June 1st - A surprise trip - for some.

Having had to cancel our Hawaiian trip last October (and a long battle with the insurance company, to get compensation - the Insurance Ombudsman eventually ruled in our favour), we decided that it might be a good idea for Paula to try a short  flight.  Australia being the most logical destination.

Eschewing our usual 365 day travel insurance policy, for obvious reasons, doing it through our credit card attracted a $150 levy for a 5 day trip to Sydney and we decided it was worth the risk..

We timed it to catch up with two couples of cruiser friends, a few days before they set off on their World Cruise on the Sea Princess – the one we had to cancel.
 

As it was a short trip, it was more economical and more convenient to leave the car at Auckland airport, rather than the usual shuttle. Booked on line, we merely had to tap the credit card on the reader at the car park entrance and into car park A.

Check in was a doddle using the self-check-in kiosks, then dumping the tagged luggage onto the conveyor.  All so very easy these days.  No longer do we have to put up with a slow shuffling queue.  Slap the passport in the reader, press a few buttons and out comes your bag tag and the boarding pass.  Easy.
Hand luggage scanning was also a doddle; a well organised queue with plenty of scanners and staff.  Although we were flying cattle class, we had passes for the Air NZ lounge, so naturally enough, we headed straight there.  It was almost full!

Coffee ordering can be done on line (via your phone - what can’t these days…) or you punch your order into a touch screen and it gives you a time when your coffee should be ready.  I had to wait a while.

They also had a chef doing eggs Benedict to order but I opted for poached eggs and did my own toast.  Very nice too.
It always amazes me that some of the lounge guests are on the beer at 7:30am.  We’d applied for upgrades and when we approached the boarding gate, we were ushered to one side, but unfortunately, although they’d given us the upgrade, we’d been split.  So after some fluffing around, we were eventually put back in our original seats!

 

SYDNEY – June 1st

The flight was about 25 minutes late leaving and late into Sydney, but we were through Sydney’s smart gate in no time at all –which just meant a bit of a wait for the luggage!

We opted for a taxi to the Pier One Hotel just alongside the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The total taxi bill with the $5 toll, was about $65.  A bit more than a shuttle van, but no Tiki Tours and direct to the hotel through Sydney's ever busy traffic.

The only reason we opted for this Marriott Hotel was because Jo and Garry had booked for the night before the cruise, using up American Express points - and they'd only booked because Mal & Marie had, otherwise we would have stayed at the Ibis at Darling harbour. 

Wow!  What a welcome!  The lovely Doori had hardly started to check us in, when one of the other staff appeared with a glass of bubby each.  That is a welcome we have never ever had before, anywhere.

This was 11am Sydney time (1pm NZ time) and as our room wouldn’t be ready for a couple of hours, we dumped our luggage and walked through to the pier and settled into one of the comfortable ‘igloos’, hiding from the chill, but we placed a food order for the caravan parked out there.  We ordered the pulled beef tacos (3) at $19 and a ham and cheese toasted jaffle ($14).  When we were growing up, we had a waffle iron, which worked on the same principle – now a fancy name for a toasted sandwich.

The tacos were absolutely delicious - Paula had 1 and I had 2 of course. But the jaffle was a double portion anyway, so 4 large jaffles with ham off the bone and delicious gooey cheese!  Perfect.  As we sat there, what was the Dawn Princess cruised past.  Now renamed the Pacific Explorer.

We then opted for a walk towards Circular Quay and I turned to see a smiling lady, who I recognised immediately.   I told her she looked familiar and was she one of our cruisers?

“No”, she said, “I’m Maggie Beer”… (For non-Aussies or Kiwis, Maggie is a very well-known TV cook and probably on a par with the UK’s Mary Berry.)

Anyway, despite a chill breeze, we walked a while then turned to return to the hotel, spotting another TV chef whose name I can’t remember. Then walking past our hotel were our neighbours - Ngaire and Dennis, who are the only couple in the street who have been there longer than us.   Small world.

Back at reception and we were invited to help ourselves to the large chocolate dipped strawberries!

 

Our room was almost ready and Guiliano took our cases up but when we walked in, we weren’t exactly thrilled with the room. Top floor (level 3) and although waterside, so far down the pier towards the land end, that the view out was much worse than we expected, not helped by the overhanging beams So, back to reception and Doori, without batting an eyelid, arranged for a move further out towards the end of the pier.  Sadly, we weren’t too thrilled with that one either.  No opening window and still the overhang, but we merely expressed our disappointment to Giuliano – who has only been working there 4 days.

Half an hour later, a call from reception to say that they were sorry we still didn’t think too much of the room and that they’d move us tomorrow if that was OK.  They told us to leave our luggage and they’d move it whilst we were out. Excellent.

We opted for the food truck again, with pumpkin soup for Paula and a good meaty burger for me then a stroll back towards Circular Quay to check out ‘Vivid’, when Sydney lights up the bridge and harbour.  It was a bit cool.

Then, feeling tired, we just relaxed in our room.  Within minutes,  a knock on the door, and they brought a complimentary bottle of red wine and 3 delicious chocolates.

We were certainly amazed at the staff attitude and consideration.  Let’s hope the rest of this short break is as good. Tomorrow, we catch up with cruiser friends for lunch - the only two couples who knew we were coming over.  How long would that last?