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Australia e-journal |
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Sydney, Australia |
Sunday,
September 29, 2002 |
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Factoids: · Byron Point – easternmost point of
Australia · Coffs Harbour – banana capital of
Australia · Aussie Rules football rocks! Brisbane -- 2002 champs! · Lots of forest fires around Sydney · Sydney Chinatown = Dixon Street! |
Saturday was a lazy day. Went from the Gold Coast to Coffs Harbour. Not that far a distance. Did I tell you I won a koala for guessing the correct distance we travelled? Not bad – I suppose I’ll pass that on to an unsuspecting friend! 
First stop was to Byron Point – easternmost point in Australia. It was very windy – didn’t go to the very tip but took lots of photos. There was a wedding going on this day – O.S. (sorry, that’s a personal joke) 
Then we went into the town – Byron Bay. Kinda like a beatnik place. Hardcore surfers who don’t want to be ritzy about things. Inherited the Quiksilver shirt and her bro got another shirt (I’m wearing that navy shirt right now…) D also got a nice bottle of Wynn’s shiraz for A$20. Great recommendation from the guy. Then we travelled to Coffs Harbour. Nice town – we stayed in a resort – Pacific Bay. It’s the banana capital of NSW. Apparently, Russell Crowe has a place here (or thereabouts). The early part of the afternoon, I watched the AFL match between Collingwood and Brisbane. A brilliant match – down to the wire with many lead changes but Brisbane came out on top. A fairly high scoring affair – 65-56 (or something like that – a nine point victory). Before supper, D and I reorganized our bags. They were so heavy! D got much more room via reorganization (after all, she got a stuffed wombat to take home), but it was no lighter. I ironed my clothes for dinner. Then we walked around the resort. We were still early for supper so we checked e-mail. Dinner was nice – NOT BUFFET. I made this huge mistake by ordering stir fry. It was CRAP! The Caesar salad was brilliant. Dessert was a nice fruit salad wih ice cream. Very refreshing. It was a classy night for there was a piano player that entertained us during supper. I like that … Retired somewhat early, even though there was stupid music playing outside (conference). Do I ever hate that room’s doors?! (I couldn’t find the bloody fridge!) _____ The ride to Sydney wasn’t that bad. Our first stop was in a small town, Port Mackery, just a pit stop where we took photos of the water – just a typical beach on eastern AUS. Also had some McD’s as a midtime snack. =) We also ventured around the town and spoke to a pharmacist. I’m glad to say a typical chemist earns about A$35/hr. Quite interesting … No idea as to the demand here. That was 10-11. 
We were on the road for a couple of more hours before we went on our “real” lunch break. We called for the observatory for a night show. Then we played a trivia game about our tour on the bus. D and I got 17/21 – tops on the bus. Enough to win a pack of cards! Not bad! I slept much of the way to Sydney. Also finished up all our Pringles. My batteries bit it, so I changed ‘em (digital camera). What else did I do on the bus? I tried to catch the surroundings before Sydney but nothing remarkable. There was forest fires which left a stink in the bus at times. We got into Sydney around 4pm. We crossed “the bridge” on the north side. Got to our hotel room shortly thereafter. We went out with Maurice and Kim – supper in Chinatown! BBQ King was our stop. Then we walked to Australia Place for drinks. Along the way, we saw Victoria Station, City Hall. This is quite a lovely city! 
Watched the Bone Collector (Denzel & Angelina) when we got back. Washed some of my clothes at the hotel. Have an early morning tomorrow. (Did I tell you that the hotel room is crappy???) |