Watch out Sydney, the McPs are here…

[A] Well here we are in Sydney, safely ensconced in our hotel room on Pitt Street.  After a very early start from Wellington, we landed at Sydney Airport and purchased the obligatory Opal (transport) card, SIM (data) card, and coffee.  Rather than taking one of the usual means of transport, we decided to take the very pleasant walk along the river to Wolli Creek train station and train into town.

[A] Would have worked well too, but after the train journey we ended up walking in the wrong direction out of the Town Hall station, so by the time we’d walked a few extra city blocks we were very pleased that our hotel allowed us to check in early.

[S] The alarm was set for 3.30 am - eek!  Bounced out of bed alert enough though.  Travel arrangements went well and we were on the ground in Sydney at 8.30 am local time.  It was a beautiful morning so we decided to avoid the airport surcharge on the train and walk to the next station.  Whilst it was a little (!) further than we expected, it was a pleasant wander over a long bridge and along a tree lined path beside a pretty river.  By the time we got to the station, we had had conversations with three locals – Sydney-siders are very friendly.

It was great to be able to check in as soon as we arrived so we dropped our bags, caught our breath, and then headed out for lunch.   We struggled to find a café with cabinet food - we just wanted something light, but everywhere seemed to be menu driven, and a lot of them Asian food.

Back by 2.30, I accidentally (!) fell asleep and dozed on and off until 5 pm - oops!

[A] Meantime, I went out briefly to get some food and drink supplies, but instead found Allans Music shop, JB-HiFi (stocking the Garmin fenix 3 - but not yet 4! - sports watch – free advertising: very nice!), some buskers, and a protest march, so “briefly” wasn’t “brief”.

[S] We wandered out to pick up some dinner to bring back so we could watch the Hurricanes semi-final on TV, and ate in front of the tele.  Very satisfactory result!!  But then … oops, I did it again!  Fell asleep and didn’t wake up until 4 am, finished my book, and then slept again until 7 am.  Now, I think I have finally made up for only getting 2 hours sleep the night before – lol!  Not very sociable of me though!

Learning from day 1 of our holiday - Sydney is navigationally challenging to me, and even to Allan.  We have caught ourselves travelling in the opposite direction to what we should have been several times, even with the assistance of a map.  The most classic was coming back to the hotel after picking up dinner - I marched boldly across the crossing only to find Allan not following but standing on the corner waving me back.  Such was my lack of confidence in my directional skills (and my confidence in Allan’s), I turned and went back, feeling like a lemon in front of the waiting traffic.  After some footpath ‘discussions’, it turns out I was right and Allan was wrong!  Luckily the hotel is brilliantly located so we will nut it out soon – we don’t usually have this problem in new cities.  Did clock up 12,000 steps though – got to be good for me!