4 For The Price Of 2

We had made a valiant effort to finish the 2L box of Goon (cheap wine) between us but had failed. Maybe that is the reason why both me and James woke with slightly fuzzy heads first thing on Saturday morning. But we had had a great introduction to Sydney courtesy of Cass and Tim and were eager to see what else we would see before the day was out. After a cup of tea and some Vegemite on toast (not as good as Marmite, obviously, as Unilever’s brands are far superior) set out to find Mrs MacQuarie’s Chair. We grabbed a taxi down there, and very nearly didn’t make it due to the driver’s lack of knowledge on the area and an inability to drive a car. But we made it there in one piece (or 4 pieces, if you are counting each one of us) and began a nice leisurely walk along the side of the harbour and through the botanical gardens.

It had struck us that the temperature in Sydney was not as high as it had been in Queensland and the shorts had been packed away in favour of the jeans. And a good call it was too as it got pretty chilly with the stiff South-westerly wind hitting us in the open air. We weren’t entirely sure if we actually saw the chair that we had been searching for, but we were distracted by a group of people having their photograph taken by the edge of the water. When we ambled closer we noticed that in the background were the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. A fantastic sight, even with the chilly wind and the overcast sky. We snapped a few pics and then began walking along the edge of the harbour towards the Sydney Opera House. It was a beautiful day and we felt privileged to be shown around the city by two such friendly people – you always seem to get more from your stay when you meet the locals rather than just wandering aimlessly round with a map in your hand.

Tim, Cass, Tim and James

We got to the Sydney Opera House and marveled at its beauty. Jutting out into the harbour with thousands of tiles on its surface it is a truly majestic sight, and even better with the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background. We spent a good amount of time there, gawping at the engineering feats in front of us and the hundreds of tourists around us and discussing various topics from politics through to music. Eventually we left the harbour and went inland to find some food as it was well past lunch-time.

Whilst walking through the CBD to get to the indoor food court in the basement of one of the large malls we were passed by a protest march with people chanting and waving flags. We didn’t at that time know what all the hullabaloo was, but carried on our way without thinking twice about it. We had to pass through another mall entrance and as we did so we noticed that the protestors had come to an abrupt halt in front of a line of policemen blocking their route. Some guy with a megaphone was getting the crowd whipped up into a frenzy and we heard chants of “down, down USA, down, down USA” before we decided it was probably time to leave. As we crossed the road away from the crowd I stopped to grab a few extra photos (as I do) and saw someone within the crowd throw a small bottle of water towards the police. Well that was the start of it and suddenly there was a throng of bodies between the two sets of opposing forces and cheers and jeers ringing out across the road. It looked like tear gas and pepper-spray were being used and suddenly a police officer was dragged from the melee with blood pouring from a wound on his temple. We could see all the news cameras and paparazzi snapping away and knew this was bigger than we thought. Soon after, reinforcements arrived (for the police) and everyone was cleared from the roads. The protestors were forced back down the road they had come down and away from where we were standing. We hoped that this wasn’t a normal everyday occurrence in the city, and were reassured by Cass and Tim that it wasn’t.

Policeman attacked by the crowd

We grabbed a bite to eat from the food court and left to head down to Darling Harbour. Tim left us to it as he was coming down with a migraine so we decided to chance our arm and go to the Sydney Aquarium. Apparently we would be able to use the Merlin cards from the Sri Lankans to gain access to the aquarium, but we were a little bit more cautious after the previous days run-in with the ticket lady at Centre Point. We mulled it over and decided that we should give it a go as we should only have to swipe the card rather than show it to an actual ticket person. Sure enough we joined the queue for swiping cards and we were in, without any of the problems from the day before. The aquarium was great, with loads of different fish and crustaceans to see and touch, within reason. A personal highlight for me were the jellyfish in the luminous lights and the aquarium tunnels that we walked through, almost being able to touch the fishy beasts gliding overhead.

SHARK!

 We had had our picture taken when we entered the aquarium and as we left we were treated to the photo album as we left. It probably wasn’t as funny as the one from Centre Point the day before, but it was still an absolute corker and we felt that we just had to purchase a copy to remind us of our time in Sydney with Cass and Tim. The aquarium was great, with loads of stuff to see and do, and all for free too which was a great little bonus!

Scary penguins

After the aquarium we walked back to the apartment and as it was getting late in the day we decided that we should make a move to the hotel. We thanked Cass and Tim for all their hospitality and especially the lift to the hotel too, which was a great help. As they drove off we noticed that there was a sign outside The Y Hotel which said “YWCA” on it. Now, we had stayed at the YMCA in New York and there had been women there so we assumed that they would be allowing men in to the YWCA, otherwise we would need a rethink on our accommodation plans for the evening. We checked in at reception and were very impressed with the entire place; everything looked clean, new and not an ant in sight! When we had booked the room we weren’t entirely sure whether we would be sharing the room with others, as we had been staying in lots of hostels it seemed like this could be entirely possible as the website was not very clear on the matter. But when we opened the door to our room the lights were off, which was a good sign, and lo and behold there were the four single beds in front of us that we knew we had booked and paid for. Extravagant? Yes. But it was pretty much the cheapest price we had seen in Sydney anyway, so we allocated a bed each for sleeping on and a bed each for lounging, blogging, eating, drinking and chucking stuff on. There was little else in the room save for a few pink lockers and a mirrored wardrobe, but that is all we would be needing.

Which one...?

As time was against us we took a trip to the local Coles and grabbed some food and drink to keep us going for the remaining few days in Sydney. Dinner was a bowl of cous cous with spinach and capsicums, which (thanks to Cass on this one!) are just peppers with a fancy name. We were pretty knackered from the bustling start to our Sydney adventure so we had a quiet one in with a bit of $6.99 vino collapso from the local offy. It didn’t seem right that we had managed to get 2L for only 51 cents more, but there was no way we could be bothered to pound the streets looking for the place we went into with Cass the day before.