Sydney Day 2

 Day two started off with rain, but was still quite warm outside. We decided to start the morning with a walking tour of Chinatown and Darling Harbour. We were able to get out of the rain when we stopped in at Paddy’s Market - a big warehouse that has turned into a daily China style farmer’s market. 

In one part of the market you can buy cheap handbags, clothes, accessories…you name it. The other part of the market is all fresh fruits and veggies at much cheaper prices than the supermarket. We picked ourselves up some bananas, kiwi, and paw paw (papaya) and then continued on our walking tour. The end of our walk took us to Darling Harbour where there are great views of the downtown Sydney skyscrapers. There are lots of shops and restaurants in the area, along with a really neat inverted spiral fountain. We finished up our walk by crossing the Pyrmont Bridge, which is the oldest still functioning swing bridge in Australia. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see it swing open.

After the walk, we went back to our hostel to grab lunch and eat some of our delicious fruit we had bought that morning. Fruit in Australia tastes so much better than anything you get back at home. I could have eaten the paw paw all to myself!

We spent the afternoon doing another walking tour of Paddington, Darlinghurst and Potts Point. We walked in some very lovely areas, and some not so lovely areas, but all in all had a great afternoon. We were supposed to meet James and Jana at their favourite local pub at 8:00 for a late dinner, so we decided to stop at Harry’s Café de Wheels for a pie. I got all excited because I thought it would be an actual pie (like apple or berry), but they ended up being meat pies. But, no worries! We settled on a delicious hot dog to share and rested our feet for a bit. Then we continued on our exploration of Sydney. But at this point, we were getting quite tired and our feet were hurting, so we basically shuffled along.

We met James and Jana at this great pub called The Local in Darlinghurst. It’s a great pub that’s off the beaten track, but was still really busy. The bottom is a bar, filled with couches, tables and lots of side benches to sit and have a drink. The upstairs is a really cozy dining room where we had dinner and enjoyed catching up with our friends. The Local has an amazing beer selection, so we got to have a sampling of some of Australia’s great beers with our dinner.   

After that, Jana drove us home and we were so exhausted from a day of walking that we barely had the energy to brush our teeth…but we did!

Next up…Day 3!