Sydney

Have worked out how to add photos from phone, so you might want to have another look at yesterday's post. However now I can't upload camera photos to the blog! Merde!!! the Vibe hotel in Goulburn street is ideally located for us. The room is big, the beds are really comfortable and Julie didn't spend half an hour fussing over which pillow suited her best to sleep on, so that's a big tick in my book! All in all, we had a solid night's sleep and are much refreshed to see in our full day in Sydney. we headed down for a buffet breakfast in the hotel, which was very nice. I managed to leave the key card in our room, so had to very sheepishly head to reception for another card! We then headed up to the Museum train station which was only 1 block up the street, and caught the train into Circular Quay, 2 stops.

I had arranged to catch up with my old RAAF buddy and as I was concerned about her having to drive into the city and find parking, so convinced her to catch the train in. The poor girl, initially forgot her phone so had to go back to retrieve it, then there were works on the train line so she had to bus and train it until she finally arrived at Circular Quay an hour later than planned. She said she had gone through places she never knew existed! While we waited for Gayle, we wandered around the Rocks. Ovation of the Seas was berthed where we expect our ship to be tomorrow. It is humungous! Anyway, we finally caught up with each other and spent a wonderful afternoon together. Lots to catch up on too, having initially met as fresh faced and naive 18 year olds on our WRAAF recruit course at Edinburgh.

A light lunch at a nearby restaurant and then we wandered to the Botanic Gardens and then further afield to Mrs Macquarie's point.

Lots of work being done setting up for the nye fireworks. Finally found a cafe for a much needed cuppa, and then back through the gardens past the Opera House. Lots of people everywhere. Back at Circular Quay, we got back on the train to our hotel, and bid a fond farewll to Gayle, until next time. I just hope the poor girl gets home before dark! A much needed cuppa back in the room, and time to work on photos and the blog until...... Happy Hour! Had a lovely Haloumi fettucine for dinner and while we were chatting over our dinner somehow we were talking about phones and I said that when I still had a landline and people actually used phone books to look up numbers, my listing was still under my married name even though I had legally changed back to my maiden name! Julie then says, "You're like Nicole Kidman". WTF? I did not immediately get the connection, so when I did a "Please explain" she said that I'm just like Nicole Kidman because although she is married to Keith Urban, she has kept her real name... I never had the heart to remind her that she had also been married to Tom Cruise as I didn't want to prolong this particular line of conversation any longer! Just as well it was still happy hour! I truly wonder sometimes if Julie's synapses are all firing in the same direction. LOL! After dinner it was a quick walk around the block and then up to our room for a cuppa and Tim Tams. Time for lights out.