February 17
Today we ventured out to a new part of Sydney down on the other side of the wharf. We have heard that they have a "foodie" market and so we forgo breakfast in favor of picking up something wonderful downtown. We board our favorite "free" bus and head clear across town. When we get off, we have a short walk and underway we encounter an automated toilet.....I have to show this to the kids (who promptly tell me they already know all about them). I deposit my coins, the doors swings open and then closes behind me. I am in my own little metal cell smack dab in the middle of downtown Sydney.....privacy in the privy at last....go figure!!! After that fun adventure we continue toward the "Rocks" and find the open air market with the great aromas wafting toward us. We scan the offerings and settle on our individual choices to savor. We walk into a boutique type mall, winding in and out of the shops. I purchase a sun shade hat that is more stylish than my baseball cap and can be folded easily into my suitcase. Afterward, we discover a candy making operation called "Sticky" where you can watch them pull the molten sugar and form it into candies or lollies as they say here. The two guys are making personalized lollies for a wedding for Della and Matt. They have to form the letters in the names and embed them into the finished candies....it is fascinating to watch and has us all captivated for the better part of an hour. They offer us small samples as they work of the hardened candy. We try several times to pull the kids away from the action and are finally successful once we have determined that we can return in about 30 minutes to see the finished candy. We stop by a small museum that has information about the native Aboriginal People and the first European settles to Australia. It is really interesting but also sad...much like the Native Americans in the US. One interesting fact we learn is that the British were forced to find another colony for their inmates once the Americans had that little dispute with them called the Revolutionary War and they could no longer deposit their criminals in the US. They went in search of another "colony" where they could take the lesser than desirable members of society. Thanks to Captain James Cook they located such a place in Australia....only problem was there were already people living there. Hmm. You can guess the rest. The kids can't wait to "finish" learning about history and race back to the candy counter to see the final stage of the lollies being created. Sure enough, they are stretching and rolling the long tubes and then they place the tube onto an anvil type metal thing then then quickly whack it with a spatula and 1" intervals, thus creating a bite-size piece of candy. They pass around the samples to reward us for waiting patiently while they were brought to life. Yummy! We had thought that we would go to the zoo afterward, but the skies are getting dark and cloudy, windy and it appears a storm is on the way. Regrettably, our free bus is no longer running and we are forced to purchase our first set of bus tickets for the return ride back toward our hostel. Instead of going back right away, we decide to visit Paddy's Market, an outdoor stall market where we understand you can purchase discount everything.....just our price range. Since it is inside, it is a perfect diversion from returning to our squalid accommodations. We venture around the market for a while and purchase some items before realizing they also have an ample Food Court that is much cleaner than the one from the previous night. We return to the hostel to rest up for a while and then go back for dinner. After dinner, the boys find an arcade and decide to part with some of their precious money by playing games of chance. Sam nearly wins it all on a game that has prizes ranging from Ipads to Gaming Consoles. We are all too disappointed for words, especially Sam who melts into tears because of the loss. Bummer. We return to the hostel for what we hope will be a very good night's sleep.
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