Dateline March 6, 2015, Sydney, and Then Home

The Russell Hotel.

With only a few days left on our vacation in New Zealand and Australia, we found an old hotel in Sydney called The Russell Hotel, at the Rocks.

Sydney's early convict days live on in the Rocks, a jumble of cobblestone streets and cul-de-sacs just five minutes from Circular Quay. You only have to step off the harbor foreshore to find the sandstone terraces and cottages and some of Sydney's oldest pubs. This historic precinct also draws both visitors and locals with its museums and galleries, lively weekend markets, and hotels with harbour views. The past and present collide in the best way in the Rocks, home to both ghostly tours and some of Sydney's liveliest celebrations.
— australia.com

The Russell is a fun boutique hotel with stairs to everywhere. Janice and John's room was on the first floor (bars and restaurants on the ground floor) in the second building. To get to that room with luggage, you cut through two fire-exit doors, up two stairs, down three stairs. Pete and Bunny had a room in the first building and had to go down two stairs and then, in the words of the staff, "uphill slightly" down a hall, to the last room before five steps of stairs. For us to meet in the reading room, we both went down five steps. Fun buildings.

The reading room has a cool balcony where we could watch the action in the street. To enter the building with luggage, you walk uphill to the back of the building, then up an elevator to the first floor, where reception is down the hall and two steps. The buildings and rooms are old but updated and very comfortable. The fun of being at the Russell is just being at the Rocks. There is activity going on all the time, and with only a few days in Sydney, it was the perfect place to stay.

The Harbour Bridge walk that wasn't.

Just up the street you can walk across the top of the Harbour Bridge. The cost was $250 per person, the walk takes over three hours, you have to put a full-body suit on, and you cannot take any pictures. It was 30°C (86°F) that day. We took a pass. If we wanted to get high, there were many great pubs at a much lower cost with air conditioning.

Phillip's Foote.

The first evening we went to Phillip's Foote Restaurant and pub, just up the street from the hotel. They had an interesting eating plan. The first thing was to visit the butcher and pick out your protein — steak, chicken, or pork — pay at the register, and they gave you your meat on a plate. You walked over to the cooking area and cooked your protein yourself (it is a large indoor BBQ grill). While the steak was cooking, you took the same plate to a buffet and picked out your sides. We could not think of a restaurant like that in the United States. Can you imagine a restaurant in the US that would allow customers to handle uncooked meat and cook it any way they want? It was fun, the meat was cooked to perfection, and if it had not been, there was no one to complain to but the chef.

Saturday at the market.

We spent some time on Saturday catching up on the blog, and it was two o'clock before we knew it. We walked up the street to the "market" and walked around the stalls. A cruise ship was in port, a block away from the hotel, so there were 3,000 of our closest friends competing for the tables outside the many little restaurants.

We settled on some kebab at one of the booths and watched the sea of people pass us by. Walking around more booths, we came to a gentleman with an incredible lamp of multiple colors that could be stored in a tube the size of a wine bottle. We bought one in green for the dining room.

The Kindle.

John had lost his Kindle at some point on the trip, so he took off on the long walk to the hotel we first stayed in on our way to New Zealand. No luck in finding it. He had already checked the lost-and-found at the Auckland airport without success; the only place left was the Sydney airport. (We have to report, no luck at the airport either.) While John was out, Janice made an arrangement to play golf at Moore Park Golf Club for 6:45 Sunday morning.

The Pony Lounge.

We fell in love with a small restaurant a block from the hotel called the Pony Lounge and Dining. It is an old brick-walled building with exposed brick and glass walls on the inside. The open kitchen has a large wood grill. We shared an appetizer of fried prawns with coconut and a wood-fired grilled salmon. The atmosphere, the ambiance, and the whole experience were fantastic. A wonderful place we would return to. (Spoiler: we did.)

Eight holes at Moore Park.

Our last chance to play golf in Australia began with a 5:45 cab ride the five miles to the golf course. We arrived about 6:20. We went to check in at the pro shop and were informed that we were only playing the final eight holes. We had paid online for 18, but the pro took great effort to explain that the booking system was a problem: it was not obvious what you were playing, and the system did not know to only bill for 8 holes. Since the course is owned by the city, the hope was that the government would get it fixed in July. It was the first time we had ever been scheduled for eight holes. The 10th hole ends at the clubhouse, so when tee times run out for 18, you can play eight as long as you tee off before the people playing 18 holes make the turn after the 10th.

The course was beautiful, with outstanding views looking toward downtown.

We laughed about the eight holes, but after an hour we were happy it was not 18 — we think it might have been close to six hours to play 18 holes. When we finished, we looked at the driving range. It looked like driving ranges in Tokyo: three levels facing out about 250 yards to the fence. The grounds inside the range all sloped to the center for ball collection. We watched several golfers at the range. They would hit the ball, the tee went into the ground, the machine dropped a new ball, and the tee came back up ready for the golfer to hit again, without having to bend over. There was also a jumbotron airing the current golf tournament on TV, so you could watch golf while you practiced.

We had a nice breakfast overlooking the putting green, then a taxi back to the Rocks. We did get a refund, since we had paid for the full 18 holes.

End of Vacation dinner.

Back at the hotel, we packed up for the 9:30 car service to the airport, worked some more on the blog, and went around the corner to a cute pizza restaurant for a small pizza. It was great.

The plan for the evening was the End-of-Vacation dinner with Pete and Bunny. We met in the reading room and shared our last bottle of Lambert Estate, a great Shiraz called The Commitment.

Pete and Bunny were going to pick the restaurant for our last night together. We all laughed when they picked the Pony Lounge. As we had said the night before, we would go there again.

When we arrived at the Pony, we were seated at a table served by Claire, from Normandy, France, who had also served our table the night before. We had a wonderful dinner and talked about the times we had enjoyed over the last 42 days, the great sights, the beautiful golf courses, and the magnificent people we had met along the way.

Home.

Up early in the morning, we headed out to the airport for the 24-hour trip back home. It was an uneventful series of flights, and it was great when we landed in Daytona Beach just before midnight on Monday night.

To summarize: 42 days. About 4,200 miles. Over 50 bottles of wine, six bottles of rum, and six bottles of vodka. Along the way we bought a "chill box" (what they call a cooler in Australia) that we carried in the car with our cheese, sodas, and cold wine. We donated it to Maxine, the fabulous receptionist at the Russell, who was so helpful in making many of our arrangements.

A great trip with our friends Pete and Bunny. And so we say goodbye to another adventure.