Friday 16^th January Sydney

Yesterday, six days after the bushfires which destroyed 40+ houses in Harcourt, we flew off to Sydney for 4 days. A 10am flight, very civilised, and the train and 901 bus behaved perfectly.

We had no check-in luggage, so it was straight through security screening. Here, I was rejected – because I'd left my handkerchief in my pocket! I had to go back and put it on a tray to be screened. The whole experience made me laugh.

We landed in Sydney, and walked out of the airport; it took 20 minutes to get to Mascot Station, where we put $10 on our Opal cards (enough for all our travel for the four days!), and took the train to Central Station. It was lunchtime. The station is very big, and we didn't know quite which exit to take; eventually we left towards George St., and found a YHA with cafe across the road; so we went and had some food.

Our hotel (the Nesuto, in Woolloomooloo) had rung and said our room was ready, so we took a train to King's Cross and walked to Dowling St. There was a bit of to and fro before we found it, but it wasn't too difficult.

Here, it's interesting. It is an apartment building with no sign of a hotel; a note on the door said to call room 115 and they'd open the door. So in and up we went, to find a real estate agent who was selling apartment 115! He told us us to wait at the reception desk downstairs, in the foyer; we did, and soon someone turned up and gave us the key to room (apartment) 207. Up in the left we went, reading a notice there that “no part of this building is a hotel!” Strange.

The room is large, with separate sitting room and a small kitchen; and windows which don't open. We left the aircon on and went out for a walk, to see what's around and buy some food. We found that Sydney is very hilly – there were lots of ups and downs – and we ended up going quite a way, including using the train again. We got home with food and wine, and sat down and relaxed.

But, for me, not for long. I found that I'd lost my usual glasses from my breast pocket – in Liquorland? Despite having a spare (better) pair, I walked back to retrieve them. Unsuccessfully. Oh well.

We watched the (NSW) news. Major floods in Wye River / Cumberland River / Lorne. So after dinner I tried to get to ABC iView, on the pseudo-smart TV here. After managing to connect it to the internet I couldn't make it do a thing, so we used the little computer instead. Amazing floods, with cars swept out to sea, but little more than the NSW news showed. So we read for a while, had a shower, and went to bed.

I was a bit dejected. It's a very different city, and nothing's really wrong; but the apartment is not as nice as home is; and the windows don't open, so we have to sleep with the aircon on.....

But the bed was fine, and we both both slept well. When we got up, I found – my lost glasses! Caught on one of the clips of my backpack; so not lost, after all.

A usual get up and breakfast, and out we went – asking at “reception” if we could have a window unlocked.

We walked up to the Art Gallery, where we'd bought tickets to the Ron Mueck exhibition for 10am. After a long phone call to Rita, in we went; it was very good. The whole place is very good. We had a coffee in there, then went downstairs into the old WW2 fuel tank, now remastered into an amazing space with playgrounds, sauna, steam room... It was full of children and quite noisy, but so impressive!

Next. We decided to go to Manly on the ferry, so got on a train to Circular Quay and then the 21 minute trip to Manly. Here, there was a tourist info; a nice Canadian man suggested taking a bus up to North Head for a walk. So after lunch (which we'd planned as fish & chips in our heads, but turned out to be more ordinary – but good – when we failed to find a suitable fish shop) we went to North Head. A short walk around, with good views, and we caught the bus, and then the ferry and then the train, back home.

To find our windows unlocked, and openable! We made an afternoon coffee, and ate our last orange.

My spirits are much higher today that they were last night.

After dinner of chips, wine, and salad, we went out again; across the park to St. James station, up to Circular Quay, and walk across to the Opera House. The cloud had lifted, and we had blue sky for a change; the whole area was full of people. Into the opera House and up to the Concert Hall. It was the first time we'd been inside the Opera House, and it is a most impressive building from inside.

We had a good look around before the concert began. A “cabaret”, done by Reuben Kaye, a gay performer. I knew nothing about him, but lots of the audience obviously did. He had a large backing band and singers (who were not very visible), the music was too loud for my liking, and a lot of lights beaming here and there didn't improve it for me. I wouldn't class it as “cabaret”; I've seen good cabaret and this didn't come close.

But it was interesting, and lots of the audience obviously found him very funny.

We took the train home via King's Cross, bought some icecream on the way, had a cup of tea and went to bed.

Saturday 17^th January                                                                              

It was a great improvement having windows open and aircon off for the night. We woke to a grey day in which there had been some rain already; a wet day is predicted.

We didn't head off quickly; first, we put on the washing. Mainly the doona cover and pillowslips Alison found in the bin room here yesterday, and some of our clothes. We put it all in the dryer and went out.

It wasn't raining – yet. We walked around the coast, past Mrs. Macquarie's Chair, through the Botanic Gardens; and found ourselves walking around Government House. After walking around 90% of it (hemmed in by steel fences) we got to an entrance and went in. After a very short discussion we got (free) tickets to the 11am tour of the house. It was quite interesting – the house is very original and very well maintained, which much cost a fortune! But – it is Government House.

45 minutes later, we continued on to Circular Quay. It was lunchtime and we were getting hungry; we found a tourist info (not very common in Sydney!) who directed us to a nearby food court, where we had a good Vietnamese salad. Fortified, we continued on along the coast to The Rocks. Past today's huge ocean liner, with 8 floors of passenger balcony cabins; it stayed here less than 24 hours.

Here – the rain began. We had to turn around and return to the shelter of Circular Quay. What to do next? We found that the Sydney Museum was quite close, and walked there in very heavy rain.

Sydney Museum was fascinating; lots of information of the early days of British settlement, and the relations with the local aborigines; and a lot about the excavation of the museum site – in the 1980's and 90's – which was the site of Sydney's original Government House.

The rain hadn't stopped. We got back to the shelter of Circular Quay, and took the train to Town Hall. It was still pouring, but there was a large area of underground shopping centre which led into the QVB – the Queen Victoria Buiding, with 4 floors of speciality (many very expensive) shops, and a very well maintained historic building with lots a stained glass and huge clocks suspended from the ceiling.

Getting on for 5pm. Home time. Train to King's Cross, supermarket for some fruit, and walk home – arriving with sodden shoes and socks, backpack..... we put them all in the dryer here. It's very nice to have it. A cup of tea, a read; and I checked the BOM site to see what the rain was doing.

It appeared to be getting lighter over the next 90 minutes; and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra is doing “Symphony Under The Stars” tonight. So we went out to have a look. We'd planned to eat dinner at the quiet Italian restaurant around the corner on the way, but found it was now a very busy and full restaurant. We continued and took the train to Central, and walked to the YHA restaurant across the road. But the rain beat us; it was really heavy, and just running across the road would have re-soaked our shoes. In the end we returned to Town Hall station and found – eventually – a good pub to feed us a good dinner.

The rain didn't let up; train back to St. James and then walk in the rain back to home, where we put our shoes back in the dryer again. (It hasn't been a good night for the SSO.)

Time for junk TV, now. Vera.

Sunday 18^th January

One of my shoes fell apart in the dryer. It was getting worn out, anyway. So the shoes are not going home – I'm wearing sandals from now on.

There was more very heavy rain in the night – I looked up the BOM this morning, and it said Sydney has had 123.4mm (!) rain since 9am yesterday. It's predicted to lighten during the day today, and I hope they're right.

Alison noted that today is our wedding anniversary. 34 years. Amazing. We got up, after a little play, and started to leisurely pack our stuff up. No hurry, today; and I've changed my mind about how it gets packed, after the rain.

I went and threw out our rubbish, including my fallen-apart shoes and the three worn-out shirts I'd brought with me; and we checked out, leaving our bags at reception. There was only a faint trace of rain; fortunately yesterday's rain band seems to have gone. But I wore my once-was-waterproof jacket, anyway.

We walked our now-familiar route back to the Art Gallery, and looked at some of the areas we didn't see last time: it is very extensive.

We left, and the weather remained dry. So we walked across the Domain, through Martin Place, and got on a train to Milson's Point, on the north side of the harbour; walked back across the harbour bridge (in strong winds – only a few bridge climbers today), back through the Rocks (all very developed, now) and had lunch back in the Gateway Food Court.

Afternoon. Deadline of picking up our bags by 4pm. We walked down to the State Library (which had lots of exhibitions) and then down to the Australian Museum; it was easy to fill in the time, and just before 4pm we walked back to the hotel, picked up bags, and walked back up into town. We still had an hour or so, so we went to the Hyde Park Barracks, put the bags in a locker, and had an audio tour of the barracks. (It was interesting, but I'd have preferred notes to read; I'd assumed it was a military barracks, but it was built for convicts to live in while they worked on projects in early Sydney).

By now, it was time to go. We walked back over to St. James Station, got on a train to Mascot, had a coffee at a cafe there, and walked back to the airport. Very straightforward and I was very happy it was - still - not raining!

At Melbourne, we got to the no. 901 bus stop at 9.20pm; to find that the last bus left at 9.13pm. So we had to use an Uber instead; but it was a pleasant and quick trip home to Lothian St.

Despite the weather it's been a good trip, and the last day – a travel day – worked very well.