Ben's Adventures in Sydney Episode 2: Attack of the Queens

No, as I said in a previous post, not the queens normally associated with Sydney around this time of year.


So my day was pretty much taking in the sights of the harbour. I went for a couple of ferry rides. The first was to Kirribilly (Hi John) and Neutral Bay. This ride gave a pretty good view of the Queen Mary II which was docked at the Garden Island naval base 9it's not actually an island, I checked). GArden Island was used because it waas to bid to fit in to the passenger terminal at Circular Quay. one time when I was in Sydney there was a US aircraft carrier berthed at Garden Island, which would make a good comparison with QMII. I would probably describe her a 3 or 4 appartment buildings and then some.

The other ferry ride ws to Watsons Bay. Here I went for a walk along the top of the ocean cliffs to the lighthouse. Having missed the last ferry back to the city, I decided to hang around and watch the QE2 enter Sydney Harbour, something I don't regret. I had a very good vantage point, the photos which I should post soon tell the story for themselves. I even got to have doyles fish and chips for dinner. For $10 you get some of the freshest fish (from a fish and chip shop) that you'll ever have and a mountain of chips.

Getting back to the city wa another story. Eventually the 8:15 bus to the city arrived to the applause of some of the 30 or so passengers waiting at the Watsons Bay Bus stop. The ride in was ok, but busy until we hit traffic gridlock at Kings Cross. It took us ages to turn into William street and then another 30 or so minutes to reach circular Quay. It might have been quicker to walk, but I was content to just sit there. In all it was just surreal to see a traffic jam of this size at 9:15 pm on a Tuesday evening. Apparently all of Sydney wanted to see the Queen Mary.

I was lucky enough to watch QMII leave sydney from the walkway on Sydney harbour Bridge. Getting back to the hostel was not easy as I missed the last train for the night from Circulay Quay. I ended up riding a bus down George St and got off just around the corner from the hostel. You gotta love the Daytripper (except for the price! (by Melbourne standards anyway)).