This is it... your last week in Australia (Unless of course we go back this year...and you very well never know). This week we will finish up with Hamilton Island and pay another visit to Sydney. So sit back, relax, and buckle your seat belt, you have two flights this week, one short and one trans pacific because you have to go back to work. (Boooooooooooo! )

It was difficult leaving Hamilton Island, it really was.  I would love to just spend a few months there writing a book or something.  The only thing I could find wrong with the island was that part of the year they have deadly marine stingers which makes you think twice about going for a swim.  The other is something so ridiculous, only I would care. Are you ready... they don't have high-speed Internet access.  I know, boo to me for thinking of that. 

We packed up our luggage and left it outside our door just like you do on a cruise ship.  You have to love not lugging it around.  The airport was quiet and our plane was about 70 percent empty. You have to love that, too.  Taking off we didn't speak to each other, not because we were sick of one another, but we just wanted some quiet time to look out the window and reflect. 

I didn't care too much for my Qantas snack box.  It came with OJ, mixed nuts, and an orange flavored brownie. I hate orange flavored food, so I gave it to Frank who thought it was the best thing ever.  Can you believe we are brothers?   I then fell asleep and when I woke up I saw Amber Airplane reading  this book. I thought I was hallucinating, so I did a double take and said are you finally getting some self-help?  She said, "Are you kidding me?  This book is about all the best places to shop!”  Then I said, "Are you kidding me?" and passed out.

Our somber moods wore off quickly. As we circled  Sydney we got excited to spend a few more days in our new favorite city.  We checked back into our home away from home, the Sheraton on the park.  Got the same rate of $168.00 a night.  For those of you who just signed up to this newsletter, that price is in Australian dollars... so take off about 40%.  Not bad for a 4 star hotel in the heart of the city, huh?

We found out one of our good friends from home was in town, and Frank was pumped.  You have to understand, Rick and their new Australian buddy Blake,  are just like my brother.  Handsome, successful chick magnets who are Tony Robbins fanatics to boot!  They are perfect for each other.  Frank is so generous that he checked us into our hotel then said, “Guess what? I'm out of here” and he spent the last few nights at Blake's house.

Naturally, Frank missed us and called later that night to see if Amber and I wanted to go over to Icebergs.  Remember  icebergs? The cool-hip club located at the top of  Bondi?  He wanted us to stop by and have a drink with the boys.  I knew we were in for a treat when the doorman said, "Johnny Jet and Amber Airplane... Welcome to icebergs!”  Amber and I were like... “What?”  We figured Frank and Rick were already in there and they probably introduced themselves to everyone.  Sure enough they were the life of the place and with in minutes they were on a first name basis with everyone from the bouncer to all the pretty Aussies ladies.    Frank had me rolling when he started imitating the guy who passed out the last time we were there.  Maybe you had to be there, but it was hilarious.

The next day we went to  Darling Harbour.   Darling Harbour used to be a busy port, but it declined, then the city rebuilt it in the 80’s to what it is now.  It's this huge waterfront tourist park that has shops, restaurants, gardens, museums, an aquarium, a convention center and a casino.  You can easily walk there from downtown, but the best way to get there is to jump on the Metro Monorail.  The monorail is supposedly one of only a few above ground rail systems in the world that operates through the heart of a major city.  In my opinion, it's more of a tourist attraction then mode of transportation, but its still worth taking.
 
Amber and I walked around and had lunch at an awesome  noodle bar called Wok on Inn.  What a great name.  Here we could choose our type of noodles, vegetables, meat, and what style: Thai, Malay or Chinese.   Wok on Inn Darling Harbour, Level Two, Harbourside Shopping Centre, tel. 9212-6655.  I'll spare you our shopping experience. What's interesting though, we could not find an Australian license plate for my nephew with his name "Johnny" on it?  But they had all kinds of names I’d never heard of like; Rohan and Tayla. What's up with that?

On the way back to our hotel we stopped at the  Sky Tour.  It's located in the Sydney Tower at Centrepoint.  You can't miss it because it's in the tallest building (820 feet). The views from the top are supposedly amazing, but we never made it to the top, even though our ticket included a free trip up there.  We just didn't have enough time.  Instead we stayed on the third floor because Amber really wanted to do the Sky Tour .  The Sky Tour cost $12USD a piece.  It takes about 30 minutes and was just OK.  The highlight is "The Great Australian Expedition Ride" which is similar to Soarin’ Over California ride at Disney's California Adventures, but doesn't even come close.

We rushed back to our hotel to get ready for our last nights hurrah.  A trip to Sydney wouldn't be complete without actually going to the Opera House for a performance. Well, there was no opera going on, and the only event was a  play called the Way Of The World. Unfortunately, it was down stairs in the basement, not in one of the tortoise shape shells. I couldn't really enjoy the play, because my A.D.D. totally kicked in, and it didn't help that the play was written ca. 1800, or some time around there.  Don't listen to me, because almost everyone else loved it.  The good news we bought our heavily discounted tickets at Halftix, which is similar to TKTS in NYC, except no lines.

After the play we were all STARVING, shocker, I know.  But the play started at 6:30pm and ended around 9pm, so we didn't have time to eat before.  Unfortunately, Sydney is not like a lot of major cities where restaurants stay open late.  The majority of restaurants we came across stop serving at 10pm or earlier.  Which is fine, but our problem was none of us could agree on which place to go to.  We trekked from one place to another; looking at the menu, and then someone saying no, let's try the next one.  It was a nightmare. Finally, I said it's 9:55 and we are going to end up eating vegemite in our room.  The idea of eating vegemite will make most American’s scowl.   In the end, we went to our first choice (typical, huh?).  We hopped in a 5-minute cab to Wooloo- what? Woolloomooloo. That’s where you can find the fine Manta Ray bistro.  The food was excellent, the waitress was one of the best ever, and the atmosphere was great.  You won't be disappointed at Manta Ray, The Wharf at Woolloomooloo tel. (02) 93323822.

Our last day Down Under we woke up, packed and took a taxi to beautiful Bronte Beach to have  breakfast at an outdoor cafe with the crew.  Bronte Beach reminds me a lot of Laguna and La Jolla beaches (both in California). It was relaxing just to sit there and feel the warmth of the sun, hear the roar of the ocean, and see the beautiful scenery.   Unfortunately, time went by too fast and we had to say our goodbyes.

As I said before we were using Amber Airplane's air passes this time, so we flew stand by.  There are no sure things with those passes, which is why we rarely use them.  It's always a bit tense.  All you can do is hope and pray. At the  airport :  Frank went to the airline club to eat, Amber went to... that's right, Duty Free, and I just looked out the window and checked out the planes .  We arrived at the gate and saw what looked like about 20 non-revenue passengers hovering around.  That didn't make me feel too good because you never know how many people would upgrade at the last minute.  I knew before we left for the airport there were about 20 open seats between First and Business (and about 30 in coach).  I conceded we weren't getting First again because of all the senior people.   Well, they called everyone's name, and I was just thinking to myself. Please, Please, Please, Please, Pleeeease, Pleeeease, Pleeeeeeeease, Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease, be Businees.  I really did not want to sit in coach for 12 hours and 50 minutes (the flight is shorter going home). Our names were the second to last to be called and guess what seat we received?   25CDE which on a 747-400, is bulk- head BUSINESS CLASS! Yeah BABY! I moon walked on to that plane.

We took off right on time at 4pm.  The flight was smooth and I knew one of the flight attendants, so we got some extra good service.  I can't sleep too much on planes so I just watched movies, watched the in-flight map and stared out the window whenever we flew over somewhere cool, like Tahiti.  I couldn't see anything because of the clouds and it was dark out for about 7 hours of the flight.   I bought one of those in-flight adapters for your laptop at a store called Tandy.  It cost $100AUD and with the exchange rate it turns out I saved $40 US by buying it in Australia. How do you like that Amber Airplane? I can shop too!  I now don't have to worry about my battery going dead after two hours.   Of course, you have to be in Business or First Class for the plug and even then there are no guarantees the airline will have a working outlet.

The only other eventful things that took place on the flight were there must've been some kind of Mr. Universe competition going on  down under.  We had about 5 Gym monkeys on the plane.  These guys were huge and the one who sat across from me had a serious sleep disorder.  The dude was tossing and turning. Literally his arm almost came across the aisle and hit me.  Did I mention he made the craziest snores you have ever heard?  I thought he was having a convulsion.  Then when the dude finally woke up, I fell asleep.  I must've been wiggling the same way he was because I dreamt Amber Airplane was buying duty free from the flight attendant.  I woke up only to find the flight attendant standing directly above me exchanging money for goods to Amber.  There is no escape, not even at 35,000 feet…
 
Other helpful websites for Sydney:

• Yahoo Australia
• Whitepages
• Yellowpages
• Sydney Citysearch
• City of Sydney
• See Sydney Card
• Sydney Morning Herald