Rainy Day in Sydney Won't Get Me Down

We got off to a later start than we wanted. By recommendation, we headed off to Bill’s in Darlinghurst, for the “best breakfast in Sydney”. We took a taxi to save time. When we got there and saw the menu, we were so disappointed. But when we got the food, it was so delicious! Worth the trip over. But by the time we were done eating, the rain started coming down so hard!

We walked over to a bus stop to catch the bus to the Opera House but decided to flag down a taxi to get our rain gear back at the hotel. By this time, I was a little irritated because it was already 11am and we didn’t do a thing yet. We had so much planned still.

After getting our waterproof jackets and buying a couple of umbrellas, we decided to walk down to Darling Harbour to catch the next Sydney Explorer. Based on the timetable, we got there just a few minutes before the next one! Perfect, we could gain more time. But it never came and we caught the next one at almost noon! We finally got to the Opera House. We were bummed because all our pictures in front of it was on a cloudy day. I ran in to buy tickets for the last tour of the day (5pm).

Then Rich and I ran to catch the ferry to Manly, a coastal town where the dentist office in “Finding Nemo” is. We didn’t know what time it left, but we were trying to get to Manly by 2pm for a shark dive. We lucked out, because we just caught the 1pm ferry and the ride was only a half hour. We got to Oceanworld, where the dive was, around 145 pm. But they were already fully booked. We were so bummed and decided to head right back on the ferry to Circular Quay. This was the only thing I didn’t book ahead but our concierge assured us that it was still slow in the tourist season and that they were sure to have space.

So, to compensate for this loss, we decided to do another touristy thing. We decided to take a jet boat through the harbor that drove at 55mph and did some 270 degree tailspins. It probably wasn’t the best weather to do it in. By this time, though, the rain had stopped and it was just cloudy.

We had a half hour to kill before our Opera House tour and wandered around the Botanical Garden for more shots. We didn’t have enough time to walk to Lady McQuarrie’s Chair (not really a chair but a cliff with a killer view) which gives you the famous shots of the Opera House and Sydney Bridge together.

Then it was back to the Opera House. We actually lucked out by doing the last tour of the day. We got to see 2 other theatres that they normally don’t show and we got to see them prepare for that night’s show of “Pirates of the Penzance.” I went to the Opera once in Scotland and didn’t care for it too much, so we didn’t buy tickets for a show.

The stage was incredible. It is this a dancer’s dream to perform on that stage one day…..it was amazing!

Here are some interesting facts:
It was originally planned at $4m, finished at $180m; The design originally ended up in the reject pile because it would be too difficult to build but an American convinced them to use it; The architect, Jorn Utzon, left 7 years before it was finished because of pressure from the government from being overbudget and taking too long to build; He never set foot in the finished Opera House.

After that tour, we headed for dinner…our last dinner in Sydney. I wanted something memorable but we had another tour we had to catch at 730pm. So we picked a restaurant on Circular Quay…..totally forgettable. It was pricey and tasted like a frozen dinner! I was bummed but not enough to ruin my honeymoon.

Then we headed off to Cadman’s Cottage at the Rocks for our Ghost Tour. One thing you probably don’t know about me is I’m infatuated with the supernatural. In fact, when other kids were reading Beverly Cleary in elementary school, I was reading “Dynamite’s Book of Haunted Stories”. They took us through a 2.5 hour walking tour through all the haunted places on the Rocks. It was mixed with humor and interesting stories.

Our group leader was dressed like Dr. Jekyll and carried a large doctor’s bag. He gave each of us an icon to wear around our neck to represent the haunted stories for each of the locations. At each of the stops, the people representing that location had to do something representative of the story. They gave me a garter and Rich a pipe. Our story was about Eric, who fell in love with a prostitute named Scarlet (yeah yeah, no ho jokes please). Our location was a hotel. Apparently, Scarlet made the mistake of telling Eric that he was the love of her life. During their courtship, he died. He is known to be haunting the hotel still looking for Scarlet. They know he’s there because they can smell smoke from a pipe. At the location, they made Richard get down on one knee and blow 7 kisses to me. I had to hold the garter to my heart but cross my fingers behind my back. How appropriate for a couple on their honeymoon.

The scariest location is now the spot of a townhouse. They built it on top of the remains of an old house. With his key, Dave let us in and as we walked in you can just smell this musty dank odor. As soon as we entered, I could feel goosebumps forming. Apparently, it’s the place that has the most activity. Amelia, who contracted a disease and died a slow torturous death in her home, shows up on pictures of people that go on this tour. When our guide took us to the bottom of the cottage, everything was quiet. As soon as he started talking, this pipe started leaking. Rich took some pictures and we could see some foggy parts where the leak was coming from. We could also see some energetic lights in other pictures. We actually believe that these are from the supernatural. Could it be Amelia? Who knows. But as soon as he stopped talking, the leak stopped. He did tell us that he does it every night and that’s the first time that happened. That place really gave me the creeps and I couldn’t wait to get out.

After the tour, we headed back to our hotel for some drinks. They were grilling burgers and I got tempted with the smells. But when Rich tried to order one, they already closed it down. As much as we didn’t want to, Rich ran across the street to Mickey D’s to try to get a couple of cheeseburgers. They closed at 10 also! So, he ran back to the bar and tripped on a grate. He took a hard fall and sprained his ankle. Just in time for the adventure portion of our honeymoon. Insert BIG SIGH here. Drama Queen married Drama King.

PICTURES: Sydney Day 4