It figures that I go to a country that has had severe drought problems for some 10 years, and I hit heavy rains and flooding. It has not been bad here in Sydney, but north of here, in northern New South Wales the storms have been terrible.
You may recall that I have a Greyhound pass that will take me from Melbourne to Cairnes, so I am continuously moving north. The plan was to head up to Byron Bay, but the buses were not running earlier this week due to flooding and road wash outs. Luckily my hostel was able to accommodate me a few more days, and believe me, there are far worse things than being stranded in this beautiful city.
On Monday, I headed out again on Sydney's wonderful Harbour Ferry system over to Manly Beach. The ferries all leave from Circular Quay, and I can get there on a free bus, the #555 (are you listening BC Transit?). The ferry was a scenic 1/2 hour ride across the harbour, and I spent the afternoon wandering around Manly, with its calm inner harbour beach, and surf pounded open ocean beach. Surfers were taking advantage of the huge waves that day.
Tuesday was a running errands day, something that is essential when travelling, yet I know alot of you would consider it a waste of a day. I started out at Greyhound, and no, I could not head north yet. I headed into the CBD, and discovered a nice little barbershop on the way. My hair did not get completely buzzed like it did in Thailand, thank goodness.
Looking less scruffy, I headed downtown to Air New Zealand's office. A very helpful lady there easily changed the dates on all my remaining flights. So, it is now June 21 to Auckland, June 28 to San Francisco, and July 11 home to Vancouver. That's a Saturday, so I expect a huge gathering at the airport (just kidding).
It was a gorgeous sunny day in Sydney, and here I was close to the waterfront. So I headed down to Circular Quay and The Rocks for yet more pictures of the Sydney Opera House. I climbed up the bridge approach watching the crazy people climb up the top arch of the bridge, and decided the sidewalk was more my speed. I walked across the bridge and drank in the stunning views - what a city!
Stopped at a rooftop bar in the Rocks area for a cold beer, and it seemed everyone in Sydney had left their offices that day to do the same (another reason Sydney reminds me of Vancouver).
Got a few more errands and shopping done on my way back to the hostel. I grabbed a light bite out on Oxford Street, and decided to check out the bars on Tuesday night. The Oxford Hotel was fairly quiet, but they have $2.50 schooners of beer at Happy Hour. I crossed the street to the Stonewall where it was much busier. Here, there were also $2.50 schooners, but when I ordered mine, the bartender asked "Heads or Tails?". He flipped a coin, it was in my favour (heads), therefore my beer was free. I did this two more times, both times getting a free beer, then decided it was perhaps time to stagger home.
Today is Wednesday, I was just at Greyhound, and I am booked to Newcastle tomorrow. I plan on checking out the town itself, and probably doing a Hunter Valley wine tour from there. The plan after that is Byron Bay on Sunday, then on to Brisbane after that.
G'day all!
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