Goodbye to Sydney and Hello Hong Kong

Such a lot to catch up on.

On Saturday we met up with Kay's friend Tanya and headed to Darling Harbour to watch the Dragon Boat Racing - which was part of the celebrations for Chinese New Year. One of Kay's work colleagues, Nicola, was racing and her team won! We couldn't see much in the harbour as the place was packed but it is one of the places on the must see in Sydney list. We met up with another of Kay's friends on the way back - Crystal, who Luke has promised to marry - and Lee got to visit the Bavarian Beer Cafe (and drink a Gentleman's pint - a litre!). We also met Amanda, who Kay works with and went to New Zealand with, before they headed out for the night.

We were in a bit of a quandary on Sunday morning as to whether to wake Kay up for our planned visit to Taronga Zoo. Amanda had kindly lent us her guest passes so we could get in for free. Kay not only got up but made us a picnic lunch Amanda joined us too. Our only trouble was parking when we got there as it was slightly busier than we expected and we had to park several streets away - okay but there seemed to be huge spiders in gigantic webs strung from every hedge to every lamppost (and that was in the posh suburbs outside the Zoo). We had another photography session with Koala's - but this was much better as besides the 'official' photograph we were allowed to take our own ans she took some with our camera too - PLUS when we realised we'd forgotten to have a picture with Luke's nursery Lion (Roary for those that haven't met him) they kindly took him back into the enclosure and held him next to the Koala so we could get a good shot. Luke's favourite animal was the 'orange monkey' - which was actually a huge Orangutan. We returned to Kay's for a BBQ with some of her friends and Luke DID NOT want to go to sleep.

Our final day wasn't spent as we'd planned as I spent much of it at the GPs and then the hospital. It was a false alarm and I am fine - don't panic mum - but it was better to be sure. Luke did get to spend some time on the beach as Auntie Kay came to the rescue and took him to build sand castles. We also found that you may be on the other side of the world but it still takes 8 hours to get out of A&E once you are in!

Yesterday we had to get up early as the taxi was booked for 8am to take us to the airport we waved goodbye to Kay as she left to catch her ferry to work and 45 mins later we were crossing the harbour bridge and saw her ferry arrive. If it hadn't been for the 3 cases and the pushchair it would have definitely been easier to travel to the airport by ferry and train (and a lot cheaper and quicker too). We did a bit of souvenir shopping at the airport (okay it was mostly for us) before our flight to Hong Kong.

Luke kept asking 'Are we on the runway yet?' and as soon as I said 'yes' he was asleep he slept for 3 hours but them was awake for the remaining 9 hours apart from the last 10 mins of the flight - he must be affected by a change in air pressure!

Today we had a pre-organised tour of Hong Kong courtesy of Quantas. We met 'Billy' our tour guide who has the weirdest turn of phrase I have ever heard - his English sounded like he was originally from Sweden and there was more than a little innuendo and lots of weird substitution of words - glorious for genuine, switching for scaffolding, - the end of every comment was punctuated by 'yeash' or 'you da boss' and he kept talking about 'fat cats'. He has a son in LA so that might explain it. He also seemed to have lots of little sidelines - he had an associate who took our pictures a the first stop, then disappeared and came back later to sell us a copy of the picture plus a cut out of the same picture stuck onto a plate for £15. The bus driver was selling postcards and I am sure Billy took a cut from every stop.

First we went on the 'optional' extra trip on a Sampan around a floating fishing village and restaurant, then we went to a jewelry factory - which was looking through a window at 3 men putting gems into settings and then the hard sell in the shop, then we went to a market where everything was $100 (for 3, 6, 7 items) but we could only stay for half an hour, finally we went on the Peak tram ride (for the return trip only) where we travelled down the peak at a 45 degree angle - very weird experience and I hope the photos/video do it justice. With several hours to spare after the tour (we declined the optional extra of being dropped off somewhere in Kowloon to make our own way back via the Star ferry) we explored the shopping streets - again we were travelling with our mini celebrity - Luke and is red hair - so he did get a few waves. We made quite a few purchases of Thomas the Tank Engine items - including the Chinese Dragon for his train set - and may be back to buy a suitcase to carry all the extra baggage in!

Our plan for tomorrow is to brave the local train system and visit Disneyland Hong Kong (about an hour away by train) - ahh you understand now why we need the extra suitcase!

Claire

Opera to Koalas

After a slow start settling into Manly and getting the shopping done for our stay here we finally hit tourist mode on Monday and boarded the ferry into Sydney. Manly is a 30 minute ferry journey into the city centre and this is the view that greets Kay every morning when she travels to work. The ferry docks between the Opera House and the Bridge and then it is a short train journey to her office - all this (and back again) for £20 a week.


Our first stop, naturally, was the Opera House we walked to it, then around it and decided to go inside. This was a bit tricky as the 1956 design didn't really allow for access and we had to be escorted by staff to a lift in the area where sets were being made up for the Opera later in the week. Once inside we asked about performances but were told if Luke made the slightest noise we would be thrown out as Australians are very intolerant of children - best not bother then. We did book a tour, which was fantastic, and Luke managed to just about stay quiet for the hour. The Opera House looks amazing at any angle but close up takes on a whole new beauty. It has now been listed as a site of historical importance. We spent the rest of the day wandering around the quay to the Sydney bridge and back through the area called the Rocks - the first settlement in Sydney - before meeting Kay on her way home from work and catching the ferry back to Manly. If you ever get the chance to go and don't have children with you there are plenty of regular events you can go to experience the Opera House - I liked the look of High Tea where a singer will give you (and the 50 or so other guests) a private performance. Back at Kay's we had Kangaroo steak for tea!


Tuesday we decided to use the tickets that Kay bought us for Christmas and visited the Sydney Tower. Rather than catching the train we walked up the main shopping street. There is lots of shopping here - each train station, like our underground, is situated under a shopping mall. The Sydney Tower was no different and after searching in vain for a lift that worked we finally gave up and used the escalator for the pushchair. Luke has given up on walking and after losing him in a supermarket on Sunday for about 2 minutes we've given up caring about how much he's using the pushchair. The tour starts with OzTrek that takes you through the sights and sounds of Australia and ends in a virtual reality cinema - luckily Luke was too young for the moving seats so we got to sit in the stationary ones! The views from the tower were amazing and we could just about see Manly in the distance. We found it hard to pinpoint exactly what everything was but eventually worked out where the Olympic Stadium and Chinatown were. We could also see the afternoon rain clouds coming in and managed to get back down the tower before the rain really started. We then walked, in the rain, to Kay's office to meet her for dinner - we took her to Chinatown, which she hadn't been to before, a few blocks away. We were finally allowed to use the train (as I was dead on my feet) and ended up being very late back but it meant we saw the bridge and the Opera House lit up (and Luke saw the moon).

Wednesday we decided to have a day for Luke and used our tickets for the Aquarium and the Wildlife Park which are next to each other in Darling Harbour (two ferries away) - another place for shopping and eating. Luke spent most of the first crying because he wanted to go on the train and most of the second playing his Leapster and shouting Go! Go! Go! from the pushchair - I'm afraid all of our tempers were frayed. Lee and I loved it. The highlight was having a photo taken with a Koala - we weren't allowed to touch them but she did nearly fall on my head at one point. Because of the train issue we took the monorail from there into the city and then got the train back to the quay - only just making the ferry back to Manly.


Today we are probably going shopping and Friday is the day that Lee and Kay are going to climb the harbour bridge - I'm (luckily) looking after Luke.