Day 46 - Unexpected sunshine and Capitol Theatre

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Today was another lazy start, which was good for me! I had a really easy night, followed by an easy morning. I've had a message from Bernard, he is on his way home. I'm pleased that he went all out, on his night out. I don't want him to miss out of his own life, just to sit at home with me!

A job that I need to sort out, whilst I have the time, is my SIM card. I have had an email to inform me that I have only 3 days left. It’s so important when you are travelling to always have access to the Internet. I will only need 4 days short of data until I leave, but I still need it for those 4 days. I managed to access the app, and get the top up sorted. I had to lick in for a month, but for me, it’s worth it!

l got a shower, and got ready for when he gets back. Bernard plans in a quick turnaround, so we can start our day. we have to make a plan for the day first. when Bernard arrived, we had a coffee/tea whilst we got sorted. There are a few changes from what we had originally discussed. Most importantly, have sun, we had expected rain. This had a huge impact on what we can do today!

We have a few options available. Originally we were planning on seeing Grease at The Capitol Theatre, but we are struggling to get tickets. Bernard called them, there is a slim chance that we may get them if we pop in to the theatre later this morning.

Bernard also sorted out hiring a car for tomorrow, just as a back up plan. Gavin initially offered to lend us his car, but we need to check with him first if it’s still available. We all have unexpected changes in plans, so we just need to make sure. If we can, we can cancel the hire car.

We set off at about 10:15. There are lots of problems with the trains today, due to flooding, further down the line. To be fair, knowing how much rain had fallen, I’m not surprised! So today, we got the bus for a change. We got off at Central Station to start our walking.

We took a detour so that I could see Chinatown, which is in Haymarket. The first point of interest was the Golden Water Mouth. This artwork comprises of the trunk of a yellow-box eucalyptus tree partly covered with 23-carat gold leaf applied over fibreglass, representing positive energy and good fortune. It stands at the very beginning of the Chinatown area, in front of the Chinese entrance gate. (A paifang). There is one situated at each end of the street. The current location of Chinatown is actually the third known area to have been considered a Chinatown.

We arrived at The Capitol Theatre ti see if we can get a couple of cancellation tickets for this afternoons matinee. WOW… it’s a great result, we managed to get the tickets we need for today’s show! Eeeekkk… excited!

We have a couple of hours until the show, and we both need to eat, we are going to a place called Barrel One for a late brunch. We continued ambling around the streets. The next point of interest that we passed was the huge Coca Cola billboard. It is raised high above the streets on the corner of Darlinghurst Street in Kings Cross. It is more often regarded as an iconic landmark than as an advertisement. It had recently been upgraded from light bulbs to neon

Adjacent to the billboard is a beautiful wall art which covers the side of a whole building. It acknowledges the pride rainbow, and people of colour. The message it offers is, ‘Still thriving’. This piece of art is by Dylan Mooney, he uses his art as a vessel to narrate his personal experience as a proud, queer Indigenous man.

As we walk along Oxford Street, Bernard explained to me that this area is one of Australia’s most-loved and historic high streets. A destination for shopping, nightlife and our LGBTIQA+ communities. It is also the home of the annual Mardi Gras Parade, and from February to March, each year for the LGBTIQA+ community. Many travellers from across the globe come to celebrate at Sydney WorldPride.

We continue on towards Barrel One in Roslyn Street in Potts Point area. It’s a cafe that does really good bagel foods. We ordered egg and cheese bagels, Bernard had pastrami with his. We had iced coffee, and water to wash it down. As we are sat, eating our brunch, I noticed that the Mardi Gras

We are on a time watch, as we need to be back at the theatre by 1:45 ish, for a 2pm start. We decided to take an Uber, just to make sure that we are in good time.!

And we’re here!! I’m soooo excited to see Grease! There are a couple of more well known people in the show, just not so well known to me! There was: Patti Newton as Miss Lynch. She is an Australian singer, actress, dancer, stage performer and radio and television presenter, Marcia Hines as Teen Angel is an American-born Australian singer and TV personality and Jay Laga’aia as Vince Fontaine who a New Zealand-Australian actor and singer.

It was so worth our time, and money to go to this show. I do love a musical, and Grease, well, that was a no brainer for me. I simply loved every minute of it!

After we came out of the show, we headed for Darling Harbour for a drink before we return to the apartment. I did say earlier, we are not doing too much today, in preparation for a long day tomorrow.

Well, our efforts to get back early went out of the window! The keenness to walk, and always look up, seems to have taken over us…..again! But what can you do? We see do much when we get a, ‘walk on!’

After our drink stop, yes, we continued to walk! We decided on treating ourselves to a gelato. I know…. Remember the last one I had in Manly!!! I decided to choose carefully, and not to let my eyes take over my mind….. oooops, too late… ha ha. Only one word from Bernard about maybe considering a double cornet….. and I was instantly in… The eyes have it! I got a salted macadamia and dolce de leche, with a salted caramel tiramisu, all piled into one waffle cornet, and Bernard had the same. Honestly, I promised myself, never again, and here I am a couple of days later,….. and I loved it! Ha ha! Here’s my tip..YOLO!

We carried on, walking with our ice creams, around Darling Harbour, to go across Pyrmont Bridge, which is a lovely iron swing bridge. The views across the harbour, with the reflections in the water, as the sun goes down, are lovely to watch! As we were leaving the bridge, there was a couple of priests, of sorts, resting over the railings… I just thought it made for a funny photo!!

Although we are still walking, we are actually making our way back to the train station. We divided to cut through QVB. I did talk about this amazing building yesterday, but today, we have more time. The extra time allowed us to have a really good look, and to seriously, look up! There is so much more than I thought to this beautiful building. I was bowled over yesterday, but today… OMG… Tne floor tiles, the clocks, the dome, the staircases…. Honestly, I can’t put it all into words, but I did take photos, Judy not sure if they do it justice!

Finally we are at Townhall train station, hoping, and praying, that a train will actually come! With all the recent flooding, we are not 100% sure! Finally a train came, but we can only go one, or two stops on it. We stopped at the first stop? Deciding whether to go one more stop to get nearer to home. Then I looked over on the other track,… it’s actually a train that will get us home! We both pelted off the train, as quick as we could, crossed over to the other side of the platform, and made it perfectly to jump onto the train that will take us all the way to Petersham. I can’t describe how good that felt. We’ve already been an hour, on a ten minute journey, but the way things are, we’re doing pretty well to even get this far!

We made it home for about8pm, so definitely not eat, but also not too late, just later than we had planned! When we got home, I got showered, whilst Bernard got busy in, Chez Bernard. Tonight we are having Mexican bean loaded wedges with picked onion and plant based mayo, which was really good. Another hit Chez Bernard!

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Comments

[Angela]

RAINS IN SYDNEY HIT HEADLINES ON BBC NEWS IN UK
Hi Lesley...thought about you today when they mentioned the heavy rain in Sydney on BBC news...and having read your blog yesterday I had no doubt the news was true! Take care...the poncho you bought could sell well when you leave.🤣🤣🤣 Angela x

[Lesley2912]

Rain!
Yes, it had been crazy rain, but lucky for us, the only problem is trains for us, for a lot of people, more north, it’s a lot worse! X