Sydney Day 5 - Downtown

Click on this pic to make it bigger - and take note of the last item on the menu.

Later we'll dedicate a post to all the signs we've seen.

Again we were all up by 7am. So far all the days start out clear and sunny but cloud over by the afternoon. Today was forecast to be rainy all day but at 7 this morning it didn’t look like it so we changed our plans from the Sydney Aquarium to the street tour of the downtown. First things first. The kids and I head out on our daily excursion to the bakery. Steven is on the hunt for a chocolate croissant that he’s positive he saw at one of the Korean bakeries (yes, I’m as dubious as you about this). I go to the ‘other’ bakery for cheese and ham buns while they try to track down the elusive chocolate croissants. As it turns out the Korean bakery has chocolate horns, salmon mousse buns (!), and danishes but no chocolate croissants. The chocolate croissants that are on the shelf in front of me in the ‘other’ bakery do not make the cut. We head home. I’m not sure if I mentioned that we are staying in the Eastwood suburb of Sydney. It is ‘Little Korea’. It works out well because there are lots of outdoor fruit/vegetable stands. There are also lots of bakery shops, butcher shops and fish stalls….. I don’t even know what some of the sea creatures are that are in the window. They also have a shop that sells cooked duck and chicken – I’m assuming this because that is what’s hanging in the window. There is always a line up at this place so it must be good. If only I could read Korean.

We head downtown on the train and arrive at the big anchor by city hall. Our tour guide is Justine, she started this ‘Free Walking Tour” business that I read about on Trip Advisor. She does the tour for free and you tip her at the end or whenever you leave the tour. There are about 20 of us. The best part is she gives you a map with all the free things to do in Sydney.

The QVB (Queen Victoria Building) is a shopping mall

She has lots of tips about where to eat – which is how we ended up at the Cargo Lounge and Bar for lunch. Kids under 18 are allowed with a ‘responsible adult’ - somehow we all got it. We had the $10 steak special that comes with salad and ‘chips’ (fries). There were a few toddlers and babies in the place with their parents but I must say that our kids were the only ones between the age of 3 and 21. But I digress, we found out lots of interesting info about Sydney….like the fact that it was named after the first governor’s neighbor – back in England. The Rocks is the oldest part of the city that was just restored in the 70’s. It was originally the dock area for the colony so it was the rat infested slums but cleans up pretty good!

Cadman's Cottage. The lucky coxswain who lived here got to row the convicts ashore.

It is the oldest building in Sydney.

We also checked out the Maritime Museum. It basically has historical information and facts on anything concerning the ocean and its activities starting with Aboriginals and how they fished to Captain Cook (who claimed Australia for the British) all the way up to surfers and the Sydney Olympics…..and its FREE!

Everyone told me that food is expensive in Australia…they were right.

For example:

• Coke – 2 cases of 24 for $34.00
• Coke – one 500mL bottle for $3.45 …..when we found a 1.5L bottle on sale for $1.99 we thought we hit the jackpot
• A plain loaf of bread from the bakery - $3.45

We haven`t yet eaten at McDonalds. That will be the true test of value equivalency!