Getting some culcha in Sydney

[bPeteb]

Once state borders started to open up bAL was on on to me to start booking weekends away.

May Day, May Day and we were off to Sydney.

Booked red-e and upgraded on flight down, instant success. Didn't bother with flight back and that ended up being a good thing.

Initially booked Four Points through QF hotels but then saw a slightly better offer at the Sydney Harbour Marriott. Upgrade to Harbour Bridge view, bottle of wione, breakfast and late checkout, bonus points.

Had dinner with a friend Tuesday before we left who asked if we were seeing any shows whene we were down there. Nope. She said if we could get seats The Picture of Dorian Gray was getting raves. Got home from dinner and we got decent seats for the saturday matinee down one of the little wings at Ros Packer Theatre.

Booked an Uber Friday morning to ensure a car arrived then bAl wondered how much parking was. $39 for the three nights!! Cheaper than one way in an Uber. Of course parking is the usual chaos. Right at the top right at the back but it was $39 and we have legs and had carryon only.

Lounge not very busy. Food offering soupe and something else. Didn't bother. Just had a few bubbles

Flight to Sydney left 40 mins (I think) late. Dinner was actually quite a nice lasagne and wine flowed.



Great view of the city coming in.



We landed from the south.

Got the train to Circular Quay. Love the tap with credit card on the Opal readers. I wish Brisbane/Translink would catch up with this.

Very slow check in at the Marriott. Just one receptionist. We we third in line and had three behind us at one point. Our checkin was odd. I'm a low level Bonvoy member and I'd had it added to the booking. Maybe the presumption was we had stayed before. Literally just handed envelope with keycards in it. No mention of wine or breakfast and I didn't want to hold up the others behind us.

Super odd shaped room but it was a great use of an unusual space.



We'd specifically ask for one of these corner rooms if we stay again. Anything ending in 14 but also from level 14 and up. We were on 11. Bridge view yes but two floors too low to see the harbour. It was a bridge view, not a harbour and bridge view











just why??? I should have found a Sydney Star Observer and left it on top of them



we went for a wander around Circular Quay and then stopped back in at the Ship Inn for a few beers before wandering back around to the hotel.

 

[bPeteb]

Lucky we don't ever sleep in because the demolition work started right across from us at 7:30. No mention of this when booking or checking in. It was directly across from us so no privacy without sheer blinds down. AT least they didn;t work on Sunday but they were back at it Monday morning.

Morning view



Excellent breakfast in Sylvester's Restaurant down on the ground floor. Sorry, didn't get camera out. Lots of American's staying at the hotel. Saw AA crews a couple fo times in the lobby as well.

Weather very ordinary Saturday morning for our Opera House tours. I watched the opening of the Opera House from high up in the long demolished IBM building when I was all of 10 years old. I LOVE the Opera House. It is my favourite building in the world. I have been to just one show there, I would have been 10 or 11, a ballet from obscured view seats that were so obsured we ended up leaving.

We booked the general tour at 9, followed straight after at 10 by the architecture tour and also booked lunch at Opera Kitchen for a few bucks more. We told the guide of the first tour that we had tour straight after. He suggested we don't go on his but then said he'd signal to us when to leave his to get back for the second. He ended up getting us back just as the architecture tour was about to leave.

Loved the tours but sad the Concert Hall was still closed. We knew it was when we booked. It will re-open late June. It amazes me that this building is 50 years old next year.









We visited the Joan Sutherland Theatre on both tours



but on the second the dancers performing that night were on stage practicing. Very cool. No photos of course. Also visited Bennelong before lunch service started. What a beautiful space

 

[bPeteb]

More from the Opera House. We also went into the Drama Theatre and saw the set for Blithe Spirit. More about that later











The ticket with lunch was a set menu at Opera Kitchen. We both the chicken burger and a beer (also included). Decided to see if there were tickets available for either the ballet or Blithe Sprit. Ballet yes, in the gods and for scary prices. Blithe Sprirt six rows back dead centre. Booked.



It was fine by the time we headed to Roslyn Packer Theatre. Decided to walk and got our directions wrong and walked to Pier 3/4 before being directed further down the road.

Excellent seats in a little rown of four



How was Dorian Gray? We struggled. Put either if us in a dark space, a bit tired, breathing through a mask and we're going to struggle. And we did. We weren't alone. The two other people in our row also battled to stay awake. We both saw 90% of it and it was a pretty terrific production. Definitely won't be everyone's cup of tea but I loved the use of tech and the cast of one was excellent.

Gorgeous clear afternoon and a lovely sunset.



We had dinner at the Thai in the food court beside the hotel. Pretty ordinary meals that were swimming in salt.

Blither Spirit was fantastic. We both loved it and stayed awake for the whole show. Could have been the two cokes each that we had with dinner

Opera House and harbour bridge always look so amazing at night

 

[AIRwin]

We had dinner at the Thai in the food court beside the hotel. Pretty ordinary meals that were swimming in salt.

Book a Qantas restaurant next time and at least you'll earn some points...

 

[bPeteb]

No demolition to wake Marriott guests on Sunday morning. The restaurant was packed. They sat us in a crazy table literally under the stairs. I wish I had taken a picture. The people in a table next to us thought it was hilarious. Kind of was, kind of wasn't.

We spent the day on coughatoo Island, somewhere neither of us had been to. Loved it. Glorious weather. Did self-guided with audio for $6 each. If you haven't ever been you should go. So interesting. You can self camp or stay in a number of different kinds of accomodation from tents to standalone cottages. One group of three apartments are in what I'd describe as a semi and they have the most amazing views back to the bridge.

 

[bPeteb]

More coughatoo Island

Two of the retired Freshwater class Manly ferries tied up at coughatoo



To the left of this photo you'll see a couple of curved white roofs. This is the the Meares House, a 1999 Harry Seidler Meares House | Harry Seidler & Associates Our friend with the apartment on The World was the previous owner. It was offered to us to live in as permanent caretakers. All it would have cost us was manitaining it. At the time neither of us could transfer our jobs to Sydney Sadly the new owners have torn down the orginal boat house and ripped out the beautiful rear garden.







Apartments with a view - building 23





these apartments looked more west/north west



some of the dozens of tents

 

[bPeteb]

Few more from coughatoo

Had lunch at the cafe/beer garden looking back towards Balmain





















We ended up back at The Ship Inn for some more beers and watched the passing crowds.

Dinner is hard to find on a Sunday night in Sydney town unless we wanted to go over to Barangaroo and/or had already booked.

We ended up at The Spice Room in The Quay building and it was ok. Ordered a couple of things we hadn't ever had before and we like good

 

[Daver6]

Once state borders started to open up bAL was on on to me to start booking weekends away.

May Day, May Day and we were off to Sydney.

Booked red-e and upgraded on flight down, instant success. Didn't bother with flight back and that ended up being a good thing.

Initially booked Four Points through QF hotels but then saw a slightly better offer at the Sydney Harbour Marriott. Upgrade to Harbour Bridge view, bottle of wione, breakfast and late checkout, bonus points.

Had dinner with a friend Tuesday before we left who asked if we were seeing any shows whene we were down there. Nope. She said if we could get seats The Picture of Dorian Gray was getting raves. Got home from dinner and we got decent seats for the saturday matinee down one of the little wings at Ros Packer Theatre.

Booked an Uber Friday morning to ensure a car arrived then bAl wondered how much parking was. $39 for the three nights!! Cheaper than one way in an Uber. Of course parking is the usual chaos. Right at the top right at the back but it was $39 and we have legs and had carryon only.

Lounge not very busy. Food offering soupe and something else. Didn't bother. Just had a few bubbles

Flight to Sydney left 40 mins (I think) late. Dinner was actually quite a nice lasagne and wine flowed.

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Great view of the city coming in.

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We landed from the south.

Got the train to Circular Quay. Love the tap with credit card on the Opal readers. I wish Brisbane/Translink would catch up with this.

Very slow check in at the Marriott. Just one receptionist. We we third in line and had three behind us at one point. Our checkin was odd. I'm a low level Bonvoy member and I'd had it added to the booking. Maybe the presumption was we had stayed before. Literally just handed envelope with keycards in it. No mention of wine or breakfast and I didn't want to hold up the others behind us.

Super odd shaped room but it was a great use of an unusual space.

View attachment 276404

We'd specifically ask for one of these corner rooms if we stay again. Anything ending in 14 but also from level 14 and up. We were on 11. Bridge view yes but two floors too low to see the harbour. It was a bridge view, not a harbour and bridge view

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just why??? I should have found a Sydney Star Observer and left it on top of them

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Well it was founded by Mormon missionaries and I think still in the family

 

[bPeteb]

The demolition was back on at 7:35 but we'd been up for a while. The restaurant wasn't a mad house and no Harry Potter table for us. It's a really good breakfast. It's a really nice hotel. Great location. Lovely staff. Way too many small plastic toiletry bottles in the bathroom. Two bloody bibles. The wine having to be asked for. SO close to excellent but only very good.

We didn't need the late checkout as we dropped our bags and spent the day over at the zoo.





I first started visiting Taronga back in the late 60s. I then went to what was called back then OC at Sutherland Primary and we went to the zoo maybe once every six weeks. I used to love it. I remember when they opened the chimp enclosure and it was just the best. It just made me sad last weekend. It's no place for large animals. The elephants looked like they didn't want to be there. The tigers paced back and forth. I understand completely the need for zoos from a wildlife conservation, species continuation perspective, but I really think Taronga needs a rethink - birds and reptiles maybe but it's just wrong for big mammals and aquatic mammals as well. Very sad













at least the cassowary enclosure could have been a bit of Mission Beach rainforest. It just hid up the back

 

[maia200]

Few more from coughatoo

Had lunch at the cafe/beer garden looking back towards Balmain

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We ended up back at The Ship Inn for some more beers and watched the passing crowds.

Dinner is hard to find on a Sunday night in Sydney town unless we wanted to go over to Barangaroo and/or had already booked.

We ended up at The Spice Room in The Quay building and it was ok. Ordered a couple of things we hadn't ever had before and we like good

Interesting report. Thank you.

 

[bPeteb]

More Taronga















and that was it. We picked up our bags and after a coffee took the train back out to the airport. No huge queues at security. The J lounge was moderately busy. Our flight left before the flight that was scheduled before us. An upgrade would have been wasted as the car was waiting for us in the carpark back in Brisbane.

We had a great little break. We both needed to get away from work. We enjoyed everything we did and saw. Once upon a time I thought I could move back to Sydney. I haven't thought that for a long time. We would want to live on beach, bay or harbour and we couldn't ever afford to.

Next trip is to WA in August to go swimming with whale sharks at Ningaloo followed soon after by two weeks on NZ's south island in a Kit Camper.

 

[Gladstone Tim]

The demolition was back on at 7:35 but we'd been up for a while. The restaurant wasn't a mad house and no Harry Potter table for us. It's a really good breakfast. It's a really nice hotel. Great location. Lovely staff. Way too many small plastic toiletry bottles in the bathroom. Two bloody bibles. The wine having to be asked for. SO close to excellent but only very good.

We didn't need the late checkout as we dropped our bags and spent the day over at the zoo.

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I first started visiting Taronga back in the late 60s. I then went to what was called back then OC at Sutherland Primary and we went to the zoo maybe once every six weeks. I used to love it. I remember when they opened the chimp enclosure and it was just the best. It just made me sad last weekend. It's no place for large animals. The elephants looked like they didn't want to be there. The tigers paced back and forth. I understand completely the need for zoos from a wildlife conservation, species continuation perspective, but I really think Taronga needs a rethink - birds and reptiles maybe but it's just wrong for big mammals and aquatic mammals as well. Very sad

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at least the cassowary enclosure could have been a bit of Mission Beach rainforest. It just hid up the back

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I first visited Taronga about the same era.Do you think the treatment of the animals and their enclosures have changed or just people’s expectations bpeteb?

 

[bPeteb]

I first visited Taronga about the same era.Do you think the treatment of the animals and their enclosures have changed or just people’s expectations bpeteb?

I think treatment is much better and enclosures. I remember the bear and big cat cages from when I first started going to the zoo. They were horrific. I know they rotate animals with Western Plains. The free flight aviaries are great. Small monkeys/primates look to be having a hoot. Even the lions looked to be having ‘fun’. But the poor seals and sea lions and giraffes . I think it’s an expectation and attitude thing as well. Mine have definitely changed

 

[VPS]

Thanks for the TR

I saw Dorian Grey in Adelaide and thought it was excellent apart from a couple of bits that went on too long. Overall I think it could have been about 15 minutes less. Great acting and use of technology though

 

[love_the_life]

Thanks for the TR = been ages since we have been to Sydney for a weekend/short break. We used go a few times a year for the opera. Last time we stayed at the Marriott was when our flight from South America was so late we couldn't make the coach back to CBR. Was fine but we were exhausted anyway,
Always stay around the Quay when going to the opera and usually have an early dinner at Bennelong before. Lunch or dinner at Restaurant Hubert is also a pleasant way to fill in a few hours. They actually packed a doggy bag for us to take back to our hotel.