Steps: 13177 and 9.12kms
The day that I was to head for Sydney had come. It was also
the day of a very cold snap at home with it being 8C outside and 13C inside. I
had to get up early to catch the plane as I wanted to use the tickets I had won
to the Maritime museum through a history magazine I subscribe to. I think have
won too many things from them and should be careful unless someone realises. I
did seem to be able to keep my trip away pretty quiet and I don’t think many
people realised I was going somewhere. I helped mum with several things before
I headed off. I was actually feeling a bit tired still though functional. I was
spending 3 full days in the city of Sydney and head home on my birthday. The
people before me in the bag drop line were golfers and there were three of
them. At the drop my main bag weighed 11kgs and my cabin bag was 4 kilos so I
was lighter than i should be so it was good.
The plane boarded when it should so there was no delay with
Jetstar at all. While in the air, I was actually having a snooze, which is
unheard of. I think I just needed an extra hour of shut eye and I was getting
it. Think the day before had caught up to me with the early start. Getting off
the plane was interesting as it felt warmer in Sydney than it was at home, plus
the bags were already out and about when I got downstairs. I was wondering if I
should get an Opal card, which is like the Oyster or even Gocard on the Gold
Coast for the train and bus. The line was long and I thought better as I got a
normal ticket. The travel tickets I wanted had been retired earlier in the year
so I had to get other ideas on getting around Sydney. The city was actually
busy when I got off at Circular Quay and even when I headed into The Rocks
though I was warming up especially when I was still wearing a thermal. I went
to my favourite accomadation in the city at The Rocks and found I might need to
wait until 2pm to check in, but my room was ready when the cleaner walked past
5 mins later. Once in my room I found what I thought was free wifi by the
hostel, but it seems to be from elsewhere. Mystery wifi again. City of Sydney
has a wifi thing somewhere and it is free.
The next step was to wander off into The Rocks markets that
was extremely busy, but seemed to have little food. I wanted something to eat,
but in no hurry. The markets were interesting, but nothing there that I wanted.
I was also after the information centre so headed in there. I found some
information to chase up and also a very helpful lady. I was able to get my Opal
card and she tried looking up a cemetery location for me, but it did not seem
to work for her. I wasn’t worried in the slightest, but got some print outs. I
found a coffee shop though couldn’t understand the lady though she was asking
me if I wanted sugar. There was plenty to see in the city and I wanted to see
what I could see in the time that I have.
The museum I had my heart set on visiting was the Justice
and Police museum near Circular Quay. I had gone past this place on many
occasions and wanted to visit. The museum is only open on weekends so I was
lucky that I was there on a Sunday. The building itself was a police station
and a court house that replaced the station that was located at Cadman’s
Cottage over by The Rocks. The whole area did have warehouses and living in the
city was very different to today. There were heaps of crimes like the first
kidnapping in the 1960s where a boy was held for ransom, but was killed and a
lady known as the PJ woman I think she was called. I found it interesting when
they touched on the Aboriginal history as well that involved policing.
Bushrangers like Captain Moonlite and Ben Hall were mentioned though not a lot
was spoken about the rangers. Safe cracking was a big part of the criminal
history and told the story of how some were caught by a cop known as The Shadow
though his identity was never revealed at the time. I did enjoy the visit to
the museum and was worth going to.
By this time I had made my way over to the Botanical Gardens
where I found the Conservatorium of Music once had been the stables built by
Greenway a convict architect. It looked like a mini castle, but with a roving
band of kids from school. I was late for access to the grounds of Government
House by around 10 mins, but I wandered over to a seat to gaze over the harbour.
During this time I had some church outreach guys come visit though I wanted
them to go away. I was asked what I wanted in life that could fix anything. I
told the guy that would be a beer. He was impressed as people would answer
money. He had no idea what a Mid was, but he liked Carlton Draught. Not that I
was telling him that was the same brand. I was asked what the church was about
and I answered a community of likeminded people. He liked that too and he was
soon off after a little bit of a chat about the Marine Rescue and church not
being my thing. The funny thing was a vehicle was going around telling people to
leave the park as it was close to 5pm. I was also getting dark. I did wander
around outside the Opera House before heading back over towards The Rocks looking
for food as I was hungry and didn’t want to be out for too long as I wanted an
early night if I could do so. The area in front of the Opera House was once a
fort, but the writing was too light to read about it.
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