Circular-Quay

4th January 2010 This morning the weather was looking better, so our trip on the Ferry to Manly was back on. Sydney has a travel ticket which gives you unlimited use of ferries, trains and buses for a day so we bought one of these each from Central Station and set off for Circular Quay on the subway. The ferry terminal is right next door to the train station at Circular Quay, and the ferries to Manly are very frequent, so we didn’t have long to wait before we were on the boat, and being whisked across Sydney Harbour to Manly. It is about half an hour ferry ride to Manly and offers some excellent views of the Harbour Bridge, Opera House and Sydney skyline along the way. ...

3rd January 2010 Drizzle heralded the start to today, so we abandoned plans to go to Manly on the ferry and headed for the Opera House via Circular Quay instead. By the time we reached Circular Quay the weather had brightened a bit and some of the street performers were starting to get going, including an Aboriginal guy playing the digeridoo and posing for photos at the same time! ...

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. ...

30th & 31st December 2009 Yesterday we spent the day travelling, first from our lovely spot at Halfmoon Cottage back to Christchurch where we enjoyed our final Kiwi meal of fish and chips (what else!), then onto the airport to catch the plane to Sydney. We arrived at the Hilton on George Street in Sydney, arguably the best hotel we’ve stayed in so far with its modern room, comfy bed and great view over George Street. After checking in, the priority was to do a bit of a recce in preparation for the New Years Eve fireworks tomorrow so we wandered down to Circular Quay and around the Opera House where preparations for private parties and public areas were in full swing. ...