Back from the reef, safe and sound and sickness-free. (I prepared for the return boat ride best I could by taking a bunch of phenergan, fasting for three hours beforehand, and then staying horizontal the entire ride back…there’s no way Mother Nature was gonna squeeze anything out of me!). Time now to learn about Sydney.
Bridge climb
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a beautiful steel arch bridge that spans the Sydney Harbour and is almost as well known as the Opera House; the two are often in the same photo especially for firewourks (in other news, I now use British spelling).
You can legally climb the arch by by starting at the southern end and walking your way up to the top, after a 134 meter (440 feet) vertical rise. This 3 1/2 hour event starts with a breathalyzer test to make sure you’re sober, walking through a metal detector, putting on a one piece jumpsuit, and finally strapping yourself with a cable to the bridge…and then up you climb! It was definitely scary other way up but you get accustomed to it pretty quickly. Here we are near the top, with Shiho flashing the scuba “ok” sign and yours truly showing you where the Opera House is. I think I look good in a jumpsuit.
Sydney Fish Market
This huge fish market ships over 15 million kilos of seafood a year, and is the second largest fish market in the world, after the one in Tokyo. There is an incredible array of very fresh seafood here, and you can simply point to anything you see and it’ll be prepared for you.
After exploring awhile, we relaxed from our morning bridge climb by having a freshly prepared salmon roll and local beer.
Night Noodle Market
We were lucky enough to catch the Sydney International Food Festival that took place most of this month. Its last night was tonight and the theme was a night noodle market. Hyde Park was filled with stand after stand of Asian restaurants serving up tasty food long into the night. And, we got admission to the VIP area, simply by saying we were Citibank customers…are we or aren’t we? I guess they’ll never find out.
