The photos are from the Menzies Hotel Sydney, a beautiful hotel in a landmark district. After a challenging journey, all we wanted to do, at first, was shower and relax. The Menzies was the perfect place. (Click on photos for larger images.)
Part Two
My trip to Sydney
Wow! It’s hard to believe that an entire week has gone by since I was in Sydney. It was an amazing trip and we had some great times even though the weather was far from perfect! As I said last week, our trip to the airport to catch our flight was an interesting trip.
 Public transportation is a major form of transportation for many Perth residents, and as university students without cars, we have become pretty familiar with it. Known as Transperth, it functions by having bus and train stations located throughout the city and outlying areas. Their website has a function in which you can find the quickest route from one landmark to another, so Heather and I planned on using this route to determine the best way to get to the airport. According to the website, we were to take the bus route number 35 to the Victoria Park Transfer Station and proceed to catch the bus route 37 to the Perth Domestic Airport. We had it all planned out with time included in dragging our suitcase across campus as well as arriving plenty early to check in; so, we figured that there would be no problem in getting to the airport. We boarded our first bus and were riding along when off to our right we saw the Transfer Station at which we needed to catch our next bus. The driver slowed slightly and kept right on driving into town leaving Heather and I worried over what to do next. The buses have timed routes so there was no way we could ask him to go back and even if we had, I highly doubt that he would have. So we were forced to ride the bus into the city and hope that we could catch our bus from there.
 We disembarked from the bus (the Australian way of saying exit) and began looking for a bus stop from which we could catch our next bus. We found one right across the street from where we got off the bus, but discovered that since it was late in the evening, the next bus didn’t come for forty-five minutes! While this may have give us enough time to get to the airport and get checked in, Heather and I weren’t about to take any chances, so our next idea was to hail a cab. Neither of us had ever hailed a cab before in our lives, so we both stuck our arms up in the air at any passing cab until one finally stopped. After loading our suitcase into the back of the cab, we sat back to enjoy our ride to the airport, although neither of us had any idea how far away the airport was. It was a considerable distance (the cab ride cost $20) but we arrived at the airport about the same time we would have if we had been able to make our bus routes. After checking in, we relaxed in the airport before boarding our plane and making the flight (only four hours, which seemed very short when compared to our thirteen hours on the way to Australia) to Sydney.
After arriving in Sydney, we were supposed to meet Heather’s family in the international terminal which is quite a distance from the domestic terminal. Heather and I took a train to the terminal only to find out that their plane had been delayed from take off in Los Angeles and would not be landing for two hours. So we decided to wait in the airport, which was extremely crowded and noisy. Heather’s family arrived safely (but pretty worn out) and we were off to our hotel, The Menzies.
Well I think that’s all for this week, I’m back in classes now, and wishing I could be on vacation while the warm weather is still here!
Until next week,
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