We took off and flew back to Sydney for the last leg of our trip. Our cab driver worked for a guy who lived in Texas. Right before we got to the hotel we saw something on the road. The cab driver was about 30 feet from running this thing down before we realized it was a frill necked lizard trying to look frightening. Then ‘thump’ we ran over said lizard.
When we got into the airport it became obvious we were going to miss our flight if we stayed in line. Right when I started to get concerned, the airline staff called everyone who was bound for Sydney to come to a different spot and rushed us all through. Another great perk about Australia, they seemed to manage that process better than we do in the States. Here we would just have been screwed.
We landed in Sydney, said goodbye to our friends and hopped a train that took us straight to the ferry. We hopped a ferry that ran like a stopwatch and went to Manly Beach. Manly Beach is freaking cool. There were neat shops, lots of places to eat and plenty of bars. Our Hotel was right across the street (No hotels on the beach). But for a beachside hotel, it did not feel stuffy. The staff was great. We checked into our room and could hear the toilet running before we opened the door. The tank was actually broken in half. We were bummed as we were just exhausted, but the staff put us in a new room in like 60 seconds. After a short rest we hit the area and ate and drank pretty much all the rest of the day and night.
The next morning we took 2 ferries to get to the Toronga Zoo. Michelle wanted to see a duck billed platypus. We got to see a small one, but he was still cool. We also got into the Koala Experience and got our picture taken with a mom and her youngster. They were cool to see up close. They look like they would make the perfect pet. Small, fluffy and do not move around too much.
We took the two ferries back to Manley, took it easy and got ready to head back over to Circular Quay and the Sydney Opera House. We were running late and missed dinner. I purchased tickets on line 6 months prior and we had to find the right ticket counter. Turns out there are 6 or 7 different venues inside the Opera House. We finally found our tickets, grabbed a beer and went in. I had 2nd row tickets to a 4 man show called No Man’s Land. It was not the greatest show I have ever seen, but it was still entertaining. We took the ferry back (6th of the day) and landed in Manly. We stopped by one of our favorite bars right by the ferry and had a few beers. By this time it was late and I was starving. We talked to a couple next to us who lived in the area and asked them what we could eat at that time of night. The man directed us to an all-night bakery where we could get “Ned Kellys”. The Ned Kelly was a meat pie topped with cheese and a fried egg. Wholly smokes, it was awesome. It was maybe a top 5 all-time late night drunken snack for me.
The next day would be our last day in Sydney. I had two goals. The first was to not get onto any type of train, ferry, bus or car. I just wanted to relax in Manly and hand out. The second goal was not to drink so much as to be hung over for my 25-30 hours of traveling the next day. Well, I failed miserably on one of those goals. Michelle and I started by taking a long hike from the beach over to a State park and across to the harbor side. I wish I would have brought my shorts as the beach we found was picturesque. It was a small cove, it had a waterfall falling behind us and it had a great view of Sydney Harbor. From there we walked back to our favorite bar and had a few. We met some guys who were ‘working’ that day, but I saw each of them drinking 4-5 pints each. They were a lot of fun and we swapped buying pints for an hour or two. It is a lot of fun to get a foreign perspective on the US and to give out my perspective of Australia to them.
We left the bar and swung by and got another Ned Kelly meat pie. Michelle wanted to go to the beach. I went back to the room and had a few beers at the pool. I had a few at the hotel bar. I had a few at a brewery. I went to another club and had a few more. At one point there seemed to be a bunch of excitement. I asked a guy what everyone was so fired up about and he told me it was the weekly meat raffle. I went over and sure enough, there were 50 guys all trying to win various meat platters. Not sure why this seemed like a good idea, but I was thinking of trying to gain support for this at my local bar when I got home.
When I went to the bathroom, I saw that my club was connected to another bar. So I went to that one and was working on my first when Michelle drifted off the street and said, “Hey, Matt, Alexis and the kids are coming by.” All I could think was, “Oh man, I am not sure I can even initiate speech after all the beer I had.” I was nonetheless, very happy to see our friends one more time. We spent the evening drinking a few more at our favorite bar and talking. I was so hammered I spent most my time racing the kids, throwing them around and trying to bribe them with ice cream and candy purchases. After a while we went back to our room to try and drain the cooler of beer Matt brought. So much for my goal of not being hung over for the flight home.
The flight back SUCKED. There are no two ways about it. Australia was a blast. I would go back again in 2012 to see more of this fantastic country if it wasn’t for the 25+ hours each way.
