Leaving NY's JFK on November 11, We arrived in Sydney on November 13 and boarded our ship, Regent's Navigator, yesterday afternoon, November 16. Reflecting on our 4 days in Sydney, we found the city both beautiful and terribly expensive, even for a New Yorker.

One of our traveling companions, who is even more extensively traveled than we are, stated that, next to Rio, it offers one of the most gorgeous harbors he has even seen. It is extensive, yet transportation is readily available in terms of ferries, monorails, trains, and buses. Nothing seems farther than an hour away. The wildlife and outdoor activities are abundant and we barely scratched the surface. We woke up early on the 15th and headed for our balcony overlooking the harbor and the Sydney Opera House. We took lots of photos along with other guests all decked out in Park Hyatt robes, cameras in hand. We smiled to one another and said "hello." While rain had been forecast, and the air was cooler but heavy with moisture, we decided to head out early. Doug wasn't keen on climbing the bridge, but still wanted a good view of the city. The price for a climb was a hefty $200 per person and the thought of climbing it in the heat of the two prior days or in rain today, made me back off from nagging him to do it with me. We stopped and picked up a wonderful almond croissant at a French cafe, La Renaissance, and then we headed to walk across the bridge at a lower level and go up the pylon vantage point. We took a couple of wrong turns before finding out that the pylon was not open until 10. Since it was only 8 something, we decided to go to the zoo.

The first boat out was at 9:45, with the zoo opening at 10. The cost of an entrance ticket to the zoo is a hefty $43 per person, and you still have to get there. You can take a Captain Cook's tour or a ferry for a 12 minute ride or a 30 minute bus ride. The cost of a ticket on Captain Cook was $49 pp, so we opted for that. There is another wildlife park, which is indoors near Sydney as well as a Koala Sanctuary, where you can pet the koalas. Some of our cruising friends went to the other spots, but those will have to wait for our return trip. We ran back to the room to pick up my Disney rain poncho and an umbrella. Doug hates carrying anything other than his camera, so took the umbrella grudgingly. We were among the first to arrive at the zoo ( Aside: I am writing this outside on the Navigator pool deck and this guy is snoring so loudly I can't think. I'd like to hit him and tell him to roll over...what do ya think?) and took the 5 minute sky car to the top. Underneath us we watched the new baby elephants playing and chimps napping. Once at the top, we made a beeline to the koala bears. There were about three of them sitting in nooks of tree branches, backs braced against one branch And their foreheads braced against another. One woke up, looked at us to let us know he wasn't a stuffed animal, scratched, looked at us again and fell as quickly back into his sleeping position as he came out of it. We noted the signs that stated that these bears were in an drunken stupor, spending most of their time sleeping, brought on by their diet of eucalyptus. However, we were told that they are really just all looks and no brains (they have incredibly little brains), with such a slow metabolism, that they sleep about 20 hours per day just to metabolize the eucalyptus leaves. We moved on from these furry airheads to the Wild Australia area to get our fill of local animals. The platypuses were boring, but the kangaroos, especially the wallabies, were inquisitive and friendly. The little Tasmanian devils were quite frenetic, a stark contrast to the koalas. The wombats, Australia's answer to the groundhog (whose slow movement and girth can ruin a front ar fender), are the size of pigs, but being nocturnal, were not terribly thrilling. We spent time wandering around enclosures which allowed for lots of up close encounters with red kangaroos, grey kangaroos and the little wallabies. Then the rain came down! We took a few rides on the sky car and then hopped the next boat back to Sydney and stopped for lunch at a local pub. We tried to take a tour of the opera house, but the tours were booked, everyone else having the same idea of a great way to avoid the rain. So, we booked a tour for 9am the next day and wandered back to relax and change into dry dinner clothes. That night we had a great meal at Sailor Thai.

The next morning, we stopped by my new favorite patisserie and then wandered over to the opera house tour. We realized that the opera house was really a performing arts center, offering Shakespeare, comedy, ballet, theater and even Oprah Winfrey with Oprah's upcoming show being the hardest ticket to get at this venue. Surprisingly to us, the opera house is older than we thought being first realized as a concept back in 1959. Most of the original drawings were very 50s and, at the final moment, the judging panel decided on the vision we know today. It was originally projected to be complete in three years and 7 million dollars. Due to design issues that had not been well thought out, it wasn't completed until 1973 and $102 million dollars later. The Essential tour gives you the history as well as some front and backstage views of the opera house. The tour is $40 per person, but you can receive discounts through coupons in airport books or by saying you are retired. The ultimate cost for a one hour tour was $27 pp. After the tour, we walked through the lovely botanical garden next door-- a bargain being FREE! Here, we found wild birds in their natural habitats, eg, lorakeets and cockatoos, as well as the beautiful gardens abutting the harbor. We needed to get back to pack and move to the ship so, unfortunately, we had to cut our walk short.

So, in retrospect, what do I recommend in Sydney? If you like walking tours, the 1 hour The Rocks tour is interesting as is the 1 hour Opera House tour. We also enjoyed our 2 hour Captain Cook coffee tour was enjoyable as was the botanical gardens walk. I would have climbed the bridge if the weather was perfect and I felt that the $200 pp could not have been better spent. I heard someone say her 84 year old mother did it and folks even did it in the pouring rain. The zoo was also a fun way to pass the day. The ferry and walk around Manly was relaxing.

I would like to return. Knowing now what i know, I would visit the wildlife park, which is indoors, so it is good for hot or inclement weather. No one we knew visited the koala sanctuary, but that could be fun too. Other options also include the hoho bus or the hoho ferry. I would probably try to see something at the Opera House if anything grabbed my fancy. In good weather, the Blue Mountains would make a good day trip. As far as food, most folks liked fish and chips kiosks, Doyles in one of the harbors, Pony in The Rocks area, Aria pre-theater or post-theater prix fix, Sailor Thai and the delicious La Renaissance patisserie. I'm sure there are many other good places but these are the only ones I picked up during our short time there. As far as hotels, nothing seemed farther than 10 minutes, all were walkable and were close to public transportation. Everyone we met was very satisfied with accommodations. The Hyatt has a superb location and excellent service. We loved it.

There seem to be two key areas which are about 10 minutes from one another. One is near the Circular Quay (harbor) and the other is the downtown area, in the shopping district.

As far as museums, I only saw three. All were free. One was the Discovery Museum, which was very small and hadn't too much of note. Another was an historic home, also tiny. The third was the Contemporary Art Museum, which I didn't see and can't comment on. There is also a museum in one of the bridge pylons, which is included in the price of your pylon climb.

Be prepared for sticker shock. Lunches easily hit $40 if you sat down and dinners were always in excess of $100. Tours, while good, were also expensive. The Hyatt, without Stay coupons, started at $800 per night with no breakfast.

We were driven by the Hyatt free of charge to the port, which we could have walked in less than 5 minutes. Our sail away day had turned to sunshine. Standing in line, who popped us behind us but Ngaire and Ken? We continued to keep bumping into LCTers...we ran into Marc and Cheron at lunch an Lauri in the hotel. The muster was at 5:15 and we set sail about 6, accompanied by a Sandra Bowen commentary. All of the Dingbats stood together to enjoy our farewell to Sydney. Sadly saying goodbye to Sydney, we took in the picture perfect sail away, looking forward to the real start to our vacation but eager to return to Sydney again.