On July 10, 2011, I made my trip to country #56 in my bucket list, Australia.  My partner, Marc, and I visited Sydney and Melbourne for a total of 10 days.  Both New Zealand and Australia are indeed beautiful places. Since both are highly developed countries where there is very good tourist infrastructure and where English is spoken, traveling there was a breeze.

Travel time from Auckland to Sydney took around 5 hours.  It was like traveling to the East Coast from California.  We flew Air New Zealand on this leg of our trip.  I was quite apprehensive about the strict customs regulations in Australia and I decided to declare the biscuit shells I gathered at Oneroa Beach in Waiheke Island.  I couldn't believe I had to declare something as harmless as seashells but, "Better safe than sorry," I thought.  The Australian customs agent examined them carefully and we were told they were okay to take into the country.  With that issue resolved, we were on our way to our next adventure.

Transportation from the airport to our city center hotel was quick and easy.  While we took the bus in Auckland to get to the Central Business District, we took the train in Sydney.  I believe the train fare was a little over $15 Australian (a little over $15 US due to the weak US dollar at the time).  The entire train trip took 15 minutes to the city.  Our hotel, the Travelodge Wynyard, turned out to be just a block away from the Wynyard Station in downtown Sydney.

We stayed in the Travelodge twice during our entire Australia visit.  The first time was from July 10, 2011 to July 15, 2011 and the next one was from July 19, 2011 to July 20, 2011 just prior to our trip back to the States. Our rooms were suites 604 facing York Street and 2013 facing Margaret Street respectively. It must be noted that the Travelodge is a very basic hotel. Although it charges quite a bit of money for their rooms, it really is no different from the USA's hotel chain, The Holiday Inn. What worked against us at the time of our vacation was the weak exchange rate of the US dollar. It didn't help that Australia itself is quite an expensive place to be. We found everything more expensive than back home. Nevertheless, the hotel offered very clean beds and basic amenities like a flat screen TV, ample closet space, and an on suite bathroom. Whenever we travel, we try to get good accommodations at hopefully not so high prices. After all, we are out the whole day sightseeing and hotel rooms for us are really just places to sleep in and get some good night's rest. Of course, location, safety, and cleanliness are key. The Travelodge Wynyard met these criteria.

The choice of hotel is always a big part of our travel plans and I have taken pictures of our room to give folks out there an idea what the room looks like.  The hotel's location can't be beat.  Actually, we had to decide which Travelodge to stay in given that in Sydney there are two.  There's the Wynyard, where we stayed, and the other is the Wentworth.  Actually, we passed by the Travelodge Wentworth while touring Sydney and its location was not bad at all.  In fact, it too was centrally located and less expensive.  At any rate, here are  images of the room we stayed in at the Travelodge Wynyard.

The door and entryway.  This was room 2013 facing Margaret Street.  our room was in the second to the highest floor in the building.  There were a total of 21 floors and I was honestly quite nervous to be in such a very high floor.  Thank Heavens Sydney is not Earthquake country.

The desk, the fridge for storing food, and the closet

The flat screen TV in our room

The bathroom sink

The amenities; not much but good enough.  Tissue, shampoo, conditioner, and soap

The hair dryer

The toilet

The shower

The tub

This was the seating area next to our bed in our room on our second stay.  Our room during our first long stay had a couch for seating.

Our bed

After checking into our room at the Travelodge Wynyard, we immediately dropped our bags and suitcases, and went for a walk.  We knew the Sydney Opera  House was close by and so we went looking for it.  I couldn't believe I was finally seeing the Opera House for the very first time.

On our way to Cicular Quay where the Opera House was located, we passed by a luxury hotel and I can no longer recall which one it was, where a big boisterous crowd had gathered.  I asked what was happening and a young Asian Australian man in his twenties told me that Lady Gaga was staying in the hotel.  It turned out the crowd was a group of fans waiting to catch a glimpse of their American singer idol who was in Sydney to do a concert at the Town Hall.

Anyway, we did arrive at Circular Quay and for the very first time, I saw this magnificent looking building I always see on travel shows and brochures.  The Sydney Opera House.