June 3rd - A free day - and lots of walking

Oh the joys of older converted wooden buildings.  Not a very good sleep (probably too much good food yesterday) but our new room on level 2 obviously meant there was someone in the room above – and boy, did we know about it.  Have you noticed that young children who are up and running around before 6am never run on tip-toes?  They always crash around on their heels – and so full of beans after a night’s sleep, they are full on for at least an hour or two, non-stop.

We crawled out of bed as sleep was impossible and opted today for the over-priced continental breakfast.

It was rather wet and miserable outside, so we tried our best to get $28 worth of value out of the food – which wasn’t easy – though quite a reasonable selection, with fresh Danish pastries and an excellent selection of cereals or muesli concoctions, ham, smoked salmon, cheese etc.  The coffee cup was small so I opted for the takeaway cup, which isn’t very classy, but when it comes to a satisfying drink, volume is one critical element. 

We grabbed a courtesy umbrella out of the room (a nice touch) and set off for Darling Harbour.  Thankfully, the rain stopped almost immediately and we even saw a glimpse of the sun.

It is a pleasant enough walk but there is  a phenomenal amount of building work going on, including a station for the light rail system.  This inevitably means zig-zagging around the works.

First stop is Barangaroo which is where we boarded the Dawn Princess back in 2011.  The smaller ships now cruise from either Circular Quay or more often than not, White Bay, which is a bit isolated, as the Darling Harbour/Barangaroo area is so much more convenient if stopping in town the night before.

We walked past All Hands Brewery, where the pre-cruise meet is scheduled for tomorrow night and right to the inner end of Darling Harbour and to Harbourside, a shopping Mall we seem to frequent on every Sydney visit.  It seems that we nearly always grab a slice of pizza too, but sitting just outside, the pigeons are a pest, possibly having trained at St Ives in the UK.  They tend to swoop down from behind and try to grab whatever food you happen to have in your hand at the time – and they obviously like pizza.  We were ready this time…

Just under the Pyrmont bridge, there was a great school big band playing.  You have to hand it to modern music teachers.  I think they knock spots off those who tried to teach us.

Heading back, Paula was just too weary to walk the whole way, so we hopped on a ferry from Wharf 2, ($7.10) back to Circular Quay. A pleasant 12 minute ride via the Luna Park entrance wharf.

Back at the hotel, we opted to relax.
As the Kerrigan (the food truck) seemed to be good value and nice food,  it was a burger and fries for me and Paula managed a mug of pumpkin soup with some very interesting chia bread.

Tomorrow, friends arrive and we also have the pre-cruise catch up.  Really looking forward to both.