Arrival in Sydney, and jetlagged exploring and fireworks

On arrival at Sydney airport, which was about 7.30 am, we disembarked, bought some gin and some whisky for Dad and Jill, and proceeded through our respective border control queues (I won), before waiting for our luggage while being harassed by a customs man. We hadn't done anything about phone data, and so stopped at an Optus counter to ask what was possible on my phone. Turns out the girl really didn't know what she was talking about. I called the hotel to see whether our room was ready. Apparently it was, so we bought tickets for the train, and dragged our luggage down to the station and got on. It wasn't too busy.

I had chosen to change trains for the North Shore line at Wynyard, but it turned out it would have been quicker and probably easier to change at Central. We got to see Circular Quay, though. After going over the harbour bridge, we got off the train at North Sydney, and walked through Greenwood Plaza to the top on Miller. We walked up Miller St, which was a chore in the heat, and turned right onto McLaren and found the Rydges. We checked in, and found our room, which had a harbour view - just not of the bridge. We threw our stuff down, stripped off, and had showers, which felt good.

I felt refreshed enough, and enthused with Christian's keenness, to go out to explore rather than having a sleep at this point. After exploring the hotel and establishing that there was no roof garden, we went out, with no particular plan apart from to cross the bridge at street level. Our first stop was Greenwood Plaza, for a pidda lunch. Mmmm, pidda. We then walked east in search of the nearest piece of harbour, as Christian felt sure we could get there easily by just walking in that direction. I felt sure that you'd have to cross the highway or the Cahill Expressway, which make it impossible. We walked parallel with the expressway for a while, and then came to a road crossing at which we could have got to the eastern side of the bridge, but decided to head west down to Lavender Bay. The path took us downhill through a lovely shady park, and then under a railway bridge to the shore.

There were a good couple of handfuls of people with picnics laid out on the grass, obviously in residence for the evening's festivities. We investigated the water, got our feet wet, gazed at the bridge at close proximity, and absorbed the ambient mood. It was good. We walked towards the bridge along the shore, intending to check out Luna Park, but the path was closed. So we had to turn back and head up through the park the way we had come, and continued on through the many people, getting an ice cream on the way with the last of the dollars I'd brought with me, under the approach to the eastern side, and up the stairs to cross over it.

We walked across, stopping to take photos over the edge, and through the gaps, but didn't really get a good view due to the fences. On the far side, we looked to go into the pylon museum, but decided against it when we saw that it was $13 instead of the 'few dollars' someone had told us it was, and because we didn't want to spend time on it at that stage. We kept going past it, and took the stairs down the other side into the Rocks.

We kept walking towards Circular Quay, and emerged into the chaos before very long. There were sections closed for the fireworks, and people everywhere. We walked along the ferry terminals as I thought a short ride might be a good idea. And then we go accosted by the Captain Cook man in silly costume, and Christian decided that he'd like to do a coffee cruise, which was $39 each for two hours all the way around the outer harbour, and with coffee and cake. I agreed, though I was starting to feel quite seedy by now. We sat on the pier to wait for the cruise to start, and I was feeling quite cold, and incredibly tired. The boat arrived, and we boarded. I was keen to be in the fresh air/sun.

We got a spot in the middle of the back of boat (making photos difficult) but Christian moved around to get what he wanted. The tour guide was very good, and I learned a lot about the eastern suburbs. There was an awful lot of activity on the harbour, and a lot of boats were moored in preparation for the fireworks. The tea and cakes were good, and were what I needed to pick me up. I got a bit too much sun at this point, but enjoyed being outside - we moved under the shady section eventually.

Back at Circular Quay (at about 4pm) we got a train back to North Sydney. Walking through Greenwood Plaza, we debated whether or not to get something cold for dinner then, but decided against it, buying instead a bottle of bubbly for the evening. On the way back to the hotel, we found a couple of possible dinner options, but were leaning towards room service. At the hotel, we fell into bed at about 5pm and slept until 8. It was too late at that point to go back out for dinner, and Christian was a bit annoyed at the lack of room service options. We ordered though (a pizza for me, and pork for Christian I think) and the meals were quite good, and washed down with a bottle of bubbly that the hotel had provided in the end.

Then it was time for the fireworks. Out the window we could see one of the three sets of fireworks fairly clearly. We had the TV on, and the window open as well, and were both snapping away with our cameras. The TV coverage was a bit inane, and both of us found the TV ads quite irreverent compared to the UK. It was fairly exciting to be there, though, and worth the extravagant price of the room. We managed to stay awake to see in the new year, and went to sleep soon after.

Abu Dhabi to Sydney

In the early morning, even with ear plugs in, I could hear some really loud, annoying people upstairs. We'd been warned that the furniture would be moved at about 6am, and we woke up about then anyway. We got some breakfast, and I tried to investigate the shower, but there was a woman hanging around in the shower room, and I wasn't sure whether she worked there. I didn't really need one anyway. I just needed sleep.We chatted to an English/Australian couple who'd come in that morning, and then it was time for us to head off. Christian wanted to walk anyway.

We wandered around the airport, finding luxury cars as raffle prizes, the wrong kind of gin to buy for Dad and Jill, and the amazing dome in the main shopping area. We moved on to the gate, and waited for it to open. This leg (the long leg) was being operated by Virgin Australia. I went to find a desk that would let me change my meal preference, but failed. When it was time to board, we went through another round of security, and I had my water bottle confiscated, which didn't make me happy. That was forgotten, though, when I got to the desk (Christian was well behind me in the queue) and the woman told me that I'd been upgraded to premium economy. I checked that Christian was too, and went through to wait for boarding.

On the plane, we found our lovely, roomy seats, which were in the central four, and we were brought sparkling wine and our menus. Very luxurious. I checked with our cabin crew lady that I didn't have to have the low-fat meal, and she said no, and I also asked whether we could move along if no one took the two seats on the other side of me. She said that was fine, but to do it sooner rather than later. No else took those seats, and so there were quite a few spare in the premium economy section.

We had to order our meals in advance, because there were at least three choices, and the food was very good. When it came time to sleep, I stretched out on three seats, and found reasonably comfortable positions and got quite a lot of sleep. Luckily, because my feet were up, my ankles didn't swell. This is a Good Thing. We were woken up with breakfast before landing.

Hazlemere to Heathrow to Abu Dhabi

Our flight was at 1.50, and Christian had managed to check in online but I hadn't (yay stress), so after the final packing, we left home at about 10am. We drove, in a newly fixed and reliable car, to Rackspace, and after negotiating to have the witches hats removed from the car park entrance, parked on the top floor, away from enthusiastic painters.

The taxi, a mafia-style Mercedes with blacked-out windows, arrived in good time, and took us to Heathrow, dropping us at terminal 4. We went to check me in and leave our bags, and the woman printed my boarding passes, noticing that the e-ticket number was missing. So we had to go to the service desk, escorted by a friendly man, to sort that out. It took ages, but it was finally sorted out, and we went through security.

On the other side, we sat in a cafe and had a late breakfast (Christian had to go elsewhere for coffee) and then had a quick wander looking for Australian power adapters (unsuccessfully). Then we took a photo with the GoPro, got water and chocolate, and then wandered to the gate. We took our seats for the short leg, and played games, watched our progress, and played on laptop. In my wisdom, I'd decided to opt for low-fat meals on the website, and I discovered that meant I was brought my own meal well in advance of everyone else's, and that those meals were significantly less interesting and tasty than the other options. The first meal was plain white fish and rice (which were surprisingly tasty to be fair), and then a small baguette instead of a cooked meal. This wasn't what I was expecting, and I think I stole some of Christian's dessert.

At Abu Dhabi, we disembarked at about midnight, and walked through the airport looking for the Al Reem Lounge, which we'd booked for four hours in advance. The woman at the desk booked us in for the remaining time we'd be spending at the airport (which we paid for in UAE dollars, despite the quoted amount being in US dollars - bizarre), and went inside. We went past lounge chairs and tables, a bar, and an impressive array of hot food, and went downstairs where there were spare sofa chairs and took up residence.

I went upstairs to investigate what was included in our lounge pass, discovering that we had unlimited food and drink, and wifi. I proudly carried this information to Christian, with some orange juice, only to find he'd already worked out the wifi. We moved to some chairs with a table, and I went up to get some food. After eating it, we tried to get some sleep. Conditions weren't that conducive, and I spent much of the time being cold, but without the energy to put my jumper on properly, but I did get some sleep.