26 March - Sydney Day #2, Melbourne and Moe

Up early again today - bugger it!!!!, was late to bed and not enough hours sleep in between.

Got up and did some sorting of photos, which is tricky given I am getting pics from a few phones and they all go a bit haywire in terms of dates and times.

Took some photos of the apartment, which has served us well, despite us picking faults with the quality of building.

View from entry down hallway to living room/kitchen area.

Hallway to right of entry, to two bedrooms (Dad on left, Bron and Mike on right) with shared bathroom.

Dad's room

Bron and Mike's

Their bathroom.

Living room, with balcony looking over a road to back of Sydney Fish Markets. Our bedroom on the right

Kitchen/living area

Sue and my room. 

Our ensuite.

Balcony

Some history of the place in entry downstairs. 

Foyer, with Mirror to make it bigger, lifts on the left. 

The entry, Pier 99.

Me in the lift

The Courtyard.

Our room, wardrobes on right, ensuite on left. 

After a relaxed start, with some toast and tea (hot toast, with melted butter and vegemite was a delightful change, to half cooked cold toast). We packed up and left our bags locked in, and headed off across Pyrmont Bridge Road to the Sydney Fish Markets. We arrived about 10ish, which was a great time to walk through and look at all the fresh fish and fruits and stuff prepared to eat as well. There was some interesting cheeses and deli stuff too.

We checked it all out, living and dead seafood...before a coffee and ham and cheese croissants, scones and chocolate croissants for breaky.

Amazing displays of fish. Much busier when we returned for lunch, glad we looked early.

Salmon? from Tassie?

Marron from WA.

Octopus

Scampi for sushi. beautifully presented

King Crab legs...

Amazing choc coated fruits, including strawberries. 

Watermelon, kiwi fruit, fig, mango. 

Bananas and pineapples.

They were huge crabs, huge prices too. 

Donut sushi....

Poor buggers, evidently bred for eating.

From the fish markets, this is where the fun began, we wanted to get across to Darling Harbour to catch a cruise, but it was a little far for Dad to walk, so Mike and Bron started walking and we tried to hail a cab, but they were all taken and the one or two who were empty were not interested, we tried three different sides of the intersection, then gave up and phoned a company.  After 30 minutes, I phoned back twice, only to be finally advised, they had no one in the area. SO I phoned another company...they were more obliging and finally something arrived, almost 90 minutes after the first call. We changed our plans from Darling Harbour to Circular Quay. We arrived, to find Mike and Bron still walking to meet us.  We planned to catch a ferry to Manly and return, however, there was not enough time, so we changed plans to ferry our way to Pyrmont and catch a cab across to the Fish Markets for our much awaited seafood lunch. The help guys at Circular Quay Ferry terminal, weren't much chop, but we found a lovely volunteer city helper in red, and she was awesome and helped us plan it all out.

While waiting we oggled the current ship docked at OPT - the Royal Caribbean, Ovation of the Seas - twice as big as our ship and only built in 2016.

Observation pod, ON the Ovation of the Seas, looking high above the harbour etc. 

There's the pod, right up the top. 

 Then our ferry arrived - the May Gibbs, arrived.

Over to Luna Park, then onto a couple of others, Mc Mahon's Point, Balmain East, then onto Pyrmont Bay.

Saw a tall ship being hauled around ready to sail, by a tug.

The Welcome Wall, a tribute to many immigrants over the years, 

Back at the Fish markets for lunch. very busy. Lots of tour groups - predominantly Asian with tables booked. 

Lobster tail, calamari and octopus salad. Overindulged...lots!

From the Fish Markets, it was back to our place, to collect bags and arrange an Uber to the airport for our 5.30 Qantas flight home. The Uber was a Kia Sorrento - which could carry 7, but we had luggage for 6 people. Anyway, we broke the Uber driver's record, for what he packed in. Mike sat in the back with the luggage almost toppling onto him. The pictures tell the story.

Mike minding the luggage in the back.

It was a tight squeeze,  but we made it. 

We were at the Airport in good time, checked in, no gate details available, so we found a spot to plop and wait.  Time for loos, shopping, sitting, blogging, reading, listening to music etc.  The plane was delayed, so we had some extra time to wait.

On board, all good, yucky food options, (I guess we have been spoilt for the past 10 days). I used the Qantas entertainment app on my phone to watch Swinging Safari - very wet movie, but managed to squeeze it in during the flight and landing. Despite the pilot making up time, we were unable to get access to a gate, so arrived late, bags arrived pretty promptly - I think most people try and fly with cabin luggage only.  

Leaving Sydney

and again

Sunsetting as we neared Melbourne

Landed at Tullarmarine

We have it all, now to get it home. I was phoning Cilom's. 

Sue and I had a 'Cilom's bus' there waiting, and the rest of the crew waited for an Uber to home.  Pretty uneventful from there on. Picked up the car, packed us in and headed for home. We arrived just after 10.  Steve came to collect Sue (and grabbed me some milk, thanks Steve).  Pretty tired, but managed to fiddle around a bit before bed.  I have tomorrow off, before work on Wednesday, so I can finish unpacking tomorrow.  Needless to say Aero was pleased to see me, and a bit more clingy than normal, but otherwise...you wouldn't know I'd been away.

Knees are home and cat is on the lap. 

Thanks everyone for a great trip, I'm thinking this is the end of the Escapade, Dad had got some good mileage out of his birthday this year.