Sydney – Day 4 – Monday 22nd February 2010

Well! What a scorcher. Hottest day by far. 37degC today. Bit too much to be honest. Good day for taking a nice trip around the harbour though. Captain Cook would be amazed at the ships now bearing his name. We went on a Magistic (their spelling) Cruises Catamaran. Fully air-conditioned, thank you very much. I was in seventh heaven. Beautiful buffet with everything I like. Big prawns, prepared oysters, mussels and so on. Bottle of Chilled Hardy’s something or other. And watching the world go by. Or, at least, all the famous landmarks and scenes. Two hours of perfection. Once again, took a few photos.

Returned to the hotel after that to relax for an hour or two. Then went for a ride on the Monorail. This should have been a nice relaxing trip over the streets of Sydney. But the air-conditioning had failed and it was very uncomfortable so we were glad when it was over. Returned to the hotel again to cool off.

Sydney is a lovely city. It is a shopper’s paradise and some of the shops and department stores are quite historic, such as the Queen Victoria Building on George Street. It really is quite spectacular. Joining George Street and Pitt Street is the beautifully preserved 150 year old Strand Arcade. In contrast there are ultra modern shops and shopping malls. The very stylish Galeries Victoria are a case in point. But the whole city is bursting with fine dining places, markets, museums, galleries and a whole host of “places of interest”. Far too numerous to list, let alone to visit in a short trip. There are theatres, dance companies, bars, clubs and sporting venues. All you can do in five days is visit the major attractions and just scratch the surface of the rest. To say I am impressed with Sydney is a bit of an understatement.

We have been out this evening to see the city by night. Pretty good. Also still very hot. 32degC at 10:00pm.