The time my travel plans went wrong

 A few years ago I took the Ghan Train trip from Darwin to Adelaide, Australia, and loved every moment of it so I made it my mission to take the Indian Pacific train from Perth to Sydney.   I would then have travelled from the top to the bottom  and from the West coast to the East coast of Australia. I always enjoy making a plan and then carrying it out.

This was the plan but in reverse ( Photo Indian Pacific Publicity)

In high anticipation I duly booked the trip and flew the seven and a half hours to Perth from Auckland.  Perth is a fresh, modern city and I liked the look of it immediately but things went wrong as soon as I arrived.  Firstly I couldn't find a taxi or get an Uber, it being a busy Saturday night, so I set out to walk to my hotel from the railway station. Unfortunately I walked back and forth along the street I thought it was on several times before finding it tucked away down a side street.  When I went to check in I was told they had no record of my booking and the hotel was full, despite the fact I had received an email confirming my booking. The only room available was right under the hotel's very noisy air conditioning unit.  No sleep at all for the next two nights!

Fortunately I was booked to go on a 3 day tour of the Margaret River region on the third day.  That tour was wonderful (I have written about it in previous posts)  Run by the McLeod family tour company it was faultless. 

The Bell tower, Perth.  Interesting architecture

We returned to Perth for a two day stopover before catching the train.  Would you believe it? Hotel reception once again told me they had no booking for me and, yes, once again I had an email confirming that they did. Fortunately I stood my ground and managed to get a better room this time.  I spent the next couple of days sightseeing and enjoying Perth.  The night before the train trip was to start I went to the hotel bar to have a drink with some traveling companions I had met on the Margaret River trip. When I arrived one of them asked me "Have you heard the news?"  I hadn't.  Turned out the train trip had been cancelled due to flooding on the tracks.  What a disappointment, that had been the whole purpose of my trip.  So new plans had to be made.  

Janine and Steve, great companions making 
a trouble shared a trouble halved

Since the train was meant to go to Sydney and I had booked my flight home to New Zealand from there I needed to book a flight to Sydney which I did early the next day. Fortunately two of my fellow travellers booked the same flight.  I also contacted my hotel in Sydney and extended my stay for three nights.

The three of us duly went to the airport for our flight and guess what?  The flight was cancelled.  Talk about a comedy of errors.  We were told our flight would be the next day so needed to book a hotel near the airport for the night which we did.  To top it all off we exited the airport to find a taxi queue about a hundred yards long but none of the drivers wanted to take us because the trip was too short and they would lose their place in the queue for a possible longer trip.  Then the taxi drivers started arguing with each other, shouting and fists were raised.  Oh my goodness, by asking for a taxi we had started a riot! Finally a taxi from a long way back in the queue came to our rescue.  As we drove away we could see the taxi drivers still shouting at each other. Phew! We all had a good laugh about it later.

Lovely view of the Swan River and Perth from an unexpected stay at the Aloft Hotel 

The hotel we spent our night in was lovely, we all enjoyed it and were quickly refunded the cost by the airline. The next day we flew to Sydney with no problems and I spent a few days sightseeing in and around Sydney before flying home. We all agreed that we would be unlikely to book the Indian Pacific again.  I don't think cancellations of it are rare but who knows, maybe one day

Cocktails in Sydney

The very last insult was that my hotel in Sydney charged me for the night I wasn't there due to my flight being cancelled.  I had contacted them immediately the flight was cancelled but apparently that wasn't soon enough.

The question is "Did I have a good trip?"  Yes I did, I had a fabulous time. I met and spent time with some lovely people, I saw spectacular places I had never seen before, the weather was beautiful and evening cocktails at the hotel bar overlooking Darling Harbour in Sydney were a special treat.  I didn't come home feeling disappointed at all.  The trip wasn't what I'd planned but I'd made the most of it.  I'm a great believer in just going with the flow.

30 Hours in Sydney, Australia

It had been 15 years since I'd been to Sydney and although I have been there several times before I was really looking forward to my stop off in this beautiful city. Arriving by cruise ship on a romantically misty morning, sailing down the sublime harbour through its quiet sleepiness, staring, once again gob smacked, at the spectacular Opera House and admiring the heritage wharves, this was the perfect way to arrive.

I had a check list of things I wanted to squeeze into my extremely short visit, things that held good memories for me, things I had enjoyed with my husband and my son.  I thought the best way to get around the city would be by Hop on Hop off bus so jumped aboard and paid my $50AU for a day long ticket.  This turned out to be a big mistake. Why? Because it started to rain and the downstairs part of the bus was crammed to bursting with people fogging up the windows, hence no view. The only option was to go upstairs - but there is no roof! So there I sat miserable and cold with my umbrella up and rain dripping everywhere. Added to this the bus made lengthy stops at some of the bus stops and that, together with a lot of road works hold ups made for a slow and unpleasant trip.

HANDY HINT : Do not take the Sydney Hop on Hop off bus on a rainy day, it will be full downstairs and there is no roof upstairs.  You would be better to get a day pass for the train and go from destination to destination.  At least the bus commentary was good, although, due to roadworks, we didn't follow the normal route so  the commentary didn't fit some of what we saw.

Above and  below right: The Rocks

My first stop was at The Rocks, a beautiful part of Sydney and a place held dear by my late husband.  On his many business trips to Sydney he stayed there and he and I stayed there  together on a couple of occasions.  It was also at The Rocks that we celebrated our eldest son's 30th birthday. The Rocks was first settled by convicts in 1788 and although having had a colourful past is now gentrified, charming and character filled. Australias oldest pub, Fortune of War (1828) is located there too. Fortunately the rain eased and I enjoyed strolling the familiar, timeless heritage streets, picking and poking around the Sunday market, a great place to buy some good quality Australian arts and crafts.

I took the complete circuit on the bus and then decided it would be better to walk the streets from my Darling Harbour hotel.  Darling Harbour is a great spot, packed as it is with restaurants, bars, shops and with a safe sheltered boat harbour, the starting point for many  harbour cruises.  There are also a number of attractions there - Sea Life Aquarium, Madame Tussauds and Wild Life Sydney Zoo. It is an easy walk up to the central city from the harbour.  I love walking so spent several hours enjoying a close up and personal look at Sydney.

Part of the GPO in Martin Place 

The many grand, heritage buildings which are lovingly protected and give the city so much character are very impessive.  Martin Place boasts some of the finest, including the GPO which is 374 ft long and dates from 1866.  They don't make them like that any more! My own city of Auckland could take a leaf out of Sydney's book.  In Auckland, it seems,  many old buildings get ripped down with little respect for our heritage, our past.  It really grieves me.

Queen Victoria Building with the Town Hall tower on the right.

Something else of note is the huge amount of attention and respect the city pays to the ANZACs, that is the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian armed forces who have served in wars around the world.  There is even a daily ceremony to remember them at the large, impressive ANZAC memorial in Hyde Park.

The Queen Victoria Building or QVB, what can I say?  It is exquisite with it's sumptuous interior of stained glass, heritage tiling and chandeliers.  I walked around and up and down several times not wanting to leave.  If I'd had a companion I would have had high tea at a cafe purely so I could linger.

Then back down the hill to visit the Chinese Garden of Friendship, which is stunning and will be the subject of my next post.

Darling Harbour - not a bad view from my hotel room

Complimentary bubbles in my room overlooking the glorious Darling Harbour rounded out my day and left me longing for more time in Sydney.  I am determined to go back, for longer next time.  There are numerous museums and art galleries I wish I'd had time to see.  I would've loved to have had time to spend at the National Maritime Museum, since I work at New Zealand's. And I'd love to see Sydney, once again, in the sun.

It was interesting to note that the Sydney newspapers were full of exactly the same things New Zealand's are....the cost of housing, the housing shortage, population growth, immigration etc.  These topics are not unique to New Zealand, despite what many may think, or Sydney, or anywhere, they are universal problems. The population of Sydney is projected to be 8 million by 2050...the population of the whole of New Zealand won't even reach that!