Brisbane and Sydney

5th April - Unfortunately we didn't get a room with a river view at the Mercury Brisbane. Rooms nice enough but couldn't believe we could only get wifi in the room if we paid $10/day for it. Or we could sit downstairs in the lobby and get 2 hours free per 24 hours! And they want $7.50 for a bottle of water in the room which has been complimentary everywhere else we've been. So I went to the nearest shop and got a large bottle for 70 cents!

It's noticeably cooler, 22 degrees but feels cooler in the breeze by the river. First time I've had to put on a long sleeved top since we left the UK.

Walked across the bridge to the South side and got our bearings before walking back into the city and Queen Street which seems to be the main shopping area. The City Hall has a Clock Tower which people can go up and look out over the city and it's free! We may go up if we don't manage to get on the Brisbane Wheel which is their version of the London Eye.

6th April - no hot

water! We knew they were doing maintenance overnight but didn't expect a problem this morning.

Spent the morning at A&E, erasing from the memory but we're both fine!

We expected the Ferris Wheel to be busy as it's school holidays but not so. It was a bit of a let down to be honest and all over in ten minutes. The walk along the riverside was lovely, very well landscaped and litter free. We walked past the famous Street Beach, it was fairly busy despite the cloudy skies.

Visited the Museum of Queensland which was quite interesting and then had a late lunch in a cafe beside the law courts where a couple of tv channels seemed to be filming. No idea what that was about. Walked back to the City Hall to see if we could climb the clock tower but were told today's ticket allocation had expired. Told to go back tomorrow at 10am if we want a tour and ticket.

Still no hot water...Back to the Irish pub tonight for a couple of drinks and then back to the hotel to make the most of our lobby wifi allowance!

7th April - and no hot water again. Went to complain and let the Duty Manager know that in addition to being unhappy about the hot water situation we were also miffed at being expected to pay for in room

Wifi when we have not been charged anywhere else we've stayed in the past five weeks. Neither have we had to pay for bottled water. This resulted in being compensated with free in room Wifi for today so I'm writing this from the comfort of the bed!

Out for breakfast by the law courts again and still camera crews but we're none the wiser.

Nearly fainted when Derek went and bought cigarettes - £11.00 a packet! And I spied a barber shop advertising men's haircuts for £20, Derek pays £10 at home.

Got to the City Hall just before 10am and got our (free) tickets for the clock tower. Shared our visit with a Mum with her four kids one of which decided he didn't want to go up in the lift as he was scared! Poor guide had to keep telling him that although the lift was very old it was perfectly safe. Views from the top pretty good and guide explained what some of the buildings were we could see. The bells were above us and just prior to them striking we went down a level to behind the clock faces where you could see the mechanisms that turned the hands and set the bells ringing. When they did ring it was very quiet because there was several tons of concrete between us and the bells. Quick nose around the rest of the building that was open to the public. Impressive auditorium, the copper domed roof is

the largest in Australia.

From there we went down to the river and jumped on the cityhopper that took us across to the south side of the river again. We walked in the opposite direction to yesterday and down to Kangaroo point. Lots of runners and cyclists about. Saw a young girl having a rock climbing lesson on the cliffs alongside the river (it's not that high). Interesting information boards along the way about the history of the river. Got the boat back to the other side and walked up through the beautiful botanical gardens where again there was lots of activity going on - men playing football, yummy mummy's with their personal trainers and people sitting having their picnic lunch breaks.

We had a late lunch at the Irish bar and then decided to go to the gallery of Modern Art which was very good (although not in the same league as the gallery in New York). Still some very intriguing exhibits that it's questionable could be called 'art' - for example the room of small finches flying around sculptures of intertwined metal coat hangers! And the large fluffy 'things' hanging on the walls...

Back to the hotel and yippee we have hot water so can finally have an enjoyable shower!

Thought we ought to venture away from our trusted Irish bar and went to a place on Elizabeth Street which had live music. Also got there while Happy Hour was still valid

so got the cheapest drinks we've had since being in Australia!

Tomorrow Sydney.

8th April - up quite early and decided to go to a bagel bar for breakfast. It's so quiet everywhere it feels like a Sunday. We're not being picked up until 11am so time for one final walk to an area called the Roma Parklands. It looked like it covered a large area on the map and had a lake but we didn't actually find it. Instead we walked through King Edwards Park which randomly had an old windmill (no sails) to the side of it. Built by the convicts in 1824 and allegedly the oldest structure in Queensland.

A smartly suited Italian driver picked us up from the hotel at 11 and we were at the airport by 11:20 so long wait for our 2pm flight.

Prompt take off and landed in Sydney at 3:30. Swiftly through to the Avis counter and another agent fascinated by our antique paper licenses. Anyway, nice chap, he gave us an upgrade and we have a Holden V6 (posh Vauxhall)! Comes with SatNav but not sure we'll work out how to use it. Not planning to use the car too much as the traffic is hideous.

It only took ten minutes to get to the Meriton Suites and we have a decent sized, one bedroom apartment with a balcony, dishwasher, washing machine

and dryer. Shame it's next to a busy main road. Niggled that on top of what we're paying they charge $21 per night for parking and add a 1.5% credit charge surcharge- and they only accept credit cards!

Coles supermarket just a two minute walk away so a spot of shopping and back to cook. Careful meal planning as there's just the one saucepan! Wifi is painfully slow, very irritating.

9th April - decent nights sleep, the bed is very comfy. Nice not to have to go out and look for breakfast and just to be able to have simple tea and toast for a change.

Washing in the machine and out for a walk, it's a beautiful day, bright blue sky and sunshine. We walked through a small park to a bridge over the main road and alongside a golf course. Lots of people out and about.
Up a small hill we discover quite a good view of the city.

Armed with our trusty Google Maps we set off for Baulkham Hills to visit Lisa, Joe and family for lunch. We decided it was probably easiest to go the direct route on the motorway so about 40 minutes to get there. We have an E-Tag fitted on the car for the toll roads so our credit card will automatically be charged. We keep hearing beeps which is a bit worrying..

Felt very emotional seeing Lisa after 15 years, she hasn't changed a bit but of course her 'babies' are now 18, 17 and 15! The house has changed since we last visited, lovely new kitchen, garage changed into a family room and a swimming pool in the garden. We sat outside the whole time, even when the thunderstorm arrived late afternoon and the heavens opened. Joe cooked on the BBQ and the hours flew by. Lots of discussion about similar problems that our two countries are experiencing and lots of complaints from us about how expensive Australia has become! Lisa did confirm that their wages are about 30% higher than the UK so suppose it's all relative.

Joe asked which route we had taken to get to them and when we said the motorway he whistled and said "that's going to cost you!" Turns out all those beeps were racking up a large bill for the toll, he reckoned $30 each way. I nearly fainted..but keep telling myself it was worth every penny (cent) to see my old friend.

Slightly nervous about getting back to the apartment in the dark but we got it right first time!

10th April - it's a lovely day again but the breeze is cold. We were going to go directly to Bondi Beach this morning but at Joe's suggestion we started at Watsons Bay and it was beautiful, hardly anyone around and the walk takes you out to Hornby Lighthouse, alongside a naval training base. It also takes you past a small cove called Lady Bay - a nudist beach (Joe didn't tell us that bit). Sure enough, there's a guy walking along the sand

completely starkers except for his baseball cap. Didn't know where to look..

From there we drove to Bondi Beach to do the coastline path walk from Bondi to Bronte. Several other people were doing the same thing, it's one of the touristy things to do. We were a bit disappointed with Bondi Beach itself, hadn't realised there was a small town behind it, always thought it was more isolated. We've certainly seen far, far better beaches on our travels. Big black clouds arrived..

Our final plan for today was to see Botany Bay and Captain Cook's landing place. Drive was a bit stressful, as usual could see where we needed to be but couldn't figure out the right road to get there. Anyway we managed and visited Kurnell first which didn't turn out to be that interesting, just a view of one part of the bay. It's a huge bay but has quite a lot of industrial areas dotted around it that aren't easy on the eye. Once we got to Kamay National Park we found the references to the landing. Derek was underwhelmed, he had imagined it would be quite a big deal but not so. There was an Obelisk and a few plaques telling the story but it was low key.

The drive back was much more straightforward - more washing on..and time to update the diary - only I can't because the Wifi is the worst we've experienced, it's painfully slow and driving us demented!

11th April - went to complain about the Wifi! A young lady arrived and twiddled about with the router and said we were missing a cable (we

weren't) and then said all should be fixed (it wasn't). Still can't load the travel diary at all so having to type everything into the notes app and when I've got decent Wifi I'll have to copy and paste it in.

We went to newsagents to buy our Opal cards (Oyster cards) that you can use on the buses, trains and ferries. Then caught the number 303 to Circular Quay and walked over to the Opera House. I'd forgotten how impressive it is and hadn't remembered that the roof is tiled. Bugger to do according to Derek, think he must have watched a documentary on it.

We walked round to Mrs Macquarie's chair for the mandatory photo and stopped for coffee in the gardens accompanied by two highly coloured small parrots.

Back to Circular Quay and caught the ferry to Manly as much as to give our feet a rest as anything. Had lunch there and caught the ferry back early afternoon and walked to The Rocks area which is the historic part of the city and the area we stayed in when we were last in Sydney. Visited the museum and it was quite interesting to see how the area evolved over the years.

Back on the bus and hoped we could remember where we needed to get off!

No Wifi improvement back at the apartment but we did manage to do our online check in for the motor home in NZ which they insist on being done. If you turn up at the desk without having done it they charge you $50 NZD for the inconvenience to them.

Trying to find best route to get to the Blue Mountains tomorrow, it's about 100km. Forecast isn't great which is disappointing - it's going to improve after we've left!

12th April - cloudy and grey but dry so we're going to the Blue Mountains. Set out at 9:30 thinking the traffic wouldn't be so bad but it's still busy. Took us 2 hours to get to Katoomba and Echo Point which is the first view of The Three Sister rocks. Lots of Japanese and Chinese tourists clogging up the place with their blessed selfie sticks! A short distance away is Scenic World - we did the skyway, cableway, railway and walkway. Great fun and nice to be in the countryside after yesterday in the city. There was a sculpture exhibition throughout the walkway which was interesting, some we liked and some we thought was eccentric to say the least.

Return journey was nearly 3 hours due to a road accident and it started to rain. Derek says he's not coming back to Sydney because of the traffic. Dinner out at a nearby restaurant which was OK except

having queried a menu item with the waitress I was surprised to be told "I don't know" instead of the usual "I'll check with the chef for you...." maybe she was new?

We're excited to be moving on to New Zealand tomorrow but wish we didn't have such a lousy flight time - struggling to decide how to fill the time until check in at the airport at 4:30 pm when our check out here is 10:00am.

13th April - checked out at 10:00 and drove to Centennial Park a short distance from the apartment and had a walk in the sunshine. It's a very large park and has a couple of ponds and some beautifully kept flower gardens. As usual lots of joggers and cyclists plus horse riders this time.

Next stop was the enormous Westfield shopping centre which reminded me of West Quay in Southampton. Went into the walk in barber shop and asked them to cut my fringe, very chatty Chinese man, so chatty he completely forgot that I said don't cut it too short! Bought some lunch to take with us to La Perouse which is another view point overlooking Botany Bay. There's a short wooden bridge there which takes you across to Bare Island which has an old fortification site but unfortunately it's only open to the public on Sundays. Moved on to Frenchmans Beach for a walk along the sand, lots of shells.

With our history in mind of always missing the turning to the car rental

returns and several trips around the airport perimeter we allowed plenty of time to get the car back to Avis. Of course, we got there very easily, there was no queue and the whole return process took about 3 minutes! The lady at Virgin check in commented "you're nice and early."

Flight delayed an hour due to having to wait for a Captain- suppose we couldn't really go without him. Then they asked for 3 volunteers to offload as they needed to take on more fuel due to adverse weather conditions around Christchurch. Didn't bode well but actually it was all fine and as we neared landing the Captain reported the weather hadn't been as bad as predicted...felt sorry for the 3 that offloaded!

Hello New Zealand!