Sydney 2009 - Day1

Finally the day arrived for our trip to sydney. My mate Daniel came over at about 10 AM and mum drove us to the airport. As our flight wasn't due to depart until 12 miday we had some time to go and grab a bite to eat and a drink before making our way through security and all the way to gate 12 of the QANTAS terminal. After a fairly short wait we were boarding the aircraft and taking our seats. Also boarding the plane were the Melbourne Storm rugby league team for their game against the Sydney Roosters at the Sydney on .

Our flight, operated by a 767-338 took off from runway 27 and soon after take off penetrated the low cloud that was producing the drizzle in Melbourne that morning. After gaining enough altitude we turned to the north and flew more or less in a straight line over Albury, Yass and Campbelltown. Around there we turned to the east and flew over the Royal National Park and out to sea before doing a lazy arc around Cronulla to line up and land on runway 34 L. We taxied straight into the gate nearest the runway at the Sydney Qantas Terminal.

After collecting our bags we made our way to the train station and each bought our train tickets and waited for the train into town. Soone enough the train came and we stayed on all the to Town hall where we got off and then walked to our accomodation.

The room, or rooms , er appartment is great. it's on the 35th floor , but is really on the 25th as the lobby is level 10 for some reason. We each have a bedroom and a bathroom to ourselves. We flipped for the one with the ensuit, which Daniel won. I don't mind really. The room has a small kitchen with stove, oven, microwave, fridge a laundry with washer and dryer, and has a TV and stereo/DVD player. It is clean and comfortable and is more than adequate really. The only downside is that the balcony is locked and we can't go out there.

Having settled in to our room we set out to see the sites, heading straight along George Street towards the Quay. On the way Daniel stopped to buy a prepaid wireless internet modem. We walked around circular Quay and right around the opera house. To get back to our hotel we took a ferry to Darling harbour via Milsons Point and Balmain East, and we alighted at Sydney Aquarium and made the surprisingly short walk back to appartment.

Soon after we decided to head back to Darling harbour and had dinner at a Japanese restaraunt, we had an entre of gyoza dumplings and miso soup before or main meals. I had Pork Katsu Curry which was quite good. For desert I had some chocolate mud cake. right after we paid our bill a fireworks show began out on the harbour, great timing really. it was in honour of Darling Harbour's 21st birthday and is happening every Friday and Saturday all of May.

After the fireworks finished we decided to walk to the Star City casino to have a bit of a look around. We walked around the floor for a bit stopping to watch some roulette and a few other things, but didn't gamble ourselves. Finally we went back to the apartment and watched some TV before going to bed.