Happy Anniversary - Sydney Style

December 28- Our 15^th Anniversary Day

We wake up early and find the typical morning clouds have completely cleared out. A perfect day for links golf, alfresco dining and a walk to the Opera House is in store. We are finally at the day that is the reason we planned this trip to begin with, our 15^th anniversary celebration.

A 30 minute cab ride takes us to St. Michaels Golf Club for our first round of golf in the southern hemisphere. We check in quickly and they let us go off early as a twosome. St. Michaels is an old style ocean links course. It has nine holes that head out towards the ocean and return to the clubhouse, then a second nine that follows the same pattern. We enjoy the perfect day, the classic golf course and manage to play some respectable golf with rental clubs on an unfamiliar track.


Mike's a Saint, and he's got his own golf course



Susan par's her first hole in Australia

 After the round we grab some lunch in the clubhouse and discover that a cheeseburger has meat, cheese, tomato, lettuce and a slice of pickled beet. The pickled beet was not bad, just unexpected.  It also adds an odd purple stain to the inside of the burger. Maybe Dutch’s should add beets to its burgers so they will bleed purple for TCU?

After relaxing back at the Westin for a few hours, we get dressed for our date night in Sydney. We walk down to the harbor and locate Café Sydney on the top floor of the Old Customs Building. This is the hippest, trendiest restaurant in Sydney. The wait staff is dressed in black and all wear headsets and boom mikes. We score the best table in the place. Our two-top table is at the edge of the roof and overlooks the harbor.  While we have our drinks and negotiate the dinner order with our Jude Law look- a-like waiter, we see the ferry boats come and go from the wharf below.

Dinner is exquisite. Susan tries a lobster-like crustacean that is only found the waters off Sydney called a “Mudbug”. Mike has baby lamb chops that are the best he has ever eaten. Great view, wonderful food, excellent service, and then they kick us out because we have used up our allotted table time. I told you it was hip and trendy.

We leave in good humor because we are running late for the concert at the Sydney Opera House. We reach our third row center seats after the overture and are entertained for the next two hours by the Australian Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Chorale, jazz trumpeter James Morrison and three operatic soloists. The concert hall is completely full and the audience is enthusiastic about the performance. The ensemble does everything from classics, to jazz, to show tunes, to a fantastic Russian marimba player. At the end everyone in the hall, including the musicians throw colored paper streamers about the place and celebrate the New Year three days ahead of time.

We begin the uphill hike back to the Westin, but give up when we spot a handy taxicab. Soon we are home at our Westin hideaway after a long day. Susan has been planning this for months and everything worked perfectly.

What a great anniversary!