After the Opera House we sat down for lunch just down the street, overlooking the harbor and the bridge. We then decided to look around the amazing botanical gardens. This is a huge public park that wraps fully around from the Opera House in the east to a dock area to the west. They are beautiful. There are many species of birds to be seen wandering and flying around, Parakeets, Cockatoos, Ducks, some lovely rainbow birds. The fauna is glorious aswell.
So we had a lovely complimentary breakfast. Amazing sausages, bacon and eggs for me, and pancakes and maple syrup for my lovely wife – Another blend of old and new world. After this we set off for the Opera House.
Off the plane, we cleared immigration pretty swiftly, but then had to face a long line in Quarantine. A really long line. The Aussies take their quarantine seriously, and quite rightly so. A large proportion of their natural wildlife has been threatened, is threatened, or has become extinct due to foreign invaders. In order to enter the country you are subjected to more stringent security measures than you are given to get on the plane in the first place. Your bags are x-rayed and searched, and you are asked a whole load of questions.
Once we had cleared quarantine (My lovely wife had tried and failed to get me confiscated), we were officially in Australia. We had transport arranged from the airport to the hotel, so we felt a little like rockstars as we looked for a suited gentlemen holding a placard with our name on it. Our driver, Frank, was great. He whisked the suitcases from us and led us through the airport to the car. All the way to the hotel (The Grace) he talked about many aspects of Australian life; recommendations of where to visit, where to eat. He wholeheartedly approved our plan to stay here for 5 days, he commented on how it was the perfect number of days to see Sydney – He scoffed at those who thought they could “Do Sydney†in just 2 days. Of course, I quizzed him on the best Pubs, and frantically wrote down names of the 200 or so pubs he began listing. My lovely wife looked disapproving as I scratched of plans for botanical garden walks to be replaced with a “couple of pints†at the Lord Nelsons, in the Rocks.
Working for Pelco, I often look for Pelco cameras in new places – much to the annoyance of my lovely wife I might add. However, I have never been anywhere that has so many Pelco cameras. Sydney is full of them. They are all over. Whoever is our sales rep in Sydney deserves an extra bonus. Even in Clovis and Fresno there are not this many of our cameras on public display. Outside of our hotel, there are Spectra II’s. The Opera House is protected by a combination of Spectra’s and Espirits. The Sydney Harbor bridge is covered in fixed Pelco cameras, and at every street corner there is a cluster of Pelco cameras. My lovely wife has banned me from taking any more pictures of the cameras, or even mentioning them but there we go.
