Day 21: Now I’ve Seen Both Sydney, Nova Scotia AND Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

With my alarm set for 7:30 a.m., I woke up at 5:30 – which would have been 8:30 a.m. back in New Zealand yesterday. This was somewhat surprising as the hotel had two “false alarm” fire claxons go off during the night, so my sleep was not quite as restful as I had hoped. But finally gave up at 6:30, turned on Sydney’s “Today” show, and finished reading “Where Men Gain Glory”. I was showered and ready to go by 8:15 a.m., under blue skies and a temperature of 8 C (47 F), with a forecast high of 18 C (65 F).

The hotel where I was staying was pretty basic: clean, but only one, flickering, blue overhead fluorescent light, and no room furnishings other than the main bed with a twin bed bunked over its head. Combined with the false fire alarms, I decided to try switching hotels. I was able to find the Airport Sydney International Inn for just slightly more than what I had paid at the Formule 1. I checked out, called a cab, and rode over to my new digs.

It was 9:30 a.m., and my room wouldn’t be available until after 12 noon, so I checked my bags and headed for the train station. At the Wolli Creek station (pronounced “Walleye Crick”), I obtained a map of the rail system, and bought a round-trip ticket to downtown. I could not, however, figure out from which of the four platforms the train I wanted would depart. So I played the odds, and went to the platform with the most people (about 5) waiting on it. Fortunately, they were right and 25 minutes later, I disembarked at the Circular Quay station.

One of the buildings I was hoping to locate was the former Customs House, as my neighbor back home had recommended a restaurant (Café Sydney) located on the roof of the building with its spectacular view of Sydney Harbor. I walked out of the railway station looking for a muffin and a cup of tea, and found the Customs House instead:

I looked at their menu, posted by the door, and decided I wouldn’t be eating there – but it certainly would have had a spectacular view! Instead, I walked around to the other side of the railway station, and to my left was the Sydney Harbour Bridge:

And to my right was the iconic Sydney Opera House:

All this by only 10:30 in the morning! So I found a bakery, where I bought a chocolate muffin and bottle of water, and a bench ,where I could eat my breakfast while enjoying the sun. Afterwards, I headed over to investigate the Harbour Bridge. Construction of the bridge began in the mid 1920’s and opened in 1932. It is similar in design to the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, but its span and height above the water are both significantly longer and higher, respectively, than its New York counterpart.

It is also very visitor friendly. At a minimum, you can walk underneath its approach spans:

You can also walk across the bridge, obtaining some spectacular views of the Harbour, Opera House, and surrounding area:

And if you’re so inclined (pun intended), you can attach yourself to a safety cable, and walk across either the lower or upper span of the bridge:

The woman at the top of the ladder is at the south end of the upper span, and will walk across to the north end of the bridge. The climb costs about $200, takes an hour, and puts you about 700 feet above the water – not for the faint of heart.

While wandering through “The Rocks” area at the south end of the bridge, I located a restaurant called “Pancakes On The Rocks” where I hoped to have my first flapjacks of the trip. So I headed back to the restaurant, but realized that somewhere during the past hour, I had lost my hat. It wasn’t an expensive or fancy hat; it was just the blue stocking hat that you’ve seen in the photos of me in this blog. But we’ve spent a lot of time together for the past three weeks, so I retraced my steps to see if I could find it.

No joy. After over an hour of searching, I decided to give up and head for lunch. Except that now it was around 1:30, and there were people lined up outside the door and down the street waiting to get into Pancakes On The Rocks. Ah well – maybe tomorrow.

So I went looking for a new hat. You wouldn’t believe how difficult it is to find an inexpensive, functional “beanie” (stocking hat in Aussie parlance). I could find “designer” beanies ($$), pure merino beanies ($$$), or green-and-yellow beanies saying “AUSTRALIA” ($, but WAY ugly), but nothing functional yet reasonably priced. I wound up at Kathmandu Sporting Goods, and purchased a Gore Windstopper beanie that will double as a rain cap – something I’ve wanted often on this trip.

It was now around 3:30. I had walked a LOT of Sydney, was getting hungry, and wanted to make sure I could find my way back to the hotel before rush hour and/or dark. So I walked to the Museum train station, and after one false start, figured out how to catch the train I wanted. I was back in Wolli Creek around 4:45 p.m., and checked into restaurants in the area at the front desk of the hotel.

There were two restaurants: one in the hotel and one about two blocks away, but both only served full, formal dinners and I wanted something lighter. I went for a walk and found a serviceable but definitely low-class dinner at… 7-11. A ham and mustard sandwich, bag of chips, and a Coke. I’ve had worse, but it’s been a while. At least it gave me plenty of time to type up today’s entry.

Tomorrow, I hope to go back to Pancakes On The Rocks, out to Sydney Olympic Park, and whatever else is of interest on my last “day” before I leave at 1:50 Thursday afternoon, travel for twenty-one hours, and get home at 6:10 Thursday afternoon. More later from Oz.

Train mileage: 43 km for the day