Monday, November 28, 2011

Australia/Hawaii 2002, part 9: Sydney (day 5)

I did my city bus tour on my last day, because I didn't plan well - that should have been the first day. And the fact that the flight from Yulara was mid-day didn't occur to me, so I lost a day that I might have tried to gain back by staying one less day in the Outback so I could stay one more day in Sydney. Of course, had I not been going to a wedding in California on Saturday, then I could have stayed another two days in Sydney, but this trip was planned around the wedding. As it was, there were a number of things I didn't get to do that I had wanted to, but there's always next time. Today's pictures are here.

Monday, September 30: Sydney
Where did the time go?

Monday – my last full day in Australia. It’s bittersweet, although I’m looking forward to getting back to the US, I really don’t want to leave. I love being here and I already want to come back.

Today is “leftover day”, originally planned to be my trip out west to the Blue Mountains but I’m all natured out for a while, so I’ll try to hit all the things I missed over the last few days. Impossible, I’m sure, but I’ll see what I can fit in.



The morning was supposed to start out with a tour of the Opera House and other things in this part of town like the Pylon view (you can climb up one of the Harbour Bridge pylons to the observation deck), since when I did the BridgeClimb they gave us free tickets. This way I’d be almost as high as on top of the bridge, but I’d be able to bring my camera and take it at my own rate. I also needed to stop in an opal shop and get something for Lori; we had been emailing for the last couple of days, trying to nail down the details about what to get and how much to spend. After that, I’d head downtown for shopping, the Centrepoint Tower, and other stuff. Well, of course it didn’t happen like that.

First thing I did was finally check out the view from the roof. I was incredibly lucky in finding the hotel (the Old Sydney Holiday Inn) at a very reasonable rate ($139 a night, which is only USD$70 and should have easily been $150), and the view from the top overlooks Circular Quay, the Harbour Bridge, and the Opera House. It would have been nice to be able to sit in the rooftop pool with a drink and just look out over the city, but (a) there wasn’t time and (b) it was too cold. Maybe on my next trip…

I made it down to the Opera House only to find out that the next available tour was at 11:30, at about an hour long. And after doing some window shopping on the way to the SOH, that only left me with an hour to do other stuff in the area, so I had to push the Pylon tour out to the afternoon. I finally had my photos developed from the dive trip on the day I took my camera; they came out just OK, apparently I had the camera too close on some of them and a number of them turned out too blurry. I also got some passport photos taken so I could include one with my PADI Advanced Open Water application; it was going to be easier (and cheaper) to mail it from within Australia than from the US, especially since it was being sent to somewhere in the country. Also picked up a shirt for myself and a mini stuffed koala for my neighbor for watching my house while I’m gone, and a couple of pins.

Finally, it was time for the guided tour of the Sydney Opera House. Some interesting history in a nutshell: when it was proposed, an architect from Denmark won the competition and they started building. But a few years later, when there was a change in government, the architect didn’t get along with the new leader and quit, going back to Europe (he hasn’t been back since, not even to see the finished building). So they hired an Aussie to finish the inside, as only the outside shell was complete. There were some design changes with the new crew, including adding another “sail/shell” and adding a small performance center in addition to the main Opera theater and the main Performance theater (which is actually bigger than the one for the opera). We learned all of that on the tour, which took us into and around the buildings, inside each of the three theaters (no pictures, please). One interesting fact was that anyone can come in to the SOH during a performance and watch it on TV screens in the lobbies – there’s some law that says that everyone must be allowed access to the performance, even if they can’t afford to pay for a ticket. The building looks just as strange and wonderful from the inside.

After picking up a book in the gift shop, it was about 1 pm, time to call Mom back in Houston where it was 10 pm last night, her birthday. The call went through with no problem and needless to say she was very surprised to hear from me, and surprised that Dad and I had worked it all out for her to be home at that time for me to call. See, guys can be successfully sneaky too. They both commented on how clear the call was, as if being far away automatically means the connection will be bad. We talked for about a half hour about stuff I had done in the last few days, what my plans for the next couple days were, and the hurricanes that seemed to be popping up daily in the Gulf of Mexico. By the time we were done, it was 1:30, or 11:30 last night in Detroit, so it was too late to call Lori. I’ll try at work later tonight my time, which will be this morning her time. Time zone travel is so confusing.

By now my afternoon schedule was completely shot. I hadn’t even eaten lunch yet and I still had to do the Pylon climb and get the opal for Lori, and in theory I was supposed to be downtown already. I got the feeling that I wasn’t going to make it, so I decided that I’d just do whatever I had time for and anything else would just have to be saved up for the next trip.

Back to The Rocks, I passed by the Russell Hotel and the Fortune of War pub, which claims to be the oldest pub in Sydney, dating back to 1834. I walked down to the Lord Nelson Brewery, the oldest hotel in Sydney. The downstairs is a pub that brews its own beer, and the top few floors have rooms (only about 10 in all). This is where I was going to stay before I booked the Holiday Inn, and it’s just far enough back in The Rocks that I’m glad I didn’t stay there. It would have meant an extra 10 minutes walking to and from Circular Quay each way. For lunch, at around 2, I had a steak sandwich (which I forgot is not a Philly Steak Sandwich, it’s a sandwich with a steak) with chips and a “Three Sheets” beer.

As if I hadn’t walked and climbed enough, there were 68 steps to get from the street up to the traffic level of the Harbour Bridge, then we had to walk a fair distance just to get to the Pylon, and then climb another 201 steps up to the top. Yes, I counted. The view, however, was worth the trip. It was almost as good as from the top of the Bridge, and this time I had my camera. The walkway on top had a big plexiglass shield to stop jumpers, and helpful markers pointed the direction to local points of interest. The city looks even more amazing from this high. From this vantage point you could see the people in their gray jumpsuits making the trek up the Bridge like I did just a few days ago.

By the time I got back, I had just enough time (about an hour) to buy Lori’s opal before catching the last red Sydney Explorer bus of the day. In retrospect, this should have been the first thing I did on Friday morning instead of walking around The Rocks, Circular Quay, and the Opera House. It would have given me a better feel for the city, where things are in relation to each other, and just a general overview based on the tour guide’s description. For example, I wouldn’t have had the “pleasure” of walking around downtown and heading back to Circular Quay and then reversing course to Darling Harbour, I could have saved an hour or so and just walked it last night. But anyway, the bus was a nice relaxing tour of the city, starting at Circular Quay and the Opera House, passing by the Australian Museum, King’s Cross, Wooloomooloo, under the Harbour through the Sydney Harbour Tunnel and back across the Harbour Bridge, the QVB (Queen Victoria Building), Chinatown, Darling Harbour, the Sydney fish market, the casino, and back to The Rocks. The bus stopped right in front of my hotel at 7, and then I had to decide on a quick dinner or waiting til after the Harbour lights cruise at 8. Since I had had a late lunch, I figured I’d wait.

The nighttime Harbour Lights cruise was similar to the afternoon cruise except that this was at night (obviously) and didn’t go as far. The trip was just under 2 hours, as opposed to the 3 hours on Saturday afternoon. The buildings in the downtown area, as well as the “second downtown” across the Harbour in North Sydney, all have giant neon lights at the top proclaiming either who owns the building, who is the main tenant, or who put up the most money for advertising. Practically every building had some sort of logo. At night, though, it made for a very colorful skyline. I did find it impossible, however, to take any kind of good picture, since the boat’s movement wrecked any chance of a good time-exposure shot. We heard some of the same canned commentary from the afternoon cruise, but other parts were tailored to the night cruise. One of the highlights of the Sydney leg of my trip, and a nice way to end things.

Dinner the last night was at Quay restaurant, at the end of the docks near the passenger terminal, closest to the bridge. It turned out this was the type of place that usually needs reservations as well as a jacket and tie, but I got there late enough that there were seats and they didn’t appear to mind. The restaurant lies lengthwise along the cruise terminal but at the end, and there are glass walls on either side so you can take in the view. At the very top end, the restaurant forms a bubble-shape with glass all around; this is where I ate dinner, with a view of the bridge straight ahead and the Opera House on my right.  The waiter recommended a glass of shiraz (which is a type of red wine I hadn’t heard of, which isn’t surprising since I don’t know wine). As a palate cleanser, they gave out a complimentary mini-cup of tuna tartare with avocado and grapefruit. For the Main I ordered “crisp pressed, star anise and cinnamon duck, Chinese flowering chives, salsify, young spinach, garlic puree, duck juices”. Dessert was a “five textured valrhona chocolate”, with cake, ice cream, mousse, cocoa powder, and a chocolate disc that sits on top. The whole thing was really good, needless to say. Quay was recommended as one of the best restaurants in the city, which is why I chose it.

I finished dinner around 11, but still had to go back to the hotel and pack. I figured I was going to give up on Harry’s in Wooloomooloo and King’s Cross, since I had to get my act together in time to leave around 7 in the morning. I did take a half hour and call Lori at work, she thought it was very strange that I was calling her from halfway around the world and that I was at the end of my day while she was just starting hers.

And that was it. I packed up and went to bed, later than expected as usual. Never made it downtown at all for the Jewish Museum or the Great Synagogue, the AMP Centrepoint Tower, shopping, Harry’s, King’s Cross, and all the rest. One more day would have done it, but I lost that day traveling from Yulara to Sydney. As I said, I’ll save it for next time.

Well, not exactly done… After I was all packed and ready, I went out of the hotel for one last walk around Circular Quay. It’s quiet late at night – there aren’t that many people out, and the trains and buses don’t run as often. I strolled down to the Opera House one last time. It’s so magnetic. I happened to be there at the right time to watch the moon rise. OK, now it’s off to bed.

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