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Published: November 18th 2007
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******Okay, it’s Saturday and my first full day at Sydney. I’m staying at a Holiday Inn in the heart of Chinatown. Got a nice sleep and took my time getting up. My first stop was MarketCity, which is a shopping mall on top and a market on the bottom. Picked up a much-needed backpack there, fretted about the bus system, and finally headed out to the Circular Quay (pronounced “key”) which is the main ferry port. It’s also very near the Rocks district.
The Rocks used to be nothing but slums up until the 1970’s. Various schemes were hatched to raze the area and build modern high-rises. However, a huge hippie movement (yes, they had them here too) kept a small portion of the Rocks from the bulldozer. Now it is a cute little area with shops, cafes, and pubs…very nice.
My absolute favorite part was the Rocks Museum, which contained an in-depth look at the history of Sydney Harbor and the settling of the Harbour area. It was clean, airy, and all of the interactive computers worked. Amazing.
I had lunch at a nearby pub. Here is the confusing thing with eateries in Australia. First, they are
Darling Harbour
The ultra-touristy area known as Darling Harbour. pretty much self-serve. Be prepared to order your own food, fetch your own beer, and seat yourself. The only thing you won’t have to do is the dishes, I think, although I can’t yet confirm that. Imagine if a restaurant in America tried that. It would close down in about three weeks. Get up and get my own beer, crikey!!
I can’t possibly tell you all the little places I trekked to today, but to put it into scope I am plodding through the hotel in slippers because my feet are f***ing killing me. See, I usually can’t decide what I want to do until I’m on the road. As an unfortunate side-effect, I spend in an inordinate amount of time staring at city maps and street signs. Also, I pretty much forget the minute I fold the map what I just read so I have to start it all over again.
However, I did make it to the “big” Sydney attractions today, starting with the Darling Harbour (if you’ve seen MTV’s the “Real World” that is where the latest one was filmed), the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. Actually, I got totally lost looking for the
stupid staircase leading to the Harbour Bridge and somehow ended up underneath it (sigh)...
From there I went over to the Opera House and sat a while because I just walked 25 miles and I could no longer move…the wind was brutal and I really wished I had decided on a ponytail today. I was also surprised to see that the Opera House is not one big structure, but actually compromised of several buildings that are so perfectly aligned that you can’t tell it apart from most angles. I took a lot of pictures of it.
Okay, my “find” for today was a Woolworth’s by the Town Hall. Remember Woolworth’s? Well, I can just tell you that paying just a $1.74 for bottled water was fantastic. Trust me, this is an expensive city. I felt like I just stumbled upon the Holy Grail.
After an hour soaking my feet I talked myself into going to Sydney’s only casino, the Star. For some reason Syndeysiders love penny slots even though they don’t actually mint pennies here. The lowest money denomination you can get here is a nickel. So I’m not really sure what the purpose is and no
Harbour Bridge
Just in case you think I'm at home in slippers... I didn’t win one shiny penny. Overall, the casino wasn’t that great.
*******Today is Sunday and I started my day off at the Sydney Aquarium. I was very happy that it lived up to all the hype. The Great Barrier Reef exhibit was so cool I walked back and went through it again. I’m going to try to attach a video clip for you to see - hopefully it works, because I think my digital camera is on the verge of self-destructing. Afterwards, I had lunch and decided to go back to Circular Quay to catch a Harbour cruise.
The highlight of my day today though was checking into my new Hotel at Coogee Beach. My room is BEAUTIFUL, I look over the ocean and I have an outdoor patio!!! I’ll attach some photos later in the week. For now, I googled you some pics. Try not to hate me.
Tomorrow I am heading on a trip to Featherdale Zoo and the Blue Mountains. Can’t wait!!!
Cheers all,
Carol
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Laura
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Hey you Aussie!
It looks so beautiful there! Keep those emails coming!