The Wandering Chocoholic

I’ve spent these past few days exploring Sydney, and I’m having a great time – that is, I started having a great time once I switched hostels from a big impersonal chain to a small, friendly family-owned one. I’m staying in the King’s Cross area, which is sort of Sydney’s red light district (think Ste-Catherine and St-Laurent) but it’s also got cool cafes and restaurants and things like that. The hostel is great and I met some really fun people.

Over the past few days I’ve done an awful lot of walking. On Monday, I went to the Sydney Jewish Museum, the Domain, the NSW Art Gallery, and then onto Sydney Harbour and the famous landmarks of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge (you know, the ones you see in all the postcards). There’s a footpath to walk across the bridge, which I did just for fun. I also visited the Rocks, which is a historical area full of shops and restaurants and cobblestoned alleyways, and the Contemporary Arts Museum.

Yesterday, I visited the Anzac Memorial, Chinatown, Market City, Darling Harbour, the Sydney Aquarium (where I found Nemo), the busy shopping area of the center of Sydney, and I contemplated going up the Sydney Tower but I didn’t feel like paying for it so I just took a photo from the ground.

Today it was beautiful and sunny and 29 degrees out, so after doing some errands around Sydney, I caught a ferry to Manly Beach and spent some time browsing around the wharf and the shops and lounging around on the beach. Manly is Sydney’s second-best known beach, after Bondi, and lots of locals go there after work or on weekends. The ferry back to Sydney was right at sunset, and I got some great scenic views of Sydney Harbour, the bridge, and the Opera House, with a stunning red sky.

Tomorrow I start my journey up the east coast, where hot weather and sandy beaches await. So I will sign off for now, but not without first giving a big shoutout to Alex Ovechkin for saving the Habs from a near-embarrassing last-minute playoff elimination. Can’t say I’m too impressed with our meltdown against New Jersey tonight, but I’m glad we’re in the playoffs, even if I would’ve preferred a match-up against the Hasek-less Sens. Still, as our guys head to Raleigh to take on the ‘Canes, I’ll be cheering them on from down under. Go Habs!