Blog 8; Q - How many different views of the Sydney Opera House can you photograph? A - lots!

After a great sleep Emily felt much better this morning, and we got up to partake of the ‘breakfast included’ option – honestly, I don’t know why it happens to us, but we just seem drawn to oddly surreal places... breakfast was accompanied by Scottish music – including renditions of Auld Lang Syne! I am not sure if they have a large Scottish clientele, or perhaps the staff just like bagpipes…

We met some ladies at breakfast that we also met in the taxi queue after the Opera last night – if only we have known we were staying at the same hotel it could have saved us $20 as our taxi driver got completely lost and tried to put us out at the wrong hotel….they are going the Tina Turner story tonight – got to admit I was tempted to try for tickets!

We got back to the room and emptied both of our suitcases looking for my credit card, as I had not seen it for a couple of days, since Em made me add it to my Apple wallet because ‘it is easier’. Dismayed, I admitted defeat and cancelled the card – it is just too easy to tap for purchases these days. On the website it asked me 3 times if I was SURE I wanted to cancel it as it could not be reversed – well, doh of course I did… cancellation complete I went to get my other card our of the passport wallet, and guess what.. yup! Now I have had to cut up my not lost card, just to make sure I don’t try to use it – what a numpty!

We set off for our day ‘doing’ Sydney map in hand. I don’t know why we bother with a map, we still get lost, but that is half the fun.

We had a couple of places we definitely wanted to see but thought we would just see where the day took us. We do love an open topped bus tour, so when we saw the ‘Big Red Bus’ operated in Sydney we thought we would try that – they are not as frequent as in other cities though, just every 35 – 45 minutes so we were on the fence about it – they joy of hop on hop off is that you can break your journey to explore and continue on the next one, but if that is not due for 45 mins it is a lot of waiting around. As we walked to the bus stop, one of the busses pulled in – we were still a way away (and I never run for a bus!) so we decided if it was still there when we got to it, it was fate – of course, it left immediately 😊

We opted to walk to the Sydney Opera House along the waters edge, checking out the yachts as we went.

(What3words; vase.rounds.cherry)

The water is beautifully clear, even in the marina.

We took a turn around the Botanical Gardens. These are free to enter and are stunning.

So well-manicured, with lots of little nooks and crannies where you can just sit and be.

I have some great pics of the gardens, but for the life of me I cannot seem to load them onto this blog! (What3words; harder.dash.lame)

Emily has already picked her favourite tree that she would (will?) come and sit under to read if she moves to Sydney.

This city is definitely her vibe, we have only been here two days, but we are already very comfortable here, even with all of the eccentricities – for example, why is there a need to tell people not to stand on the toilets???

As the Sydney Opera House stands on a bit of peninsula, there are LOTS of vantage points for photographs – so be prepared for Opera House spam…..

The ladies at Breakfast this morning recommended the Ferry across to Manly Beach and it was a good shout. The views of SOH and the bridge were excellent, and we really got close to them.

We tried to get a selfie with the bridge and SOH in the background – we almost did it!

Manly is lovely, and we met a very nice chap in the Tourist Information who actually knew where Cumbria was – although he spoiled it by saying it was near Newcastle... He told us the best to lthings to look out for, and where the cafes and bars were. The main beach was pristine, and again, the joy of coming out of season, almost empty. We took a stroll to Shelly Beach (what3words; venues.insect.alert) which was round the point a bit – it is the only western facing beach in eastern Australia, so that was cool.

We stopped for lunch, (what3words; sticky.hung.joined)and I am not one for posting pics of food, but they do a thing here called an Acai Bowl (pronounced ass-eye-ee) which is a kind of sorbet/yoghurt made from a berry with fruit and granola - honestly, if you see one, get one - yum!

When we got back to Sydney, we headed to cobbled streets of The Rocks, and called in to the Museum of Contemporary Art on the way – this is the second art gallery on the bounce that has disappointed! It is a huge building, with almost nothing in it! There are more staff than art. The only things worth photographing were this one which is shells stuck on children’s slippers (ouch!):

And this one, which seemed to be made with sand and I felt that if I had sneezed I would have ruined it

Me checking the map, Em checking her phone we were arguing which way to go to The Rocks – but when I asked a staff member they said, ‘just through those doors’ and actually, they were right!

The Rocks is comprised of lots of cool bars and cafes, along with artisan shops and bespoke craftsmen (read expensive), but it was lovely to explore.

We stopped off at The Rocks Café (what3words; sizes.rams.chin)and shared a huge slice of salted caramel cheesecake – we needed the sugar, we were getting tired.

Not sure why this sign tickled me

Final pic of the SOH spam variety

We decided on a visit to Chinatown for dinner, so hopped on the tram for a couple of stops. Chinatown is more of a Pan Asian town, but apart from the myriad of restaurants, there was not much else to see. We did have some delicious Thai soup though, and they lit a burner under my ‘pot’ to keep it hot as I ate – I am posting a pic of the pot rather than the food – coz I am not the person who posts pics of food!

Emily was working tonight (she is working remotely 4 hours per night for 2 of our 4 weeks) so we headed back to the hotel so she could get logged on – we had been on two ferries, two trams so of course we now needed to take a train – not just any train, the subway trains here are double decker trains! Genius!!

Safely back at the hotel, we are planning a trip to the Blue Mountains tomorrow, so it will be mountain spam rather than SOH spam!

Finally, we keep saying Oz is behind the times - it seems they know it too!

G’night :)