Flying and The Gap

This past weekend Sandy & I were lucky enough to escape the kids and head to Sydney and have a weekend with Unlce Jim.

The main reason for the visit was for Sandy to use his gift voucher for a Flight Experience at Darling Harbour which I bought him for Christmas. The Flight Experience was a opportunity to have a go at flying a plane inside a training simulator.

So we dropped the kids off at my mother in laws for a weekend of fun with both grandmas and headed to Uncle Jim's who was kind enough to let us crash at his place for the weekend. After dinner at the Harold Park Hotel which was a saga in itself (spilling drinks!) we headed into the city on the tram.

It has been so long since I have been to the city at night and loved seeing all the lights and sights that the city has to offer after dark. There were alot of hens parties going on and well there were some strange sights !! Also looking around the shops at Darling Harbour was great without the kids !!

The beautiful lights of the city.

The Flight started off really well and Uncle Jim and I were lucky enough to be able to sit in the jump seats and watch. Sandy was able to complete 3 takeoffs and 3 landings and while they were resetting the simulator to go to another airport it had a major meltdown. So we were unable to complete the full 45 minute experience but they were really good and we ended up getting a free photo, the DVD of the experience for free and another 30 minute flight for free which we have another 12 months to use. Yippee another reason to escape the kids !!! (Just kidding kids)
The next day Uncle Jim took us all for a drive to Bondi Beach and The Gap, both of which I have never been to !  It was a great day, the weather was fantastic and the views were breath taking.

The beautiful view of the city from Watson's Bay.

The Gap.
It is such a beautiful place and I can't understand
why people use this place to end it all.

It is hard to see in this picture but there were heaps of boats and canoes in the water and then we saw the people swimming though them. Apparently there was a big fundraising swim for Breast Cancer going on at the time which started at Bondi Beach and ended at Watson's Bay. Boy those brave people are obviously passionate about the cause to even attempt that kind of swim and the swell was huge so they would have coped a hammering. Great job to all those brave people !!

Had to have a picture at The Gap !

Then we turned around and took a couple of steps
back and could have the harbour in the background. I love our country !

Just an interesting point of view,

We walked over to the other side of the headland to have a good look at North Head and we were able to see the North Head Sanctuary where the Australian version of the Biggest Loser is filmed. On our travels we were greeted by a large rat ! Eww, I don't know how was more scared, me or the rat !! We were also lucky enough to see the HMAS Darwin sail through the heads on their mission to Japan to help with clean up from the recent earthquake.

HMAS Darwin

I just had to take a picture of the back of this car which is unrelated to the trip but we did find it amusing on our way to The Gap. The stickers say "I wish my wife was this dirty" then under it reads "She is but not with you". The yellow sticker on the bumper reads "Never drive faster than your angel can fly" and finally the sign in the back window reads "Mother in Law in Boot"!

We had such a great day, the weather was perfect although a little crisp, but there was not a breath of wind and no clouds to  be seen. I know that this may upset some readers - Tracee - but we were really lucky to see this beautiful place in all its glory!

Thanks Uncle Jim for being our tour guide. I love being a tourist in our own city. We have seen and found some great places and have a list of things to do next time we are in the area.