Crossing the Bridge

Walking on the bridge

Arty photo of the bridge

A very bad night sleepwise - when is the jet lag going to wear off?  We went to bed around 9.30 and woke with a start at 11.00 thinking that we had slept a good 6 hours.  Tom was very unsettled, so he ended up in bed with me whilst Matt took Tom's sleeping bag and went to sleep on the sofa.  Tom slept most of the night, but he spent from 11pm to 3pm thrashing around like a boy possessed.  His eyes were tightly shut, but he moved what seemed like every 10 seconds, turning from side to side, banging his arms and legs about - I got thumped in the head, the mouth, the stomach, my legs, arms everything! This obviously made it impossible for me to sleep.  He finally became still around 3am, but it was too late - there was no way I was going to sleep so I just lay by him and waited for dawn to come.  Oh hum, Matt fared better on the sofa.

We didn't really have many plans for today, but Tom said he wanted to ride on a train, and Matt having only just realised that the Harbour Bridge carries trains as well as traffic wanted to add this to his list of memorable train trips.  We also read in the guide book that you can walk across the bridge, so a plan was set in motion - get the ferry to Circular Quay, walk across the bridge and get the train back.

Tom on the bridge

We got ourselves better prepared for a day out - packing spare clothes, a towel, snacks, sun hats etc and got the 10.45 ferry to Circular Quay.  We expected to do battle to get through the ticket barrier with only 2 real travel cards and the written card that the bus driver had given to Matt yesterday, but we sailed through.  This happened to our amazement all day (until we tried to get the Manly ferry back in the evening, but that's a separate story).

A view of the Opera House

and yet another view of the Opera House

On arrival to Circular Quay we did a spot of souvenir shopping and walked through The Rocks trying to get ourselves on the right road for the bridge.  We went via the tourist information office where I popped in to get some advice on accommodation between Sydney and Brisbane for our road trip next week.  I was just wanting advice on what's best: hotels / motels / budget chains / B&B / hostels etc, but the woman a) looked clueless, b) made me feel as if I was completely irresponsible.  It is Aussie school holidays next week which I wasn't banking on and she says every hotel will be full.  I understand it will be busier, but surely not every accommodation provider will be booked up. She wasn't able to give me any advice as to what sort of accommodation we would find, so I gave up - I think we will rock up in a town, find tourist info and get them to book us accommodation there and then.  Tom had a moment in the shop - he had to climb some steps to get to the shop but the stairs had holes in the them and he cried his heart out - he had every mother in the shop running to his aid and ended up with stickers and stamps galore to try to calm him down.  How very strange.

Tucking into a sushi roll

We then found the walkway to the bridge and walked over.  It gave us great views of the Opera House and of the bridge itself.  A very pleasant experience, even though there were 6 lanes of traffic and trains rattling the bridge as we went over.  Tom took it all in his stride - looking the proper Aussie with his new sunglasses on.  Once on the other side we sat in a park and ate our lunch (onigiri and sushi rolls from Manly Wharf - yummy)  We then got the train back across the bridge to Town Hall and headed to Hyde Park for a rest.  We then gave Tom various options on what to do in the afternoon: Powerhouse Museum, Australian Museum, Maritime Museum or play in the water park in Darling Harbour again.  He chose the water park, so we headed there.  Stopped on the way at Woolworths (yes it still exists in Oz, but it is a supermarket here) - I bought dinner for Tom and I as Matt, Lindsey and Stuart are all out tonight: Matt meeting up with an old friend from Japan and Lindsey and Stuart going to a concert.  I bought some lamb as it is still cheaper than any other meat - although it is more expensive than I remember.  With the £ now being very weak we are finding Australia very expensive, this isn't a surprise as we were warned before coming here that we would be shocked.  When I was here in 2000, there were over $3 to £1.  Now it is $1.5 to £1 - everything is at least double the price I remember.  Lindsey and Stuart were telling me that accommodation prices have gone bonkers here recently, they pay an astronomical amount for their apartment (basically they pay per week what we were paying per month in Lupton!) the worldwide recession hasn't hit Australia yet, so property prices are still rising.

In the water park (again)

We then went to the water park and spent a pleasant hour or so watching Tom play with everything, he even befriended a little boy - they worked together to turn some of the heavier equipment.  We then got a bus back to Circular Quay and the ferry back to Manly.  We had trouble for the first time using Matt's written ticket here.  The lady at the gates told us that there was no way she would accept the ticket and let us through.  Initially we thought we were in for a fight with a jobs-worth, but luckily she wanted to help us - she had seen us arrive this morning and believed our story (especially as the missing ticket had the middle serial number of the three - complete luck - oh and yes - we have to pay for Tom's transport here - they start paying at 4 here!!!!!!) hurray.

She personally took us to a Sydney Transport Office and asked for us to have a paper ticket issued for us.  The first guy she spoke to did the usual 'I can't help, it's not my job' which we have received from everyone to date to resolve the issue.  Luckily there was another man in the office overhearing the conversation who told us it wasn't a problem, he got out a pad and wrote us a replacement ticket - why oh why did everyone else tell us is was impossible.  We missed our ferry, but it didn't matter, we now have another ticket and no more stress when we try to use any transport.

Night-time view of Circular Quay

We got the 5pm ferry back to Manly, Tom fell asleep on me.  Oops, he had been very good all day and he had run and walked a long way.  Bless him.  He cried all the way home - poor thing.  Instead of his nice lamb dinner he had cheese on toast and went straight to bed afterwards.  I went to check on him after a minute curious to see how quickly he would fall asleep - he was already asleep - he must have been so tired.

So I made lamb dinner for me (very nice too) before settling in front of the computer for an evening catching up on emails / facebook etc for Lily Pad Bakery.