"Your Taxi is Always Ready!"

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When we called down to the front counter this morning, notifying them, as per the instructions in the "guest hand book" that we needed to give an advance of at least 15 minutes to get a taxi, the strangely accented man on the phone enthusiastically replied, "Your taxi is ALWAYS ready!" Ah, Sydney! How we have enjoyed your taxis, your trains and your trams. Your non-stop attitude, your enthusiastic engineers and your gruff but sweet tattooists. Let's start from the top....

We arrived in Sydney in the wee hours of Saturday morning, running on not-much-sleep and plenty-of-alcohol. We were exhausted. It didn't stop myself and my beautiful sister Tracey instantly hitting harbourside to purchase gorgeous clothes we neither need nor could really afford. After an afternoon siesta, we went to a steak house for dinner (where I enjoyed a lovely salad - let us rejoice for lettuce!) and saw the hit musical, Wicked! The set and production values were absolutely amazing, and the script was witty and clever. The casting, however, had much to be desired. Turns out Bert Newton and Rob Mills cannot sing to save themselves, and were clearly only put into the show to draw crowds - they were completely abysmal!! The two female leads, Amanda Harrison and Lucy Durack, however, were mind-blowingly talented. When we arrived back at the hotel, my relatives headed to the bar for a night cap, and Brennen and I snuck into the pool area (which was technically shut) and went for a midnight swim. What a delightful day!

Sunday morning was spent in Manly, the markets suck and the people are rude, but the beach was pretty (although crowded) and we had lunch at the Blue Water Cafe, where we were served by a talented and gorgeous waitress and all enjoyed our meals heartily! We headed back to the rocks so that Mum, Aunty Cher and Uncle Bob could continue drinking, and Dad, Brennen and I could psyche ourselves for the bridge climb. Now is the time I should probably mention that I have a fear of heights. And a panic/anxiety disorder. And absolutely freak when I am only a few storeys up and there is a big gust of wind. So for some ridiculous reason, I thought that climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge was definitely a great idea. Dad and Brennen were really excited though. (I should also mention that Brennen and I bought Dad's ticket as we wanted to thank him for building us an awesome patio out the back of our house. And putting security screens on all of our windows. And attaching a back door. And building not one, but TWO gates. Yeah, he's awesome!) The bridge climb was terrifying but brilliant. Also, FINALLY something good came from Australian Idol - there were fireworks from the finale whilst we were at the top of the bridge - completely stunning!!

A few anecdotes about the bridge that we learned from our talented and enthusiastic leader:
1. To walk on the bridge, you MUST wear an unflattering and completely ugly jumpsuit.
2. 16 people died during the building of the bridge (we discovered this whilst standing at the peak - comforting), but only six at the actual bridge site, and only three of those from falling off the bridge. Which is quite impressive because no safety harnesses or barriers were used during construction.
3. Vincent Kelley is the only person to have survived falling from the bridge. The reason he survived is that he was following a trend at the time of "extreme diving", which meant diving from really huge heights. He came out of the water with only three cracked ribs and a broken collar bone. Being the great depression, however, he discharged himself from hospital within two weeks and was working back on the bridge (at great heights) again. The superintendent was SO impressed, that he awarded him with a commemorative gold coin, saying he survived falling from the bridge, Personally, I think a better reward would have been early retirement. Turns out the dude actually went on to fight in the second world war, gained two bravery awards for being wounded seven times and died peacefully in his sleep at the golden age of 80.
4. There are approximately 6 MILLION rivets in the bridge (although nobody has really bothered to count them all.) and approximately 10 thousand rivets lie at the bottom of the harbour.

Monday consisted of china town and me getting two wicked (and cheap!) tattoos. I've summarised a heap because we're on the train to Canberra and it was just announced that croissants are being served on car A and I'M SO HUNGGGGRRRRRYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I love and miss you all, I'll post photos when I can, and attempt to make more regular blogs. Until then, I'm eating croissants and enjoying the scenery.

Mwa, mwa, mwa!

-Mich

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Photos

Ferry to CIrcular Quay
Uncle Bob & Dad

Bridge by Night
(a Tribute to The Decline)

Right Shoulder
Brennen & Me

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Aunty Cher, Uncle Bob, Dad, Mum

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Brennen, Me, Trace, Liam

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Unimpressed :P

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For some reason the photo titles got all muddled up - think of it as a puzzle; match the photos to the titles! Have fun!