Thursday. 16th. Fairly uneventful drive up to Sydney. Stopped at Weemeeraa Lookout to see Lake George full of water. Also at Sutton Forest for a loo break and some morning tea.
Got to Mum's just after 12:00. Had some lunch (bubble and squeak), then setup her new printer (which didn't come with a USB cable, so had to use her old one), and had a bit of a look at our itinerary for Italy.
Later in the afternoon we took a train into Central. OMFG I HATE people! The train was full of noisy Caringbah high school kids not wearing masks (they all got off at Hurstville then it was quieter).
Then took a tram up to Star City. Again with people not wearing masks. #grunt. The tram took *forever*. I swear it would have been quicker to walk from Town Hall. We arrived pretty early, so found the restaurant then wandered down to the harbourfront.
I wanted to go to one of the bars and have a drink (to be more relaxed meeting a whole bunch of strangers) but nothing opened til 17:00. Sigh. So had to meet people sober which was pretty stressful. Dinner was at Cucina Porto. I had crumbed veal which was quite nice.
The lemon sgroppino was also very nice
It was nice to meet Kellie's family, although mostly ended up talking to her Mum's friend Annette.
So that was all nice enough, but we had to wait for Kim and Laila (Kim couldn't get off work til late) and by the time they'd ordered and then had to reorder (because their first pizza was undercooked) and then everyone (not me! ha) got dessert it was getting really damned close to 19:00 and I was getting epic stressed because theatres often don't let you in if you're even a minute late and I had visions of us missing a chunk of the show. Everyone had to rush through their dessert so we could race across the way to the theatre and we sat down literally at 19:00. I was not happy. Just sayin. But it all worked out in the end, and the show started a few minutes late anyway, and it was actually pretty awesome! It was somewhat different to the Disney movie, but it seems it was probably more similar to the first couple of books. They had a bit of a singalong of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious which was a lot of fun, and I maintain that Mum was singing louder than me during the other bits ;) (Mum wasn't *quite* surprised, on account of her friends guessed for her what the surprise might be)
After the show a bunch of the group wandered off to find a convenience store and I NEEDED to get home to sleep, so decided we should walk to Town Hall rather than waiting fifteen minutes for the next light rail. They did all come back just as we were about to leave so did get to say goodbye.
'
We walked right onto a Waterfall train at Town Hall, and definitely got home earlier than if we'd taken the light rail. But bed time was nearly midnight.
Friday. 17th. Slept ok but still woke up at 6:30. Because that's what I do. We decided we'd drive to go see my flat, because a few years ago the RETARDS at Transport NSW decided that you can't get a direct train to Kogarah anymore (NFI why) so it was going to take an hour by public transport or less than half an hour by car (even in peak hour traffic). We ended up getting there pretty early so went for a walk around the block. Then we waited for the real estate agent to turn up. When she hadn't by 9:05 I called them and hassled them and then had to wait while they tracked her down. Meanwhile the tenant is waiting for us so she could go into work. Eventually (like twenty minutes late) the real estate agent turned up, spent most of the time on her phone, I think said "apologies" once, and we got to go in. The tenant is quite lovely and the flat is fine. But pissed that we were so late because of the agent.
Took Mum home then hopped on a train into the city. Found a sign that says that masks are in fact still required on public transport, but Transport NSW is doing NOTHING to enforce it. The train trip was horrendous - again people not wearing masks, and some guy making an absolute racket on his phone. I hate people SO MUCH!!!!
Met up with Tony at Central.
Had a light lunch at the Great Southern Hotel
Took a tram from Central to Circular Quay. Had my mind BLOWN that all of George Street is now trams-only and no cars!! Such a bizarre thing to see!! (and I didn't even get any photos!)
We got to Circular Quay thinking we might go to Cockatoo Island, but OMFG Transport NSW information is ABYSMAL. Other than an electronic "which wharf?" sign there was no details whatsover at the wharf about timing of ferries to Cockatoo Island.
Transport NSW information is so bad, they literally have laminated A4 printouts telling you to go find a human to talk to
So (after waiting to see if the next Manly Ferry that came in was a Freshwater class ferry (they're retiring them but I thought a couple might still be running)) we abandoned that idea and headed for the Harbour Bridge Pylon.
Anti-vehical barricades - looks nasty if you try to drive over them!
Chips on a Stick truck!! I wanted to get one of these, but they weren't open in the afternoon and later I was way too exhausted and wanted to go home.
So on the way to the pylon we looked up their website and they close at 14:00. WTF?? It was about 13:20 at that point and wouldn't be worth the $19 to get just a quick view and no time in the museum so abandoned that idea and went back to Circular Quay.
Talked to a human at Circular Quay and got a bit of info and caught a ferry to Cockatoo Island (which I'll save for another post).
Got back to Circular Quay and took a train to Central. Had some drinks at the Covent Garden Hotel, then met up with Mum at Super Bowl for Peking Duck! I haven't been there since the last time I was there with @StuartCRyan at the end of 2014, but nothing had changed and the Peking Duck was amazing (and Mum enjoyed it too - she'd never had it before!! *gasp*).
After dinner we did Vivid, which I'll save for another post. Another night of getting to bed after midnight. *sigh*.
Saturday. 18th. Slept ok but still woke up 6:30. Because that's what I do. Picked up Tony at Sutherland and headed out to Ansto. I'll save that for another post too.
Got lunch at Maccas drive through at Menai, then came home, via a quick stop at Sublime Point and Lake George.
I think this is the fire at Bluescope Steel
LAKE George!
It was *so awesome* to get home to the sweetie, we sooo just want a quiet life. Chicken Kiev for dinner and then a super early night.
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