Day 74 Sydney

It was a very late night last night for all, so this morning was late in getting underway.  Our mission today was to drive to Rita's place for a reuniting of mothers group (And vet school) friends.  I had my apprehensions as Rita has 4 children around the same age as ours.  Put 7 children together between 1 and 9, and it is a bit like transporting nuclear waste.  No matter how much care and preparation, sooner or later there is an accident which causes a global crisis.




From where we are staying in Parklea, it is a fair drive to Wahroonga, and today we were determined to miss out all of the stationary traffic on the toll roads, so we devised a route that looked fairly innocuous on the map.  For those of you that have had the pleasure of driving a car in Sydney, you will understand how wrong I was to think that this would be simple.  I will never again complain about Perth traffic or West Australian drivers.  They are just plain old idiots over here.

We did eventually find her house though with little assistance from the GPS, and a bit of hunting about. 

We had a very lovely visit with Rita, although she was in a state of total distraction which I remember well from having children in their infancy.  The kids ran, screamed, played, demolished and had in general a pretty good time of the visit there.  Ashley even took a liking to their golden retriever Ricki...and Lisa broke the news to me that it's time to get a dog...NOOOOOOOOOO!


Visiting Rita was not without drama though.  Rowan got smashed in a door jam whilst the kids were playing hide and seek, and we had commented about the sharp marble corners on the kitchen table earlier in the day.  I thought that Chase was just the right height to smash his head on the sharp edge without even knowing it was there...BUT WAIT!

I had forgotten briefly about the ability of my son's head to find sharp and solid objects.  What I should have done at the start of the trip was take photos of the different ice packs that we have had to apply to head wounds. 

Rowan assures us that he will be ok, but there is a nice bruise, and I'm sure that I saw a small piece of hairy flesh stuck to the bench.


We used better judgement and decided we should get going before we needed an ambulance as the kids were sliding down the stairs face first on couch cushions. 

The train station wasn't far from Rita's house, although parking was really difficult as it is a commuter station with only 20 permanent bays. 

With only a few minutes to catch the train, we jumped out of the car and got all our gear together...mostly.  Ashley's jacket was not with us (Number 3 this week), but at least we know where he left this one.  The tears came again, as well as the complaints of being cold already and could we go back and get it. 




Fortunately, we didn't miss our train, but we arrived with only a minute to spare.  I think the past couple of days have taken their toll on Rowan especially.  Late nights, and early wake up courtesy of an older brother has meant not enough sleep for a few days now.  He appears to be catching up where he can...and he is so cute when he's sleeping.

The train from Wahroonga travels over the Harbour Bridge which was cool as I was on my way to the Bridge Climb, and Lisa was going on with the kids to Darling Harbour. 

My stop was Wyndana, and Lisa would continue to Town Hall, so here is where the blog will split as I have no commentary on what the kids were doing.  I will continue with my day first though.




On the map, it appeared that Wyndana station was fairly close to the bridge climb.  Maps are quite deceiving though.  The walk / jog back to the bridge climb was through a maze of streets in the rocks, and involved a small amount of mountaineering.  I was quite rushed for time to make my tour group, so on arrival I was sweating and cramping in the calves from all of the hill and stair climbing. I had some reservations about recovering in time for what was to lay ahead of me,



The Bridge Climb staff are brilliant, friendly and helpful to a fault.  Lonely Planet Guide rates the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb as number 7 in the worlds top heart pounding experiences, and to be sure it didn't disappoint. 

Before the climb, you are marshalled into a room (indemnity) and breathalysed.  From there they take you through to suit up and prepare for the climb. 

Everyone wears the funky coveralls, which have elasticised cuffs and ankles to prevent anything loose from falling. 

From there, there is harnessing, accessories (beanie, gloves, fleece jacket, head torch, lanyards for glasses etc,) and the tour radio inserted into the belt or clipped onto the anchor points on the suit.  There is also a practise set of ladders that must be accomplished prior to commencing the climb.

I had booked on the sunset climb, which cost a bit more, but was worth the spend for the views. 






We began by walking along a long span of gantry some 60m above the road to the South Eastern tower.  Inside the tower we had to traverse a series of ladders to get ourselves up onto the top arch of the bridge.  once on the top arch of the bridge, the steps followed the arch in a gentle curve to the summit.

Along the way our guide (John) was very entertaining, and told us about the history, and construction of the bridge, along with commentary of the sights around the harbour, and the history of Sydney Cove and the first settlers.


The sunset was a glorious splash of reds and golds over the Blue Mountains.  The reflections up the Paramatta River made for quite a sight.  We lingered at the summit for around 20 minutes before commencing our descent down the Western Arch.   The city lights were taking hold in the twilight darkness, and there was a steady stream of traffic flowing along the bridge making the descent quite surreal.





There were ladders going back down the South West Arch which descended between the railway lines.  I was fortunate enough to have simultaneous trains passing me whilst I descended through track level to make the ladder just that little bit more treacherous.

As we traversed the span back to the Bridge Climb Base, we were afforded a magnificent sight of the full moon rising over the Opera House.  The moon was golden, and at times shrouded in wispy clouds. 

The Bridge Climb was truly one of the best experiences of the trip so far, and will be something that I remember for the rest of my life. 


Lisa and the kids were waiting for me at the Base, and their story is as follows:

Our trip to Darling Harbour was a little easier since we had done it before from Town Centre Station and knew where we were going. The Darling Quarter Green is a huge area of public space of which most is an enormous children's playground. There are swings, many slides, sand, water features, a flying fox, rope swings and several large rope climbing frames including two huge pyramid webs.


The kids all had an absolute ball doing the most death defying stunts while I tried not to look. Rowan called out "Look Mum, no hands!" and I did look, to find him at the very top of the largest pyramid with arms outstretched into the air. He's such a daredevil.

After an hour of playing it was time to move on to the Sydney Aquarium, down on the harbour itself, next door to the Wax Museum. We weren't originally going to go but it came as a 3 for one deal with the Tower and Madame Tussauds so we couldn't waste the tickets. On the walk down we found the brolga statues and were able to look at their dance in the daylight. The kids decided to dance with them.


It is an impressive aquarium along the lines of Perth's AQWA but perhaps not as elegant. Then again, they were in the process of refurbishing and the presence of false walls and the sound of machinery and construction probably didn't help the experience. Their dugong exhibit was full of sharks instead, as the dugongs are very sensitive to change and can't handle all the noise so I must admit I was a little disappointed. The platypus were all hiding as well. However, the children ran around the place in rapt amazement.


They each had a trash/treasure map with pirate junk (hat/sword/telescope/challis/ship's wheel - you get the picture) which they had to find and match up to each area of the exhibit. They had a ball spotting the telescope in an aquarium, a hat in the touch pool and a message in a bottle in the platypus enclosure. Their reward for completing this task was literally a handful of chocolate gold coins at the end, so they were highly motivated.




There were an astonishing array of aquariums highlighting the various local river systems with lots of native fish species and we came up close to a sizable barramundi. We watched the rays being fed and were able to examine and touch jaws from sharks and rays to compare their teeth. The kids loved the grinding plates on the rays and pointed them out in the large walk through shark aquarium later on. The moon jellyfish are also a favourite at AQWA so we had to pose for a photo with these ones.



We met some of the largest crabs in the world in their "Claw" exhibit. Those things were like something out of a science fiction movie. Ashley loved them. Their legs grow as long as Rowan is tall - we know because we measured him against a wall. He's getting good at that. Emma enjoyed all the little crabs. I think she misses her 'hermies'. She was also very excited to find several large unicorn fish and squealed every time she saw one.




The shining highlight was their huge Great Barrier Reef aquarium. Floor to ceiling glass occupying an area approximately 10 x 30m full of coral encrusted reef, tropical fish and sharks. There were several areas that you could walk through with water above and below you as shoals of fish swam around and saw toothed sharks rested above your head. You really felt as if you were a diver.




We had reached saturation point by 5:30pm so walked to the ferry terminal. There was a half hour wait for the next on to Circular Quay so we decided to walk to the rocks.  We had a map, how hard could it be? Well, in the dark with 3 small children it is easy to get turned around.





Luckily some very kind locals took pity on me and helped turn us in the right direction. After a half hour walk we finally made it to the bridge climb and then waited another half an hour for Rob to finish. Sigh, if only we had waited for that ferry.

 So at this point we all came back together as a family, and Lisa was in woozy I need to eat now mode.

We strolled through the Rocks District checking out the cafes and restaurants along the alley ways.  Typical high end cafe fare and pricing with nothing suitable for the kids.  Down in Circular Quay, we found India on the Quay and settled in for a hearty meal as their only patrons when we entered.


Aside from the waitress not speaking any English, and having to take the menu off me to write down our orders, the meal was fantastic.  Probably the best meat samosa I have ever tasted. 

We stopped for more gellato on the way out, and indulged way too much.  It was after 9:30pm, and we still had 40 minutes on the train to travel back to Wahroonga where we were required to drive back to Rita's house to collect Ashley's only remaining jacket from her front porch. 

Even without traffic, we didn't arrive back at the caravan until 10:40pm. There would be no showers, and after hurling the kids into bed, Lisa and I crashed as well.  No journal last night obviously...too tired.