Day 2: Wednesday, February 6, 2002
Exploring Manly & Sydney neighborhoods

We woke today at 7am to a wakeup call we hadn't asked for. Luckily, we'd gone to bed early so we didn't mind. After dozing a bit longer, we decided to take advantage of the time shift and get up so we'd have more time to explore. We looked outside and although it was overcast, it didn't seem to be raining, which was a relief. Still, I wore my rain jacket just incase.

Once again, we headed down toward the harbor, this time taking Pitt Street. One of the things you notice right away is the sound that traffic lights make in Sydney. When the "walk" light is on, they make a quick ba-da-ba-da-ba-da sound to indicate it's safe to walk. Then when the flashing don't-walk sign is on, it changes to a slow boop-boop-boop sound. It seems like a good idea, although after a while, that ba-da-ba-da-ba-da gets into your brain.

Ellen having breakfast at Cafe in Circular Quay

Once there, we found a nice looking cafe that was serving breakfast, so we stopped and took a seat. Just as we sat down, it started to pour. We took that as a good sign that we would be able to avoid the rain. :-) I had just a croissant with jam but it was delicious. Walendo got pancakes with a side of beans, just to see if there was something about the beans that they would serve them for breakfast. Turned out the beans weren't so good. His pancakes were dense but good. The people-watching was good, since we were right at the Circular Quay (which Australians pronounce Circular Key, but we liked to say Circle-K), and the rain made it even more interesting to watch. At one point the wind kicked up and the restaurant's chalkboard sign started to roll right into the foot traffic, so Walendo got up and put it back. (Such a good guy.)

By the time we finished breakfast, the rain was back to a drizzle. We had decided to take the ferry to Manly, mostly just to take a ferry ride and to see the area from the water. The next ferry left at 10am, so we had about 25 minutes to kill. We decided to browse in some nearby shops, but as we crossed the street, Walendo got nailed by one of the pigeons flying overhead. There was a McDonalds across the street, so he went there to clean up. I figured he'd go into the bathroom, so I went into a shop next door, and then came by to see how he was doing. He had a cup of boiling water and a wad of napkins and still there was more poo to be cleaned. I helped him get it out of his hair and various parts of his jacket. Yucko. When we left to head back to the ferry, Walendo kept looking above him to make sure the coast was clear. Poor guy.

View of Sydney from ferry

We got onto the ferry and sat at the top way in front for a good view. Except that the ferries go in both directions and it turned out we were at the back. Oh well. We took other seats so we could watch the Sydney harbor as we left the area. What a dramatic view, with the Opera House, the iron bridge, and all the tall buildings framing the water. We chugged along for the 30 minute ride to Manly, checking out the houses and condos that lined the south side of the harbor. It's a big area.

Ellen at Manly Beach

We got to Manly, and started our way up the strip. It has a Coney Island feel to it — lots of shops selling souvineers, cheap goods, and quick take out food. We stopped in a few shops, spending some time in a luggage store with yet more friendly workers. I was looking for a small shoulder bag and Walendo needed to replace the backpack he'd brought (the zipper was sort of broken), so we investigated but didn't end up buying. The prices didn't seem that good. We meandered down some more of the main strip (the Corso) and wound up at a big beach facing out the opposite direction as the ferry. It looked like the type of place that gets lots of action when it's nice out and on the weekends. It wasn't raining, so we strolled along for a while and stopped now and again to watch the few surfers and a couple of volleyball players. Eventually, we decided to head back to the ferry, which leaves every half hour. Manly was a nice little diversion but nothing spectacular. On the ride back, we looked through the guide book and planned the rest of the day.

Walendo promised himself he'd buy a didjeridoo while he was here, and Frommer's guidebook mentioned a place with a good selection of authentic ones in the Rocks called Didj Beat, so we headed there. They seem to sell them in every touristy shop, but we wanted to get real ones. It was in a tiny corner of an indoor mall type place, but they had gazillions of them. As we were looking at them one of the proprieters (Melina) came over and asked if we needed help. She gave us a complete tour of the place, pointing out three types of artwork associated with three different regions of Australia. She explained the meaning of some of the art work, and told us about the different notes. She said the C, D, E, and Fs were easiest to play, and she demonstrated for us. I can't help myself from smiling when I hear that instrument. She encouraged us to try them out and I couldn't make it do anything at all, but Walendo got the hang quickly. Then she left us to explore and figure out what we wanted to get. After we tried a few, the other proprieter, Gus, came by and he helped us find one that was exceptionally rich sounding. We decided to get that one for George.

Walendo, Gus & Melina at Didj Beat

Gus picked up on that and started calling it George's didjeridoo. Now we needed to find one for Walendo. He liked a certain style so he tried a few, but it's hard to hear what it sounds like when you play it yourself, and it's especially hard to tell what it would sound like if played by someone who knows how. So we got Gus to try out a few for us. We wandered over to another store they had there, which had a larger selection, but again needed Gus' help to find one we liked. Finally we did, and we asked if he and Melina could play them together for us, so we could tell how it would sound if George and Walendo played together. They sounded great together! So that was that. They weren't cheap — about AU$320 each (US$160), plus it cost about $80 to ship, but we just couldn't imagine schlepping them around our whole trip. Still, we got the real thing and we'd had a really fun experience buying them. By the time we left the store, we felt like we were friends with them. We signed up to get email info and told them we'd send them a note to tell them how George liked his. It was lots of fun.

Baker's Oven Cafe in the Rocks

By now we were hungry for lunch, so we stopped at an outdoor cafe we'd seen on our way to the Didj Beat. It started drizzling again, but they had big umbrellas so we stayed dry. I decided to get another meat pie (chicken & mushroom) and Walendo got fish & chips. The pie tasted a lot like the one I'd had the day before, and I discovered later that the cafe was attached to the shop where Walendo had bought them the day before. Doh! Still, I enjoyed the half I ate, and Walendo was happy to finish up after me. What a deal he has, getting 50% more food at each meal. :-)

Walendo with our book in Sydney Borders

Now we wanted to head down Pitt Street to the high-end shopping area and then toward a discount shopping area we'd read about in the guide book. It was raining harder again so we decided to first stop by the hotel room (on the way) and pick up our rain gear. Walendo managed to take a quick 5-minute nap. We took off again around 3:30 or so, and walked up Pitt street. First we were in a high-end area with lots of shops we see in the States, mostly apparrel and shoes, which don't interest us much. But there was a Borders book store, so we decided to see if they had our book, what the hell. We figured it probably wasn't even out in Australia yet, but checked anyway. Lo and behold, it was there! Two copies! What a thrill! We took pictures and left the place with big grins on our faces.

Right after the upscale area the stores turned into big cheap goods stores. We checked out a few but left empty handed. We kept going and the street turned into the backpacker area with cheap hotels and funky stores. It was interesting seeing the neighborhoods change so quickly. Eventually, we came to the train station at Eddy Street and turned toward Fouveaux Street, where Frommer's guide book said there were discount stores. We found the street and immediately went into a luggage/bag shop in search of the perfect small shoulder bag for me and backpack for him. I didn't find the perfect one, but they had some reasonably good ones for incredibly cheap. I chose a canvas one for AU$12 (US$6). It turned out everything was 30% off, so it was just $4 US! At those prices, I decided to get another small purse I'd been eyeing, which turned out to be US$9. What a deal. Walendo didn't find a backpack he liked though. We continued on and found another luggage/bags place that had nicer stuff that wasn't discounted nearly as much. Walendo almost got a backpack but since none we really right and they weren't that cheap, decided against it. We were about the leave the place when I saw a shoulder bag that was just what I'd been looking for. It also wasn't that cheap (US$30), but since it was what I wanted and was within reason, I got it. We certainly have no trouble spending money. (That bag turned out to be perfect, I used it through the rest of the trip and loved it.)

Ellen with our book in Sydney Coop bookstore

We walked along the rest of the street but by now it was past 5:30 and most of the shops had closed up. Just as well! We stopped and rested in a little park area and I transferred my stuff into my new bag to check it out. It looked like it would work out well. Once rested, we continued on our way along Pitt Street to Glebe, which is the student hangout area. It was a bit of a longer walk than we'd expected, but not too bad. The area was definitely more run down but still hopping, so it was interesting. Once we'd merged onto George street, we saw a Coop book store, so I suggested we go in to check if our book was there. A long shot, but it was a university book store, so not out of the question. After browsing for a while, I saw it! A copy of our book! How amazing. We've seen three copies of our book in Sydney, more than we've seen in the States! Of course we took more pictures to document and again continued on with happy faces.

We got to Glebe Point Road and turned down it. This was definitely a student hang out area with lots of shops. We saw several Internet cafes, and Walendo noticed it was just $3 for an hour. We figured we'd stop in later. We walked for a while, stopping at the Gleebooks bookstore. The literature section had mostly the same books we see in the States, maybe more of an emphasis on British writers, but I wanted to try out some Australian authors. I found the Australian Literature section and browsed. I decided to get the first of an historical fiction trilogy set in Melbourne in the 1800s, called The Guilded Cage by Marshall Browne. I figure I'll read some on the trip and if I like it, I'll buy the others.

Pad Thai Glebe

We continued on the road and enjoyed the sights. Again it started raining and Walendo decided he wanted to stop for a quick bite. I was just hungry enough for some ice cream so I decided to pass. That meant he was free to buy cheap Asian. He saw a Thai stall a little off the main road, so we went to check it out. It had pictures of the food (usually a bad sign) and the place was tiny and looked a little dingy, but Walendo was undettered. He got Tad Mon and some chicken Pad Thai. It turned out to be delicious, not greasy at all. (I tasted it and it was so good, I wound up eating a portion.) And including a soda, it came to AU$9 (US $4.50)! What a deal. Walendo was very happy.

We started walking back and stopped once for a gelato. It was okay, nothing special, but I was happy to have my fix of chocolate ice cream. Then we wound up back at the Internet Cafe we'd seen, so we stopped in. We spent just over an hour checking and responding to mail. I'd gotten some relatively urgent messages (someone wanting a reference check on a former employee, and some questions I needed to answer for CHI right away). Isn't it great how you can still be in touch from the other side of the world? I also found out that a good friend of my parents died in a freak snorkeling accident. That was a shock. I replied and was glad I'd had the chance to express my sympathy.

By the time we left, it was dark, so we walked back to George Street and picked up a bus. With our weekly pass, it's so easy! The bus took us close to our hotel, so we walked back and settled in. I've spent the rest of the evening catching up in this journal. Tomorrow we plan to check out Paddy's market.

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