We left for Australia on October 14th and arrived on the morning of October 16th. With all the time zone changes and the date line, we managed to loose a whole day while in the air. Since I couldn’t sleep a wink, it felt like I had been awake for two whole days. We arrived in Sydney exhausted and spent. There was a long line, or as Aussies refer to it, a quay for the taxis. Since the country is on the opposite side of the world, everyone drove on the wrong side of the road. I flushed a toilet in the airport as well to see if the water drained down in the opposite direction. It did. I verified this by texting a friend and asking which way the draining tornado twisted in Orlando.
Most of the foliage is similar to tropical plants in Orlando. It was Fall in Orlando but Spring in Australia. Flowers bloomed everywhere but there were plenty of billboards to break up the beauty. Sydney has plenty of old historical buildings. I loved the old, well established neighborhoods we passed as we drove into the city proper. Downtown Sydney is modern, with new skyscrapers rising up everywhere. The newer buildings seem to defy gravity being slender slivers of glass and metal.
The Sydney Holiday Inn (55 George Street Sydney,
2000
Australia) is located right near the famous Sydney bridge and from the roof of the hotel it is possible to see the opera house. Terry and I just needed to rest and unfortunately the hotel didn’t have a room ready for us. The lobby had lime green 6O’s styled couches. I tried to nap on the couch but the urge to sketch took over. Terry got annoyed and started looking for other hotels downtown that might have a vacancy. She worked her iPhone diligently calling one hotel after another. The clerk behind the desk noticed her making the calls and soon enough we were given room keys. When we got in the room, I dropped my suitcase, pulled back the sheets and fell asleep in seconds. The sights would just have to wait.