Doug and Elaine's Travel Blog
Blog posts of Doug’s travels while working for HP/Compaq/DEC
Our last workday in Sydney… we caught the train out to Rhodes again for meetings and delivery of training to the Oz team. Back on the train around 6PM… had a nice meal at restaurant next door. Then I went for one last walk around the harbour… who knows if and when I’ll be back.
That’s it from Singapore and Sydney! I’m now packing my bag for the homeward bound flight tomorrow morning. Looking forward to seeing Mom/Gramms tomorrow, but can’t wait to get home.
Love to all!
Wednesday brought a 4AM wakeup to allow us to catch our 6:45AM flight from Sydney to Melbourne. We caught the AirportLINK train from Circular Quay and took our 1-1/2 flight on Virgin Blue airlines into Melbourne.
Our path took us out over the ocean for a while, then we crossed over Canberra and on to Melbourne. This picture is of Jervis Bay.
The white topped mountains are a favourite skiing area about a 3 hour drive from Melbourne.
Our meetings were in the Convention Centre on the docklands in Melbourne.
We managed to jump onto an earlier plane than planned, which turned out very well, as we heard from others who said that our original flight ended up being delayed quite a while.
One more work day to go!
Tuesday was a full day out at the HP offices in Rhodes… a 30 minute train ride from downtown Sydney. Good meetings held with one of our partners and some of the local HP healthcare team.
When we were done, we took a Ferry down the Parramatta river from Meadowbank to Circular Quay in downtown Sydney.
It’s a bit too far to see detail in this picture, but in the distance beyond the bridge is the Olympic village from the 2000 Olympics.
This is our ferry, on its way up to Parramatta, before it turned around and came back to take back to Sydney.
During the trip down the Parramatta, you play ‘peek’ with the city… here’s a shot as we made one of the many turns.
Throughout most of the trip, the riverside was full of very nice homes…
A timely look over my shoulder allowed me to catch a nice bit of the sunset… as it’s moving toward winter down here, the sun sets around 5PM.
The river is pretty twisty-turny… but this is unbelievable!
As the daylight started to fade, the city is betting closer.
Cockatoo Island is the largest island in Sydney Harbour. Located at the junction of the Parramatta and Lane Cove rivers, Cockatoo Island is a former imperial prison, industrial school, reformatory and jail.
One of the larger tour boats that ply the river…
Early to bed, as we have an early morning to catch our flight to Melbourne.
Another gorgeous sunny, warm day in Sydney. We worked for the morning, then decided to take advantage of the lack of meetings to have one last tourist afternoon.
We caught the Manly ferry from the Circular Quay terminal and heading out of Sydney Harbour passed the Opera House and the downtown.
We had an escort on the way to Manly…
Arriving at Manly Wharf
Walking down the Corso towards the Beach
The Manly Municipal Council building is just one example of the wonderful architecture in the older parts of the city.
St. Matthew’s church
Further down the Corso
Manly Beach
Lots of surfers
Why the beach is called Manly!
View from the Bluewater Cafe where we had lunch
Manly Harbour
Many cliffs along the way back to Sydney
Back to Sydney Harbour
Sydney Customs House… behind the Circular Quay.
Back in the hotel… about to head out for dinner… more tomorrow!
Love to all!
Sunday morning dawned sunny and crisp… looking out my window I can see a mass of runners completing a 1/2 marathon across the Sydney bridge and onward.
I met up with Chris, Karly and Morgan, who had come into the city via train, at the Starbucks behind the Circular Quay. We took the Darling Harbour ferry out through Sydney Harbour.
Our ferry brought us to the Sydney Wildlife World and the Sydney Aquarium.
Chris, Karly and Morgan on the boardwalk.
At the Wildlife World, we saw many Koala’s but only found one with her eyes open!
Worse with the Kangaroos, they were all sleeping…
…one was actually standing up asleep.
We all had butterflys land on us… like the one on my hat!
After lunch, we went to the Sydney Aquarium, where we very lucky to get some pictures of a Platypus.
… and penguins
… an octopus
… a Dugong, the Australian Manatee
…a large number of Rays in the Shark Tank
… and, of course, many large, scary sharks!
At the end of the Aquarium tour, we sat for some time at the largest viewing wall I’ve ever seen! Could spend hours here just watching the myriad of inhabitants all swimming by.
As the sun started to sink, we took the ferry back to Circular Quay where we said our goodbyes and Chris, Karly and Morgan headed back home on the train.
Another wonderful day!
We arrived in Sydney around 6AM and caught a cab downtown to the Four Seasons Sydney hotel. We were very happy to be able to get into our rooms right away.
After a shower and change, we walked down to the harbour and had some breakfast. This is one of many, many pictures I took of the bridge and the Opera House today.
We walked out to the Opera House and then back around the harbour, through ‘The Rocks’ area and up onto the Sydney Harbour Bridge, where we talked out the middle of the span and back… taking pictures of the Sydney Opera House and the harbour.
We we got back to the harbour, we could see some of the groups that take the Bridge Climb which takes them up to the very top of the bridge.
We walked around the Opera House, where I took this from the back.
The Royal Botanical Gardens are right behind the Opera House, so we toured them too.
I was sitting with this view when I called my Babe to say ‘good night’.
There were several cockatiels just hanging out in the trees.
After a rest back at the hotel, as the sun started to set (around 5PM believe it or not), everything took on wonderful colours.
We stopped for a local brew and a light dinner at the Australia Hotel pub.
There are many more pictures, but here’s a good start!
Thursday and Friday were busy work days, so there were few opportunities for pictures, so I’ve included some other earlier pictures. This is a shot of the Four Seasons lobby as you walk in.
The view of Orchard Blvd from the roof top pool area really shows how beautiful the city is!
These pictures are more taken from on top of the Marina Bay Sands.
I was able to snap a quick pic on my cell phone as we were parking to visit Alexandra Hospital… too bad the vibrant colours don’t show as well as in person.
We headed to the airport after work and left Singapore on an old 747… pretty uncomfortable seat around 8PM and landed in Sidney around 6AM.
Today was another full day of meetings! Only a couple of pics from today, so here’s some from Sunday that didn’t make it earlier. This Mall (I shudder still) was across the way from the Sands hotel and we needed to walk through it to get the pathway across the water.
You could hire the little boats to take you a short ride inside the Mall.
This is the walkway around to the concert pitch.
The ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands.
It was so hot their clock melted!!
Raffles Hotel
Raffles Hotel
So today, after a bad foo foo dinner the night before, I asked Tim, one of the locals, to take Rob and I to a non-tourist, local cuisine dining experience. He took us to the Hawker Center (outdoor food court) at the Zion Riverside Food Centre. He didn’t disappoint!
Rob lifting his $5 Tiger beer… I’m bringing home a souvenir Tiger Beer mug.
Me with my $4 ‘complete meal deal’ — soup, rice, chicken and veg!
That’s all for today!
Tuesday was our first workday and was spent in the HP Asia Pacific HQ offices, so really no opportunity for photos. Because of that, I’ve included some earlier pictures that haven’t made it into a blog yet.
I’m staying at the Four Seasons Hotel in Singapore, which has a roof top pool area with a great view of the city.
On Monday morning, I walked out of the hotel lobby and snapped this pic on my smart phone of Orchard Blvd. This is typical of most of the streets in the city… lots of beautiful trees and flowers everywhere.
While we were at the Sands Hotel on Monday, I took this picture of their ‘infinity pool’ at the top of the hotel overlooking the city. The other picture is of one of the several hot tubs overlooking the harbour!
That evening, Keith and I went back down to the harbour for dinner and I took these pictures of the Sands Hotel and the downtown financial distric across the water from our restaurant. They have nightly laser light shows that draw big crowds.
The only pic I took yesterday was of a page of the menu at My Humble House restaurant… not my favourite meal by any stretch! The bottom entry on this page, if you can’t read it, is for “Braised Fish May and Mushroom in Shark’s Cartilage Broth”! Yikes!
That’s all for now! So long from Singapore!
Fortunately, we have today to try to get rid of jet lag and to visit a bit of Singapore. It’s only 35C (95F) and humid! It literally hits you like walking into a sauna.
I met up with 3 other HP’rs in town for the meetings and we took a cab downtown to the Marina district to visit a very new development called the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.
The 3 towers are all hotel rooms and the ‘surfboard’ on top is an immense viewing platform, restaurant and swimming pool complex.
Here’s a few pictures of the area many taken from the top of the building!
We had lunch at the famous Raffles Hotel. After lunch, we got out of the oppressive heat and humidity and cabbed it back to the hotel.
