I mean, I know everyone does, but I seriously look forward to them. I pack everything - all my plans for sightseeing, eating and socialising - in on a Saturday, and then rest solidly on a Sunday. Sunday you will find my sitting on my top bunk for hours, legs hanging awkwardly over the side, with a cold bottle of coke or water that goes warm in 7 minutes because our room is not the airiest of places, a packet of some kind of chocolate, on my laptop, endlessly sifting through youtube videos and online fiction and vast amounts of manga (hugely addictive to myself and my Japanese and Korean roommates).
Saturdays are my "Tourist" days. Saturdays I am the quintessential tourist with camera permanently attached to one hand, ice cream in the other, and wearing shorts even when it's not all that warm because "it's still warmer than Britain." Luckily this Saturday had the perfect weather for shorts so I wasn't quite so out of place.
I roped Saki into coming with me on my Day of Adventure (Jee Eun escaped by conveniently getting a job that started that morning). The plan of action was to visit as many touristy sights and landmarks as we could possibly fit into the day (before our feet fell off). On my hastily scribbled list, I counted 22 places. Luckily a few are almost right on our doorstep.
Paddy's Market is a hop, skip and a 10 minute walk away, which is where we started. I bought a phone charm there, because I always have to buy something whenever I go there, and then we moved on to China Town where we entered pastry heaven. I love Chinese bakeries, everything tastes sweet and good. Except the red bean stuff. Bleurgh. Weird.
From there we went to World Square Shopping Centre which is pretty unexciting as tourist destinations go - and even as shopping centres go - except for a random art piece statue thing in the middle which reminds me of a dragon. I quite like it. On the other hand, Hyde Park is very pretty, and I do recommend going there. It is the most perfect piece of shade, and also great for watching skateboarders practice every Saturday. There are also always buskers and random entertainers such as the bubble-man we saw. At 22 (and 11.8/12) bubbles are still AWESOME. It's right next to St Mary's Cathedral, landmark no. 4 on the list (tick!).
We then meandered along until we came upon the Art Gallery of New South Wales (which we didn't go in - not a big art fan) which sits in part of the Botanic Gardens. Some of the best views of Sydney Harbour are from the Botanic Gardens, especially from Macquarie's chair. The first time I was in the Botanic Gardens I happened to overhear a tour guide explain how tourists always mistakenly sit on and take pictures of the sign for Macquarie's road/chair (I quickly hid my camera as that was what I was doing) which is also carved into rock, and in fact just around the corner is the unassuming rock chair. I was able to impart this information to Saki and sound knowledgeable instead of an eavesdropper. We could also see Fort Denison from there, so I felt like we could tick that off as I wasn't about to swim to it.
It was in the Botanic gardens that we saw a possum. A POSSUM!!! A Real Life POSSUM! Just wandering around as would you do if you were a possum. And it was so cute! A lot of people hate them and think they look like rats, but I like them! Well, I don't want to stroke one, but I still think it's cute.
Sydney Opera House was next, because to leave it out would be ridiculous, even though I've seen it SO many times by now. In Circular Quay we got yummerful ice cream and passed the Museum of Contemporary Art (which we didn't go in as it combines art - which I've already said I have a distaste for - and museums, which I feigned enough interest in in school to last a lifetime. I'm not very cultured am I?) on our way to The Rocks.
In The Rocks, I saw no rocks to speak of, but there was an awesome market which I will be returning to at another time when I am not fainting all over the place. Yes, a combination of sunstroke and dehydration I believe. I felt sorry for Saki who would be with me at a market stall one minute and the next I completely disappeared. I didn't all out faint, but she kept finding me sitting on a kerb with my head between my knees at various points (I don't know why 'various' is in red, but I can't get it off... damn you!). Apparently a pasty complexion is safer for me for numerous reasons.
The Rocks is interesting because it is beautiful and vibrant in some parts of it and completely empty in others. We were trying to find the Sydney Observatory and catch a glimpse of the Anzac bridge (which we managed, tick!) and ventured into areas that apparently no one, not even Sydneysiders, go to. Strange, for such a prime location.
Saki and I made our way back into the city to find Australia Square (tick!), and were came across 6 men in their 20s wearing dresses. When they passed by, one of them acknowledged our stares with "ladies," and so I replied with "ladies." How about that for quick witted comebacks?? Well, I'm proud of me, I usually think of a response 2 hours later.
Westfields and a glimpse of Central Tower was next (tick!) and then we passed the QVB (Queen Victoria Building) and Town Hall, which I think are very pretty buildings. And then, of course, the Imax theatre and Darling Harbour, which is always GORGEOUS in both the daytime and the nighttime. And then we had basically made a full circle of the city and it was home time (past the Chinese Gardens - last tick!).
My ankles have only just forgiven me for walking around in flip flops for 5 1/2 hours. It was the best way to get in some exercise too, as you won't be finding me in a gym here (or at any time). Thing is, I work with Australians, of course, but in my office there is me, and Abi, who is also British. And then I come home to awesome but purely international people, so it can be easy to forget exactly where I am. It does occasionally feel like I could be in any country in the world (there are enough accents around me to confuse the matter), so I really love doing these weekend jaunts, because I am able to look around and say..... "Holy crap! I made it to Sydney!"
^_^ Here is my video so that you can not only enjoy my day through writing, but also in the form of various clips ^_^
No comments:
Post a Comment