We had an interesting day yesterday sorting out our transport payment options and taking buses, trains and ferries. This was where we had coffee in the afternoon at a beautiful old building called Durham House in Watson’s Bay. It was Anzac Day, so Thursday 25th April, 2019.

Friday 26th April, 2019 I think this is day 36.

Although we didn’t leave the caravan park until about 11.00 a.m. yesterday we still managed to have an exhausting day. It was quite warm and we were out in the sun a good deal of the time. It was very interesting working out the transport. Our nearest train station (metro) is under repair and they have buses to provide a link to the Chatsworth Interchange. The buses drive through the national park and its quite a nice ride.

The trains are double decker, with part of the train below the platform. They are very comfortable and what a good idea for getting lots of people around.

We made our way to Circular Quay, riding over the Sydney Harbour bridge. The first thing we did on arrival was take some photos.

We walked around trying to find a cafe and ended up at Macdonalds. It turned out that we hadn’t walked quite far enough as we found a cafe on our way to the Opera House. There were many people about, we assume many tourists, plus locals because of the public holiday. We decided to walk around the point a little way rather than going in.

Because we were having some heat/sun stress Stephen suggested we take a ferry somewhere. We had sorted out our seniors travel cards at Circular Quay Station. Apart from a problem with the password, which we discovered later, it was good to have the cheapest option. There is no free transport, but there is a modest daily cap.

We travelled to a place called Watson’s Bay. Again, there were lots and lots of people, very noisy at the pub, but it was peaceful where we went for a coffee. It was the late afternoon so we had to make the best of 25 minutes. We walked part of the way around the bay, then Stephen went off to the point where there was a commemorative plinth marking the place where Governor Philip and the First Fleet made a landing.

By the time we returned it was getting on for evening. We arrived at a different jetty, Milsons Point, only to find that the train station was up a steep hill. We were close to Luna Park.

 

At Chatswood we found a busy Chinese restaurant and enjoyed an excellent meal. This helped us with the last part of our journey of catching the train link bus, then walking the last kilometre to the caravan park.

I had a cold during the day, blowing my nose a lot, and this probably had an effect on how tired I felt. We had done about 10 kilometres over the whole day.

This morning I wanted to do a bit of shopping. Stephen stayed at the van whilst I went to Chatswood to visit the Myer Store for underwear. They had an excellent selection. The other thing we needed was wheatbix, and I had a choice of Coles, Woollies or Aldi stores.

Stephen had run up we our Opal card problem and sorted things out. He booked a few more days here, we are now leaving on the 3rd May to travel home. That should give us lots of time to explore. We rested for most of the day, then took a walk into the national park. Downhill all the way to the river, then uphill all the way back. We were only out for an hour, but it was enough to make us feel tired. The temperature got to 29 today and it has been humid as well.

The birds were comfortable with coming close to us.