Our romantic get away!

Rick and I just returned from a luxurious weekend away in Sydney! (All courtesy of his boss!)

We were treated to business class flights with Qantas from Melbourne to Sydney and that was such a treat. I have never flown anything other than economy and it was nice to see how the other half lived! We were told we were having only refreshments but their idea of refreshments was a gourmet snack that was meal size. Complete with hot towels it made for a pleasant flight there and back.

We were greeted at Sydney airport by a chauffeur - I have always wanted to have my name on a sign held by a chauffeur!! LOL He drove us to the doors of Star City Casino Hotel where we found our suite had been upgraded to a 1 bedroom apartment! We had the best views of the city and Darling Harbour and the room was simply divine!


There is no way we could ever afford to stay in a 5 star hotel like this so we really lapped it up. As we had the 'romance package' we were given champagne and strawberries on Friday and Saturday nights.

We were also given breakfast, and could choose from having room service to the value of $79 for breakfast or go to the Astral Restaurant . Her we we could have a full buffet breakfast while overlooking the city (it was on the 17th floor). We chose the restaurant and stuffed ourselves on goodness! We did a few tourist things - the main one being the National Maritime Museum. Sounds a bit nerdish but we both were looking forward to going on the battle ship and submarine.... having such a big military background we found it so interesting and exciting. Rick spent a lot of time explaing how things worked on the ship, mainly the guns etc. He watches a lot of Discovery so it was good for him to see it in the 'flesh'.
We didn't go and see the Opera House or do the harbour cruise as we had both done that in previous years and once you see it, well that is it! Not much changes.

We were given $350 spending money too so we dabbled in the casino! The pokies are rather boring and eat your money so we tried our luck at roulette. Once we were taught how to play we became quite addicted. The first time we tried we didn't win anything and lost $20 but then on Sunday with only 20 minutes to spare before our car arrived to take us the airport we lashed out with $40 on the $5 table and we won $160 back! We kept playing and winning but ended up walking away with $120 profit. Not bad for first timers. I now want to head off to Crown casino sometime soon and have another go....although I think I should practice on the net in the meantime!! Very addictive game.

We stuffed ourselves again Saturday night at the Garden Buffet. Rick was most impressed with the unlimited prawns and me, well I kind of lingered around the dessert bar a bit too much!

Overall, we had a much needed break away from reality. I was very aprehensive about leaving the kids - it was really stressing me out. I haven't been apart from the girls overnight before (except when I was in hospital for 2 nights having Alexandra but Isabella was home with Daddy). It all turned out well though and they were fine. It was something that Rick and I needed to do and it was nice to fall in love all over again...just what the doctor ordered right now :) After being treated like small town royalty for a while it was back to reality with dishes and chores!

All the photos can be seen here. Don't worry, I didn't upload the ones of me in the bubble bath or anything else too, um... personal!! LOL