Travelogue Australia
2004
Itinerary:
8/2/04 – 8/27/04:
8/2-8/4: Travel
8/4-8/7:
8/7-8/10:
8/10-8/13:
8/12-8/16:
8/16-8/22:
8/22-8/27:
This was the most difficult
packing job of my life; I have more luggage than I have ever carried on any
trip. I’m carrying two bags, one full of “regular” luggage weighing 65 pounds,
the other a dive gear suitcase weighing 69 pounds, plus my carry-on bag. The
limit for checked luggage is two bags of 70 pounds each, so I am just under. Packing
wise, this trip is so complicated because it is winter in Australia, so I need
long sleeve shirts and light sweaters for Coffs Harbour
and Sydney, where the temperatures are not likely to get above 70 degrees
Fahrenheit. But in
Formerly when going
on a dive vacation I used to bring only a partial set of gear, but recently I
broke down and bought a complete scuba setup and a special suitcase to carry it
all. It’s the extra scuba gear that has really put me over the top weight-wise.
I’m also bringing hiking boots and some other hiking gear which I hope to use
in Northern Australia and in
I am flew from
Tuesday August 3, 2004
Due to crossing the
date line, this day did not exist (aka “this page
intentionally left blank.”)
Wednesday August 4, 2004
The flight to
I had two hours
between landing in
After finally
getting my bags, I embarked on the epic march to the Qantas domestic transfer
desk. I hadn’t realized this airport was sooooo big. The
agent didn’t bat an eye at my two huge suitcases, checked me in, and directed
me through security to a waiting area. From there I boarded a bus to the
domestic airport. Then it was back through security again, followed by a
medium-length walk from Terminal 1 (where the bus disgorges its passengers) to
Terminal 2, where the little QantasLink flights
depart. While none of these steps really took all that long, in the end the
whole process took about an hour and a half. I had assumed that my two hour
layover would leave time for a shower, a shave, a snack and some email, but it
was really just enough to make the connection with a margin for safely.
For some unknown
reason my flight to
My old friend Jaybe
was waiting at the airport to meet. It was terrific seeing him again. We drove
to his beautiful beachfront home where I unpacked and showered while he went
out to run errands. Later we met his wife Shelly at a local restaurant for
delicious laksa
(spicy Indonesian coconut-noodle soup.) Mmmmm, mmmmm. The rest of the day was
spent relaxing, picking up Jaybe and Shelly’s kids at school, shopping, and
checking out the beach. It was about 70 degrees Fahrenheit, but with the sun it
felt downright hot.
In order to keep me
from falling asleep, Jaybe took me on a hike down the precipitous hill behind
his house, down to the beach, and on a long loop back up and around to the
house. There was some unnerving bush-whacking involved, but it did serve to
wake me up!
After dinner at the
house at 8pm I took a 1mg Melatonin pill as my doctor recommended. By 8:30 I
was in bed asleep. I slept well and soundly till 6:00am the next morning.
Thursday August 5, 2004
I woke up at about
6:00am to the beginnings of a beautiful sunrise. The whole horizon was orange
over a dark blue sea. Thankfully, I felt terrific. My doctor said that a small
dose of Melatonin at the correct time would really help with jet-lag, and I
believe he is right. The last time I tried Melatonin, I felt like a zombie. Presumably
this was because I took too big a dose. Based on what my doctor said, I’m not
sure why health food stores sell melatonin in such large doses.
Jaybe and I headed
out to a local breakfast place owned by some friends of his. We had a pleasant
but unremarkable breakfast, then headed south towards Nambucca Heads. Jaybe had me drive to reacquaint me with
driving on the “wrong” side of the road. Nambucca
Heads was pleasant. We had some lunch, drove around, looked at some empty
beaches, then drove back.
Stopping in at a
newsstand I bought a new
A
quiet and pleasant day.
Friday August 6, 2004
There was another
beautiful sunrise, but it had been very damn cold during the night. There’s nothing
quite like traveling from a place where it is the middle of summer to a place
where it is dead winter, even if that winter is tropical. I had done the
melatonin thing again the night before, but wasn’t able to stay awake past
8:30. I was up this morning before 6am. I felt great, but I also felt the need
to move my schedule forward at least an hour or two.
Jaybe, Shelly and I
took their kids to school in Woolgoolga (aka “woopie”), then had a nice
breakfast at a restaurant there. Shelly had to head off to work, so Jaybe and I
turned around and drove down to Sawtell. Along the
way he took me to a lookout point above Coffs that gave a great view of the
whole area. We looked at some beaches and towns, then
ate a fairly good lunch at a place called Ooh
La La in downtown Sawtell.
Jaybe took care of some errands, including picking up lightbulbs
at a place that looked exactly like an American Home Depot.
For dinner we took
a load of kids to a local chain family pizza and “Italian” food place. The food
was terrible, the service was worse, but the kids had a good time.
Saturday August 7, 2004
I had been pretty
tired all day yesterday, but today I felt terrific. I managed to stay awake
till 9:30pm the prio night, and was up at 5:45 this
morning. But I still wanted to push my schedule forward an hour.
It was an
uneventful day. At 1pm I headed off to the tiny
I had a little
trouble finding my way to the Avis parking area and ended up at the train
station, which was a bit of a pain as I was lugging my two big suitcases.
However, once I found Avis they upgraded me to a full size Holden (an
Australian car), with a very cool GPS navigation system. It made finding my
hotel much easier.
It turns out that
it was a very good thing that I had a reservation. There were several
conventions in town. The Sheraton was completely full, and they said that all
the other hotels were as well. I had my room booked for three nights for free,
using Starwood Hotel Points. It was a pretty boring
room, but safe, clean, quiet, serviceable, and well located. Not bad
considering the price.
By the time I had
gotten my car, found the Sheraton, checked in, and gotten settled, it was
getting late. I relaxed for a little while, then
attempted to make a dinner reservation at one of
Circa was
attractive, open, and cleanly decorated, with very friendly wait staff. I
started with a Twice Baked Blue Cheese Soufflé. It was light, airy, and
enjoyable with a great blue-cheese aroma. However, it was a bit small. It was
served with wilted greens and terrific slices of pears that had been marinated
in something I couldn’t quite place. I mated my dinner with a glass of Leeuwin Vineyards “Siblings” Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc
blend, which was light in color with a fruity bouquet and a crisp, clean taste.
My main was a dish presented by a visiting guest chef for the evening. It was
sesame, cumin and macadamia nut crusted barramundi (an Australian ocean fish.) Served with artichokes, lettuce, sautéed onions, bacon, and a
cheddar chip. It was quite good. For desert I had the cheese plate with
a French washed rind cheese and a
I walked back along
the water front, wandering around a bit, surprised to find the streets so
empty. Getting back to my hotel I realized I was just one block away from the
Palace Backpacker’s hostel, where I had stayed one night some years earlier.
Sunday August 8, 2004
I managed to sleep
in till 6:30, then read and wrote for a while. I really did want to push my
schedule forward.
I asked the concierge
about breakfast in the
There is something
sort of “blah” about Australian cities. I’m not sure what it is, but they are
just not that visually appealing. Perhaps because they are
all so new. There is something generally unexciting about the
architecture, the public spaces, and the store fronts. Walking through the CBD
(central business district), there is very little that makes one want to stop
and take a second look. There is an occasional old building, the odd intriguing
shop, and the occasional very odd person, but that is about it.
I walked up the
After breakfast I
started the downtown walking tour shown in the Lonely Planet guide. There was a
nice little Sunday market going on at the Eagle Street Pier. There I picked up
a carry-on bag that would help me deal with my luggage on future flights, and a
cheap knock-off pair of polarized sunglasses for use whale watching in
Due to massive reconstruction
of the Southbank area, it took quite a detour to get
across the
By this point I was
super-hungry since I had eaten so little of breakfast. I went in to Café San
Marco, one of the riverfront cafes. There is no table service, so I went to the
counter to order a minted lamb salad and two sodas. By now I have learned that
one soda isn’t going to be enough, and I didn’t want to have to get up during
my meal to order another. It was insanely slow. Clearly they forgot about my
order or gave it to someone else. In the end the salad was OK.
Properly refueled I
continued the walking tour.
>>>>>
City
Botanic Gardens.
Beat, took taxi
back to hotel.
Really
tired from walking, and a tiny bit of sunburn. Slept for an hour.
Dinner,
not at Luxe (
Desert
across the street at James Street Bistro (
Monday August 9, 2004
Brekky in West End at Tempo Café and Bar (181
Boundary Stree,
Mount
Coot-tha viewpoint. Good view but not a very interesting view. Drove all around the top of
Botanic
gardens. Lunch at the
Lakeside Gardens Café (07-3870-9506), Tuna sandwich was mostly bread. More Ibis
behaving like giant pigeons. Water dragons.
Nice botanic
gardens, big but not too big. All the plants well signed, but poor pathway
signage. Easy to get turned around/lost.
Paddington. Second lunch at Pandemonium (215 Given Terrace, Paddington, 07-3369-4420). Very
funky place with nice couches. Ordered the Spanish Omelet.
It was really some kind of frittata. Quite good though. Unbelievably
slow.
Back
to hotel, nap.
Out
to Queen St. Mall. Rush
hour, throngs of people rushing about. Unpleasant feeling
pace. Mopped up last bits of Lonely Planet walk that I
didn’t get to yesterday.
Consider: eat at
the Customs House Brasserie (not open for dinner on Monday nights.)
Decided Sushi would
go down nicely. Australian Gourmet Traveller magazine
recommended Oshin (
Tuesday August 10, 2004
Up, pack, check out
Back to
Drive to
Stupid stop at
Tropical Fruit World
Eating macadamia
nuts
Arrive in Byron,
lunch at Belongil Beachhouse
Cafe (formerly Café Swish) on
Belongil Beachhouse has
only crappy rooms at high prices, and there is a construction site behind it. Sigh.
Drive around
looking at B&B’s. Drove up Mellinger St past
where Frangiapani B&B used to be. Byron Bay Guest
House (
Settle in, make reservation for Sea Kayaking and Massage.
Out to bar, Coopers
Sparkling beer – not as good as I remembered. Chat with some locals
Awesome ice cream
at Bella Rosa (
Back to Belongil Beachhouse Café for
dinner before my massage, but it is closed!
Really
cold out.
Dinner
at Red, Hot and Green. Wow.
Perch tempura on pawpaw salad.
Massage at Relax
Heaven (
By 8:30 Byron has
rolled up the sidewalks
Wednesday August 11, 2004
Up early, breakfast
at The Byronian (under new management.) Muesli with yoghurt. Good, but not enough yoghurt.
Kayaking
with Byron Bay Sea Kayaks (www.byronadventureco.com,
02-6685-4161.) Fun, but
you cant step into the same river twice, eh? My guide
says “wow, that was the first time I made it in
without capsizing.”
Woman
on boogie board in water “waiting for dolphins.”
Lunch
at Fish Heads, right on the beach in front of the Beach Hotel. Berenice, the B&B owner’s, favorite restaurant in
Wander around town, look at some of my favorite shops, bought granola and
yoghurt at the health food market for tommorow’s
breakfast.
I stopped in at
Colin Heany glass studio (
Coffee
at Expressohead on
Return, nap, write.
Dinner at Fresh (
More ice cream at
Bella Rosa. Coffee is best, choco-mint second, almond
third, Tiramisu fourth.
Thursday August 12, 2004
Wow do I hurt. My
thighs and right wrist are killing my from yesterday’s kayaking. The motion of
twisting an offset paddle is murder on wrists worn by years of typing induced
RSI. I had expected my shoulders to hurt – which they didn’t. My quads hurting was a surprise. Ah well, it was a beautiful,
clear, sunny but chilly morning. Having real granola and yoghurt for breakfast
was definitely nice.
Note: Aussies being
stingy with liquids: sauces, beverages, yoghurt vs. American expectations.
Talking with other
B&B guests “the bitch is much nicer down here.” Eh? Oh “beach.”
Bamboo Cottage
B&B: very nice, pleasant, nice room, nice people, good location, but thin
walls. Other guests were quiet, but if they hadn’t been… BYO
shampoo, breakfast not included.
Drive to
Lunch
in Coolangatta at the oddly named “Sweet Talk Café.” Lemon-Ginger Wort by Wort Organics.
Info center closed
early. Help from nice woman at Backpackers place. Ridiculous
drive around looking for a place to stay.
-
Melalenca Cottage
-
Birkdale B&B,
-
Melalenca Cottage in Lota (
The
loudest quiet neighborhood in the world.
Friday August 13, 2004
Feeling much
better, but definitely not perfect. At least it wasn’t the flu!
Huge bruise on my
leg – musta gotten it on one of the kayak capsizings.
Breakfast
at
Decide to keep the
house for two more days. Just not enough time to go to Noosa
or back to Byron, and don’t feel super well.
Lunch
at Fish Café Food and Wine Bar (461 The Esplanade, 07-3893-0195) – crumbed
whitefish. “Fish and
Chips made by Chefs.” Good, not great. Have to pay for “sauce”. Why are
Australians so stingy with liquids?
Drive up the
Back
to house. Not feeling
great. Super windy.
Dinner
at Sbi Sbi Thai Restaurant
(Cambridge Parade) – Moreton Bay Bugs in yellow
curry. Probably a bad
idea on an upset stomach, but tasted really good. Fortunately, they made it
very mild (not surprising.) All the wait staff were
white, but they swore that the chefs were Thai.
Saturday August 14, 2004
Woke
up this morning feeling improved, but still not 100%. Went back to
I decided to have a
look at more of the
About 45 minutes
later I pulled into
Wow, what a nice
area of town. I sat and watched the sunset over the river. The air was
beautiful - perfect sleeping air. As I sat on the stone wall next to the Watt
restaurant drinking a latte, a little girl pointed out a possum in the tree
over my head. I felt that I could sit there forever watching the river,
joggers, and diners. It’s a funny spot, in front of an old power plant that has
been converted into a museum and theater complex with the swish Watt restaurant
in the bottom. Behind me the old power plant building, in
front a pebble walkway then a railing keeping people from the broken concrete
docks. Just to my right was a sculpture representing the word “Flood”,
embedded in the concrete so that only the top half of each letter was visible –
appearing as though there had indeed been a flood. Beyond
that was the river, and across the river views of zillion dollar homes.
The floor manager
at Watt (
Though the waiters
were unbelievably friendly, the service was horrendous (no surprise, this is
Every time I’ve
written about
After dinner I
drove back to my “holiday apartment”, an easy ½ hour drive.
Sunday August 15, 2004
Thankfully, I was
feeling almost completely better this morning. Just a mild lingering uneasiness
in the stomach, nothing I couldn’t handle.
I was pretty hungry
when I got out of the house. Though I wanted to head in to town for breakfast,
I decided to eat out in Manly, then drive in. This
time I checked out Da Vinci Café. As usual I was
given a menu and a bottle of ice water almost before my butt hit the chair, but
everything after that was in slow motion. The scrambled eggs were very good,
but I’m sure I could have gone to the super market, bought eggs, brought them
back to the house, and cooked them in the time it took the restaurant to serve
me. It was absolutely glacial.
By this point I was
convinced that there was no point searching around
I made my way back
to the “heart” of New Farm (all two blocks of it), checking out restaurants for
lunch. A Chinese place caught my eye. Normally when traveling I try to eat
almost exclusively local cuisine. However,
I found another
park (Wilson Outlook Reserve) with a view of the river and
I couldn’t face
another restaurant meal. I particularly couldn’t face another restaurant wait. So, while driving back to my
holiday apartment I decided I would take advantage of it’s
kitchen. I stopped into a Woolworths super market (yes, in
Monday August 16, 2004
Flying
to
Quest Serviced
Apartments (
Bookseller stays
open to sell me a book (so much for Bryson!) But, yes,
Dinner at
Crustaceans on the Wharf (
The great local
specialty is mud crab (aka “muddys”)
and Crusty’s is the
place to get them. It was a foregone conclusion that I would get the mud crab,
but I had a moment of pause when I saw the price of AU$55 for them. Equivalent
to US$41, that’s more than one would pay for lobster
in a fine restaurant in the
Dining under the
stars at Crusty’s was certainly romantic, but eating
a mud crab was messy enough to blow any romantic mood. It would have been nice
if the kitchen had done a more thorough job of cracking the claws and arms.
For desert I had an
espresso crème brulée, which was very disappointing. The
espresso flavor was only in the sugar coating, and the cream had a strange
grainy texture. I’m not quite sure how to screw up a crème brulée
in quite that way.
Tuesday August 17, 2004
Somehow I slept 10
hours. Wow. Yesterday was a really hard day. There’s really nothing to travel,
and yet somehow it is exhausting.
The Quest turned
out to be a nice place; quiet room, well appointed, and a great shower. However, the bed was hard as a brick (sigh.)
I’m getting used to
the peculiar beverage which results from putting hot water over these funny packets
of powder labeled “coffee” found in every hotel room in Australia. Funny, it
reminds me of something. It’s vaguely like very weak coffee, but not quite. Meanwhile,
outside the hotels in places people here like to call “cafes”, they serve
something called a “long black” which is also kind of like coffee, but again
not quite.
Since the Quest
couldn’t accommodate me for more than one night, I packed up and moved a few
blocks to the Cherry Blossom Motel (108 The Esplanade, 08-8981-6734.) Based on the description, I was a bit
apprehensive, but the place turns out to be OK.
An absolutely-no-frills motel, but clean and safe and very conveniently
located.
After moving and
checking in, I went for breakfast at a place charmingly named “Ducks Nuts.” (
I spent a long time
wandering around town, buying things in preparation for the next days tour (a
towel, water bottles, etc.) and just looking around. There really isn’t all that much to see. For lunch, I stopped for a chicken laksa at Rendezvous Café, (
Later, I took a long,
ugly, boring walk to the wharf to have dinner and watch the sun set. I didn’t realize that there are two wharfs, one
for tourists, and one industrial. The walk past the industrial wharf was
particularly unpleasant. I definitely
should have taxen a taxi. I finally arrived at
For dinner I simply
went to a Thai food stall for some Pla Lard Prik (deep fried fish with chili sauce.) It was OK.
Wednesday August 18, 2004
I was up this
morning at 5:45am for the 6:30 tour bus pickup. Ugh. The Cherry Blossom was
noisier than I expected due to busses which roll down the esplanade at all
hours of the morning, and a vigorous trash pick-up some time before dawn. Oh well.
Waiting out in
front of the Cherry Blossom in the pre-dawn, I enjoyed watching the stars, birds,
and joggers on the esplanade, followed by a a very beautiful sunrise.
Finally I was picked
up by the Aussie Adventure Tours bus (08-8924-1111). The drive to Kakadu
was long and relatively uninteresting.
After about an hour and a half we stopped for breakfast at the Bark Hut
restaurant. Then resumed the drive.
Our first stop
within Kakadu was to see aboriginal “rock art” at Ubirr. Getting to the rock painting sites
required a bit of a climb. A lot of the older people on the bus really shouldn’t
have attempted it. It took a long time for the tour guide to help everyone up
and down the stone climb. The rock
paintings were somewhat interesting, though I have never been much taken with
aboriginal or folk art. A simple box
lunch of sandwiches was provided at a place called Jabiru.
Though the guide
repeatedly pointed out how beautiful the forest was, and described the plant
and animal diversity it supported, I have to say that from the road it was
really monotonous and uninteresting.
There was some great bird life to be seen from the road, but not much
else.
Following, we had a
very brief visit to the Bowali visitor’s center,
which looked like it would have been quite informative if we had had time to
read any of the materials. We had to
rush off from the visitors’ center to make it to “Yellow Water” for a crocodile
cruise. The boat ride was quite nice; we
got to see a wide variety of birds and several crocodiles. It was well worth the time.
That evening the
bus dropped us off at Gagudju Cooinda
Lodge. Most of the people on the bus
were just there for a day trip, and were returning to
Thursday August 19, 2004
It was another
early morning, and quite nippy out. I
got up at 6:15am, had a shower, and breakfast at the lodge’s restaurant.
There were only 4
of us for this day’s tour, which involved a 4WD bus. It was a long drive over a very badly
corrugated dirt road. The shaking would knock the hat right off your head.
The first stop was
at a waterhole/waterfall at Maguk. The park service makes sure that there are no
salt water crocodiles at Maguk, so it is safe to
swim. When we got there, there were already dozens of people swimming. If there had been croc’s, someone would have been eaten already. The water was a very pleasant tempterature. It was
a nice swim, but I could have skipped the whole thing.
Following, we drove
again down bumpy dirt roads and through deep sand to the very beautiful Sandy
Billabong. There we had another box
lunch and watched birds.
Our next stop was
the
That nights lodging was in Jabiru at
the Aurora Kakadu Lodge. This place was much nicer
than Gagudji Cooinda Lodge.
The rooms were bigger, and towels and soap were provided. There was also a big
swimming pool with an artificial water fall.
Friday August 20, 2004
Pick up in very
rugged 4WD bus by Arnhemland Tours.
Arnhemland had attractive, open terrain. More attractive than Kakadu. Tour
guide referred to Kakadu forests as monotonous. Definitely
agree, however, Arnhemland’s views quickly became
equally monotonous.
Arts
center – unbelievably boring. Driver says “aboriginal people aren’t aesthetically inclined.” No shit.
So why are we supposed to buy their paintings? The emperor has no clothes.
Driver keeps on
pointing out irrelevant things like the turn offs to campgrounds and places where
there used to be farms. Who cares?
Endless visits to
rock art site after rock art site. Long drives over
horrendous roads. I want to shout out “daddy, are we there yet?!?” This
place is not for the A.D.D. tourist.
Very
hot out, dusty, blech.
As we were
returning to the Aurora Lodge the driver hands out herb scented frozen towels. They
were the best part of the trip!
Showered
up at the Aurora Lodge before boarding the bus for the 3 hour drive back to
Finally back to the
Cherry Blossom Motel.
Saturday August 21, 2004
Breakfast
again at Ducks Nuts.
Bus
over to the Museum & Art Gallery of the
Museum restaurant
was full and staff was unpleasant. Information desk told me there was a
restaurant across the street at the Ski Club (The Darwin Water Ski Club). Got my free “honorary membership”, a steak sandwich with everything
(egg, pineapple, beet, lettuce, cheese.) Sat outside
under the palm trees watching the ocean and reading. Much
nicer than wasting time at the museum restaurant. Highly
recommended.
Walked
to the Botanic Gardens. Very small. Trees well signed, but lousy path signage. Finally
found the information center, it looked like it was closed, but lo and behold
the door was unlocked. Poor information. The only
impressive thing about the Botanic Gardens was the Rainforest Gully. Apparently
it was a dry grassland 20 years ago and now is a
serious rainforest with towering trees. Well done.
Walking
back to the city, thinking “wow, I’ve really done
Dinner
at
Sunday August 22, 2004
More
beakfast of oatmeal with yoghurt at Ducks Nuts.
Pack up, check
out. Hotel told me it was only 20
minutes to the airport on the airport shuttle.
What they didn’t tell me was that the shuttle would drive around
The flight to
Dinner at Coast
Monday August 23, 2004
Great bed, great
room, great shower
Breakfast at hotel
café
Sydney Aquarium
Wander
Get together with
Jaybe
Hang out around
Dinner at Doyles with Jaybe – cold entree plate & seafood crepe
Tuesday August 24, 2004
Drop off laundry at
Stainless at King St. Wharf (
Breakfast
at Blackbird café (
Wandered around
Lunch
at some place on
Got
lost going back to Stainless. Wasted an hour!
Walked to Rocks
Snack at Courtyard
Café (
Getting cold
Opera house – 10
minutes before the tour was to start I was the only
person signed up. How could I say no to
a private tour.
By the time the tour started there were 10 of us.
The tour of the
Sydney Opera House was weird. It’s a very expensive tour, and I think they fell
they have to give you your money’s worth.
It’s a full hour tour, but there’s only about ½ hour that’s
interesting. The rest of the time the tour
guide regaled us with details about the play that was being performed that
night, lists of Australian actors that had performed there (none of which I’d
ever heard of,) and, in true Australian form, a free coffee or tea. If it had been a focused ½ hour, it would
have been a smashing tour. At one hour, I
kept on wanting to tell her to just get on with it!
Dinner at Rockpool (
Amuse bouche of a single fresh made goats cheese
tortellini with soaked raisins and pine nuts dressed with a mild but fragrant
extra virgin olive oil. It was
excellent. The tortellini was perfectly
cooked, and the dressing was lovely.
For my main course
I had John Dory topped with a crisp Indian bread, served with an Indian
inspired cumin/turmeric curry sauce, deep fried shallots, and deep fried “curry
leaves”. It was very good, but not quite
up to the level of the price. I also
ordered an arugala, radicchio, and spring greens
salad. Rockpool
continues to be a fine, attractive restaurant with excellent service and
creative dishes. However, it is
furiously expensive, and not as good as its prices should warrant. The food was enjoyable, but I was hoping to
be “wowed.”
After dinner I
stopped by a grocery store to purchase granola and yoghurt so I wouldn’t have
to continue eating Australian breakfasts.
Wednesday August 25, 2004
Breakfast
in room of yummy granola and yoghurt.
Walk all over
Domain and Botanic Gardens. Walked for hours and hours.
Lunch
at café in Botanic Gardens (downstairs). Quiche.
Burping up eggs for the rest of the day. Ugh.
Dinner
at hotel. Nice light salad.
Thursday August 26, 2004
Another
fine breakfast in my room.
Walk to circular
quay
Almost missed
Manley Ferry
Sit on beach
Lunch at Le Kiosk
(Shelly Beach, 02-9977-4122.) Another knock-down-drag-out meal. Mind
bogglingly slow. So slow that by
the time I was done I was hungry again! AU$35. Ouch. Puy lentil soup (lentils really from
Walked
back to
Second lunch at 3
Ducks
Back to
Try to sell books
Dinner
at Spice I Am Thai restaurant (
Friday August 27, 2004
Pack up
Taxi to Airport
Fly to