Au Revoir Antipodes

Yesterday, our final day in the Southern Hemisphere was spent checking out of 57 York St and checking into 67 Sussex St where the Hilton Hotel is.  Sussex St holds fond memories for me.  It is where I got too much hair cut off with Road Scholar friends, Jennifer and Betty.  It was further down the road in Chinatown, though, so I wasn’t too traumatized by the reminder.  The hotel was very nice, new and located just off Darling Harbor.  We walked to the Central area and had a great pizza.  Today we are flying home.  See you in 20 hours.  Ha.  Some things I noted along the way to remember about our trip.

1.  The wine in Australia and New Zealand is very good.  I especially was fond of the Pinot Gris.
2. Affogato: a desert of ice ream, espresso and Fra Angelico that I WILL make. We had this in Fortune of War, Sydney’s oldest pub.
3.  Rug Up phrase means to  put on a coat.
4.  In Christchurch there is a piece of the 9/11 building that was brought by US fire fighters to commemorate the earthquake.

5.  There are no screens on windows in New Zealand.

6.  In New Zealand there are few places with air conditioning, including restaurants and supermarkets

7.  In both NA and Aus you never get a check at your restaurant table.  You just go to the cashier and they miraculously know what you ate and how much you owe.  It eliminates prolonged waiting and the tipping dilemma. However, we did once walk out without paying.  Fortunately we realized it, and returned to pay.

8.  Bugs are everywhere in New Zealand.  Locals claim the unusual prolonged rains are to blame.  We were inundated with an influx of flying crickets one night, cicadas last night.  See #5
9.  Major construction for a light rail is in Sydney.  It has been prolonged and disruptive.
10. There is a free light rail in Melbourne that traverses the downtown.


New Zealand Sounds