Contrary to expectations (and the weather forecasts) the day starts out bright and sunny. Refusing to eat porridge again, Mike goes out in search of food and comes back with two cheese and ham croissants and a pain chocolate for himself. I self-righteously eat my porridge and glare at him. Again we have a full day planned and don’t want to waste a minute. We arrange to meet Johanne, Steve and Isabella near the Imax centre – Isabella is only staying with us for the morning though, as she is meeting Hannah again.
Photo: The monorail runs around Darling Harbour
Photo: Mike outside the Sydney Convention Centre, Darling Harbour
Photos: Darling Harbour
We decide that as the weather is so clear now, Sydney Tower would be the best thing to be first on the agenda so we begin the walk downtown. It’s a lovely shopping centre and I pass many well known British shops that have branches here too, as well as some very nice looking departments stores. I have mixed feelings about shopping at the moment. I know that I would be like a kid in a sweetie shop here but the beautiful things they are selling have no place in my life at the moment and it would be a complete waste to buy anything. Also, let’s not deny it, the generator and the trip to Sydney have put a major dent in the budget. Bummer!
We round a corner and suddenly there is the tower, looming up above us, certainly not the highest building I have ever been up. but maybe the skinniest!
Photos: Sydney Tower
We buy multi attraction passes so now we are real tourists. Isabella and I would both like to do the ‘skywalk’ at the top of the tower but it’s a lot of extra money. The skywalk involves dressing up in a boiler suit and harness and walking out of the tower onto a glass platform so you are literally hanging out over the streets. We settle for soaking up the 360 degree views which are fantastic. Unfortunately, the only thing there is not a good view of is the Opera House as the tall buildings obscure it, but we did get some good pictures yesterday so never mind.
Photos: Views over Darling Harbour from the Sydney Tower
Photo: I just love glass buildings
Photo: Isabella and Johanne
When you go into the tower, your picture is taken (against a bright green background) and this image is superimposed on a daytime and night time image from the tower and sold to you as a lovely tourist pack of photos, postcards, key ring etc as you leave. Today, Johanne has chosen to wear a jumper of exactly the same colour as the background and the result in the photos is of her having no body or arms. You can actually see the buildings through her! Quite a hilarious result, and one that gets her getting a discount when she buys the pack.
Mike and Steve go off to the maritime museum and Johanne, Isabella and I go shopping. Well, Isabella only joins us for the first hour before she goes off and Johanne and I head for the Queen Victoria Building, a beautiful mall, full of designer shops, boutiques and jewellers. She sees a particularly beautiful pair of pearl earrings which ‘speak to her’, and she has no choice but to buy them. Well they are discounted by 40% so it would be churlish not to! I just take photos of the building which is fabulous.
Photo: The beautiful glass dome of the Queen Victoria Building
Photos: Views inside the Queen Victoria Building
We have vaguely arranged to meet Mike and Steve around 3 pm so reluctantly we drag our feet back to Darling Harbour, stopping in a bar there for a snack and a glass of wine. The guys are amazed that we are there waiting for them. At this point the weather forecast turns out to be correct and a light drizzle starts. As our next stops are the indoor attractions of the wildlife centre and the aquarium, this doesn’t matter.
As the wildlife centre closes earlier, we go there first. I don’t find the spiders and snakes very interesting but then we get to the crocodiles and things get a bit more exciting.
Photos: I hope we don’t meet any of these
Then we get to the koala enclosure. I can’t believe how cute these things are, and smaller than I always thought they were.
Photos: Cute koalas
You can smell the kangaroos way before you see them. One pair put on quite a show. First there’s a display of shagging (strange as we find out later that they are all males), then they square up to each other on their back legs, stand really tall and have a boxing match.
Photos: Male bonding?
When we leave the wildlife centre, the sun is starting to go down and Darling Harbour takes on a beautiful gold as the sun reflects on all the glass buildings.
Photos: Golden hues over Darling Harbour and downtown Sydney
It may look pretty but as we head just next door to the aquarium, a freezing cold wind hits us. Brrrrr. I’m glad Johanne brought out my cashmere shawl!
The aquarium is amazing, although you have to get past all the small stuff first. Evil looking moray eel stick their heads out of crevices in the rocks. These are nasty things.
Photo: Moray eel – how mean does he look?
Photo: Tiger ray
All these things (and many more) are just in tanks but then you go right down and find yourself in shark alley, the underwater tunnels where sharks, rays and turtles swim around and overhead. I am most amazed by the rays as I have seen many of them from above (and very pretty some of them are too) but never from below. They are ghostly creatures when viewed from this angle.
Photos: Ghostly rays
Photo: Huge turtle
But it’s the sharks that really excite. There are a mixture of small reef sharks, black tipped and white tipped that we have already seen in the wild, then larger ones. It’s the scariest feeling as they head straight towards you then glide above you, with only glass between you and them. I have no idea if they can see into the tunnels but those dead eyes seem to bore into you. I almost want to duck!
Photos: Jaws in the flesh
Photo: We have many of these over the last few days
Photos: Pretty reef fish complete the underwater experience
When we leave the aquarium, all four of us are exhausted. Johanne and Steve head back to their hotel for their free wine and canapés in the Club Lounge, while we go to the mall and have a very cheap but actually very good Thai meal before going back to the apartment. We then join Johanne and Steve at their hotel for a while and bring back their new hard drive so that I can copy all our photos onto it for them. I am now nominated as their official photographer as Isabella’s camera has packed up and Johanne’s isn’t as good as mine.
Photo: Darling Harbour at night
Back at our apartment again, I run a hot bath and get in. My muscles ache so much after two days of standing and walking, and I have got really cold. The glands in my neck are like golf balls which means that I am either fighting something off or about to go down with something I probably caught on the plane to Sydney. Once I am warmed through and sleepy, I hop into bed and fall asleep almost immediately.
Another fantastic day.
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