With QuickStar moored at
Pittwater, we are an easy 45 minute bus ride to downtown Sydney. We’ve enjoyed being tourists, getting to know
Sydney. It reminds us so much of Vancouver
(although much larger).
The obligatory Sydney Harbour shots of the bridge and Opera House
Lovely converted old buildings and warehouses surround Darling Harbour
The delicious Aussie pies...I think I've gained 10 pounds because of them!
We’ve gotten a kick out of
the many different signs and sayings there are here. The half man walking sign is a crosswalk
sign…but we can’t figure out what this one means. Any ideas?
What is somewhat funny is
when I spent my week at Coff’s Harbour, I went on all the walks that I could
fit in, but one eluded me. It was called
Refuge Island and I saw lots and lots of signs to access it, but I could never
find it. Once we started on our road trip,
I noticed many cities had Refuge Islands, but none of them were on the ocean. I couldn’t help but laugh when it clicked
that Refuge Island is what the Aussies call the meridian in the middle of a
road where pedestrians can safely stand before crossing over to the other
side.
Sydney at sunset
We love so many of their
sayings. When we went to a museum and
bought entry tickets the lady asked if we had any concessions. We thought she meant popcorn and drinks, as
we call concessions at movie theaters.
In Australia, it means are you a student, disabled or senior. Peter
was meeting up with a local here and Rod said “okay savo”. After getting the translation we learned that
means see you this afternoon. Peter is
also starting to say “shift” in place of “move”.
The largest pelicans I've ever seen
One thing that we can’t
understand is the grocery carts that are in Australia (as well as in all the
other South Pacific islands we’ve been to).
The carts have all four wheels turning instead of just the front ones
that we have in North America. This
means that their carts cannot go in a straight line, so you are constantly
pushing them sideways. Just don’t get it!
The museum that Peter really
wanted to see was the Maritime Museum (how do you say “booooooring”?). I, of course, have to walk the talk and stick
to my frugal financial principals. As
always we use a discount coupon and it was still a $28.00 entry fee…so I
decided to take one for the team and pass on going…instead I went to Margarita
Ville where Happy Hour was in full swing.
Wine for only $5.00 a glass – so instead of spending $28.00, I only
spent $10.00 and had WAY more fun.
It was great timing to be in
Pittwater for the final race of the America’s Cup. The American’s won against the New Zealanders
(although there were only 2 American’s onboard – the rest were Kiwi’s and
Aussies). The Captain is an Australian named
James Spithill who is a member of the Royal Alfred Yacht Club right here.
(He was also the skipper in 2010). Lots of excitement!
They do lots of racing from this club and
they are just starting a disabled association, which I was very interested in
as I am a volunteer for the disabled ski association at Silver Star.
The Gold winning disabled boat in the London 2012 Olympics that sparked
the yacht club to create a disabled component to their club. They had a
big fund raiser while we were there to purchase more boats to modify.
The mooring area, marinas,
and yacht clubs in Pittwater are lovely.
The area is surrounded by parks on one side and nice houses on the
other.
Great dog-friendly parks and beaches
We explored in Newport, which is close-by and
has a beautiful beach.
Another highlight was going
to the local pub to watch the final match in the Aussie Rules Football League. It was packed because there was a power outage
in the area, so the pub was running the game with their generator. We have been
following it everywhere we went in Australia, because the locals just love this
game.
View from the Newport Arms sports bar
We bought a 7-day public
transit pass which includes all buses, trains and ferries – all of which we have
used extensively. On the first day we
went in to Sydney on the bus, the bus driver had to slam on his breaks suddenly
– this was a two-car bus which was packed with many standing in the aisle. A little girl was thrown into the front of
the bus and had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. No one else was injured. It was just a reminder that some of our family
members are worried about us when we are out at sea, but it is usually the
everyday things that cause most accidents.
We went to see the movie
Gravity on what is billed as the largest IMAX theatre in the world. Terrible movie, but great to see the 3D
effects.
The other “good timing” event
was the 100th year celebration of Australia’s Navy. This was a massive event with up to 16 tall
ships, 40 warships and 8,000 naval personnel from more than 20 nations – plus
Prince Harry as the honoured guest. We
went in over a 3 day period and took in the events from different vantage
points. The first day it was pouring
rain, but the next two days were good.
On the second day they closed
off much of the park at Bradley Point because the Governor General was onsite
to do the official Fleet Review. Most of
us climbed up to sit on the rocks in the bush so we had a great view, until the
Ranger came and told us all to get down.
The Australians held their ground though and said there were no signs
saying we couldn’t be there and also, in the program it said the park was a
prime viewing location. Many of them got
quite vocal about it, with the Rangers calling for “back-up” by the
police. Some of the people were old, but
steadfast. The police ended up making an
arrest of one man, who for sure is going to be taking his case to the
Minister. This all made for great
entertainment.
The Governor General's car with gold license plate emblem
The first day of the event was the arrival of the tall ships in to the harbour.
Pleasure craft were invited to accompany them.
After all the tall ships had arrived, and we were thouroughly
drenched we took the ferry from the zoo right to downtown.
Enroute we saw lots of the tall ships and tons of activity on the water.
Note the sailors aloft in the rigging.
The second day was the arrival of the War Ships. Here are some photos, although if you are interested you could see great photos on the official Fleet Review website.
Until next
time….Congratulations to our daughter Kylie for getting the Teacher-On-Call position
in her school district. Lucky, lucky
kids.
