Today we decided to try something new; take the train from Chatswood Junction to Central Station in downtown Sydney, then enjoy the Hop on-Hop off Big Bus tour around the city. Well, it was a great idea with a few flaws. Although the train journey was excellent, the weather forecast was wrong and, by the time we reached the downtown area, instead of a little rain in the morning, then brightening up, we had an overcast, somewhat chilly day with interspersed splatterings of rain. Then the "Ask Me" gentleman sent us on a wild goose chase when we left Central Station to try and find the bus stop to commence the tour. It was a bad start and it didn't improve.
The 90 minute tour turned into nearly 3 hours just to do one revolution due to the traffic, the roadworks and the number of tourists trying to get on and off. That meant we couldn't actually run the risk of getting off anywhere, since we wouldn't have been able to get back on without waiting in long queues for hours. Add to the fact that the tour audio was completely out of sync with the actual driving, that there was really no substance to the content with little to no historical references, but rather information on where we could pick up other tours and then having to listen to Walsing Metilda and White Christmas repeat over and over in our ears, we can safely say we both had a headache at the end of it all.
Although we thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the beautiful old buildings that are mixed in with the modern, we also, at least, now have an idea that we want to go back and visit the Harris Street area with its historic terrace cottages and the Sydney Fish Market, the Maritime Museum, the Chinese Gardens of Friendship, the Wildlife Centre near Kings St Wharf, The Rocks, the Elizabeth Street / Hyde Park and St Mary's Cathedral area, the Botanical Gardens, the King's Cross / El Alamein Fountain area and take a tour of the Sydney Opera House. It was, however, a very expensive way to come up with a list of places to explore at our leisure over the next few weeks. Definitely not value for money!
It didn't help matters that, while passing the Darling Harbour area at the start of the tour, we made the mistake of deciding that that looked like a good place to have lunch, only to discover an overpriced tourist trap. Lunch at the Watershed Restaurant added to the expense of the day for what turned out to be a frozen, deep fried calamari meal when one of the largest fresh fish markets in the world, which sells 50 tons of fish everyday, was less than 1 mile away. Scandalous!
We managed to salvage the day though, with a delicious fresh tuna feast back onboard Paw Paw this evening, thanks to Peter, who delivered the tuna to us yesterday; tuna sashimi, tuna carpaccio and pan-seared tuna with a side salad. All's well that ends well!
