2nd January 2010
It was time to say goodbye to the Hilton today and downgrade ourselves back to reality and hostels. The hostel we’re staying at is a little further out of town than the Hilton, but only a couple of stops along on the underground. It is cerainly pretty basic and rough around the edges, but it will do us fine for 3 nights I should think.
After checking in and off-loading our bags we walked back into town with the intention of getting to The Rocks in order to catch the Saturday market. Whilst en-route the heavens opened and we had torrential rain for a good 20 minutes! We abandoned our plan of walking to The Rocks, and instead headed back down into the subway to catch the train to Circular Quay. By the time we arrived the rain had eased off a bit, and The Rocks Saturday Market was only a 10 minute walk away. We had a look round the market for a while and then stopped off for a couple of delicious salads in a little cafe before resuming our browsing.
Next on the list was the Harbour Bridge and the Pylon Lookout. This bridge tower also contains a history of the building of the bridge and some exhibits. The views from the top were spectacular, giving us clear views over where we’d sat on New Year’s Eve at the Opera House, as well as the many people that were taking part in the Bridge Climb.
Having taken many photos of the Opera House and other views from the bridge we headed back down the 200 steps to the bottom of the tower. Then we retraced our steps back through the Rocks before heading to one of the small arcades off George Street for a well earned coffee. We then walked back through Hyde Park, ducking into the big catholic church of St Mary’s to avoid another heavy shower, to get back to the hostel.
