I think I mentioned earlier that a bushing on the scooter came loose--one holding the seat in place, so it was no longer possible to pick up the scooter by the front shaft and the seat without pulling the seat loose. Paula found a video on how to repair it (epoxy). So I went--day before yesterday?--looking for epoxy. I stopped at a likely-looking store and asked the lady at the counter if they had any. They didn't, but she clearly knows the city very well, and drew a map for me to the nearest hardware store (a Mitre IO).
Then I made a mistake. I entered the store into Google maps--okay so far--and tried to follow its directions. It seems Google maps has a (mostly) reasonable idea of where I am, but it was hallucinating pedestrian directions. I followed it as best I could for about 20 minutes (to a store that was 2 minutes away), gave up, located myself, and followed the saleslady's directions. Well, I got to see a lot more of the city than I would otherwise have.
The epoxy worked fine.
We explored the city, went to Woolworths again, found Hyde Park.
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| St. Mary's Cathedral from Hyde Park |
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| Fountain in Hyde Park |
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A common bird is the ibis
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| Me in Hyde Park |
Yesterday we decided to try the Hop-On Hop-Off bus, and bought 24-hour tickets. We took a bus to the Fish Market, which was about 90% of the way along its route. We got there, we ate lunch there.
There was also a large fruit and vegetable market there. We bought two of the darkest apples I have ever seen (Bravo), and discovered fuyu, a kind of persimmon that is hard, seedless, and not astringent. Use a spoon to pop off the blossom end, and eat it like an apple. Quite good, not incredible, but would definitely buy again (at a reasonable price).
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| Bravo apple and Fuyu persimmon |
(See, I write about things that interest me, not necessarily things that might interest other people.)
Coming back was a disaster. We got to the bus stop just as one pulled away. They are (very) approximately every half hour. I guess the next bus didn't see us. It stopped briefly, but pulled away as I brought the scooter up to the door. We did catch the next bus, but Paula was miserable by then. We got back too late to try to do anything else.
The plan for today was to figure out the bus and light rail system, ride it around a bit to explore the city, and then go to either the Chinese Gardens or the Australian Museum. For the busses we pretty much failed. We wanted to get maps and use them to wander around the city. But--they apparently no longer print maps, it's "all" online, and what is online is a trip planner that will tell you how to get from one station to another. For just exploring, it's useless.
We mastered the light rail system, though. Very accessible.
The first thing this morning, I went to a nearby convenience store to ask about a bus map (many of the convenience stores sell Opal (bus and light rail) cards. It was raining.
We had decided to go to either the Chinese Gardens or the Australian Museum, depending on weather. We changed our minds twice while finding the light rail, discovered that half of Sydney is underground, explored that for a while, ate lunch, went outside and changed our minds again (because of the weather), then went to the Chinese Gardens.
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| Lunch -- pasta carbonara and ultimate burger |
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| Chinatown (that's me in yellow) |
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| In the Chinese Garden |
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In the Chinese Garden
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In the Chinese Garden
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| Stonework on path in Chinese Garden |
We came back to the room on foot/scooter. Paula was freezing, so we stopped for coffee and got ice cream instead. (Hey, we're on vacation, we don't have to make sense!)
Other things on our to-do list: Take the ferry to Manly beach, and visit the Australian Museum. Tomorrow, if the weather be good and the crick don't rise.
Inappropo of our vacation, we have made another attempt to tell Taylor & Francis how to pay me, and I finished a password program I've been working on. We've tentatively agreed to visit Jane for her party, despite the exorbitant expense of getting a hotel room there during the University of Virginia's commencement.
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