Visiting Sydney

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We have kept the car an extra day as we did not want to try to bring it back in Friday rush hour traffic, so we head off to downtown Sydney. It ends up costing a bit more than we counted on (thanks to gst being added on) but is still a fairly good deal and we covered a great deal of distance in the 10 days that we had it.
Car less, we walk from the Kings Cross area down to the waterfront and get our first view of the Sydney Opera House. Trying to keep up with the news, we stop and use the INTERNET. Bangkok airport is still closed and it looks like we will have to make alternative arrangements for South East Asia. This will be hard as we have had all our stuff sent to a contact in Bangkok.

When we reach Circular Quay we take a photo of our stuffed penguin in front of this world landmark, and then continue along the shoreline taking in the sites en route.

Evy wants to check out some markets which are close to China Town, so we walk through the downtown core to that side of the city. After lunch at a food court (Benjamin now likes Indian food) we head to Patty's Market to take a look.

The Market is a real bargain for souvenirs and stuff, though each stall seems to sell the same stuff. We end up picking up some Christmas presents to mail home along with t-shirts to mail to our cousin Lucy as awards for our annual family boat race. Benjamin and Joshua also pick up cases for their Ipods.

Without a car, our plan is to take the train home. We buy our tickets and then find out that we can only take the train part way, due to track work. The rest of the trip will be by bus, so we are soon weaving our way though the Sydney neighbourhoods on a bus that seems too wide for the tight turns. Finally we reach Chester Hill station and trek back to our accommodations on Hume Highway.

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