An up and down day - emotionally and literally lol!!

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Well today didn't quite go to plan, all because of a stupid woman at trailfinders in Sydney. She had booked all my trips for me, and she told me i needed to get a bus at 9am to take me to Circular Quay (which is a contradiction in itself as it is square!) to catch a ferry to Rose Bay, to check in at the sea plane office by 9.45am to take a flight at 10am. Well i got the bus, i got to Circular Quay, I bought my ferry ticket, only to find out that the next ferry would not be until 10.10am ... and the man wouldn't refund the ticket even though i had told him i needed a ticket to get to Rose Bay by 9.45!! I then resorted to plan B, and tried to find out if a bus would go there, and when i found out i needed stand D, and got to it and looked at the timetables, the next bus was not until 9.47am! So i then resorted to plan C and got a taxi, but we got stuck in traffic and i didn't get there until 10.05 and it took another 5 minutes to walk to the seaplane base by the waters edge. This is where my luck changed!!! It turned out that the other 3 people who were booked onto the same flight as me (who were South African) had had a flat battery on their car and so they were late in arriving, and when they did arrive they couldn't find anywhere to park, so the husband, wife, one grandma and an 11 week old baby got out, whilst the other grandma (who was going to look after the baby whilst the other 3 went on the flight) tried to find somewhere to park. So i didn't miss my flight, and the baby ended up coming too as the grandma never came back in time! We flew over the Harbour, and across lots of bays and beaches - such as Manly Beach, Watsons Bay, Darling Harbour, Rose Bay, Double Bay i think it was called and loads more. I really enjoyed this and i got some amazing pictures from up there. I was sat in the front of the plane with the pilot, and from watching him, flying doesn't look that difficult - it actually looks like it might be a fun thing to learn to do!

After the flight, I caught a ferry back to Circular Quay, where i then went on a Captain Cook lunch time cruise - where you get a buffet meal, and they tell you loads of information as you cruise around the various bays and islands before you turn round and head back to the Harbour and the Quay. Having done one of these in Perth in the evening, I was looking forward to it and i wasn't disappointed! The woman doing the commentary told us so much stuff, and pointed out where Russell Crowe has an apartment, as well as the most expensive house on the Harbour that sold for $28million, and loads that sold for almost as much! They were beautiful houses, but even a 3 bedroomed house would sell for more than $1.5million so i shan't get dreaming about owning one!

One of the things i learned during this trip was that in a parrallel universe i would love to stay in Sydney until at least March, as there are so many things happening here! This year is the 75th anniversary of the Bridge and the Opera house, and as well as some free performances, they will be shutting the Bridge for a day in March for the first time in history, so that all members of the public can walk across it for free. How good would it to be a part of history, doing something that no one has ever done before, and something that will probably not be allowed for at least another 25 years?! The Chinese New Year celebrations start in Sydney from the 9th February and last until the 4th March, and then straight after it is the Mardi Gras parade, never mind all the big name singers and bands that are holding concerts at various wineries in the region, or at the entertainment centre here. I can see why it appeals to Tim to live here - you have so much going on, and so many different places to eat and things are so cheap. There are buses that are not too dear, plus the ferries, the trains and the monorail ( its like a train that goes round bits of the city on a track in the air).

It's definitely a place i want to revisit.

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