Our First Day

We woke up fairly refreshed on Monday.  The sun was not shining--it was still raining on and off.  That has been disappointing because we had hoped to spend some quality time on the beach--Bondi and Manly. Oh well--we coped.

Our first matter of business was getting internet access.  The listing had said there was wireless internet here, but it was not clear where it was or how to access it.  We had found what looked like an external drive in the TV cabinet drawer, so we tried to use that.  We guessed that it was the internet device, but we had no password.

So we went down to the corner coffee shop and tapped into their internet to email the landlord about the problem.  I have to admit I was not very happy.  I wrote to him that I was disappointed in the lack of any info about the apartment or the area. Then we got on a bus to downtown.

We took the bus to Circular Quay hoping to find the tourist information office.  The Circular Quay is the terminus for most of the ferries that cross the harbor/bay.  It is extremely busy.  And there was a huge cruise ship in the harbor, blocking the view of a lot else.

You can see the Opera House in the background.  The harbor, itself, seems a lot smaller than you would think, just looking at pictures.

We went to the tourist office and talked to a very nice lady who gave us all the info about the various kinds of transportation passes.  But by the end, we were so confused, we didn't have any idea what to buy.  So we put it off for a little bit and started to walk around the harbor.  On the way, we ran into this guy, who sounded American.

Its' really hard to take a bad picture in this area.

We decide to go to the Botanical Garden, which is right in front of the Opera House, but I have to admit we had trouble finding it.  We ended up at this gate,

Which apparently we were not supposed to go through but we did and startled a grounds keeper when we asked him if we were in the right place,  He actually grabbed his heart, he was so startled.  He sent us on the correct path, along with a lot of  other people.  

At this point we were getting hungry.  I said that the only only things I wanted from lunch was table service and Wifi.  We ended up at the restaurant at the Botanical Gardens and had ordered a glass of wine before we learned that they had no Wifi. 

 The problem was, I was still corresponding with the landlord about the WiFI, so we really needed it.

 So we left the Gardens and headed for the real touristy section of the Circular Quay.  And I have to say we had a great lunch.  Meredith managed to get me connected to WiFi,

We had a terrific meal and a bottle of nice wine.

And watched the people and the ferries go by.

At this point we were a little tipsy and ready for another adventure.  Meredith suggested the Sydney Aquarium, so we headed there, after much discussion as to how we actually get there.

It turned out to be a terrific decision.  The aquarium, which I was a bit skeptical of, turned out to be absolutely wonderful.  We were able to walk under the water and see the sharks (or ShAAks, as they say here) from underneath.  We also saw the Australian version of the manatee, the Dugong, which was impressive.  Here are some of the ridiculously high number of pictures we took.

That last picture is of the Dugong,

By the way, the aquarium  is in an area called Darling Harbor, which is full of entertainment restaurants and some things you just can;t explain, like this octopus.

It has a boardwalk around the water, which makes it kind of familiar to people from New Jersey.

It took us a while ton figure out how to get home--more walking than we were really willing to do at that point--but we made it,  We stopped at a local grocery store for some dinner and then proceeded not to eat it because we were too tired.  We were asleep very early again--but told ourselves we were still jet-lagged.  That's our story and we're sticking to it.

By the way, we were a=finally able to get internet access--but we have had to purchase it--not cool.  But at least we are able to do this blog--and otherwise the apartment is pretty great.

My finger is much better, for those who were concerned.

A great day downunder.  More to come.