In the Land Down Under

Australia is a great country. I was informed by a local once we docked in Sydney that the city of 5.2 million was more populous than New Zealand. The entry into port was the most amazing and beautiful of this trip so far.  The approached the city through a narrow channel  curving through a very large bay covered with a hundred sailboats.  It was a perfect 25c outside, sunny with a moderate breeze. I and most of the passengers were on open decks to take it all in.  Breathtaking.

Our channel pilot, harbor patrol and our two tugs had to clear the channel of sailboats in front of us.

Our tugs lining up to attach either side of the Insignia to nuge us through the narrow channel.

We went by the famous Sydney Opera House, next to which we would have docked, except the Queen Elizabeth had priority. We sailed under the famous 1932 bridge that the locals call "the coat hanger." Similar the "Dolly Parton" bridge in Memphis, only with one hump. There were groups of people who climbed the open-air steps (1400 of them) to the crest.  They waved as passed pass.

Just after we passed under the coat hanger. One level for trains the other for cars.

Once tied up I went into downtown, did some shopping, stopped by the New South Wells Police and scoped out the railway staion and had dinner and a good Australian beer there.

Everything was open-air.: the trains on the left, restaurants and services to the right with large arched open entrances on each end, to the trains and center through the services area.

View from my table with a good beer. The Departures Board.

 After scoping out downtown hussle and bussle big-city Sydney pretty cool here, similar to NZ  in that almost all the women wore dresses.  Some skirts, busness dresses, lots of colorful summer dresses and knockout shoes.  Most had their hair done up nice, even when casual. Age wasn't a factoe, it seemed mostly tourists were dressed down.  Most men wore nice shorts and sandels, except for business suits and work uniforms. Very pleasant. One railway employee engaged me in a nice conversation about how he admired Americans.  He kept saying, "And let me tell you just one more thing." repeatedly.  Nice gentleman.

This railway map was imbedded into the floor of the staion when it was built in 1906.

I went back to the ship and packed a couple of change of clothes in alittle backpack and headed out to my cheap hotel.  My train didn't leave until the next morning and Insignia left port at 7:00 pm. After I checked in I hit the local entertainment district near the train station. It was interesting to notice that on the sidewalks, like on the roads here, people tended to pass on the left and stay on the left side of the walkways.

I found a sports bar that looked lively and found that they had all three major sports going on the big screen TVs: football (soccer), rugby and cricket.  They are serious, serious about all three.

There a lot of late night Indonesian massage parlors and Chinese .noodle shops

My hotel was cheap but, so was the room.  It was bare minimum.  It was like a college dorm room before the semester started: clean but bare.  It was just a short sleep anyway since I had to get up at 0600 hours and walk 15 minutes back to the train station.