Touchdown in Oz!

G'Day from Oz!

Landed yesterday afternoon from NZ and were both immediately knocked sideways by the heat and general humidity of Sydney. Every pore in my body made up its mind that there was some sort of 'bush fire' happening all over my body and sent out the nescessary water appliances to put it out. Thank GOD for anti perspirant!!

Airport shuttles are strange things... a very cheap way of getting from the airport to your hotel but with the disadvantage of having to share the journey with other sweaty tourists and also taking the gambit of who gets to their hotel first. Over an HOUR later, we were STILL in this non-air conditioned, badly driven piece of plop seemingly passing the same streets over and over again. By the time we arrived at the hotel, the driver opened the door and Lou and I actually melted out onto the street.

At check-in, we were informed that we had been given a "complimentary upgrade to the best room in the hotel". Ever the pessimist I shrugged and thought to myself "Pft!, Yeah right, I bet they say that to everyone".

I was SOOO wrong! We opened the door to what must have been the honeymoon suite with 4 rooms and a spa bath! One room has already been adopted as 'The Chess Room'. I've been teaching Lou since New Zealand.

Today, we headed off into town to familiarise ourselves with everything and generally do the 'nesting' thing and of course make sure where the essential items like chocolate, pop and internet are located.
First stop - The Royal Botanic Gardens. This really is a beautiful part of the city with exotic plants and birds including Fruit Bats and moody Cockatoos. These badboys are angry. Didn't understand why they were so vocal, but at one point I was sure I overheard something being squawked about a pint and some sort of spillage.

Moving on over to the famous Opera House and Harbour Bridge or Coat hanger as the locals call it.
Stunning views and plenty of photo opportunities to be had. We're booked on the 'Bridge climb' so will keep you updated with pics etc on that.

We quite liked the idea of watching a show at the Opera House, so had a browse through the events listing to see what took our fancy. "An Indian Rhythm Spectacular" Sounds cool eh? Read on...

Although very impressive and at times inspirational, I do feel there should be a law governing the length of a drum solo - especially when it's all on one drum.

45 MINUTES LATER, even I was losing the will to live. At one point, I thought Lou was in danger of slipping into a coma (At one point I actually caught myself trying to think of ways it might be possible to lick my elbow -Lou). It wasn't all doom and gloom though, later on in the show, we were graced with some lovely melodies played on violins by two brothers in a typically Indian musical scale and some 'interesting' vocal performances from a highly respected Guru - all accompanied by more crazy time signatures by the solo drummer extraordinaire.