Lunch was delicious! And the service was awesome.
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Upon arrival in our cabin on the Ghan we were served a glass of champagne--it was just the right touch.
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Note: I am sorry that we have not put an entry into our blog lately. We have flown home to Southern California to be with the gkids and kidults for Christmas and New Year. With all the excitement of coming home the blog got ignored. We have some stories of our trip into the center of Oz to post--here they are... December 6, 2011 We were up and ready to go today as we were booked on 'The Ghan'. The Ghan is the train that goes up through the center of Australia from Adelaide to Darwin. We were getting off at Alice Springs so we only had one night on the train. The Ghan is named after the cameleers who were brought in to control the camels that were imported into the desert outback. It is interesting to note that the cameleers did not come from Afganistan--but the Aussies called all of them Afghanis. The logo of the Ghan train is the camel. The trip was enjoyable, the service was excellent as was the food. The views out of the train's window were fascinating--changing all of the time. We saw trees, brush, flowers, green areas (which were unusual due to recent rains), very red areas, clouds with pink bottoms from the reflected sunlight off the red soil, and one lone kangaroo. We did not sleep much except when the train actually stopped for a few hours at night. We arrived the next morning in Alice Springs--the red center of Australia. We would recommend the trip on the Ghan as it was a wonderful experience. One last note: When the railway was completed the camels were not needed anymore so the cameleers were told to kill their camels. The cameleers could not do that, so they released their camels into the outback--now there are an estimated 1.5 million feral camels wandering the outback.
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Sydney, I have one word to sum it up --awesome. Shopping centers are many and fairly accessible. Ladies don your walking shoes and don't forget the credit cards. Oops! Almost forgot to mention that everything's very expensive, and even though the U.S. dollar is close to the value of the Aussie dollar, you best check the exchange rate. The shoe styles range from UGG's, to the cute sandals and slippers, to the totally outragious heels and stillettos. I think I'd be safer walking on stilts than some of the platform shoes. The younger women here wear tight, short and usually black skirts. Before you guys get all hot and bothered I didn't say all those young women should wear them. The good news is that I don't think I have seen the older women wear them. We chronologically challenged can take comfort in knowing that there are still some beautiful styles for those of us with a little more to tuck and hide. There are also some very interesting hem lines. I've seen many skirts that are short in front and slope down in the back, so the front may be greater than 6 inches above the knee and reach to the top of the heals in the back. There have been other variations in the hems of dresses, blouses, and skirts, but none more extreme. I went to a hairdresser here - Kristoff, who did a wonderful job of coloring and cutting my hair. Again, know you will probably pay twice what you would in the U.S. for services of equal quality. The nail salons vary in price, but you can find neat and clean ones for reasonable rates if not what you normally pay. There are a plethora of restaurants of many different types, but as far as coffee goes, I am still faithful to Starbucks. There is nothing that beats taking a brisk walk across the pedestrian bridge and down to the Imax Centre to sit with my Venti Soy (vanilla) Latte and watch the harbor with my best friend. (At least for now there is nothing better) The only coffee that has come close to Starbucks in my opinion so far was in Noumea, New Caledonia at "Le Bout du Monde".
I have to confess, I haven't done any grocery shopping here in Sydney, but I have visited the 7-eleven and other convenience stores. Here you will pay $4.00 for a Pepsi Max and a $1.00 for a daily newspaper. We try not to eat at the hotels where the cost are at a premium, but instead we try to find local favorites. We have even visited some of our old U.S. favorites. There are McDonalds, Subways, Hungry Jacks ( this is the Aussie name for Burger King since the title was already taken here in Oz), Hard Rock Cafe, Outback, Tony Romas, and KFC's. Transportation here is another adventure. A monorail zooms around the business district and will drop you off at many different desirable sites. It stops at shopping districts, entertainment spots, the harbor and more. Or you can try the buses. We did the off and on, double decker bus with a recorded tour of the city. We were able to get off and check out the sites before hopping back on to continue our tour. There is also a choice of 2 different routes included in the ticket, so we were able to hop off one bus and on the other as many times as we liked in a 24 hour period. There is a remarkable train system here, inside the city and outside the city. We haven't taken an intercity train yet or any train to or from Sydney, but it's an option. After renting a car in Melbourne and only using it to get to the airport to leave, we decided it would be wise to make use of Sydney's public transportation. Good choice and see we did learn. Who said old dogs can't learn new tricks? Notice I didn't say lightening doesn't have to strike us as the saying goes. That's because we've been on the ocean in lightning storms in a sailboat with a giant lightning rod (the mast). I don't want to push my luck. Sydney has so many things to do and places to see, like the bridge and the Opera House, but I let Gordon write about that.
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This is a Wombat--my favorite Australian critter. We saw Wombats in the wild in Tasmania--they are like round little bears.
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This is a Southern Cassowary bird. It looks pre-historic to me--what do you think?
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