Home Travel Diving Running		27 - 30 September 2003 Now that things are up and running in Hong Kong it's down to Sydney on the overnight flight to start things going here. Arrive here 8.30 Saturday morning, dump stuff in the hotel then drag myself off sightseeing. Got to get a picture of that opera house. Central Sydney is not that big and by mid afternoon I have made a first circuit of the city and am walking back across the bridge to my hotel. Sydney getting all hyped up for the world cup starting very shortly. All the shops full of Wallaby shirts and the street vendors bringing out their stocks of boomerangs and didgerydoos! Not well prepared for the weather. Heard on friday that it was 29C so arrive with nothing warmer than a polo shirt to find that it is still clear but the wind has changed and it is freezing. Aus is friendly and familiar, statues of Queen Victoria, place names like "Kings Cross" and "Paddington". The coins are huge (like ours used to be) taxis cheap and they have the strangest shaped plugs I have ever seen. As well as the taxis being cheap the food is great value and I head off for Cockle Bay wharf in Darling Harbour for a spot of lunch. Spoilt for choice I plump for "Nicks", a modern Australian seafood restaurant for some delicious baby calemari, lightly grilled with a herb and olive oil dressing. A food and wine fair is going strong in Hyde Park (familiar, see) although by the time I get there it is packed, the food is selling out fast and the queues for free wine are huge. Instead I keep going and walk home over the bridge. Definitely needed a snooze after that before going to the opera for a great performance of Berg's Lulu. The opera is extra special because not only is it the last night of the opera but Simone Young, the Musical Director of Opera Australia is conducting her last performance and the audience goes wild when she comes on for her curtain call. Pink streamers and trumpet fanfares from the balconies. Everyone in Sydney seems to own a boat. On Sunday Morning after a run over the bridge and round the harbour (and some work) I head off to Manly on the ferry for some lunch with Maria, a team member recently arrived off the plane from Hong Kong. Manly, apparently named in 1788 after the 'manly' physiques of the Aboriginals seen here, is a seaside resort on the peninsula that ends in North Head, the natural Northern harbour wall. It reminded us of seaside Sussex, charming but rather old fashioned. Still packed with visitors many bravely sunbathing in the icy winds. 29-30 September: back to work, this time in St Leonards, North Sydney. On Monday night we have a great dinner with Deloitte partner Dean Kingsley and the team from the Sydney office. We go to Aqua Luna on circular quay and Maria and I have great window seats with views over the harbour. Tuesday morning and I am up early for another run around the harbour. The hotel is on the north side of the bridge so I run along the bridge footpath (right) then past the opera house and around the bay to Mrs Macquaries Point and back again - great route. In the afternoon I am on the move again, back to Hongkong. I take the train to the station - much quicker it turns out than a taxi. Sydney trains are similar to the double deckers in Amsterdam. Frequent services and cheap they are pretty impressive compared to the London tube but I don't think they would fit down London tunnels.