Harbouring Criminals

Sydney, Australia
Have you ever woken up to discover that everyone else in the world has gone completely and utterly insane?

Well, I had one of those days today. I went for brekkie in Joe's Cafe close to the hostel. A pompous woman inside was busy being over the top and completely insane about everything. Even the old man who worked there, presumably Joe, seemed a bit half-baked (a bit like the breakfast he served).

The time had come to do n our sun-visors, socks with sandals, pull my belt up right under my arms and hang my camera round my neck. Tourist Time!

As the train pulled into Circular Quay, the doors opened to a large window showing the Harbour Bridge and Opera House beyond. Both sporting manic grins as I headed down the steps and into the melee.

 
As with Angkor Wat, I'd built the Opera House up in my mind to be a towering structure, so it seemed a bit smaller than I'd expected. But there was no being disappointed by its heavenly design and its premium position on the gorgeous natural harbour across from That Bridge What Had Fireworks On It Once or Twice?

Some of the tourist companies were asking an arm, leg and a didgeridoo for a harbour cruise, so penny-pinching me suggested me simply use my day ticket for a free ferry ride across to North Sydney on the other side.

I were afforded great views of the Bridge and Opera House, but on arriving I quickly concluded there was nothing much to see there apart from some houses (albeit multi-million dollar efforts with a harbour view). So I returned on the next boat to the Circular Quay for a jaunt down Pitt Street through the financial district, and watching the futuristic monorail zipping about between the buildings, I headed to Darling Harbour.

Darling Harbour looked gorgeous at night, with its boats moored in front of the towering buildings. It had been developed primarily as an entertainment plaza, with restaurants, bars and, my interest for the evening, an iMax cinema. I'd never been to an iMax before, and couldn't wait.

I plumped with the impressive sounding Avatar, and handed a pair of huge 3-D specs each. Fifties-tastic! I couldn't have been more wrong as the huge screen rolled, the soundtrack boomed out from all directions and the pictures looked so real I felt I could've reached out and touched them.

Stanly