This morning we got organized to explore the south side of Sydney by taking the double decker tour bus. This bus has 2 routes that covers a central city tour and a secondary route that includes Bondi Beach area. We realize that if we study the metro routes that we could see all the same sites but without any commentary.
We got downtown without a hitch and even found the location to get the tickets for the day. The bus ride was very enjoyable at the top of the second level enjoying the sunshine and gentle breeze so we really never felt too hot. The first good surprise was that we did get a 10% discount based on the ticket for the Double Decker bus we took in Washington DC. We had been told that if we kept that ticket we could get a discount at any of their sites around the world, and we learned that was true.
As we waited for the bus we had a really nice chat with a older couple who live here in Australia but had been to Canada a couple of times. They even remembered Kamloops.
The bus ride itself was longer than originally advertised because of traffic. We noted that the bus was quite full so we had originally thought to get on and off all morning in the city route and do the Bondi Beach in the afternoon, but decided it was better to stay on the bus for the full loop, and then pick a couple of stops on the second time around. Traffic was so busy that it was a 2 ½ hour trip around rather than 1 ½ hours. So by the time we got back to the beginning we realized that we needed to go to the Bondi route. The couple of stops we noted on our trip around we decided to take in later in the afternoon.
The Bondi bus was really interesting since it took us out of the downtown core. The ride was great, but we did drive down lots of tree lined streets so had to be careful not to get hit by a branch (we were warned to be aware). We were also constantly reminded not to stand while the bus was in motion – but how do you get any pictures? No one really followed that rule, and when I stood to take a picture Wes was on the lookout for low lying branches. He thought that I might disappear off the back of the bus if he didn’t.
We got to the beach and disembarked with most of those on the bus. What are great place to be on a sunny warm, but not hot, day. We had brought our swim trunks so we were determined to have a swim and get our picture taken. However, the problem we discovered was that one of us had to stay with our things on the beach and use the camera while the other was in the water. We missed the type of fun we enjoyed in Florida at the beach there. We both went in to the water twice before we had to leave. No sunburns!
When we got back to central core we headed over to the Darling Harbour area to enjoy walking along the wharf. Also we wanted to check out if the iMAX theatre had Harry Potter playing. Since it did we bought tickets and then went to find dinner. The food court we discovered on the harbour had free WIFI so I was able to use the blackberry. Good time to catch up on the messages and emails.
Harry Potter was just as good as the earlier ones. Of course it left everyone in suspense for Part B of the book out next summer I think. After we left the iMAX we headed back to the campsite. We left in the am around 9 am and we got back around 9:30 pm. It has been a long day and I will let the pictures tell the story of what we saw of interest – or at least those items we got pictures of interest.
PS, here is an interesting ‘art display’ on one of the round-abouts in the center of the city. Is it really art?
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