All the way to WA - The journey begins

 

Day 1 July 24, 2023

 

Today was officially the first day of our epic WA holiday and it was mainly spent getting from home to Sydney, in readiness for the beginning of the train trip on Wednesday.

Our uber (aka Tyrone and Raewyn) arrived at the appointed time and we left Campbells Creek on the dot of 8am, arriving at Melbourne airport in plenty of time for car parking, bag drop, Raewyn to lose and recover her phone, and second breakfast in the Qantas lounge. With a one-hour delay on our flight, there was almost time for third breakfast!

Arriving in Sydney mid-afternoon, we opted for a taxi ride to the Oaks in Castlereagh st, where we settled in before taking a walk down to Central Station to purchase Opal cards, admire the grandeur of the building and then go for a wander to familiarise ourselves with the area.

We soon found ourselves outside what we figured was an Irish pub, with a name like Maloneys, it had to be, right? We settled in with drinks and then decided to order dinner. I chose the most Irish sounding fare on the menu – the beef and Guinness pie, which was definitely pretty tasty, but would have benefitted from the addition of a side salad, or some green veg.

Feeling satisfied, we returned to the apartment and chilled in front of the tv, reliving John Farnham’s illustrious career through a well curated documentary.  Having just decided it was time for showers and bed, we were surprised to get a call from a plumber reporting a water leak in the reception area below and stating he was going to have to come up and investigate its origins, believed to be between our apartment and the next.

The next hour was occupied with the plumber coming and going, muttering and tapping walls. Nothing was to be done that night, but there would have to be further investigations in the morning, maybe even a hole jackhammered in our wall, he threatened.

With that we all retired to bed, serenaded by the city traffic, sirens, incessant rumble of passing trains and even the sound of a jackhammer (or was that just our overactive imaginations?)

                           A bit close for comfort ... the view from our Sydney apartment window!



 

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