Botanical Gardens and Sydney Harbour Day and Night, Aussie Adventure Day 6
Sydney NSW Australia
It's our last day in Sydney. Tomorrow we travel to Brisbane for two more Springsteen shows and a few more Aussie Adventures.
But first we want to soak in as much of Sydney Harbour as we can. The forecast is for temperatures in the high 90s and possibly 100 F on Saturday, our travel day. NICE!
We sleep in, until about 8 a.m., have ourselves a quick breakfast, a quick shower and head outside before it gets too hot. At 8 a.m. it's already 88 F.
We decide to walk around the Harbour and visit the Royal Botanical Gardens. Everyone we've spoken to says it's a MUST SEE, the gardens do not disappoint.
We leave the Lord Nelson and walk down Argyle Street to the Harbour, past the Ferry docks, we cut around the Wharf and head to Garden's Gate. We walk along the outside of the Gardens and down to the views of the harbour near the Opera House.
Visit Mrs Macquarie's Chair, an exposed sandstone rock cut into the shape of a bench, on a peninsula in Sydney Harbour, hand carved by convicts from sandstone in 1810 for Governor Macquarie's wife Elizabeth.
Then make our way into the Gardens proper.
The flowers are magnificent.
The layout, impressive.
After about an hour or so of walking in the heat, we are good and soaked with sweat, we walk back to the Lord Nelson via Circular Quay. We're hot and we're hungry and ready for the chicken curry and chicken Caesar salad.
Back in our room we start packing and organizing our stuff for our flight to Brisbane in the morning. I clean my camera-my hands were really sweaty and the camera body was a mess.
I internet chat with the Captain Cooke Cruise folks to confirm our reservation for dinner and a cruise. We shower and change into somewhat dressy clothes and walk back down to Circular Quay around 6:30 p.m. for our Sydney Harbour Dinner Cruise. We have table #51 a nice window seat (costs extra but so worth it.) Enjoy a champagne toast and off we go for our 3 hour tour!
I order a Negroni to go with my ravioli appetizer and have the lamb shank for my main course. I can barely get the Chocolate Roche down for dessert, I'm so full!!
The sunset was gorgeous.
The full moon rise an added bonus.
The views during dinner are stunning.
After dinner, we head up to the top deck to take in the harbour at night. Some folks stayed inside to dance to the band but we've had two nights of dancing to BRUCE and prefer the solitude and lights of the harbour at night.
I had hoped to get a great shot of the bridge but the fog and clouds were rolling in and distorting the light. I think it still looks pretty cool.
The boat drops us off at Darling Harbour around 10 p.m.. I did have one problem on the boat, my favorite pair of fisherman's sandals exploded (the sole broke away) and made walking difficult. So I tough it out and walk most of the way back to the hotel barefoot. Not so much fun but I made it in one piece.
We're in our room at 10:30 p.m. and arranging things for our early morning departure. We are a little concerned because during the late afternoon there were rolling brown outs because of the heat and the high use of ACs. So while Boston was getting 10 inches of snow, we're in Sydney dealing with an extreme heat wave, high electric use and brown outs!
So weird.
Saturday we're Brisbane Bound! G'Day Mates!
Saturday, February 11 Day 7
We're up at 6:30 a.m., coffee at 7:30 and breakfast at 8:30. On our last day at the Lord we try the sourdough bread and it's excellent DANG-should have chosen it earlier in the week.
We'll miss the Lord. It's a great place to stay. Very comfortable, centrally located to Darling Harbour, Circular Quay, the Bridge, The Opera House, pretty much everything Sydney.
Good On Ya Jay!!!
We hail a cab, and watch as The Rocks disappear from view.
We're at the Domestic Airport catching our flight to Brisbane on Virgin Australia. Pretty uneventful flight.
We catch a cab to the Best Western Astor Metropole (BWAM) on Wickham Terrace in the CBD. Jay picked this place because a full breakfast was included for a very small fee.
We're in room 712. No great shakes but OK. Pretty spacious for our stuff and they have a couple of desks for work space (that was the one draw back at the Lord-no desk.) Our room has a sink, a fridge, a microwave and a small apartment stove. Some rooms have washer/dryers but this one doesn't-oh well.
We're hungry and make our way to the Embassy Bar, Jay found it online for it's craft beers. The beer and food were both good. We stop at Woolworth's for bread and cheese and fruit. Then we hit BWS Store (Beer Wine and Spirits) Jay collects some local dark beers and we're back to our room.
But not before I hit the mother ship-The Dark Chocolatier. OMG I want to move in here! They let you sample; they are a shop for Noosa Chocolate Factory
HEAVEN!
We have a small carpet picnic and crash early.
I must be exhausted because after eating I realize, I didn't take any pictures on our first day in Brisbane! So unlike me...
Sunday we have an early morning pick up for our trip to Tamborine Mountain and the Rain Forest. Day 8 of our Aussie Adventure.