Bulls Head Reserve

I arrived in Sydney at 8am today. I'm staying at the Old Rectory, which must have belonged to the Catholic Church next door, St. Peter and St. Paul. I don't know how they harmonize without Mary, but that's another story. As soon as I got settled, I bought a day ticket for the trains, ferries, and buses. I went to Circular Quay (pronounced key) first. This is in the harbor with the Opera House. I jumped on the Manly ferry and took numerous pictures all the way around the Opera House, with views of the harbor and bridge. The weather is warm but cloudy, so hopefully some of the photos will be nice. The trip to Manly takes 30 minutes and the last is in the ocean. The boat was rocking so hard all you could see was water, then sky, then water, then sky. Good thing Kim hasn't met up with me, she would have been seeing lunch too! At Manly I disembarked, turned the corner, and got back on the boat. I love riding on the water.

I started to notice that a whole lot of women, all ages, were dressed for the Easter Parade; lots of Spring dresses and fabulous hats or hair pieces with exotic feathers. Interesting. I finally made my way to the bridge and walked all the way across, then back down to the water for more photos of the Opera House, which was now in the sun. The rood was a magnificent white against the hazy blue sky. I experimented with my panoramic feature but have no idea how the pictures will look. When I was done, I walked around the neighborhood of Kirribilli. Nice homes. I later found out that I had walked by the Prime minister's residence. I walked across the bridge again to an area known as the rocks. As I came down some stone stairs, there was quite a commotion at the local pub; people were cheering and overflowing onto the sidewalk. I walked over and it found out it was the racing of the Melbourne Cup. It is a horse race of great import here and that's why the women were all dressed up. In case you care, Delta Blues won by a nose, and the finishing straight was exciting. Apparently the Melbourne Cup stops the nation each year, and there was serious celebrating, or consoling, going on at all the local pubs.

I took another ferry to Darling Harbor, where I shopped and ate dinner. I then thought the train station looked close, at least according to the map, so I started walking toward it...and walking, and walking, and walking. I was about to sit down and cry, when I finally saw the station. I got on my train and dropped everything at the hotel. Then I dressed in my best clothes (that's not saying much) and headed to the show. I had bought a ticket to the first run of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert. It was described as the Australian Mama Mia. It was funny, as were some of the characters in the audience, and the music was great. I still like Mama Mia better, but it was wonderful entertainment.

I got back to the hotel at 11:30pm. It's my first night on a mattress in almost a week, and I can't wait!Read more