USVI-On-Line

The bad news is that we will not be going to STJ next spring. That's the first time since 2006.

The good news is that we are going to Australia in April. We will fly from LAX to Sydney non-stop. although there are few places in between to stop we will not be using any of them. We leave on a Saturday and arrive in Sydney at breakfast time Monday morning. We will turn and fly up to Cairns that day to await our dive trip. We are taking a liveaboard for four days and three nights starting Wednesday morning. We get 15 dives during that time. We come back to shore Saturday at supper time and return to Sydney Sunday afternoon after our mandatory 24 hours after surfacing. We will have three full days in Sydney and then off to Adelaide for Diana's conference from Thursday to Monday. Tuesday we spend returning home.

We will be making a stop at the Sydney Opera House, of course. If any of you have any other suggestions on what to do in Sydney and Adelaide, we'd like to hear about it. We are also looking for a moderately priced place to stay in Sydney. We don't plan on renting a car. If that's a bad idea please let us know.

Thanks

JIM

I can't tell you about Sydney But I got back from AD on the 29th of Oct. spent 3 weeks there in brisbane the gold coast and the sunshine coast ran out of time to make it up to carins. Had a great time I would get a car as every thing is so far apart and if you had to wait for public transport it could suck I would get a perscripion for sleeping pills for the flight over sucked as you are up all day and if you get the wrong seat mates it was hard to sleep. if you have any general questions ask away.

can't help on Sydney (but can get some good tips from friends who livd there) but if you can, get up to the daintree and over to th atherton tablelands both a pretty quick trip from Cairns....

When we wnet to OZ 2 years ago we did a quick 36 hour trip to Sydney & it was wonderful even though to short.

I think for three days you don't need a car, but then we have done 3 trips to STJ & not had a car.

When we stayed in Sydney, there is a great bus/train/boat system. We took the bus to Bondi beach & did a walk around, had some lunch & enjoyed the beach. Next morning we hoped on the boat to go to Manly Beach. this is a very cute beachy area, with a very nice main street with all your shops & a great beach as well.

We found the whole downtown aea very walkable & there is lots to see down by the Opera house.

The Shopper

Thanks for your replies.

Since my seat mate will be my wife, I doubt that will be a problem.

We are thinking about getting a hotel on the Haymarket or Darlinghurst areas of Sydney to make it easier to get around. They also have a one-day and five day pass for public transportation that we might do. With that we can take a ferry to Manly or bus to Bondi Beach.

I don't know if we will have sufficient time to get to Daintree. There is so much that we will miss due to the time restriction. We'll have to make the most out of what we do see.

JIM

Ye but you have to remember that most planes that fly there are either 3-4-3 or 3-5-3 seat arangement so you will have at least one other person to worry about unless you are sitting in first class

I spent 3 weeks in Sydney about 5 years ago. I agree with TheShopper in that Sydney's train system is first-rate. Double-decker spotlessly clean trains. It goes for absolute miles... all the way past Wollongong (80 km) which would make an awesome day trip (in my opinion) and you could really see the sites along the way. Manly is "the" beach all the tourists go to. If you've only got 3 days and are not renting a car it's okay. I wasn't impressed with the "Venice Beach" feel of the shopping mecca near the beach. But it's Aus and beaches are everywhere. I really liked Cronulla beach. The boardwalk was nice, the area was very nice (that is the area they had the racial riots about 5 years ago). Garry Beach was my favourite but you need a car to get there. Near the Opera House (1 street off the water) is Ken Duncan's gallery. A "must see" for jaw-dropping shots of Australia. [/img]http://www.kenduncan.com/