Sydney by helicopter
I recently (April 2000) got my first paycheck after my 12 month sabbatical, so I decided to give Simon a real Xmas present (instead of one paid for with his money). He'd never been up in a helicopter before, so I decided to book us both on a 35 minute tour of the city and surrounding areas.
Here's Simon in front of the helicopter.
As soon as we took off, the weather turned bad, so the photos didn't turn out that great. These are the eastern beaches, with Bondi being the one at the top.
Here's another view of Bondi Beach.
The houses on the cliffs at the north end of Bondi must have awesome views, but as you can see from the photos below, erosion is a concern. Sooner or later, these multi-million dollar mansions will end up in the Pacific.
After the eastern beaches, we headed up towards the North Shore.
This is Manly Beach.
We then headed up the harbour to the CBD. You can see the Opera House and Harbour Bridge etc.
After hovering over the city for a while, we aimed for Homebush - site of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
Here's a nice shot above where the Opening and Closing ceremonies will take place.
Our time was almost up, so we took one last look at the city (where it was still raining)...
... and headed back to the airport.
If you haven't been in a helicopter, it's definitely worth trying! See?
To see photos of the Olympic site taken from the ground, click here.