Route: Wollongong to Sydney by way of the Grand Pacific Drive
Distance: 95 km (59 mi)
Following up on the bizarre mood last night, we almost didn’t make it into Sydney. I was torn: while I felt like the closer we got to Sydney, the further I wanted to be from a big city, I had a hard time letting go of how anti-climactic it would be to drive all this way and not actually come into Sydney. So after we waffled a bit, Ruthie finally made the judgement call to come on into the city. After having failed to get on the internet from the hotel in Wollongong, we eventually stopped at a Macca’s for a bite and some free wi-fi, where we booked a room at the other Marriott in Sydney [at the time, I’d forgotten there were two], and started planning our time in the city.
We actually left Wollongong at a decent hour - a much earlier start than the previous day. Which enabled us to meander just a bit as we finished our drive along the Grand Pacific Drive [we stopped for a bit at the Sky Bridge], and get into the city with plenty of time to do something this afternoon.
We got into our hotel, got settled, and booked a hop-on-hop-off tour bus trip, where we only hopped on and hopped off once - at the hotel - and set ourselves up for a harbour cruise tomorrow afternoon.
The bus tour was pretty good. We sat in the upper seats, had a good audio tour, saw some sights, sat in traffic, and killed the afternoon pretty well.
Then we decided we’d go to dinner. And what better place to go, than to Outback Steakhouse. Turns out, despite my original impression that all the ones in Australia were only located in Sydney, it was actually a bit of a drive out to one of the suburbs to get to it. Of course, the drive was made worse by the traffic and the fact that I made one wrong turn, and it took 25 minutes to correct because of said traffic. But eventually we got there, and we stuffed ourselves like the Americans that we are.
First, with the exception of a few of the sides [beetroot, for example], and the units [250g instead of 9oz], the menu was just about the same. And it was the first restaurant at which we’ve had American style service, where the hostess greeted us, seated us, and the waiter was there within minutes. I would have to say that the food wasn’t nearly the same as the Outback back home. I had the special, and it while it was tasty, it just wasn’t quite as flavourful. Ruthie had her filet, and had the same comment. Plus, they don’t have A1 or any steak sauce, so Ruthie was missing out on that. The mashed potatoes were still damned good though. And t he bread was just as tasty. Unfortunately, they don’t let you pick two sides, and you have to pick soup or salad as one of your sides, so we all got a little salad. I totally agree with Ruthie: I think I missed ranch dressing. No dessert - we were way too full.
Back at the hotel, I made full use of the internet, stalked some people on FB, sent an email or two, and looked up Kindle Support, and phoned in the issue. Ruthie will have a new Kindle in a couple weeks, and then all will be right in her world again. They covered the replacement entirely, so all we have to do is get Ruthie a new skin to replace the one she’ll lose when we send the broken Kindle back.
As I wrap this up, I will close by saying, I’m glad Ruthie pulled the trigger and we got here. Sure, it’s the most expensive part of our trip, but we expected that, and sure it’s a bit chaotic dealing with a foreign city, but it’s been fun. Plus, the view from our 20th floor room is pretty good [not as awesome as the view from our first night here where we looked over the Opera House, but still good].
-EP
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