Back on terra firma

 Our loose plan had been to wake early and visit the top deck in order to experience first hand our return to Sydney Harbour through the Heads, the sunrise at our backs. The reality was, on waking at 5:50 and opening the curtains, Sydney Harbour Bridge was already looming large in front of us as our ship manoeuvred its way into the dock. 

As we had opted to walk off with our luggage ourselves, we had no need to rush, so opted to have breakfast in the Britannia Restaurant before disembarking. This done and the final check of our cabin complete, we gathered up our bags and walked off, without any security or biosecurity checks at all, unlike our arrival in Tasmania.    

We were back in The Rocks with one more night to enjoy at the Rendezvous hotel, in one of their cute street-front converted terraces. Cute, it definitely was, but the steep and narrow staircase to the bedroom was positively dangerous with luggage in hand!  

Back on the street, we caught a train to St James station. Here, we spotted David Jones and although this wasn’t our intended destination, we were early, so wandered into the store. Wondering why there were a group of customers milling around, we investigated, only to find that the staff choir were about to entertain with a medley of Christmas Carols. This proved to be a delightful interlude. 

At the end of the performance, it was time for us to wander back to the Hyde Park Barracks where we had booked a tour. This self-guided audio tour was amazing, taking us through each stage of the Barracks from the first convicts, to its final iteration as a refuge for women, particularly those who came to Sydney as Irish potato famine orphans and refugees. It took about 90 minutes to get through all the listening posts and their accompanying displays and it was time well spent.  

Back in the Sydney sunshine we wandered the length of Hyde Park and found some lunch at the Hydeaway cafe near the entrance to Museum Station and the War Memorial.  We decided, perhaps unwisely to battle the pre-Christmas shopping crowds and walk the length of Pitt st in search of a small carry-on duffle bag for me to secure my Kathmandu Hobart purchases and a recently acquired book. It was not to be. Nothing fitted the vision in my head, nor my budget, so I decided to stick with the shopping bag I have and begged Wallsy to get me out of the city noise and bustle. 

Back at Circular Quay, we jumped a ferry to Manly and enjoyed the sparkling vistas of the harbour, and an icecream over looking a crowded Manly beach, before boarding a return ferry. Our timing was a bit off, as we had just finished our icecreams when we passed a couple sitting on a shaded seat who had purchased a box of four icecreams from the supermarket, but only needed two, so offered us the remainder. ‘Bad timing,’cried Wallsy. ‘False economy,’ I thought!  

After a rest in our little terrace, we returned to the Circular Quay Station to catch a train to Redfern. I must say that public transport in Sydney has to be the best in any Australian capital, with ferries, trains, light rail and buses all located at one central hub (including a train that goes right to the airport- who would have thought that could be possible!). Some women we had chatted with over dinner on the voyage had mentioned The Wharf Revue - a live political satire show - as being worth seeing, if we could get tickets. We did manage to secure seats, albeit in separate rows, so we made our way to the Seymour Centre at Sydney University for an evening of hilarious entertainment.  

Back in The Rocks we had a coffee at an outdoor restaurant before making our way home for our final night in Sydney, and the end of another memorable trip.