Sydney

The weather forecast for Sydney was clouds and rain, but it was beautiful, no rain, no clouds. bright sun. And each day after it just got better.  What a rush it was just getting to a real city with real food, real architecture and a real hotel.  Back in the real world..

April 4, 2001
We've been to Sydney several times and tis was more of a visit with old friends stop. The circular quay, George Street, the opera house, the rocks; all so familiar and all so beautifully laid out.  Sydney is a world class city with wonderful people.

We ended up in the club lounge for a glass of wine but the cacophony of a couple of brits we referred to as Lord and Lady Plushbottom forced us back to the room.  In fact everytime we made it to the club lounge there was Lord and Lady Plushbottom scarfing down all the free food and drink and chatting away with their loud pompous voices, recalling their visits to other countries, and probably other club lounges.
We went on a mission today.  Sometimes all you need is a mission to get you out into the streets. In the vitrine of the Inter-Continental, we saw a beautiful set of black pearl earings from a company named Bunda, located in the Queen Victoria building.  I said they were $300-$400, Gretch said $3,000-$4,000.  And so we went over to check them out.  And this was were we met Veronica Bunda and her son Matt.  The earings were about $1,200, but they did have a diamond setting and they sure looked great on Gretchen.  So did the black pearl necklace too.  Matt Bunda is a great jewelry designer, one of the best I have ever seen. There are a lot of amazing craftsmen in Sydney.

Another long walk around Darling Harbour, a ride back to the circualr quay in the Rocket water taxi, a visit to the Australian Wine Center to pick up a few traveling bottles and a visit to the Opera House to see if we could catch a play that night.  No luck, the theatres were sold out, and so we went to the ver trendy Rockpool restaurant in the rocks, the flagship restaurant of star Australian culinary chef Neil Perry; a great meal.

April 5, 2001
Another early morning walk through the Botanical gardens and a visit to the new W hotel built on Woomolong Bay, built into an old warehouse; a very contemporary looking place with a lot of very clever modern touches and big rooms, not at all like the W Hotels we've seen in the US. There was a navy Destroyer in the harbor at Woomolong Bay that was so big it could have it’s own zip code.  I think they said it had 4,000 people on board.  It was on a mission around the world to show every country how big it was.
A walk back to the Hotel past the large trees with bats so big they could carry off small children, picked up our clothes from the laundry and met our friends Geri and Michael outside the hotel and onto a wonderful lunch at the Bathhouse Café, a beachside restaurant in North Sydney.
They dropped us off near the Queen Victoria building and we picked up Gigi’s pearls. Then it was off to the Australian Wine Center to sample some of the Ozzie wines at the wine bar and ended up having a bay bug pasta dinner.  After tasting a three or four varieties, they brought out the 1998 Lindeman’s Limestone Ridge. Gretchen bought a case of it to be shipped home. She'll sometimes complain that I buy too much wine.  It was great to see her get the wine buying bug.