Day 2
We all woke up fairly early (since we went to bed at like 8) so we decided to head down to Pancakes on the Rocks before the time stated on the sacred schedule. This ended up being a good idea, since the place got pretty crowded as we were there, but we didn’t have to wait. The pancakes were delicious, but quite heavy, and I felt a little sick afterward.
I figured I’d be fine with some time and a little fresh air, so we walked down to the park underneath the Harbour Bridge. There was a lot of trash, probably due to the festival going on this week, but it was quiet and there was a rose garden at the top. Nick decided he needed to ride a cannon replica like a three-year-old.
It was still a bit before our 11 AM reservation for bridge climbing, but we decided to head down to their office, anyway. There was a small museum talking about how the bridge was built and a small gift shop. I picked out a shirt to buy on our way out.
The bridge climb was the highlight of the day. Ashley decided to tell them about her seizure and they wouldn’t let her go. The rest of us donned our climbing suits and headed off to the steel understructure of the bridge. It was cool to see how the bridge was constructed and was still being maintained. It’s amazing this thing was built in the 30s and designed by hand.
There were some steps to climb, of course, but we eventually made it to the top. The view was fantastic and it was a perfect day. Our group was small, and we did some joking around with the Aussies that came with us. We purchased some of the pictures to take home (you can’t take your own camera for obvious reasons).
Ashley had returned by the time we got back, so we all headed directly to lunch. We found some random patio café next to the craft show and had a decent meal. The booth directly across from us was selling testicles from some animal for “good luck.” Jokes were made. No testes were purchased.
Days are pretty short, so it was decided that we only had enough daylight left for one of Nick’s approximately thirty activities for us. We went to the aquarium, which was pretty cool. There were screaming kids and strollers everywhere, though. I had a pretty bad headache by the time we got out of there.
After coming back to the hotel and hosing off, we decided to go check out the light festival, called Vivid (creative). It was cool to see the opera house all light up, but most of the displays were pretty gaudy and there was a massive crowd. It just wasn’t my thing. After a few minutes of wandering around, we lost Nick and Ashley, knew we weren’t going to find them, and headed to an Italian restaurant we’d passed on the way to the quay that looked good. My pizza was delicious, but the lights were really hot and I was dying to get out of there after a few minutes. They had English cider. I approved.
We found Nick and Ashley back at our hotel. They went to the Pie Face, which sells savory and sweet pies and such, and apparently was pretty cheap. I called it the Pie Hole. The name has stuck. We were all pretty exhausted, so we split a bottle of wine and watched Ghostbusters.
