A few Days in Sydney

Arriving on a weekend certainly makes taxi fares more reasonable than on week days. Our first taxi to the hotel after arriving on the Queen Elizabeth ran the meter up to $30, while this Saturday trip cost only $18. After checking in to the hotel on we did a little grocery shopping for snacks etc. We went back to Circular Quay then into the Central Business District to get a SIM card for one of our cell phones. As it turns out, $40 buys one month of unlimited talk & text almost world wide, with a modest data budget. The store we expected to use was closed on Saturday but we had no difficulty finding one that was open.

With communications in place we found a tourist information centre to plan Sunday’s excursion. It was decided to take the train to Katoomba and have a look at the Blue Mountains. First thing Sunday morning we were on the subway to Sydney’s Central Station where we transferred to an intercity train for a 2 hour ride to Katoomba. Our total Sunday rate fare for the subway and return trip to Katoomba was $2.60. 

Having arrived in Katoomba we bought $25 tour tickets for a Hop-On-Off bus service. The bus toured the town, the nearby town of Leura and the rim of the Blue Mountain canyon. We left the bus to walk a portion of the canyon rim then returned to the bus. Looking into the distance across the canyon there is an ever thickening blue haze resulting from the eucalyptus trees. Also interesting is the fact that despite the thousands of acres of eucalyptus trees there are no koalas because they prefer species that are not found in the area.

We are gradually learning that here in Australia some of the best food stops do not have the most appealing premises. We are finding ourselves in pubs that would have panicked the hand sanitizer folks on the cruise ships. Cutlery for the days customers is often stockpiled in table dispensers along with the salt and pepper. Table service is not normal here either. Food and drink is pre-ordered and pre-paid at the bar. You take the drinks to your table and the food is delivered when ready.

Monday Gail needed some retail therapy so we asked for a recommendation to a suburban shopping mall and were directed to Bondi Junction. It was but two subway stops to the east so off we went. There were at least two buildings carrying the name Westfield. We see the same name from our hotel window on the top of the tower in downtown Sydney. We carefully laid a trail of breadcrumbs as we threaded our way through shopping concourse after concourse. I believe there were five or six levels above ground in two, perhaps three buildings interconnected both above and below ground. Sadly, when we attempted to follow the bread crumbs back they had been eaten by birds or swept up by cleaners! Through little but blind luck we landed on the sidewalk within site of the transit terminal and made it back to the hotel.

We spent the afternoon enjoying the Sydney Royal Botanical Garden. Autumn is just about to arrive so the majority of bloom is finished.

The massive trees of many species provided welcome shade as we walked the garden on a gorgeous sunny day. It is a large garden where the western exit leads to a waterfront trail around Mrs Macquarie’s Point. From the western side of the point we could see the Woolloomooloo Finger Wharf with expensive condos housing an occasional celebrity and the Garden Island Naval Base. The hours slipped by and suddenly it was time for dinner at The Fortune of War pub, the oldest in Sydney dating back to 1828.

Tuesday Mar 13 was a rather different day. It began the evening before when we suddenly realized that a bag of snacks and miscellaneous groceries was missing from the hotel room. A call to hotel reception started an investigation that ended Tuesday morning when the hotel offered to reimburse the cost of missing items. Having become experts in navigating the Bondi Junction shopping centre, we decided to return there, buy the necessary items and return to the hotel with bill in hand. We managed to find two massive grocery stores and got what we needed at the second. I’m not sure we could have found our way back to the first one anyway. We did find an exit but once on the sidewalk it took a while to find the transit terminal and return to the hotel. The refund was instantaneous along with a complimentary bottle of wine.

This day was rainy and cool. Not a torrential rain and not even continuous but enough that an umbrella was standard equipment. After lunch we set out for downtown Sydney again but having arrived at the subway station we learned of an accident on our line that prevented us from going to our transfer point, Central Station. We took the train as far as we could and left at the Martin Place station. Actually, by the time we got to Martin Place the track had been cleared and we could have continued but we had already decided to accept the challenge. How far could we go from the Martin Place station without going outside into the rain. We negotiated a zig zag path which covered at least 10 city blocks and ended up at Central Station. The trip took about an hour and a half to do what would have been a five minute subway ride but it was an adventure in mole city.

Here’s Something Not Seen Before at Building Entrances

Darling Harbour Panorama

We gradually found our way, by train and ferry, to the Hard Rock Cafe in Darling Harbour where we had dinner, then by ferry and train back to the hotel. We had not been long in the hotel when we received a phone call from a lovely couple, Sarah and Noel whom we had met as dinner companions on the Queen Elizabeth. It was wonderful to hear from them again. Since they live in Queensland there may be a chance to visit with them again once we relocate to the gold coast next week.

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