Well, anyway, let’s make the most of it; so first some fish and chips before we hit the sand. A big black and white bird followed us to a bench and made it quite obvious he wanted some too, so I threw a chip, gone in a second. This couldn't be healthy for the poor thing; it isn't particularly healthy for us either but that wasn't going to stop him, by the end I think he had as much as I did. The bird turned out to be called an Ibis, a bit different to the seagulls at home.
We had arranged a car to take us to the Blue Mountains about two hours away from Sydney. Once we arrived we changed the car for a four-wheel drive, the driver being the guide. The scenery was amazing. We were shown cliff edges that seemed to fall forever, were shown smoke from fires that had been burning on and off for years. The highlight, though, was the Three Sisters, as they were called: three rock stacks rising majestically from the Jamison Valley. This short trip was an eye-opener of the natural beauty of the Australian landscape. We had heard of a restaurant called Doyle's on the Beach that has wonderful views over Sydney as the sun sets, so this became our port of call that evening. A short taxi ride around to Watson’s Bay and soon we were entrenched on a table on the beach with shade from a parasol; it had the wow factor right away. We ordered a seafood platter for two and a nice bottle of Sancerre to come with an ice bucket. The sun began to set and what a view we had of it, spectacular. Dinner over with and now dark we asked for a water taxi back to Circular Quay . After a few minutes we were told it had arrived. I had no idea what was going to happen next; in fact I thought it would be a gentle sightseeing cruise back, I couldn’t be more wrong. This boat flew across the harbour; so clinging to a rail the blur of the harbour side whizzed past and within minutes we were deposited on Circular Quay. The view of the Sydney harbour bridge and the Opera House from the water was amazing, a great experience. Just time for a few more drinks in a bar before bed, another long day ahead of us. The next morning started later than we had hoped; I guess jet lag had caught up on us, but never mind, we hopped on a bus armed with beach regalia and headed for Bondi Beach. Most people have heard of this beach and the anticipation was ever so slowly deflating once we arrived. Ok, it has something, but so do many other town beaches, Barcelona to name one. Well, anyway, let’s make the most of it; so first some fish and chips before we hit the sand. A big black and white bird followed us to a bench and made it quite obvious he wanted some too, so I threw a chip, gone in a second. This couldn't be healthy for the poor thing; it isn't particularly healthy for us either but that wasn't going to stop him, by the end I think he had as much as I did. The bird turned out to be called an Ibis, a bit different to the seagulls at home. We spent the afternoon on the beach our heads facing the sea, toes to the beach; the opposite of at home. Soon enough it was time to pack up and head back to Sydney for our last dinner in this amazing city. So after a good shower to get rid of all the sand, off out for drinks and dinner, we ended up in a nice trendy type of restaurant. I chose to have kangaroo but the second I ordered it I thought “o no”, but too late, the waiter had disappeared, I would have to stick with my choice. I was glad I did because it was delicious. A great ending to my first, but definitely not the last, visit to Sydney. I had sent a letter to Olympic outlining all that had happened on our outward journey but hadn't received a reply. When we arrived at check-in for Olympic Airways we were asked if we would like to wait in their lounge; just before departure we were taken onboard and shown into the first class cabin, my letter had done its job.
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My first trip to Australia seemed to take forever. Because flights in the early 1990's were quite expensive we chose to fly Olympic Airways via Athens. Sounded ok on paper but in reality it was a nightmare. We left mid-morning on the first haul destination Athens, only to find out we would be making a stop at some Greek island or another. Most passengers seemed surprised at this, it was almost as if Olympic were making this up as they went along. We landed at the island and the purser onboard started shouting literally “not Athens, stay in your seats”, still some people got up taking their bags from the overheads, but the crew carried on shouting “not Athens sit down”. Havoc reigned, one poor man close to us obviously didn't speak English nor understood Greek; he was in a major flap and the way the crew spoke to him was dreadful, almost pushing him back in his seat. He was completely lost as to what to do, just in panic and, to be very honest, the crew did not help in any way. People came on to the plane and about forty five minutes later we were off again, hopefully to Athens and yes an hour or so later we landed at Athens airport. We were to spend the night here in a hotel before the onward flight to Sydney. So safely tucked up in our hotel, it was just about dinner time. We felt like we had been traveling for days; off we go in search of dinner. Athens in November was very mild and it was nice to walk around the city without the masses that converge here in the summer months. Dinner and a nice bottle of wine done and dusted, back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep before tomorrow's flight to Sydney. After breakfast off we go again to the airport and after a couple of hours waiting we boarded what must have been one of the oldest Boeing 747's on the face of the planet; the aircraft felt like it was held together by chewing gum, sticky carpet and cigarette smoke. We had got lucky seats by a emergency exit door, so masses of space to stretch out, but here we go again: more problems with the Olympic crew and we are still on the ground. A woman was being brought on board via the door by us as she was in a wheelchair. Once up at door level the crew member by the door should have pulled her in but he wouldn't because there was a gap of a couple of inches between the ramp and the aircraft. By now the woman was in tears so I got up and pulled her in with absolutely no problem, people were by now complaining about the crew member, a man in his late twenties. I made it quite plain that I wasn't happy about the treatment he gave this paying passenger but little did I know that worse was to come. Finally this old bird rattled down the runway and we were off, next stop: Bangkok. During the twelve hours or so to Bangkok we noticed our helpful crew member was regularly returning to the seat in front of us and had a stash of about three miniature bottles of red wine and was happily swigging them most of the journey. Once he started on the third bottle I let it be known we had seen what he had been doing and I made it plain I would be contacting Olympic once we arrived in Sydney. I must say at the time I found it annoying if not dangerous this guys antics, but now it makes me laugh, flight safety in those days ha ha. One night in Bangkok, my first but most certainly not my last, and the next morning we were off again to Melbourne. By now we had been travelling for more than two days and another ten hours in front of us. We only had an hour on the ground in Melbourne and another crew change, an announcement was made that this flight was to be non-smoking as it was no longer an international flight and here we go again, the only ones smoking were the crew, ok in the galley, but still. Finally we landed in Sydney… Yippee: only two and a half days to get here. Bags collected we headed to our hotel. It was late morning Sydney time but our body clocks were saying otherwise. We ignored this and set off on a walk to Sydney Botanic Gardens and, as it turned out, on to Circular Quay. Time for some lunch, the sun was shining and it was quite warm so we had lunch outside. That out of the way we made our way back to the hotel. We fell into bed and didn't wake up until about six thirty that evening. Time for a shower and off we go for a few drinks and then dinner. Our hotel was right in the thick of it; bars and restaurants a plenty, so dinner and a nice bottle of Australian white wine behind us, time for bed; a big day ahead of us tomorrow.
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GaryBorn in Chiswick West London, grew up in Royal Berkshire, currently living in Amsterdam, the Netherlands Archives
March 2016
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