Day 3 – Sydney
This picture is out of order, but I wanted it to be the main pic for this post. 😁
Last night we were unsuccessful finding an Open Mic within a reasonable distance to the hotel, so Lee couldn’t wow the Aussies with his talent. Instead, we went to a steak house for dinner. Dinner was fairly unimpressive, but what did make an impression was Lee’s beverage. He ordered a Maker’s Mark straight up. It came in a rock glass, filled to the brim with ice and coke (perhaps a little Maker’s.) So, then he asked for it again, but was specific – no ice. The waitress says, “But you want coke, right?” No. This is what he got.
So, I said, “Well, we can go to the bar in our hotel and get a drink after dinner.” So we did, and this is what he got. Good grief!
We decided to not go to Bondi Beach because the weather was not very good. Instead, I found an all-day excursion to the Blue Mountains. It included a few stops, then a ferry ride back to Sydney. Our driver, Les (pronounced Lez), was very knowledgeable and entertaining. The pick-ups were at various hotels throughout the city, so as we driving around, he was telling some history and interesting stories. So I learned the CBD on that building I saw yesterday stands for Central Business District. And he told a story about the spires on the St Mary Cathedral, which I’m not sure I believe. He said construction was started in 1866, but not completed until 2000 because if they completed construction, they would have to pay taxes. Hmm…
I also saw this.
Anyway, our first stop after picking up all the tour group was the Sydney Zoo. What was especially cool was that we got to go in before the zoo actually opened. So for the first 45 minutes or so we were there, we were the only ones. Of course I took some pics.
Then we continued on up to the Blue Mountains. Les kept us entertained with stories of his childhood, interesting Australian history, and facts about fungi. Apparently, he loves fungi. One story he told was a theory of the origin of the Australian accent. It is theorized it was created by the original English settlers having a large ration of rum every day. This resulted in them being perpetually drunk and slurring their words. Kids learning to speak would imitate the drunk fathers, and that’s how their accent came to be. He also told us about the speed cameras on the highways. They give 3 big sign warnings that speed cameras are coming up, and people still speed! And they have cameras looking down on cars for texting and seatbelts. He said they generate millions of dollars per year! And South Carolina won't even do red light cameras. 😡
As we went higher up the mountain, the more cloudy it got. We were basically driving through clouds. Les said we were supposed to go on cable cars over the valley, of which I was not a fan! The description of the excursion said nothing about cable cars. But, didn’t really matter as the clouds were so thick we wouldn’t have been able to see anything but the clouds themselves. Les said it's 3/5ths of 5/8th of buggerall visibility! 😂 He did his best to find some sights for us – we went to a couple waterfalls, but they really weren’t impressive due to the weather.
And, the last one we stopped at was 220 steps to the bottom which was a
hard no from me. After 15 years in flat
Charleston, I am not used to hiking up and down steps to get anywhere. My calves are a little achy!
Les also tried to scare all the girls (and girly girls) with his fake snake.
After that stop, he took us back down the mountain to the Olympic Village in Sydney. It was cool to see that, even through the rain. (Actually, the reason he stopped there was because he said the bathrooms were much nicer than at the ferry dock. Haha.) Then, we took the ferry back to Circular Quay, which is what you see in my pictures of the Opera House and cruise ships.
Kind of a long, rainy day from 7 AM to 6 PM, but I’m glad we got to see all we did.
Now it’s out to dinner, then pack up as we leave for New
Zealand tomorrow.
(Posted Jan 30 7:37PM)
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