A Visit to the Antipodes

[I_r_a]

Hi All,

     My Lady Wife and I recently experienced a lovely visit to Australia and New Zealand.  Here is a short report on the visit.

     Packed up the car and drove to Atlanta airport (ATL), where they had changed the roads and I couldn’t find the off-site lot I wanted.  Ended up in “economy” parking, from which we had an unpleasant walk through the parking lot to the terminal.  The return was much easier as there is courtesy transportation – if you know how to find it.

     Off to Los Angeles, where we spent the night at the Hilton Curio Collection.  A new super-modern hotel with all sorts of buttons and switches – eg, open and close the drapes.

     The next night it was off to Sydney on a really, really big Qantas Airbus A380.  Although it was a very long flight (15 hr) it did not seem any worse than crossing the Atlantic (8 hr) in a smaller plane.

     On arriving at SYD, we discovered that we had flown right past Wednesday and into Thursday  The return trip was even faster, as we left SYD at 09:30 on Wed and arrived in LA at 06:30 the same day.

     Very nice stay in Sydney at https://www.rendezvoushotels.com/hotel/sydney-the-rocks.  Our fifth-floor room looked directly out over the harbor to the Opera House.   (See image below).  The hotel does not offer breakfast, but there are several cafes very close by.  In addition, there was a small kitchenette from which you could cook your meals if you wished.

     Sunday, we taxied to the White Bay Terminal to embark The Noordam.  The ship has a $20 special – all you can pack into the laundry bag.  Very useful.  We used it twice.

 

     At 6:30 PM we set off for a 14 day tour around New Zealand.  The scenery is spectacular, the people are wonderful, the wine is excellent.  Pictures to follow. 

 

    After the cruise, we spent a few more days in Sydney at the same hotel, before the whirlwind flight back to LA.  We spent two very interesting nights aboard the Queen Mary (hotel) before flying home.

 

    More to come.

Ira

[cruisebie]

Beautiful view from your hotel.  I'm looking forward to hearing more as I hope to do this cruise one day.

[schmerl]

Looking forward to reading more!

[SuSuTrav]

I too am thinking cruising around New Zealand and will be following this report! We loved Sydney over twenty years ago and would like to return there too. 

Edited May 25, 2019 by SuSuTrav

[I_r_a]

Interesting places to eat - in no particular order.

Creperie Suzette - across the street from the hotel. Very good for Breakfast.
Shiki Japanese Restaurant - about 1 blk down the street.


Pony Dining - across the street from Shiki
Masuya (Japanese)  Basement Level, 12-14 O'Connell St.  Excellent
Sir Winston's  at the Queen Mary Hotel. -  Very, Very, Very Good



More to come

[erewhon]

Thank you, am looking forward to the remainder of your Antipodean cruise report

 

[ski ww]

Sounds & looks interesting so far, looking forward to hearing about your cruise.

[I_r_a]

Friday and Saturday we explored Sydney via the HopOnHopOff bus, visited the Museum and also the zoo, where we saw the new tiger cubs.

 

        Tiger

 

   Keeper with Tiger cub

 

 Important fact:  The fish we call a Grouper in the US is known as a Groper in AU.

        What do they call someone who harasses women?

 

On Sunday, more or less, bright and early we set off to board the Noordam.

Embarkation went smoothly.

 

We booked an aft-facing cabin, VB 7136,

 

View from Cabin

 

   Bedtime  Critter

 

Nothing of particular interest about the cabin.

 

Some random pix taken aboard The Noordam:

 

      Decoration In the Lido Market

 

  Dessert in MDR

 

It was a gray and misty morning as we slowly entered Milford Sound.

 

 

        The scenery

        was spectacular

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                 That is not a small boat.

 

 

 

Edited May 29, 2019 by I_r_a

[I_r_a]

It was a gray and misty morning as we slowly entered Milford Sound.

   The scenery was spectacular

 

 

   This was not a small boat.

 

 

More to come.

 

Ira