Down Under in Lennox Head, 2007: See Sydney Pass

3/31

We woke up early and had to pack our stuff up to move to XBase from Homebase. We split up and took taxis there…yes, I was able to hail one this time. They didn’t have our room ready so we left our stuff in a DJ booth inside and went for our first stop with our See Sydney Passes- the Sydney Aquarium. It wasn’t overly impressive except for the part where you could walk in a little tunnel beneath a huge tank so the sharks, stingrays, turtles and fish were swimming all around and over you.

The aquarium was in Darling Harbor and then we had to head to Circular Quay. (Previously referred to as the harbor... where the Opera House and such are) We went on our Jet boat tour of the harbor. It was so amazing. It was a perfect day, not a cloud in the sky and warm but not hot. Looking at the city, bridge, Opera House and surrounding suburbs from the water was just breathtaking. Then we turned around and went for a thrill ride, getting wet along the way back to the wharf. It was a lot of fun.

From that we went to our free tour of the Opera House. I wont lie, even though I’d fallen in love with the place—an hour history tour wasn’t on top of my to do list ... but we went and it was really cool. Our guide was awesome and it just made me appreciate the place even more. We got to go into the concert hall and take pictures an then go in to the opera theatre (where the stage was completely bare and they hadn’t begun to build for the opera that was starting in 6 hours.) And they do that every day. Each day there is a new opera and they take down the set and put up a new massively beautiful one. I spent too much money in the gift shop after the tour and then we sat for lunch. A cough had settled in so I proceeded to hack up my lungs while the kids ate.

At the last minute we caught a ferry to Olympic Park. The ferry took about an hour to get there and we were fighting time to catch the last free tour of Telstra stadium (where the opening ceremonies were held). We got off shortly after the tour would have started…unfortunately we didn’t realize that we had to catch a bus from the wharf to Olympic Park. The next bus was 30 minutes away so we just started to walk. This proved to be a fist clenching experience as we had missed the tour, and didn’t know where we were going or how to get back to the city.

When we finally got to the park there didn’t seem to be much to do, as there was a rugby game that evening and Telstra had been shut off to non-ticket holders. We pretty much immediately caught a train back to Town Hall in Darling Harbor, by our hostel, so we could make our plans for Earth Day that evening.

I don’t know if this happened at home—you tell me… but Sydney had advertised that from 7:30-8:30 all lights should be shut off to conserve energy…and force people to be more environmentally conscious. (Even though they are 20 times more so than at home-- here) We had seen a poster for The Earth Bar, advertising an acoustic, candlelit performance in Kings Cross.

We got ready for the evening…I talked to this guy that was in our hostel room from England about living here and such. Its great to meet people from all over the world and just be able to share experiences and information.

Anyway, we took a taxi to Kings Cross to the World Bar. It turned out to be a dud. At 7:30 some lights, but certainly not all-- did go off, including those of the restaurant across the street from the bar. They had candles all over and we were immediately attracted to it. The girls got their free drink from The World and then we all went to dinner.

It was a very cozy little restaurant with good food and a nice waitress. I had a really good time.

We walked around Kings Cross for a bit (which turned out to be filled with hookers lined on the sidewalk, adult stores, and strip bars.) Once we figured out that there wasn’t much more to Kings Cross, we headed towards the Sky Tower near Circular Quay.

It was a nice walk through the city and Hyde Park. We ran into a group from the lodge when we were on our way up. The view was spectacular at the top, and after much peer pressure I was able to look straight down. We went back to the hostel afterwards which was fitted with a mattress you couldn’t feel the bars through, and a comforter!

Darling Harbor