Now, Heather and I have been married for almost a year now and we have found out a lot about each other and the family cultures that we both come from. One difference that I came upon this trip was the importance of souvenirs and gifts for the family. I think it might stem from one of Heather's love languages because she is much more into the fun little gifts than I am. With that said I do enjoy a good souvenir but prefer all the pictures I take to be what I bring back from places.
Anyway, the day began at Eva's once again. We saw a few familiar faces and lots of new ones as well. Thankfully we found a parking space on the same block so it wasn't far to take the luggage. We had breakfast at the first cafe' we ate at in Sydney, Joe's. It was so good the first time that we had to go back, that and we had to say thank you for the great advice for the walk we went on. I had french toast again with english breakfast tea and Heather had the eggs and toast with bacon, wow it was good!
We then loaded the car and went to find a post office to buy stamps and we found one right around the corner. Heather did a great job at parking the car with me spotting because the whole parallel parking thing is really different with the steering wheel on the other side.
Next it was off to downtown Sydney and a "quick" stop at a shop for some gifts. Problem was the parking place we found was really confusing and didn't look right and there was no street parking so after becoming a little frustrated Heather and I switched as drivers, she stayed to get the souvenirs and I drove around the block. That worked well. But we still had to find parking so we could go to Malny Beach on the ferry. We found a spot right near the ferry dock at a hotel parking lot and hurried to grab the ferry. We sat in the aft (back) part of the ship and watched as the skyline and Opera House disappeared in the distance.
We then switched to the bow (front) of the boat to see the Manly Warf come into sight. We also noticed that to our left we could see out into the open ocean. "Wow" I thought, "the next big thing that direction is South America". And with a little bit of the open ocean came some pretty good swells. The boat was rockin'!
We arrived at Many Wharf and walked the short distance to the beach where we saw a beautiful and very empty beach. Normally this beach is packed with people at all times of day, but apparently last night and this morning was one of the coldest days in Sydney on record so that made fewer people want to come and be outside. For Heather and I it was beautiful, cool and crisp. A beautiful day for a walk on the beach and some frisbee.
Our time was short on the beach because we needed to get back and catch the ferry so we could catch our plane eventually as well. So we started back and Heather wanted fish and chips so as she waited for them to be done I went and looked at post cards. Time passed and passed and I started to be a little concerned that we were going to miss the ferry. Out window of time was not very big and we needed to begin picking up the pace so we would make our deadlines. Heather agreed and we bolted as soon as she had her food. We crossed the street to the wharf and arrived just as the boat was pulling out...we missed it. This was not good. We needed to have the car back by 1 pm and the ferry ride was 15 minutes and the next ferry out was 12:45. Things were starting to look a little too tight for my liking. But there was nothing really we could do about it, so we walked back to the gift shops and bought a few post cards and Heather noticed that this shop in particular had all the things she purchased earlier in the day. We were not very happy with the way things were going.
We did make it on to the next ferry and got the prime seat in the front of the boat. We sat down and watched as the skyline came back into view. It was a beautiful day and the view of the harbour was amazing. I loved the ride.
But the moment we landed we were off and running again back to the parking lot and into the hotel to pay for the parking. We got back into the car and prayed that we weren't too late and wouldn't miss our plane. We punched in the airport on the GPS and we were off. We really needed to fill up the car as well but nowhere along the way could we find a gas station. It was frustrating so we bit the bullet and paid the refill fee as we pulled into the car return. We dashed into the ticketing part of the airport and realized that we had no idea where to go. It was totally different than anything I had ever seen and we most likely looked like a pair of chickens running around without our heads. We found the United counter just as they were getting ready to close check-in and said we were going to San Francisco. We got our tickets and express pass through security and were off again. It's a good thing we had been walking a lot this past week because we felt in shape for the rush across the airport. We arrived to a friendly looking gentleman who told us to relax and take a deep breath and that the plane was not going to leave without us now...whew we made it.
The flight home was enjoyable and seemed to go a little quicker than the way over. I saw three movies and a few shows, took quite a few naps and Heather and I witnessed a woman fainting wile we were up for the toilet. Heather almost caught her and I rushed for the flight attendant who was serving drinks. His cart was quickly parked and spilled at the same time. So I cleaned up the mess while he attended to the newly fainted women. I was glad she fell in one of the few open spaces in the plane so she could be helped. She was fine, but all I remember thinking was "where in God's creation are we going to land if we have to?"
The rest of the flight was uneventful and with a small layover in San Fran we were on our way home to Minnesota. It was a truly great trip and I really can't wait to go back and see more someday.
Thanks for everyone who kept up with our travels and pictures. I am still on sabbatical until the middle of July but I have lots of thoughts coming my way from things I am reading and learning. I will post some of them here. Check back often.
God Bless and I hope you are having a wonderful summer,
dain and heather
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