September 21, 2009 - Sydney Grand City Tour and Harbor Luncheon Cruise

We were up and and about early this morning as our pickup for this tour was scheduled for 6:50 a.m. We were going on a Gray Line tour which encompassed first a tour by bus of Sydney and then a Harbor Luncheon Cruise. These tours weren't the most satisfactory tours in the world.

Unfortunately, on the bus tour, our guide was the driver was the guide. So this meant, that as he tried to negotiate city traffic, he threw in blurbs about Sydney. He didn't really share stories as much as facts and they were punctuated with the following: um, uh, long pauses, and "I'm turning right here," or "I'm turning left here." And then there were the frequent advertisements as he told us all the best shops and pubs to visit - made me wonder if some kind of kick back were involved. We usually learn a lot about a city on one of these tours, but this one wasn't as informative as we would have liked. I really blame the set-up more than the driver though. They should have had a separate guide so the guide could concentrate on speaking and the driver could concentrate on driving.

We did make three stops where we got to get out and take pictures and we enjoyed that very much (even though one of the stops was Bondi Beach and we already had plenty of pictures of that!). Then we went on the Harbor Cruise on a Majistic Ship. The lunch buffet was awesome. There was beef stroganoff, and wonderful fish, and a variety of veggies and rice and gruyere cheese and fruit and cheesecake. It was most excellent. The tour guide (I believe an automated recording) was also good and gave us lots of views of Sydney that you can only enjoy from the water and we learned a lot about the area around the Harbor. Being on the boat was awesome. My only two complaints were: 1) the cruise only lasted 90 minutes. I would have liked to been on the ship longer and 2) it turned out drinks weren't included in the price of the ticket. There were beverage menus on the table and there were prices besides them, but I figured the prices were for the cruises where they just went out for beverages. It was my fault for not asking, but they didn't volunteer the information either. And get this! A 10 ounce gingerale was 5.00!!!!! And we each had seconds and there weren't free refills! I threw a bit of a snit when we left (said the prices were insane) and she ended up only charging us for one drink each.

When we returned to the room, I took Katrina up to the rooftop pool so she could play a bit more there. We met a family visiting from Canaberra and enjoyed talking with them. Then after a bite of dinner, we packed up as we are leaving early tomorrow to catch a plane to Perth (5 hour flight).

So, here are the some photos from today. Only a couple of them are really good, but I thought they hit the hilights of what we saw today.