Sydney Take 2 - The end

So today is the last day in Sydney, as we fly out tonight at 9pm. It has been a lazy last couple of days and now it is time to return to the desert and finish the deployment. It has been a fun trip, and I wouldn't mind coming back at all to see more of Australia. Here is what has gone on the last couple of days.

Franck and I flew down from Surfers Paradise, and I can't really comment too much about the flight. I slept through most of it, but it was nice. We flew on Virgin Blue Airlines, and they had the screens on every seat like on Emirates, but a little smaller. No complaints on the flight, which means it was pretty good.

Took a cab to the hotel, and checked in. The room is nice, but not as nice as the last room. Guess I was spoiled by the king sized bed, as this time I had two full sized bed. And for those wondering, there was no sharing of rooms on the trip except the first night where we were forced to. We hooked up with Hubred and went out for supper.

The next morning, I got up early in the morning and went out to get sunrise pictures. There were clouds again, so I didn't get much. I did go for a walk along the coast though and it was pretty cool. Some cool rock formations and the waves, while not as prevelant as Surfers Paradies, were still nice to see wash up against the rocks.

I wound up just hanging out in the room and the beach off and on through the morning and we went out again for supper. Supper was good at a small little italian restaurant, and then it was back to the room. The next day was pretty much the same except that we didn't go out to eat together. I picked up some food at a nearby place and brought it back to my room to eat. A lazy last couple of days, but that is what I was wanting out of them.

Couple thoughts about where we are staying now. This isn't a touristy area part of Sydney. We are right next to the beach, and that is nice, but we are surrounded by residential area. There is a small area with restaurants and shops close by the hotels here by the beach, but that is all there is to the area. It is nice with the shops, as there are a couple of small bakery shops that have fresh made bread and pastries every morning. Reminds me a little of Europe when Kim and I went to Belgium. It is just too bad that small bakeries like this can't work out well back home, as the big grocery stores have their lock in place.

Another thing is the sports. There are about four major sports here in Australia, that I have watched on tv at least. They are Soccer, Australian Rugby Leage, Australian Rules Football, and cricket. Now I know soccer, and have actually started to watch more of it. I enjoy watching the Premier League from England/Europe because these are the best of the best, and it is interesting to watch. Maybe I am drinking the Bill Simmons KoolAid, but I am starting to enjoy it. The Rugby is fun to watch. Very action packed, and I think I have it figured out. Now the Football is another thing. I get the very basics, and it is more fast paced than Football back home, but there are rules and things that I just can't pick up. And then Cricket is just goofy. I was talking with a local in Cairns about it, and he tried to explain a little, but it only helped a little. All of the sports though are have their die hard fans, just as we have our fans for our sports. Interesting to see the perspective of another country on their sports.

That is about it though. I figure I will hang out in the room until I have to check out. Then we will hang out down here for a few hours until we catch a cab to the airport. From there, it is the 14 hour flight to Dubai, and then another couple hours to Kuwait. Not sure how long it will be from Kuwait to Iraq, but there is that conflict where I don't want to go back, but I do so I can get that part of the deployment started and finished. I will continue to post here off and on, but probably not as often, as there is only so much you can say about the desert.

Until next time.....