Visit to Sydney - 27 December 2006 Wednesday

This morning we had a backyard breakfast with Connie and Philip. They enjoyed such an arrangement. We went to pick May and Tim in two cars. We parked our cars at Eastwood and travelled to Circular Quay by train.

We met Loretta, Kenny and little Ally at the quay. Connie, Loretta and May were beautifully dressed because we would go together to a buffet at the revolving restaurant at Centre-point that night. At about half past twelve, a total of 11 people boarded the Captain Cook’s harbour cruiser. This time, we sat at a long table parallel to the ship’s side. The lunch was again an enjoyable one. After lunch, we were told that we could go to the open top deck as we pleased. We were in time to find a plane writing some letters in the sky. “SAGEM” it wrote. How amazing it was! It was another busy time for photo-taking for everyone who had a camera. The cruise ended at about three.

Outside the quay, Philip, Connie, Yin Ping, Yuen Siu and I decided to tour inside the Opera House while the others walked around. The Opera House had different looks from different angles, inside and outside. It was like a beautiful sculpture. We bought tickets at a discount rate of A$106/ 5 persons at the booking office. The tour began at 3:45 p.m. A tour-guide took us round. She talked of the builder and some history of the Opera House. We entered the Concert hall but we could not take any photos inside because of copyright. Soon the tour ended after the last talk in the theatre for plays. We had a sip of orange juice at a shop underneath the Opera House. There we met everybody.

Next we strolled inside Royal Botanic Gardens. Philip intentionally rolled himself down a gentle slope of grassland. There Connie and Philip lay on the ground, talking towards the sky. We were only the watchers. We walked on, out of the park and turned on to the State Library of New South Wales. I took the last photo there because the battery in my camera became low. On we went past the Parliament House of NSW and Sydney Hospital. Soon we reached Hyde Park. Ho Keung started his bird-feeding. Ha! He was not afraid of bird-flu! We stayed in the park for some time. Connie and Philip went to take photos themselves.

Towards half past seven we stopped at Centrepoint. We paid at the counter for the buffet and queued up before the lifts. We waited for a number of minutes before we could reach the restaurant at one of the top floors of the Sydney Tower. It was a delicious buffet dinner but it was too much for me and Yuen Siu. It was dim inside. The lights above turned as the restaurant revolved, so we hardly knew what food we were eating at times. We could see the marvelous 360-degree night view of Sydney. It was a pity that I could not take a single photo there, but concentrate at my food or look at the view outside. It was almost 11:15 p.m. when we got on a train towards Eastwood. It was a tiring day for us all.