Sydney day 2 - Sept 23

Sunday, Sept 23 – Sydney – day 2

We woke up on our own around 6 am and got showered and cleaned up. While getting cleaned up we realized there is a 110v outlet in the bathroom for razors, so figured a way to plug the laptop into the plug adaptor and then into the 110v outlet, so the battery could be charged. We left it all day to charge while we were out. We went down to breakfast in the hotel, which cost $16 ea for continental and $22 for full breakfast. We did the full breakfast and was wonderful. Lots of choices. We got back to our room just after 8 am and there was a message from Janette Beverly welcoming us to Australia and telling us they were going out and would call us at 8pm. We walked down to the Rocks – shopping area, where they have a market in the streets on Saturdays and Sundays. The Sydney Marathon was in progress and many downtown streets were blocked off to traffic and there were designated pedestrian crossings. After going through the market, we walked around the waterfront to the Circular Quay, where all the ferries depart. We bought a day pass for $15 each and got on the ferry to Watson Bay. It was a beautiful sunny day and much warmer than yesterday. We didn’t need jackets as we sat on the top of the ferry outside and watched all the beautiful scenery and houses along the shoreline. We went to many places we saw yesterday from the Bondi bus with a much different perspective from the water. The ferry made about 4 stops along the 30 minute ride. We just stayed on board and returned to the Quay. We decided to take a city bus out to Bondi Beach to see what it was like on a warm Sunday. Our day pass was good for trains and buses as well as ferries, so the ride was included. It took about an hour to get out there and traffic got quite thick as we got closer to the beach. We knew we were headed in the right place when a young fellow got on the bus with a surfboard. Lots of young people riding the bus out there. We got off and walked the beach area and took a few pictures. We had a light lunch of an orange and a granola bar each. We then got back on the bus and returned to the Circular Quay. We then got onto the Manly ferry which is a direct run to Manly, about a 50 minute ride. It was now getting late afternoon and was a bit of a breeze, so had to bundle up a bit, sitting outside on the bow. Still sunny out. We got off at Manly and wandered around the town. It was getting darker so we went into a Cole’s, which is a grocery store. We bought some snacks, a bottle of non-alc wine, and a 6 pack of non-alc beer – Australian brand called Coopers. We then wandered to a small restaurant for a light dinner. We each ordered something different and shared. The fish and chips was made with Perch, not sure I’ve ever tasted Perch before. Our waitress was a young woman from Edmonton who was holidaying and ran out of money. She didn’t know any handball players though. We then caught the ferry back to the Circular Quay and walked back to our hotel. We arrived at about 7:45 and was there to answer the phone when Janette called at 8. Had a nice chat with her and then got directions on how to get to their place, which is just North East of Gosford. We will be picking up our rental car on Wednesday and driving to their place for a couple days of visiting and sightseeing. We hit the sack around 9:30, the end of a long and wonderful day.