I've moved two more time zones over, so was wide awake this morning at around 04:00. I formulated a plan for today, and left the hotel at 08:00 in search of breakfast as there is no restaurant here and I've not yet found a supermarket. I'd done a search locally, and Paramount Coffee Project was only a few minutes away and came highly recommended.
A large latte, and bacon, garlic scrambled egg and kale roll later (yes, green stuff for breakfast!) were really excellent; once finished I left and walked for a bit. I must have gotten completely turned around as I was heading in totally the wrong direction. Google maps came to the rescue, and I was soon heading in the general direction of the Royal Botanic Gardens, although I did go wrong again when I was closer and had to ask for directions!
The Botanic gardens were a wonderful oasis of calm in the middle of the bustle of the big city. I headed for Mrs Macquarie's Point, and had to detour around a site where they are putting on an open air West Side Story show, and the stage and seating were in the process of being built. A sign informed me that during rehearsals gunshots would be heard, but they weren't rehearsing when I was there. I detoured around these works, and came to some scenic lookouts a half way up a hill with views of the harbour bridge and opera house. These were crowded, but just down some steps closer to water level was a deserted area. I made for that and captured my images before the crowd descended.
I then took the path around the bay (detouring around the works again) and wandered over to Sydney Opera House. I remember stories of how someone snuck in to use the loo and got to see a rehearsal, so I wondered whether I could repeat, but it was all still locked up this early in the day. So, I captured some more images before wandering on to Circular Quay.
As I wandered along past the cafes, I saw a sign asking why not have a coffee and cake .... it was just before 11:00, and I thought to myself what a good idea that was, so took a seat and had another large latte with a warm blueberry muffin.
Suitably refreshed, I continued on past all of the ferry wharves, and past the Overseas Passenger Terminal to a viewpoint in a park close to the harbour bridge that I'll be climbing on Saturday, so I had to capture some images. I then continued on to find where I'd have to check in for the bridge climb, and to confirm what I'd need to take. Just as well I did as I'll need photo ID before they let me on.
On the way back to Circular Quay, just a few minutes from the bridge climb base, I passed an Irish bar .... well, the word 'passed' may not be entirely accurate as I nipped in for a cheeky Guinness. Then back to Circular Quay where I caught the train back towards my home base while in Sydney.
It was a bit of a walk from Central station to the hotel yesterday, so I got to wondering whether there was a better option. Google told me that 'Museum' station was the closest to the hotel, so I disembarked there (it's on Liverpool Street which seemed fitting) and checked that out. It is a better option, so that's what I'll use on Sunday.
Back to the hotel at 14:00, and I had some admin tasks to take care of. First up was paying for my trip from Kununurra to the Bungle Bungles on 3 May. That was expensive as it includes a flight, but I'll only be there once. Next was checking what documentation I needed to pick up my hire car; just as well I did this as I noticed that I'd selected the wrong date 24 hours too early, so that's been corrected. Finally, I obtained the information needed to register the app for my phone sim card while in Australia and did that.
Not much else planned for today. I need to find somewhere for dinner, but there are lots of options available for that and I'm not far from Chinatown. Then I need to plan how to get to my pickup point at 08:00 tomorrow for my full day Blue Mountains trip; google maps says it's a 10 minute walk away so that should be fine.
Day 1 in Australia has been a good one; thanks Pam for the suggestion of the walk. My sense of direction has been a little lacking today as I've found it easy to get turned around in the city, but once I'd reached the botanic gardens I was fine. I'm not much of a city person, but if I had longer here I know that I'd find plenty to do and explore .... but I'd much rather be out in the countryside with fewer people and more natural scenery!
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