Last Thursday Jill and I took the ferry into the city, and then caught another smaller ferry into Balmain. Balmain is a neighborhood right across the water from downtown which used to be an industrial center. After much gentrification over the past 30 years, Balmain is now one of the more upscale and trendy areas in which to live close to the city. Jill and I spent the day walking around the main drag of the area, doing a bit of gift shopping for our family while enjoying another beautiful day.
Friday Jill and I woke up early so we could drive Veronica to her job site close to the airport. We did this so we could have the car for the day. After dropping Veronica off Jill and I went to Centennial Park, Sydney's biggest park. After walkign around for a bit, we drove to Bronte beach, a beach just south of Bondi. From Bronte we drove further South to a headland overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the area of Coogee. The wind whipping off the ocean was cold, so Jill and I jumped back into the car to drive over to Bondi Beach. At Bondi we walked around trying to find a decent, affordable place to eat. Luckily we walked past Mongers, a fish and chip place that we have here in Manly that is very good. Unfortunately we had to wait an hour before it opened, so we went and sat in the park overlooking the beach. After enjoying a great lunch, we headed over to Veronica's job site as she was finishing work early. That night we headed back into the city to have dinner at an Italian restaurant in Glebe. After dinner we headed into The Rocks to go take a night tour of the Sydney Observatory. The Observatory is quite old and small, and the amount of people that they had jammed in the building made Jill and I feel quite claustrophobic. While it was an interesting tour, it was rather unorganized and the fact that the Observatory's best telescope was only $30,000 seemed a bit pathetic. It is seriously cheap considering how much they charge for a tour and how many people they cram into the building for each tour.
Saturday we took it easy. After waking up late, Jill and Veronica headed to the mall so Veronica could buy some presents. After they got back, we all walked down to Fresh to have lunch and then we strolled around Manly for a bit. We then jumped into the car and drove up to the Northern most point of the Northern Beaches, Palm Beach. After walking around the area for a while, we drove back into Manly to get ready for the concert we were going to that night in the city. The ferry we tried to catch was canceled that night, so we ended up taking a bus into the city. We then hopped onto a train to Newtown, where we walked to Guzman y Gomez, the so-called most authentic Mexican food restaurant in Sydney. While the food was quasi good, I don't think it's ever going to satisfy our hankering for good Mexican food. After dinner we walked through Newtown to the Enmore Theatre for the concert. Old Man River, the band we wanted to see, was the 2nd act of the night, and they put on a stellar set. We stayed for the headlining act, a band called Thirsty Merc, which reminded me of a Train/Creed combo. While the band was entertaining, the lead singer had a real problem with talking between each and every song. Not just a little talking, we are talking 3 to 4 minutes worth each time. Highly annoying, and even the audience was telling him to shut up and play a song (not me though). A good time though, and Jill was definitely excited to see a concert here in Sydney.
Sunday we woke early to go to the Taronga Zoo. Veronica's company has a pass that gives free admission to up to 4 people, so that was a great way to start the day. We spent 5 hours at the Zoo, and it was a great time getting to see elephants, gorillas, giraffes, chimpanzees, seals, koalas and a few Kodiac Bears. Afterwards we came back to the house to rest before we headed out to the Quarantine Station for a nighttime ghost tour. How can I describe this tour without sounding like a complete jerk? Well, I don't know a way. First off, the tour started 30 minutes late. Since we were waiting in a little barn that tells all about the Quarantine Station, we had ample time to read all about it. It was also ample time to notice some glaring typo's on a few of the posters. Apparently the National Park needs to hire a proof reader. But these are petty complaints, the real complaint is that the tour wasn't really scary, or even entertaining. What made it worse was our guide's need to use one of the tourists to hide on the autopsy table in order to scare us. Obviously if you have to do something like that the idea of there being ghosts seemed overtly hokey. Plus, the cost of the tour was $34 per person, which was way too steep for that crappy of a tour. Long story short, I won't be taking anyone back there for a tour.
Monday we went back to Balmain to have lunch. Veronica took the day off since it was Jill's last full day in Sydney, and we had a good time riding the ferry around the harbour. It was a mellow day and that night we went and saw a movie at Warringah Mall.
On Tuesday Jill and I went to Candy's for a Chai Latte. We hung out for a bit before we had to drive out to the airport. It's hard to believe Jill is already gone, it feels like the days flew by while she was here, but we definitely had a great time.
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