A weekend in Sydney

A couple of weeks ago Wendy was sent on a conference to Sydney and I have beed recovering from having a small operation on my back so I got a cheap last minute flight and joined her for the weekend. Here are a few photos of what we got up to.

This is the hotel we were staying in. The Sheraton-on-the-Park is right in the centre of Sydney at Hyde Park and a wonderful 5 star hotel. As Wendy was staying here for the conference the week before we got a great rate for the extra couple of nights. Wendy even haggled and got breakfast thrown in, much to the upset of her manager who did not get the same deal. It maybe Autumn but the weather was beautiful and warm.

Me sat on a fountain.....not sure why exactly

This strange looking bird is an Australian White Ibis (so I've been told)

The hotel was nice and easy to find as it was next to the Sydney Sky tower

We are not sure why there is a brass pig outside the hospital but everyone who passed it took a photo so I thought why not. THE PIG IS ON THE LEFT The Australian mint, sadly they were not handing out free samples

Ozzy Houses of Parliment

The clock tower in the centre of the picture was the tallest building in Sydney when the harbour bridge was built. Things have changed a bit since then!
Me outside the Opera House

Wendy and the world famous 'giant coat-hanger'

This is the photo we missed out on back in 2007 when we were last here, both of the famous landmarks together

The last time we were in Sydney we did the bridge climb and went to Manly and Bondi beach so this time we thought we'd try something different. We hopped on a ferry and crossed from Circular Quay to Luna Park. This place was built in the 1920's for the families of the workers that built the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The entrance is a bit freaky.

Wendy and I enjoying one of the tamer rides

After some lunch and a few more rides we hopped onto another ferry and headed for Darling Harbour
Here we visited the Australian National Maritime Museum and went onboard an Ozzy warship and submarine

Wendy wanted a picture of me sat on the toilet in the submarine......not sure why..... Oh and thats 'the flush' I'm holding!!!

From here we caught the monorail back to our hotel and got changed ready to go out for the evening

This year is the 21st anniversary of Darling Harbour, I'm not sure what happened 21 years ago but in true Ozzy style they were having a huge party to celebrate. We were able to get a table at a restaurant right on the waters edge and watched the firework show whilst having dinner. It was great watching jet skis roaring around the harbour with fireworks shooting off the back, and 2 pontoons in the centre had loads of fire works going off from them.

After dinner we headed back to Circular Quay and the Ice Bar. Its kept at a constant -5C and is full of amazing ice sculptures. Everything in the bar is made of ice, right down to the tables and chairs and even the glasses you drink from. The one thing the bar staff kept reminding people of is to make sure you dont put you glass on the table without a coaster or else it will become part of it!! Sadly you're not allowed cameras inside so we took a couple just before we went in, looking stupid in our big thermal coats!

After we had a couple of cocktails, time was up so we left. My glasses instantly froze upon returning to a normal temperature.

It was such a relief to be able to walk about again without crutches and we both had a great time in Sydney. Next year the conference is in Brisbane so hopefully we can get a weekend away again.

As the weather is now closing in in NZ we'll hopefully be able to get a weekend skiing soon but not until my back a little stronger.