Steps taken: 11,891
Because I had a recharge day I was determined to get much more accomplished and seen on my second day in Sydney. I woke up around 6am. I cleaned up, ate the rest of my BLAT and some Timtams, did some internet gaming, and waited for the Australian Museum to open up.
At 9:30 I left the hotel and took a right towards the museum and some of the major parks. On the way I saw a kaiten/conveyor belt sushi restaurant that I wanted to eat dinner at that night. I believe the last time I ate at a kaiten sushi restaurant was when I was in Kyoto in August of 2011. If you like sushi I highly recommend this dining experience.
I shortly arrived at the Australian Museum, which was doing some construction on the front of the building. The side or main entrance had a T-Rex busting out of the wall. Having seen Jurassic World a week earlier I was in "Dino Mode". There wasn't too many people there when I arrived, which was nice. The museum was pretty cool. There were some exhibits on the first two floors related to minerals, local species, and the relationship between animals to the environment of Australia. After going through these two floors, there were more patrons to the museum. I went up to the next floor which was dedicated to dinosaurs, and there was an interactive lab/research area. Finally I went up to the cafe to take pictures of the surrounding areas from the terrace there.
After the museum I went to the park next door where there was a memorial to soldiers who fought and died in 1917. Then I crossed William Street from where the museum was, and checked out the other parks in the vacinity on my way to the Sydney Opera House. There was some nice fountains such as the Archibald Fountain. I stopped for lunch at the Fitness Center where there was an ice skating rink, a waterball ride area, and a bunch of food vendors. I got a chicken teriyaki stick, and a spinach, cheese, and mushroom gozleme (My last international trip was Turkey). Both were good.
Then I headed through the next park and went to the New South Wales Library, which was like Eden to me. The world's largest book was there in the main library, and there was a collection of items of Captain James Cook from his expeditions to Antarctica. I love finding connections to other places I have been especially somewhat unexpected ones.
From there I walked through the Royal Botanical Gardens, and started catching better glimpses of the Opera House. The gardens were very nice. I was tempted to check out the government building there, but pressed on to the harbor.
I arrived at the Opera House, and wandered around the outside at first and then inside. I was tempted to get tickets for a performance, but I didn't want to lose 2-3 hours during a day when there were other activities I could have done. Definitely the next time I'm in Sydney. I spent a good 30 minutes walking around, then picked up some souvenirs, and then continued along the harbor path to The Rocks.
There was an area where water taxis and ships were going all over Sydney Harbor and I was interested in going to the zoo or MANLY COVE, the manliest place in the world, but carried on to The Rocks and the Sydney Bridge Climb. Again, reasons to come back to Sydney. That and to hike the Blue Mountains.
I walked the path along the harbor to The Rocks, and closer to the bridge. I walked through a vendor faire on a closed off street and watched a graffiti painter named Darren Germain give a demonstration of his works. He had a gas mask on while he took several different cans of spray paint, brushes, and a few objects like plates to make patterns within patterns. It was really impressive and mesmerizing to watch his process all come together in a finished mural of the Earth from outer space. He had other murals of the shape of the continent of Australia with a scene of the Outback inside the continent shape. I wanted to buy something from him, but didn't want to lug around art with me for a month and a half. Unfortunately, he didn't do online orders. Maybe I can find something of his on eBay, but I'd rather support him directly.
I reached the Sydney Bridge around 3pm, and talked to the receptionist about my options. There was a Twilight Climb that was happening soon. I decided to take that option despite how expensive it was because this was so highly recommended as an activity. Shortly after, we were brought into the preparation areas to sign a waiver, get fitted into our climbing gear, and get the rundown of what we were doing. We met our climb leader Amanda and after about thirty minutes of prep, we headed out to the climb. We first went through a short, almost cavernous path to get to a straight walk across beams. After five minutes or so, we made our first ascent. There were 1,332 stairs total. As we made our way out into the open, we had views of the main pylons, the streets of the bridge, buildings of Southern Sydney, and the Opera House. I was asked to follow Amanda and lead the rest of the group, which not including myself was completely couples. I guess this is a good date or couple activity. I believe this was the first time we call climbed the bridge though. While climbing, Amanda regaled us with compelling facts and stories about the construction of the bridge, and the surrounding areas. Some really interesting points about the bridge were that six million rivets were used in its construction, and that the oldest person ever to climb it was 100 at the time (Bless her soul...yes, her!) That goes to show that the impossible is never truly impossible. Seeing sunset from the bridge was astonishing. During the climb I was talking to either Amanda or the gentleman behind me from Melbourne. At one point, he proposed to Amanda despite his wife behind him. Even though he was kidding, this seems to be a pretty popular proposal site.
We made our way as far as we could and looped back around. We could see all around the harbor, and the illuminated Luna Park. Sydney glowing from atop the bridge was magnificent. Even though this took up most of my Sydney budget, it was well worth it. We got back inside the bridge around 6:30-7. We stripped out of our gear and retrieved our things. I filled out the survey and talked to Amanda about my plans for the night since she asked. If my wit was sharper I would have said a whole lot of debauchery and breaking things, but I told her I was going to head back to my hotel and get some sushi. If I wasn't so much of a coward I would have asked her to have dinner with me. I should have. I didn't think she would because why have dinner with a bloke that you'll never see again. I should have asked anyway. I guess I haven't regenerated too much in regards to my ability to connect to others. I have my reasons, but it wouldn't have hurt to try to get to know someone as wonderful as Amanda no matter what the connection was. If anyone reading this does the bridge climb, you'll be lucky to have Amanda as your guide (although I'm sure the other guides are qualified too).
http://www.bridgeclimb.com/climbs/the-bridge-climb/
I left the bridge and headed back to my hotel. I watched a few people roll in the water bubbles/balls at Fitness Park, and then arrived at the kaiten sushi restaurant. It was closed. Karma I suppose or just bad timing. I considered eating at one of the Thai restaurants down the street, but went back to the hotel and looked at their restaurant menu. I ordered a prawn and bacon pizza, and started watching tv while doing some interneting. There was a reality show about nurses in an elderly dementia ward. After that was Terminator 3. I feel asleep during that. It definitely wasn't as good as the previous Terminator moves. The acting wasn't great (and it wasn't just Arnold), and the writing was poor. T4 was decent despite certain aesthetic conditions not really matching up with a post-apocalyptic world. Despite a robot uprising, everyone in the future will have perfect teeth. Not really interested in seeing T5, but maybe I'll fall asleep during that some future adventure. Anyway, a tremendous day overall.
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