CAIT AROUND THE WORLD

February 12, 2023 — I woke up and got moving a little earlier this morning. My plan was to explore the Rocks area, which is all that remains of the old part of Sydney. As you’ll remember from my walking tour day, the city originally wanted to bulldoze the whole area in favour of building a more modern city. They made quite a bit of progress in pursuit of this goal, but ultimately the populace and especially the labourers and other workers on the project protested the destruction of the historical buildings and areas and forced council to undergo a restoration rather than a reconstruction.

As a result, the Rocks area displays houses and storefronts, lanes and alleys from Sydney’s settlement in the 1800s. It’s pretty cool to see how the landscape shifts so dramatically from skyscrapers to squat, but beautiful, old brick homes. There are a bunch of lanes and alleys that you could get lost in. The entire area really reminds me of seeing old world architecture in the ‘old towns’ of various parts of Europe — like the old town of Bruges inside the metropolis of the modern city.

After wandering around the area for a little while, I decided to head back to the hostel and have lunch. I planned to do the Split to Manly walk (yet another recommendation from my walking tour!) once I’d had something to eat, and hoped to stop by the hidden beaches and swimming spots along the way. However, I got caught up working on the blog and time flew — it was almost two by the time I was ready to head out.

I had plans for the night, so I needed to be back in the city by five. The Split to Manly walk was supposed to take three or four hours going one way, then I would have still needed to take the ferry back to Circular Quay and then the L back to my hostel. Instead of doing the walk, I decided to head back to Manly Beach.

I took the ferry over again, except this time I was on the fast ferry — and boy, could you ever tell the difference! We flew across the waves. Again, I had the biggest grin on my face the whole time. It was also an awesome trip because it was so windy that day and made the harbour so choppy that there were white caps in the middle of the bay.

That also meant the waves at Manly were amazing. I had a ton of fun jumping up and down in the waves before heading back to shore because I realized I hadn’t turned water lock on for my watch. Just after I got out and back to my towel and my stuff, the lifeguards came over the PA and announced that anyone swimming needed to come in right away as they had had a shark sighting! Again. So, I laid on my towel and dried in the sun while reading my book. Around 4:30pm, I headed back to catch the ferry to Circular Quay, the L to the hostel, and make dinner.

Making dinner in a hostel can be an exercise in frustration. I love buying food at the grocery store and cooking for myself — it just adds to the familiarity when so much can be so different when travelling though a different country. But it sucks when you can’t find any knives that will cut your chicken. The chicken breasts I bought were massive and unfortunately the knives were seriously lacking in sharpness here; I ended up tearing my meat into chunks after it was cooked through just enough to do so. But at least it tasted good after all that effort!

After dinner, I did the majority of my packing because I had to leave the next morning and check out was at 10:00am. By the time 7:00pm hit, I was rushing my way down the stairs to get to my bus.

I was going to Moonlight Cinema to see Pretty Woman on the big screen!

I’d booked this while I was on my way back from Collaroy a couple days ago, wanting something cool to do in the evening. I’d heard that there were several places in Sydney that did movies under the stars, and I was really excited when I saw that Moonlight Cinema was showing Pretty Woman. It’s one of my favourite movies. It was also Singleton Sunday. I didn’t know what that meant when I booked my ticket for the show, but it turned out that everyone got a little sample of the Singleton cocktail that had been invented for the summer! It was delicious. You also get other little freebies at the cinema: a Joyful bar and a Garnier face mask were being handed out when I went.

I made it to the park where the screen was set up with time to spare, thankfully, and actually got a great spot — although I don’t think there’s a bad spot, either. The lawn is sloped perfectly for big-screen movie watching. I laid out my coat and layered up as the night got cooler, laying on my side and watching the movie unfold before me. I purchased popcorn at the snack stand and nibbled on it in my everlasting way. It was such an incredible way to spend the evening, and the rain that threatened that night held off until the movie was over and I was back at the hostel, safe and sound.

I highly recommend checking out a movie there if you get the chance. There’s just something about enjoying a movie you’ve seen a million times, alone in a new city, with the night air all around you.

An excellent way to end my first stint in Sydney.

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