Today was a big day. I got my red travelpass for $32 and applied it to get on Platform 1 - To the City. The train ride was nice and smooth, went over the Harbour Bridge too. Got off at Wynyard Station which was conveniently located under and opposite to Adie's hotel. She had checked in only 30 mins ago and I got the concierge to connect me to the room, then went up. We exchanged presents and got walking around the city.
And what a mighty fine city it is. We walked past Town Hall and then along Pitt Street to the monorail station. Dropped $4 for the token and hopped on the monorail. The tour was pretty short but I got a nice quick glance around some essential sights. The photos didn't come out too well from that ride since the windows were covered with a sticker grid of sorts. The only negative part about the trip was that the guy sitting next to me smelled like he was a portable public toilet. He was a tourist though so I won't hold it against Sydney. The monorail announcer's cute voice and accent more than made up for that little discomfort.
After the monorail we walked to Circular Quay ("söökular kii" , not "kvei" for the Finnish folks out there :). We walked around the place which had really nice view for both the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge. After a little stroll I bought a traditional Aussie meat pie from a kiosk as well as a ferry ticket to Manly. I had the meat pie for lunch when we were waiting for the ferry and it was really good. We need this dish in Finland. The ferry trip to Manly was just great. The sun was starting to set and I got a few decent photos of the famous sights as well as some generic sea/cliff pictures.
Manly is a nice and laid back part of the city, reminds me lot of those tourist places in Greece and Canary Islands. Except that it's better. The sand on the beach was like powder and there were a lot of birds making weird noises. I also got a photo of a kookaburra which is supposed to be a rare bird in the city. After checking out places and souvenir shops we took the ferry back to Circular Quay. It was already dark so I got to see the harbour and skyline in their night lighting. What a sight. The pictures of this are not too good because the boat was moving and rocking too much for the long exposure times to work. You still get the general idea how amazing the city really looks. The postcards don't lie.
From the ferry we kept on walking and ended up in a historic district called The Rocks. It has some nice old buildings and restaurants. At that time it was starting to get a bit late so we decided to get beers and walked a good while to find a pub. Eventually we found a fancy place called Blue Olive, not a typical Aussie pub but at least they served beer. I tried the Tasmanian brand Hahn's this time and it wasn't too bad. Kinda like Koff III I'd say. After the beers it was around 9PM so I headed back to Chatswood and even found the correct train. On the way back I heard a familiar ringtone on someone's mobile. It was a Finnish tango (at least I think it's Finnish): Hiljaa Yössä.
It was truly an amazing day. At the end of it I checked my camera and I had taken about 120 pictures today as well as some short video and an audio clip.
Oh yeah, you want to know what the heck the title for this entry means? On the train there were all kind of instructive signs and one of them said exactly that. Well after some wisecrack had scratched the appropriate bits out of "At night travel near the guards compartment marked with a blue light."
