Sydney or bust

 The flight to Sydney was pretty much 99% smooth with only a few areas of turbulence. They took a bit of a jog around some buildups but nothing unusual in that. We landed just after 8:15 am Sydney time with both of us getting some good sleep during the night/day/evening/morning :-)

On a heading to intercept final approach into SYD

 

We got through customs quickly as they have the photo recognition system all set up (so mostly just posing for the camera) and then down to baggage claim which already had our bags on the belt. We easily gathered them up and once through imigration, found the Uber line. It was actually very impressive with a huge cue of over 100 Uber cars in the parking lot!!   It took a few minutes to get to the front of the line but we eventually got a nice Ford Ranger Crew Cab pickup... good thing with all the bags following us this trip!

Off we went and 15 minutes later we were at the Hyatt Regency downtown. As we had arrived early, our room wasn't ready but they were kind enough to store our bags for us until it was. With the bags safe, we decided to walk around the area. 

 We stopped at a breakfast place along the boardwalk and got our flat whites and a nice meal. No internet so we headed back to the hotel and used their complimentary wifi to get some e-sims for our phones.  Managed to find a Australian/New Zealand deal for each of us.

Off we went for another walk about and soon found ourselves at the Queen Victoria Building. It featured a beautiful exterior and was loaded with several floors of high end shops and eateries. Stunning architecture.

Queen Victoria Building

Stairway with stained glass

Huge clock with calendar built in! 

 

Here is Kelly at one of the Specialty shops for kids! And here is mine right below... :-) 

And no... I did not buy it!

 

We found a wine store with very reasonable prices and grabbed a bottle of Kim Crawford for Kelly and some pale ale for myself. Back at the hotel, we picked up our room keys and headed up to the 12th floor. Our bags already placed there by the staff! Nice service!

We are dragging a bit but we will push through until at least dinner. We walked out our hotel room door and after 40 steps, found ourselves in the Zephyr rooftop cocktail bar. We could only afford one drink each but managed to take a few pictures :-)

View from the Zephyr deck.

After the cocktail was drained, we headed down to the Dundee Arms for a some dinner. It is part of the hotel and, although not attached, is an easy ride down the elevator and a very short walk.

 

After dinner we decided to walk along the waterway and take in the sites & sounds of Darling Harbour. There was lots going on with packed restaurants and plenty of party boat goers lining up to board their respective cruise boats.

 

Lots of great pics along the way....

 

Crown Towers Sydney

    The sun was slowly going down and so was our enthusiasm to keep going. We did manage to grab a geocache on the Prymont Bridge so it was still a win. With my step counter hitting 14,800 I was done. It's now 8 PM local time and we are blogging and watching a bit of TV before pulling the pin on today's activities. We did our best to extend into the time zone.

 

Plans for tomorrow include.. walking, and eating :-) as well as a return to the Opera House at 10:30 am for another tour....  hey free tickets so why not!