Sunday 18th July
Having been woken at 5am on the train we eventually arrived at Sydney Central Station at 7.30 quite sleepy still! But we managed to dump our bags at our lodgings for the week: Springfield Lodge, which is between Potts Point and Kings Cross, before heading to the train station to go and explore.
We got a couple of weekly MyMulti passes which would give us unlimited travel on the buses, trains and ferries in Zones 1 and 2, which was all we needed. They were $48 each which isn’t too bad with the amount of times we were going to use it, it paid itself off very quickly over the week.
Our first stop was at Circular Quay, where the first thing you see as you get off the train is the magnificent Sydney Harbour Bridge. It looks amazing on television, it’s even better when you’re actually there! We had breakfast at the City Extra Cafe where the smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on toast seemed to wake me up just a bit! The pot of tea helped too.
The plan for the day was a quiet one, seeing as we had a long night of travelling and not very good sleep. We took the ferry over to Manly which was fun as you do get some of the best views of the harbour from it, cue many photos and everyone wanting to sit outside!
Manly Beach is gorgeous, it really is, and it was quite busy for a Sunday. There was an equal mix of surfers and beach dwellers, Evie and I falling into the latter category. We had a wander down the beach before looking through the craft market that they had on before lunching at Ocean Foods, which apparently is a Manly institution!
Monday 19th July
Today we went to the ANZ Stadium, or the Olympic Stadium, or the place where England won the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final. I like to refer to it as the last one, but it gets me a glare and sometimes a slap from Evie. We did the tour of the ground, accompanied by some New Zealanders and some Canadians, a very Commonwealth feel to it!
One thing that I really like about the ANZ is how adaptable the stadium is for the sports that it hosts. They can move both of the stands at the side closer in for rugby and football matches and then move them out for if the ground is hosting cricket or Aussie Rules Football, taking away and replacing the grass very easily, you’d never have thought they had moved!
The rugby posts were out so it was great to think back to certain events in November 2003, the tour guide pointed out the posts in question that Mr Wilkinson slotted that drop goal through, making me grin like the Cheshire Cat and Evie frown as she was there on that night.
At pitch level they had one of the medal podiums from the 2000 Sydney Olympics so the obligatory cheesy snaps of us on the gold medal spots were taken! We also found out that the actor Russell Crowe had changing rooms made just for his NRL team the Rabbitohs, the other numerous home teams that play matches at the ANZ just have to make do with sharing the other home changing room, not at the same time though!
After the tour we decided to book tickets to see some action at the ANZ, in the form of the Canterbury Bulldogs vs the Parramatta Eels in the NRL. It would be my first ever rugby league match seen live, and not the last one on my trip!
Later that evening after a lovely meal at the Fountain Cafe we raided the English shop that we’d seen earlier for sweet treats, with me buying a can of Vimto, a bag of Quavers, some Refreshers and Bournville chocolate. Evie bought some Revels, which she had only started craving after Bill Bailey mentioned them in his gig in Brisbane!
Tuesday 20th July
We’re going to the zoo, zoo, zoo…
Yes Tuesday was all about going to the world famous Taronga Zoo, which you have to take the ferry to get to. You then have the option of going up to the top of the zoo by cable car or working your way around the zoo by foot from the bottom of it. We went for the cable car option. It cost $30 with my ISIC Card (well worth getting by the way).
We saw loads of animals (duh because it’s a zoo) including some very cute Tasmanian Devils. They’re cute but they look really strange, they were fun and playful anyway. In the night time area we played a game of “Spot the Possum” as well as there being a very inquisitive Quoll, it kept following us when we walked past its area!
When seeing the Wallabies, Kangaroos and Quokkas (which are fat little marsupials) it was a very open area, so open that an Emu walked behind me which spooked me a little!
We managed to catch the end of the elephant show after lunch where we saw the legend that is Mr Shuffles, the baby Elephant at Taronga, he even has his own Twitter account which is very amusing: @mistershuffles. There’s going to be a new baby calf due in November though, very exciting!
A lesson on seals happened later as we went to the seal show, where the keepers and seals were informing us about the differences between a sealion and a seal as well as displaying lots of tricks and conservation information.
I loved the Meerkats and the Mountain Sheep/Goat (I can’t remember!), one of the Meerkats was sunning itself against the heater for the whole time we were watching it, while the Mountain Sheep/Goat was very inquisitive as it kept following the birds about!
There was also a very strange mammal that smelled of popcorn, it’s called a Bintarong.
A great day was had by both of us, we spent ages at the zoo and we kept going back to our favourite bits: the red pandas in Evie’s case and the Tassie Devils for me!
