A reasonably early start with the alarm set for 05:45 and our taxi to the airport arriving just after 07:00. The Business Class lounge at Dubai International airport is quite extraordinary and by far the largest I have ever seen. We literally could not see down the far end of the lounge and Ray estimated it to be the size of two football pitches!
We were soon settling into our seats on the 380 but were delayed by around 45 minutes as a lady was taken ill just before boarding, could not travel and therefore her luggage had to be found and unloaded. The 380 lumbered into the sky (there are times when you wonder if they are ever going to get off the ground) and we were on our way for the almost 14 hour flight to Sydney.
Nothing much to report about the flight, very comfortable, good food and impeccable service. Emirates is definitely up there with the very best carriers. A repeat of the infamous iPhone incident was avoided and all went to plan.
Landing at Sydney was at about 07:30 on Friday morning in thick, very low cloud and rain but once on the ground we sped through passport control and the immigration checks where the Aussie officials were efficient, polite and very good humoured.
We were met by our driver, Kevin, who was a very pleasant retired gentleman who found he was bored so took up driving chauffeured cars. We had an excellent conversation with him about Sydney, the suburbs and the Aborigines. Really the lap of luxury in the back of a stretched BMW 730D. Apparently Aussies like driving, or to be driven, in preference to flying and he often drives customers from Sydney to Brisbane which is in excess of 1000km.
The Sydney traffic is pretty bad, not quite London standards but not far short, but we were fairly soon in our Hyatt hotel overlooking Darling Harbour. The room was not ready on arrival (hardly surprising since we arrived before 09:00) but after a couple of cappuccinos in the lounge bar we unpacked in our 10th floor room which has a good view of Darling Harbour.
Time for a short rest before heading off to meet Rosemary's clients at the Stafford offices on The Rocks which is an area bordering Circular Quay on the western side. The LLW has some business to attend to so she will go to there offices just after 15:00 and I will join them for drinks about 18:00 and which time we are also meeting with our Godson, George Illingworth, who has recently moved to Sydney for a two year posting.
The plan is to have an early supper with George and then a fairly early night to get rid of the jet lag. As we get ready to head off the rain has stopped, it is brightening up and we are promised 30c tomorrow with full sun. Our driver Kevin explained that Sydney can experience dramatic changes in weather and temperature which he said were due to "blasts from the Antarctic".
We duly met up with the Stafford team at The Australian pub on Cumberland Street in the Rocks area and quite it was not! George joined us a bit later and then we had an excellent dinner with him at Wolfie's looking out on the harbour bridge and the Opera House
We were soon settling into our seats on the 380 but were delayed by around 45 minutes as a lady was taken ill just before boarding, could not travel and therefore her luggage had to be found and unloaded. The 380 lumbered into the sky (there are times when you wonder if they are ever going to get off the ground) and we were on our way for the almost 14 hour flight to Sydney.
Nothing much to report about the flight, very comfortable, good food and impeccable service. Emirates is definitely up there with the very best carriers. A repeat of the infamous iPhone incident was avoided and all went to plan.
Landing at Sydney was at about 07:30 on Friday morning in thick, very low cloud and rain but once on the ground we sped through passport control and the immigration checks where the Aussie officials were efficient, polite and very good humoured.
We were met by our driver, Kevin, who was a very pleasant retired gentleman who found he was bored so took up driving chauffeured cars. We had an excellent conversation with him about Sydney, the suburbs and the Aborigines. Really the lap of luxury in the back of a stretched BMW 730D. Apparently Aussies like driving, or to be driven, in preference to flying and he often drives customers from Sydney to Brisbane which is in excess of 1000km.
The Sydney traffic is pretty bad, not quite London standards but not far short, but we were fairly soon in our Hyatt hotel overlooking Darling Harbour. The room was not ready on arrival (hardly surprising since we arrived before 09:00) but after a couple of cappuccinos in the lounge bar we unpacked in our 10th floor room which has a good view of Darling Harbour.
Time for a short rest before heading off to meet Rosemary's clients at the Stafford offices on The Rocks which is an area bordering Circular Quay on the western side. The LLW has some business to attend to so she will go to there offices just after 15:00 and I will join them for drinks about 18:00 and which time we are also meeting with our Godson, George Illingworth, who has recently moved to Sydney for a two year posting.
The plan is to have an early supper with George and then a fairly early night to get rid of the jet lag. As we get ready to head off the rain has stopped, it is brightening up and we are promised 30c tomorrow with full sun. Our driver Kevin explained that Sydney can experience dramatic changes in weather and temperature which he said were due to "blasts from the Antarctic".
We duly met up with the Stafford team at The Australian pub on Cumberland Street in the Rocks area and quite it was not! George joined us a bit later and then we had an excellent dinner with him at Wolfie's looking out on the harbour bridge and the Opera House
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