Tapp's Travels

Disaster!  Well, you knew it would happen!  There is a very sad Australian song by Slim Dusty about a “Pub With No Beer”!  We have our own real-life version of that!  We are booked to travel to Adelaide by train.  But we have just been told that the train drivers in Sydney are on strike.  No drivers.  No trains!  But I’ll get to that in a bit!

Leaving the Sarojin, the manager lined up security staff like an armed guard to make sure we did indeed go!

Emigrating from Phuket was a whole different ballgame to immigrating!  No queues.  No crowds.  No problem.  Lots of flowers all over the place.  Total contrast!

We had a stop-over in Singapore to avoid the night flight.   An easy walk to the airport hotel and a massive upgrade to a six-room suite.  Lots of space.  Shame we didn’t have any cats to swing.  On the down-side, so many more places to leave stuff behind!  “John – phone?”

One of the highlights of the departure lounge was the automated toilet!  As you enter the cubicle, the cover lifts.  The seat is heated and Beethoven’s 5th starts playing!

I didn’t even dare experiment with the controller!  It looked like dramatic water fountains and sprays might be involved!

Flying over Australia (for hours!), we passed almost exactly overhead of Uluru with the only significant settlement of Alice Springs visible on our left side.

The terrain gets a bit crinkly hereabouts.  The MacDonnell Ranges run for about 650 km east and west of Alice.  They include such superbly spectacular features as Kings Canyon (where, on a previous visit, we were rattled by one of central Australia’s bigger earthquakes) and Simpsons Gap (where I managed to permanently misplace my binoculars)!  Never a dull moment!

We arrived at the Radisson Blu on Connell Street in down-town Sydney late on the Saturday night.   As it was built…

… and as it is today!

An excellent location.  Less than 15 minutes walk to Circular Quay, Darling Harbour or the Botanic Gardens.

The harbour area by day …

… and by evening …

Robin suggested we take a ferry to Taronga on Sunday, and walk around the harbour to Bradley’s Headland.  “From there you should be able to see the SailGP races near Shark Island.”  Second day of this leg of the 2025 series.

On the way, there be dragons fiercely defending their favourite sunbathing spots!

We got our first glimpse of the foiling yachts as they sailed to the racing area.

At the headland we got a couple of seats …

… just as Starship Sydney sailed past right in front of us.  Robin and Linda held their wedding ceremony and subsequent fabulous meal and party on that boat!  Lovely memories of the day in August 2010 sailing around the harbour!

The Australian SailGP team had dominated the previous day …

… and were in an unasailable position and heading for the “winner takes all” final.  This final race is held between the top three boats after seven races.  Teams GB, Canada and Denmark and maybe one other team were competing for the other two slots.

Emirates Team GB won the first race by a country mile (at speeds of over 75 kph) – so they were assured a place in the final.  As a result of a (locally, strongly contested) penalty for sailing too close to the Canadians in the seconds before the start, the Ozzies were forced to concede ground.  Team GB got a head start and easily won the match.  The strongest team of the weekend came in a desolate and dejected third.  On the trek back to the ferry, we had to keep very quiet as all the unhappy, grumpy locals stormed past!!!

On the following day, we got more advice from Robin.  We were walking in the Botanic Gardens near the Opera House when he rang.  We were told we had 20 minutes to find cover and get into it.  We were heading for the Sydney Art Gallery anyway – so that’s where we went.  The heavens opened about one minute after we arrived …

… there was a torrential waterfall from the roof of the gallery!

The recently opened New Art Gallery contained some remarkable exhibits.  Some with scents and smells.  This one had paprika, tumeric and kangaroo poo, amongst others, in what looked like a massive multi-legged set of tights.

Some were copies of rotting lemons made of glass crystals …

… and others had flashing images (which were hard to photograph), but none of them would fit through our front door – even if we wanted them to!  Best left in the gallery.  BTW, I got the kangaroo poo thing a bit wrong, it might have been cinnamon!

Glenda discovered one lady in the toilets drying her dress under the hand drier having been soaked to the skin in the downpour.  It turned out to be her birthday, too!  Happy birthday!

Later that day, things dried out completely.  We walked to Darling Harbour past Starship Sydney’s moorings …

… and right round the coastal path which now joins up to the old town wharves, the road under the Harbour Bridge and the Rocks.  We were amazed how few people travel further from Circular Quay than the Rocks.  The sensitively developed town wharves were almost completely deserted.  A real shame!

On the final morning in the city, we Ubered to the Central Station only to find that we had arrived at a “Pub-With-No-Beer” type of station!  We checked in and were given a buffet lunch in the station café which majored on champagne – or, at least, fizzy white wine.  During this time Journey Beyond figured out how we were going to find our train!

Did we find it???  You may never know!