Day 1b - Our Darling House... (Tue, Feb 20)

Like a bunch of super obvious tourists doing the super obvious tourist navigation, Jacq and I are sitting on the bus with a giant map open, and reading street signs aloud as we pass by.  This is annoying no one.  But it does prompt someone to tell us "this next stop is your stop."  Non-jet-lagged JQ (who is benefiting so much from her anti-jet-lag diet) is asking intelligent questions like, "but how do I get the bus to stop?"  I apologize for her, and point out that someone has already pushed the stop button and the bus will stop when it wants to.

We stagger off the bus, hauling our luggage, at the corner of Harris and Allen.  There's a long line of row housing along one side of the street, and we're staying in one of these units.  It's an old house, which I always find interesting.  Out front, it has a little walled courtyard stuffed with greenery, and on the second level, a little balcony looking onto the street.  I can tell the original construction was essentially two brick rooms on the ground floor and two above.  The current kitchen and bathroom were obviously added on after the fact, and we have the wonky stair thing going on - that's where the steps are irregular, either overly steep or shallow, so you walk around and then yell "aaahhhh!" as you take a bigger drop than expected.  That's an endless source of amusement.


It was striking to me that both ground rooms have fireplaces.  I mean, I'm guessing they don't get used much in the summer.  In any case, I do not expect that we will be firing up the fireplace during our stay here.  😄

Just inside the front door - the front sitting room

Dining room

Upstairs, we have two rooms.  The front room has an AC unit and the balcony.  The back room is bigger and has a desk, two bigger windows, no AC, but does have a ceiling fan.

JQ takes the front room with the balcony, and I take the back room with the desk and the power bar (because I brought the most toys).  Look at all the weird power outlets!  Now is the time to test out all of my power adapters.

JQ's bedroom with A/C unit and...	...JQ's balcony overlooking Harris Street.
CF's bedroom with big window and fan, and...	...the all-important power bar.  My adapters in action!

I am struck by the sound of the birds here.  Not the tweeting sounds we're used to, but some strange screechy calls.  I stand on JQ's balcony for a while, trying to figure out where the birds are, and then I see a flash of bright green as they fly away.  Darn it, I wish I could see them clearly!  I will keep my eyes peeled.

We don't unpack our stuff, so much as drop it off in our rooms and let it all explode a bit.  Time to put things away later - we've got some exploring to do!  We change out of our somewhat grungy travel wear, and head out to see our corner of Sydney.

Darling Harbour

Our house is in the Pyrmont area, which we picked because it was close to Darling Harbour, which is one of the tourist hubs.  We walk back the way the bus came, then veer off to head towards Darling Harbour.  As you might expect, Sydney is full of harbours (but ours is quite darling 😉).  I am just happy taking in the sights, looking at the buildings and boats.  The harbour is decked out with flags for the Chinese New Year, which means there are flags with dogs everywhere!  So awesome!

After wandering around for a while, we head back towards our house.  I stop at Pyrmont Kebab to buy food.  Did I mention that food is expensive here?  Food is really expensive here.  I mean really.  We stopped in at several grocery stores to get supplies, and we are constantly surprised at the prices.

Back home at last, and I eat my yummy kebab for supper.

Both of us are feeling tired.  Maybe we're tired because, even though it is early evening here, it is 4:36 a.m. Saskatoon time.  I mention that, and JQ goes on and on again about jet-lag.  The girl is obsessed.  I think she doesn't have jet-lag at all - I think she has a head injury from sitting under the airplane seats during turbulence.  That'll learn her.

Anyway, she goes to bed.  I sit here on the computer for a while, writing my blog, and then I decide to call it a night at the criminally early hour of 10 p.m.  G'night, mate!