Sydney

We are not really city people but thought Sydney was a must. We set of early to get the train with our packed lunch and flask in our back packs. Thanks to Geoff we had a clear plan of what we wanted to see and a day in which to do it. The train ride was ideal, cheap and easy. We walked down to Circular Quay and the Sydney Opera House through Hyde Park. The Opera House was stunning as well as the view of the bridge. We then spent some time looking at the historical old part of Sydney called the Rocks. We saw a great aboriginal group playing Didgeridoos. There was a tribal elder called Uncle Max who was beckoning Ruth over to sit next to him as he played percussion. Ruth laughed nervously and just waved back. There's a very sad history to Sydney with the early Aboriginal tribe the Eora people being completely gone along with most information about the way they lived. We enjoyed learning about the place in a museum before walking over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We then walked to Darling Harbour where we had a look around the maritime museum. In particular we saw an exhibition on Sharks, exploring whether they are predators or prey. Although a little freaked out we came away with more sympathy for the creatures. We had a nice meal in the harbour and a couple of cold beers, before walking back to the station. It was a great day but little did we know our adventure was not to end here.
We were tired from the walking and after our train arrived back at Stanwell Park at 10 pm we were ready for a kip. Unfortunately Cod the van had disgraced himself and had been shouting his mouth off all day (car alarm). We had a flat battery. We were parked on a big hill so eventually and with the help of a passing jogger (who also invited us for food) we pushed the van into a position we could free wheel down the hill and hopefully clutch start it. No Joy! Halfway down the hill we decided it wasn't working so went to call our break down service who came and started us up within the hour. Great! It was now 1 am and we had to drive aimlessly for half an hour to charge up the battery. Of course an out of state van driving around after 1 in the morning soon attracted suspicion and before long we had the police pulling us over. Fortunately they were very relaxed and we were soon parked up again ready for a nights sleep. No dramas mate, she'll be right!