Day 287 - Thursday 12 October - On to Sydney

Day 287

Thursday –

12 October 2017 

Vineyard – Sydney – Camperdown

Alarm bells, how rude! Well they were required if we were going to get our day underway. I was surprised how quickly we managed to get ourselves organised and we were in the car at 820am as planned.

We needed to head into Windsor first to find a retailer selling the Opal cards, required for public transport. After trying a newsagent we eventually found them at the 711.  We then made our way to the Vineyard train station, parked the car and began walking the long platform, as we were 20min early. We knew we would be sitting on the train for 1 hour 15min, so we got active while we could. Once the train arrived, we parked ourselves in a chair and watched the world go by.

The living arrangements, namely units did not appeal in the slightest and the long commute for Sydneysiders must be a real killer. We again gave praise for living in Perth.

As we neared the city, the train became heavy with passengers and we were glad we were on one of the outer stations. Once in at Wynard station, we made our way out into the world ready to get our jobs done and do a little exploring.

First up was the camera store Digidirect. Unfortunately they didn’t do quotes, but were able to give me a lens to use as a comparison to demonstrate how my lens was broken. They also gave me a card for a repairer, so we headed off there only to find them on holidays.

We made our way down York St to the Queen Victoria Building. It was slow going as the paths were clogged with pedestrians and while not as manic as New York streets, it was certainly taking me back there.

Once inside the large shopping mall, we found the Mister Mint and put my Garmin in for a new battery. We left them with it and made our way to Chemist Warehouse for a few bits and then to the Post Office to send off our next lot of deferred salary forms.

With those things out of the way, it was back to collect my watch and then we made our way through the streets in search of China Town and a good dim sum restaurant.

  I had googled top yum cha spots and Marigold had come up, so when we saw the sign for it, we crossed the road and took the lift up to the massive operation. We were served quickly and our hunger was soon sated, however it was the most expensive dim sum we have ever had.

 

After lunch, we rolled out of the restaurant and into Paddy’s market. We walked a few of the aisles but kept seeing the same old stuff, so we opted to head on, making our way past through China Town and onto the Tumbalong Park that is part of the Darling Harbour area.

We wandered leisurely through the area as we took in the new convention centre and other buildings that have been built since the last time we visited. We eventually ended up at Cockle Bay Wharf and meandered along the boardwalk. This spot reminded us of both Melbourne and Brisbane’s South Bank areas.

 

With the sun beating down, we were looking for shade and as it was already 130pm, we decided it was best to head back to the train station and catch the train to Newtown.

The trains are easy to navigate and we alighted in Camperdown just after 2pm, we then had a 2km walk to Wayward Brewing. The terrace housing is old, but mostly well kempt and we enjoyed checking out the many murals as we made our way.

 

Paul was glad when we finally arrived, as he was in need of a beer to wash in the dim sum.  We sat chatting to the barman, who reminded us of a friend back home and then joined in the conversation with another group of guys who came in.

We spent the next hour and a half at the bar, before finally making the trek back to the train station.

 

We joined the commuters heading home from work. The train was jam packed, but we managed to find a couple of spare seats. We had to jump off and switch trains at Strathfield and we were lucky to get a seat again. As the train passengers thinned we were eventually able to sit together.

We finally made it back to our train station, jumped in the car and pulled in next to our van at 6pm, both of us exhausted, but pleased the public transport seemed to work so well.

I got busy sending an email of to QBE in regards to my camera lens, hopefully I can get that all sorted. Paul wrote up his review, while I loaded my pics. We then threw together a quick dinner before finishing off our computer bits and then falling into bed, ready for another big day tomorrow.