Sydney Vacation

I had been working in the city for one year and it was time for my annual vacation.

My friend Robin who lived at the girls hostel with me was able to take her holidays from the dental practice where she was working and join me.

The bank that I worked at had a travel department so we asked them to arrange a trip to Sydney for us for five days. The consultant suggested we go to Sydney by coach and fly home to Essendon airport. She also booked us into an hotel in King Cross.

I was to have my 18th birthday just prior to our trip so I asked my parents for money to spend on our holiday. Robin and I shopped for a couple of new tops and some slacks.

Mine were woollen Black Watch tartan and I felt very smart. Robin had some lovely dark blue pants which she teamed with a pale blue mohair jumper which was very much the fashion of the time.

The time came for our adventure and we went in to Flinders Street bus terminal to catch our bus at 6 pm on Friday evening There were lots of older people wearing big coats and the men were all wearing hats. We were the only young people on the bus. We settled into our seats at the rear of the bus and prepared for the first part of our holiday.

It was very exciting driving out of the city along Sydney Road and eventually to the Hume Highway and we amused ourselves with spotting landmarks along the way.

The first stop was at Seymour at a roadhouse to have tea, we had a meat pie each and some chips followed by tinned peaches and jelly and a cup of tea. We got back on the bus feeling very full.

When we left Seymour the other passengers started to pray and sing hymns and the man in the next seat explained that they were going to a religious convention at the town hall in Sydney. This came as quite a shock and we hoped that they would not sing all night as we hoped to get some sleep. The singing continued for a long time and eventually stopped. Several of the passengers asked the driver to please turn up the heating as they were feeling cold. The bus soon became very warm and stuffy and some of the folk who still had their coats on started to become a bit smelly.

We welcomed the toilet stop as we were able to takes some fresh air but unfortunately we were soon back in the stuffy environment with the bible bashers.

As the night wore on we found it impossible to sleep as we were too warm and several of the old folk were snoring loudly. We congratulated ourselves that we were coming home by aeroplane.

We finally arrived in Sydney mid morning Saturday and we were very glad to leave the bus. it took a little time to collect our luggage and find directions to Kings Cross but we made it by lunch. There was a doorman dressed in a green suit at the entrance to the hotel who directed us to the reception desk. We checked in to our room at the hotel which was on the fifth floor of a fairly old building, it was pretty basic but after the nightmare road trip we were happy.

We decided to have a wash and when I took off my tartan woollen slacks Robin said that she could not stand having them in the room as they smelt awful. What could we do? We hung them out the window of our room and they flapped in the breeze and we hoped that they would air well. We went out into the street to find some lunch and ended up with sandwiches that we had in the park opposite our hotel. The city was beckoning but we were feeling really tired and decided to have a nap. I am sure that I must have dropped off as soon as my head hit the pillow.

 I woke up at 7 o’clock and it was dark, Robin was still asleep and I let her sleep on. When she finally woke up we could not decide whether it was evening or the next morning. it seemed the most logical that it was evening so we went out looking for a café to have dinner.

Kings cross was alive with people and many of them were strange looking. There were adult theatres with doorman enticing people through the doors, women who were probably prostitutes and men dressed as women making their way to a cabaret show which was nearby. There were salvation army ladies singing - another reminder of our bus companions and selling magazines to whoever would take them. We were overwhelmed. The restaurant we chose was like an American Diner with hamburgers, fried chicken and milkshakes and some food I did not recognise so we ordered hamburgers which were huge. It was such fun being away from home on our own and in such a vibrant area. We both knew that our parents would not have approved and that made it even more delicious. After dinner we wandered around the streets marvelling at all the different sights until we decided to call it a day and get ready to enjoy the rest of our trip.

Back at the room we retrieved my slacks from the window ledge, they were still not very pleasant and we realised we would have to have them dry cleaned on Monday.

We went straight to sleep not waking until well after 9 o’clock the next morning

My brother was in the air force at a base just out of Sydney and had arranged to meet us for lunch so we quickly had breakfast in the hotel and dressed up to go out. Malcolm met us in the lobby and we headed of to the harbour. This was quite different to Melbourne where not much was happening on the Yarra and we were very impressed with the lovely views across the harbour. The building of the new opera house had commenced and dominated the harbour. it was awesome.

 Malcolm took us on a ferry trip on a big green ferry something neither of us had seen before and it was really exciting and we ended up in Manly where we had a roast dinner in an old fashioned hotel on the water. The windows opened on to the street and we could “people watch” There was a wedding on the beach and after lunch we wandered over to have a closer look The bride was gorgeous in a very floaty short dress and the groom had on an open neck shirt There were not many guests but they all seemed to having a lovely time The wedding car was a black Chevrolet which was of more interest to Malcolm than the wedding. Malcolm had to get back to his base so he took us back to Kings Cross and we went down to the lounge to read and play cards. We did not feel like having any tea so we had some potato crisps.

The next day was brisk but fine and there was a bit of sunshine so we took ourselves to the central part of the city. The first thing we did was find a dry cleaning shop for my slacks to be cleaned. They would be ready in the afternoon. There were some wonderful shops which we browsed amongst and we purchased post cards to send home to our family and friends. We decided to buy a sandwich and go to the Royal Botanical gardens for lunch The gardens were spectacular and as it was coming into spring there was lots of colour. The herb garden had things growing that we had never seen before. We found a little alcove with a seat overlooking the water and ate our sandwich and drank our lemonade. We filled in our postcards to send . After we had eaten we went for a walk following the curve of Farm Cove all the way to Mrs Macquarie’s chair which had views to the city. it was magical. We decided to go to the pictures and we found a theatre which was very opulent, red velvet curtains, a chandelier and lots of gold painting on the walls. The seats were very comfortable and covered in red velvet also. There was an organ but on this day there was no one to play it. We saw Ben Hur which was advertised as a blockbuster and it certainly was. I fell in love with Charlton Heston. Frank Thring who was a customer of the bank that I worked at was also in it. It was good to know someone famous There was lots of action and fighting and chariot racing, we were spellbound. When the movie finished we collected my clean slacks, posted our cards and made our way back to our hotel and had a freshen up before going to “The Cross” for tea.

We were becoming quite familiar with the odd people that frequented the area and not so shocked so we mingled without staring too much. We had tea at a café near the Pink Pussy Cat which was in Darlinghurst Road. Robin had a vienna schnitzel with potatoes and beans and I had a beef stroganoff stew with rice, it was very exotic. We both had a chocolate mousse for pudding. We had a coca cola to drink with our meal. The café was busy and the tables emptied and filled up fairly quickly..Robin said that we were becoming quite sophisticated going to smart cafes and eating different food.

Our intention was to go to a club but we were a little nervous and after our full day decided to go back to the hotel and sit in the lounge again and play cards. We had a coffee and went up to our room where we slept very soundly.

Tuesday was the last day of our trip so after breakfast in the hotel dining room we got a bus to the zoo which was overlooking the water. The zoo was surrounded by high walls and we had no idea how large the grounds were until we paid our entrance money and went inside. It was a lovely spring day again and we wore short sleeved tops with our jumpers looped over our shoulders. There was so much to see we spent most of the afternoon going from cage to enclosure to aquarium and just walking around the paths. The snakes were very scary. Robin took my photo and I took hers then a passer-by took a photo of both of us standing near the entrance to the monkeys. It was a memorable day. We had dinner in the hotel dining room as it did not cost as much as a café. It was a fairly fine evening so we went out into the street for one last look at the strange sights in Sydney. We were lucky enough to see two performers from “Les Girls” in their stage costumes through the open door of the club and could not believe that they were really men. We wished we had gone out the night before to see the show after all..

We awoke to a dull day, no sunshine which matched our moods. We went into the hotel dining room for the last time to have our breakfast and then back up to our room to pack. I was wearing my tartan sacks. The plane was leaving at 12 o’clock and we were able to get a bus to Mascot Airport and have plenty of time to catch it. The airport was busy with a lot of business men travelling. Robin had flown once before when she came to Melbourne from her home town of Adelaide but I was a bit apprehensive. We were able to buy a couple of magazines from the paper stall to keep us occupied on the trip home. The time came for our flight to leave and we carried our cases to the tarmac where they were stowed in the luggage compartment and we climbed up the stairs to our seats. The plane was really small and although it was nearly full I counted only thirty five people. Robin let me have the window seat. It seemed to take forever before the pilot announced we were ready for take off. A pretty hostess made sure we were buckled in to our seats correctly and the plane began to taxi along the runway then suddenly we were in the air. The clouds were swirling around and it was exhilarating and frightening at the same time. The hostess moved down the plane with trays of food for our lunch. I had a ham and cheese roll, a biscuit and a glass of milk. After we had eaten and the trays taken away I just kept looking out of the window for a very long time. Robin was quite happy to be reading one of the movie magazines we had purchased at the terminal.

The flight took two hours and by the time we were getting ready to land I was really happy to be in a plane and not the stuffy bus.

The scenery started to change and I could see houses and cars and a train line then we were coming into Essendon Airport. Once more the hostess came and checked our seat belts and the plane dipped down and landed on the tarmac again. The pilot spoke over the loud speaker and advised us that there was a build up of other planes that had landed and we would have to wait a while before he could taxi down the runway. After what seemed ages the engines fired up loudly and we were on our way. We sat in the plane until the gangway was wheeled over and the doors opened for us to disembark. The pilot and the hostess shook our hands as we left the aeroplane and wished us a good day. The luggage was on a trailer and we picked up our cases and walked to the terminal. It had been a fantastic experience flying for the first time.

There were plenty of buses outside the airport and we boarded the one headed for Brunswick. The driver let us off at Moreland Road and we walked back to the hostel chatting about the trip.

The other girls were either still at university or at work so we were able to unpack and do a load of laundry before tea.

After we had eaten the usual stodgy hostel food Robin and I met up with our friends in the lounge room and told them of our fantastic trip to Sydney. We agreed it had been the best holiday ever.

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