Hall-Reppens in Singapore: Going to Sydney, Australia

On Sunday evening, Erin and I departed for Sydney. The flight was scheduled to take 8 hours, which is about the same flight time as Chicago to London, but only about 1/3 as long as Chicago to Sydney! We arrived at 5:30 AM, and Rich had been kind enough to book a hotel room for Sunday night, so we didn't have to wait until 3 PM to get into our hotel. He had booked a room with a king sized bed, but Erin refused to sleep in the same bed as me, because she says that I snore, so we changed it to 2 singles. I think we lost a lot of room space in the switch. We dumped our luggage in the room, and rested for a few more hours. Unfortunately, our room had remote controlled room darkening shades, with the control next to Erin's bed, so we could sleep late into the morning. I like to be awakened by the sun, and get my day started right away. That is not Erin's style.

We finally started our sightseeing at around 11 AM. I was in the mood for an Aussie burger, because Australia is the biggest beef producer in this part of the world. We stopped at an information booth near our hotel, and the attendant told us that the only place that came to mind for burgers was McDonald's, because, "Burgers are a bit boring, aren't they?" Luckily, Erin's nose led us to a restaurant that had $10 entrees all day on Monday. The first item on the list was the "boring" Aussie Burger. It did have beet root on it, but did not have the traditional fried egg, thank goodness!

After lunch, we wandered down to Circular Quay, to book a Coffee/Tea Cruise on Captain Cook's Cruises. That was how Rich and I had started our trip in 1998, and it's a good way to see some of the important sights, get some historical information, and plan your visit. As a bonus, you start and end in the area of the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge, the 2 most recognizable sights in Sydney!

The boat was huge, and there were many people on board. We opted on going to the top deck, and sitting outside, as it was a beautiful day. The high in Sydney that day was supposed to be about 75 degrees, so it was about 15-20 degrees cooler than Singapore, and quite lovely. Apparently, there had been a huge rain storm on Sunday, but on Monday it was mostly sunny.

We stayed outside until the boat got to the ocean, and started to turn back to the Sydney Harbor. We decided to go downstairs to enjoy some coffee, as we hadn't had our caffeine fix yet that day. As luck would have it, they were just about to make the announcement that coffee was served, so we beat the rush! We had unlimited coffee, tea, and water (which we needed badly after our flight), and each person got a box of treats. The best thing was a little chocolate cake covered in coconut, called a "Lambikin", I believe. There were also little packaged cookies called "Tim Tams", that were slightly similar to "Kit Kats". There were also a couple of other items. The guide book included 20% off coupons for Captain Cook Cruises, which I forgot to use, because I heard the clerk say something to another customer about "Buy One, Get One Free". It totally forced the coupon out of my mind. After our wonderful cruise, we didn't even mind that we could have saved about $15, though.

We trudged up the hill to return to our hotel, taking in the sights along the way. Erin was surprised that Sydney had such a city atmosphere. There are lots of big office buildings, and the British influence is evident everywhere. The people speak with British/Australian accents. They drive on the other side of the road. They have huge tributes to Queen Victoria. Their buildings and streets have British sounding names. But, one difference that I noticed was that I thought the Australians were more similar to Americans in build. Erin disagreed, and said that you could always spot an American. I pointed out some people, and told her that you wouldn't know if that person was an American or an Australian until they started speaking.

When we got back to the hotel, Erin started looking through the guide books to see what she wanted to do during our stay. We made a list of our top priorities. However, after our flight, our cruise, our walk, and our planning session, Erin didn't have the stamina to go out for dinner. We had passed a Subway near our hotel, so I went out and got us some sandwiches for dinner. All I could think about as we were eating, though, was how disappointed Ben, our Singaporean foodie, would be in us!