Finally, 10 years late I arrived in Australia. All the Singapore airline flights were full so I had to fly British Airways. I have 300,000 BA Airmiles that I have had for nearly 6 years and am unable to redeem them. BA only allow 1 person to redeem airmiles on 1 flight. Even 1 year in advance I was unable to book an airmiles flight between UK and Singapore. The BA Executive Club and airmiles is the biggest con going. Unlike Singapore Airline and Virgin Velocity miles where you can redeem anytime. Predictably the BA flight down to Oz was 10 years behind their competitors. No hot towels, breakfast thrown at you in a paper bag. VHS cassette inflight video!!! A massive contrast to SQ Economy 60 digital movies on demand. Only redeeming feature is they serve wine by giving you the whole small bottle.
To cap a mediocre flight, Sydney airport has to be the worst airport I have used in the last 5 years. They insist on scanning all bags on entry. If this was done efficiently it might not be too bad, but its disorganised and chaotic. Allow over an hour to exit Sydney airport after clearing customs!
Pete's huge house. A fantastic home. Makes property in the UK look over valued. Which it is.
Pete's Lexus 250 with the Sydney Opera house in the background. A car so quiet and comfortable we all kept falling asleep as Pete drove us around.
Obviously like any tourist the first place to head to is Sydney Harbour.
And here is the Opera House.
And me :-)
The stunning sky line.
The Botanical Gardens.
Manly Beach.
Bondi Beach.
While I was there the surf on Manly and Bondi beach was disappointing. I have surfed bigger waves in Newquay, England!
No trip to Bondi would be complete without a walk round the cliff top walk and a beer at the Coogee Hotel
Down to the Hunter valley for some Australian Wine tasting.
Here we finally got to see some real live Kangaroos.
The Hunter Valley in all its glory. This photo was taken at the Tallavera Grove vineyard. Very nice spicy and peppery wine.
They even serve real ale in the Hunter Valley.
First sighting of a brand new Subaru Impreza. Where did it all go wrong?!
Back to Sydney and the Readoak Micro Brewery pub.
There were plenty of beers to choose from.
The best sea food in town; Doyles.
The view was stunning.
Group photo; Kimi, Steve, Lorraine and Pete.
The day we went to the 3 Sisters it was raining and it was so misty we could not see a thing!
Wandering round the Oz beaches we stumbled upon the beach they use to film the Summer Bay soap opera.
Pete pointing out the scenery.
Darling Harbour.