Last weekend, my father gave me some theatre tickets so I visited Sydney stayed at the Hilton Hotel and to kill some time, I ventured on my way down to the Opera House. On the way down to this iconic tourist attraction I saw the bustling Wharves of Sydney with a busy Ferry services collecting people and going to a variety of places i.e. Manly, Taronga Zoo etc. I also noticed a thrilling boat ride called: Thunder Jet Boats.
People get on board wearing thick canvass ponchos with hoodie and brave the high powered rock n’ roll Thunder Jet boat.
We had Scotty as our driver who gave us all the safety precautions explaining who is likely to get drenched and to hold on for dear life (this is the advance warning before we do the boating equivalent of burnouts) and occasionally see some tourist highlights. We paid a special discount of $79 for an approximate 30 minutes whereby we head out to the large Sydney Harbour and weave in between the Ferries, powerboats, canoes and sailing yachts. Believe me, it’s a lot safer than it sounds and in many places there are no other boats around to test this ultra-power boat’s abilities.
I have to say, I learned more about Sydney in 1 hour than I have in all the other visits I have accumulated over the years beginning in 8th June 1979, with average visits every 3-4 years thereafter. How do I know this precise debut date? I remember it well, because we were there enjoying all the rides at Luna Park the day before the infamous Luna Park Ghost Train Fire that killed 7 people the day after our visit (tragedies like that leave an indelible imprint on one’s mind).
We saw where the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his wife Lucy live at Point Piper (the most expensive Real estate in Australia with some residential properties selling at more than a $100 Million a piece). They still live at their private address, and not at Kirribilli House which is the traditional Sydney home of the Prime Ministers of Australia since 1956, across the harbour (which we also saw).
Other beaches and suburbs we saw were: Vaucluse and Rushcutters Bay (I briefly write about the sporting historical significance of this place in my upcoming novel: Jimmy Sharman’s in Town. Due Out December 2017). We also saw the impressive Memorial to HMAS Sydney that was engaged in battle and sunk in the Indian Ocean during the 2nd WW (1941) by a German Cruiser: Kormoran with the loss of all 645 on board.
The harbour’s islands we checked out included Shark Island, Goat Island and Fort Denison. We saw the first ever Lighthouse in Australia and the infamous Heads which is apparently the only entrance into the harbour from the Pacific Ocean. Once you see all this, you can appreciate how the sailing veteran Capt. James Cook came to describe Sydney Harbour as the “..finest harbour in the world.”
Whilst learning all the historical and cultural significance we did our regular high speed burnouts to the sound of classic Australian Rock and other popular Clubbing tunes. Scotty always regularly checked to see if we were good with a I’m Ok thumbs up from everyone.
The trip was scheduled for a 30 minutes but we got great value with a 1 hour trip. The Poncho did the best job it could but could n’t stop the inevitable drenching we got. I loved Every Minute of it.
Their website is www.thunderjetboat.com.au
The funny thing is I really did the Thunder Jet Boat trip just to kill time before I went to see the 2pm matinee: My Fair Lady at the Capital Theatre on Pitt Street. I attended the 12.30pm trip, it went for an hour and finished at 1.30pm. As you can imagine, after I hung up my Poncho, collected my valuables and put my shoes on; I went straight to an adjacent Aussie Souvenir Shop quickly purchased an aboriginal designed towel – made good use of it and immediately caught a taxi across town and made the theatre just in time; with 5 minutes to spare in the men’s room using the Hand Dryer to great effect.
I Highly Recommend Thunder Jet Boat tour.
Take Care & Cheers
Jason
