.  It's big.  It's noisy.  It's just another casino like many other 
casinos.  Every single slot machine looks like every other one.  There's not a lot 
of difference between them.  There were none of the US slots games that we know 
and love (When we win).  They do have $.01, $.02, $.05, $.10, etc.  machines.  We 
dropped $20.00 (AUD) into one and quickly lost it all.  But the evening wasn't a 
total loss.  We watched a guy playing the 5 cent machine and betting a nickel on 
each of nine lines, or $.45 a spin.  He hit a jackpot.  When the machine stopped 
spinning, buzzing, whirling, etc he'd won over $1,400.00!  WOW!  It was fun just 
to watch.  We ran into him again 5 minutes later.  He was cashing out.

The ferry took us back to Circular Quay and we crashed for the night.

Today is our last shopping day in Australia.  Tomorrow, (That's TWO days in the 
future for you past dwellers) we're going on a wine tour.  Then it's time to catch 
the plane back home.

This is probably the last major email you'll get from us.  We'll keep checking email 
and we know there's a few free email stations at the airport.

Mom and Pops

Joseph & Christina Harlan - On vacation somewhere in the world!

Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2003 00:24:53 -0800 (PST)
From: Cruise Buddies 
Subject: Hunter Valley Wine TASTING Tour
To: the.wack@eloptac.com

Sarah's friend, Catherine, was right.  Kudos to her!  We did the Hunter Valley 
Wine TASTING Tour today.

We rode a bus with 14 friends about 150 kilometer north of Sydney and stopped 
at three Vineyards.  Only one of them told us what they did with the grapes 
and how they made wine.  

All three of them sat us down at a table or bar and said, "Here, TASTE this 
Merlot!"  We even got a chance to compare their sparkling wines (they can't 
call them champagne) with Codorniu's Pinot Noir (only cause I asked!)!

I think we TASTED 30 different wines today.  One of them won the absolute best 
ever top prize at a world wine competition in France.

Did I mention this was a TASTING tour?

We gotta go.  Find some tucker and pack some bags.  Clear night tonight and I 
want to get one last shot of the Southern Cross!

Mom & Pops

Aussie Glossary:
     Tucker = FOOD

Joseph & Christina Harlan - On vacation somewhere in the world!