A girly weekend trip to Sydney - February 2011

Well what was supposed to be a get away without kids for me and Rachel, did not start with smooth sailing. Our first mistake of the trip was to choose to fly Tiger Airways.

We got to the airport rather early and went and checked in at the counter, I did not realise that you had to do e-check in before you arrive, and we were both slugged a $20 per person fee. Then after reluctantly paying the funds, we decided because we were so early we would go and check out the shopping in Ikea. Apart from the walk over in 40 degrees that was a stress free expedition. Then we sat at the terminal waiting for our plane, and was surprised to see the Tiger Airways sign being taken down. Huh, we were then told our flight had been cancelled and our only option was to either fly the next morning or get a refund of our ticket. Ok, now there is one nights accommodation lost. But apart from my initial sook, we took it in our stride and booked the Stamford Grand in the city (getting a cheap Wotif.com.au deal) - this was a girls weekend, there was no way we were going home! We grabbed some dinner, then spent some time at the Adelaide Casino - pretending of course that we were actually sitting in Star City, Sydney.

We finally got to Sydney at lunch time on Saturday so half our time there was already wasted, but we made the most of what we could and ventured off into the 42 degree heat. As we walked around the markets and toured Sydney, we had no idea we were walking around on a heat record day, we thought it was hot, but thought the weather was meant to be 36 degrees.

Chinese new year celebrations were in full swing while we were in Paddy's Market which is near China Town, we heard the fire crackers going off and went out to investigate.

The only way we were able to cool off was a trip out on the ferry to Manley, Rachel and I loved it there, by the ocean we picked up a couple of caches, and enjoyed some baked fish and chips which we ate by the beach.

Sunday before our flight home we took a bus trip out to Palm Beach aka Summer Bay, it started off really hot and hard to do anything, then some thunder clouds rolled in over the ocean and within about 15 minutes I think that the temperature must have dropped 15 degrees. It was so lovely out here, such a beautiful spot that really must be a place where the rich and famous live or holiday.