That said we had another relaxed morning. I used some of the many hours of free internet I'd been given on the hostels computers to send a handful of emails and talk online with a few people i've been missing. Around 11 we were out the door. We had some coffee and muffins at a local vendor, and then proceeded to meander our way west through the city towards the Sydney Fish Market.
En route, we walked along the coast of Darling Harbor. As we approached we past a few ridiculous fountains. The first appeared to be a mini watermark. It had fountains on either side making arches to walk through. Then had small jets spraying straight up, and more and more for at least 100 meters. All the while there were random stone bits to walk along inside it. The other crazy fountain was a ...crater? With close to a dozen "staircases" winding down to the center. Over each staircase was flowing water, and the steps were all tilted in a very Escher manner, making the water appear to be both flowing up and down. It was like a fountain where you roll a coin down but instead it was small children who spiraled towards the bottom.
We left darling harbor and made it to the fish market. It was very clear when we got close because the air smelt very strongly of... well... fish. It is apparently the second largest fish market in the world behind Tokyo, which I hope to see but I hear a rumor that that can be a challenge for tourists. Anyway, we walked in and i've never seen so much seafood in one place. There were shelves after shelves of oysters, clams, muscles, shrimp, lobsters and crabs... this isn't even mentioning the massive amount of fish that was in every store. It all looked soooo good.
From there we headed back to Darling Harbor to see the Maritime Museum. All in all, it was fine. I did really enjoy the featured exhibit which was on sharks and there was a large section on trading great whites. I found that bit very interesting.
We then headed back to the hostel for a bit, stopping for some food in china town on the way. The weather was taking a turn for the worse and the wind was excessively strong. Definitely strong enough that it was a challenge to walk against it. But, we got back without excitement, and there I had a note on our door saying that I had not paid for the room tonight. Now... i'll point out that I have only been here 3 nights so far and this is the 3rd time I'm being told I have not paid. This is eventually how I accumulated 48 hours of free internet time. Anyway, I went back to the lobby to find the same two people who had been there on the previous errors. After another 5 minutes or so I had reconfirmed that they were incorrect and that I had paid. They offered me more free hours but I declined at this point. ARG!!!
But, this led to our evening which was the most interesting. We took a train to Circular Quay, home of the opera house. There I took a quick jog around the bay to confirm a dinner reservation and then met Margaret back at the opera house. There Margaret bought her first legal beer (which she was very excited about) and we were allowed to take them (I got one too) into the theater. Unfortunately the show we were seeing was in one of the smaller rooms, not a grand stage, but that was a bit expected. That said it was still VERY nice. There we saw a 1 hour performance of Axis of Awesome, an australian group that does musical comedy. Their best song that I highly recommend in their "4 Chord Song". I'll not describe the details should anyone choose to listen to it. I was a bit worried that they'd have a few funny songs and a bunch of duds... but they were all very funny. It was a blast!
After the show we headed across the harbor to a restaurant, Wolfie's Grill, which was right on the harbor and had a view of both the harbor bridge and the opera house. Sadly the plastic windows were rolled down due to a light drizzle, but it was still a great view. We ordered some sourdough to share, which came with olive oil and a chutney which was very tasty. That was followed by an order of kangaroo each (cause where else are we going to eat kangaroo???) and a bottle of recommended Shiraz (I apologize but I don't recall the make). I apologize again because I meant to take pictures of this but failed to...
Anyway, the kangaroo was medium rare with a sauce that I couldn't quite place. It definitely carried a hint of bitter, and I want to say maybe just a hint of sweet? But I was unsure to be honest. It came with a small bit of soft pate spread, a few leafy greens, a potato, and some crocodile tail. I forget how the crocodile was cooked but it was very good. As for the potato, I believe it was many thinly cut layers, with butter laid between and then baked. It was very good as one might imagine and bordering on pastry. However, the kangaroo was clearly the highlight of the dish and i'm very glad we got it.
We also had dessert. I ordered a creme brule, which was very good but nothing out of the ordinary. It did come with some type of cookie/cracker and a jelly like spread which was also good but i'm unsure of how it connected to the brule. Margaret had a chocolate dish which was basically a white chocolate cube filled with Oreo ice cream, topped with chocolate mousse, chocolate ganache (spelling?) And a few fresh berries. It was superb! So, it was an excellent birthday dinner after a great show and we were very pleased.
We headed back to the hostel where I packed up and went to bed to be up and ready to go bright and early. (Maybe dark and early...)
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