Sunday was the day of the long walk and the big shopping expedition to get some presents for Claire and the boys. However, a little unfinished business first - I said that I would find out about the wedding cake as I couldn't remember what it was, well I have.....
Orange and Poppy Seed
There, sorted that one out.....
Anyway, back to Sunday. I started off from my apartment around about lunchtime - well I had been writing the wedding blog until about 3.30am! I walked down York Street heading towards the Rocks area of Sydney on a hunt for a specific shop which we visited two and a half years ago when we were last here. It was a fantastic shop which sold great baby clothes and other children's stuff that we couldn't buy from last time as we didn't have a baby, but now we do....
Trouble is I didn't know where the shop was or what it was called apart from it was in the Rocks somewhere.
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| Rocks Market |
I got to the Rocks to discover it was Market Day and spent a good time browsing the stalls and looking for my elusive shop. There were all sorts of things on sale, different crafts and hobbies on display and I managed to restrict myself to a purchase of 3 cards. Still, I had spent over an hour and no sign of the shop....
A phone call from my sister who has lived in Sydney for 3 years now, who knew where the shop was last time we were here, was no help whatsoever. She's not had baby clothes on her mind, just the wedding up to now. While I was on the phone to Kay I looked down an alleyway and spotted what I had been looking for - well the little mall that I knew it was in. The first thing that I saw down some stairs was a shop called Sticky, which is a shop that makes it's own random flavoured rock in front of the customer all day long. Needless to say I bought some rock and moved on to Mini Me, the shop I had been searching for. I spent a while choosing and then quite a bit of money on some clothes for Luke and Harry and then continued my wander. The next store I came to was the jewellers that I bought Claire's opal from last time, should I buy her another - I certainly went into the jewellers but did I buy.......
I'm not telling, all I will say is that the next shop that I went into I found the perfect present for Claire, but I can't tell you what it is otherwise it won't be a surprise!!! I was then at the corner of George Street, which goes all the way back up through the city to my apartment, past lots of boutiques and big name stores including the biggest Apple store that I have ever seen.
When I got back to my apartment I decide to go for a swim to soothe my aching legs mainly as I had been walking for six hours. The swimming pool at the apartment building is great - firstly it is on the 9th floor and on one corner of the building the roof is cut away on this floor to allow sunlight in. The second odd thing about this pool was only discovered when I got in - it is a salt water pool in the middle of a building. Many pools are salt water in Australia as they build them adjoining beaches and around the coast but I didn't expect salt water on the 9th floor of an apartment in the city.....
I decided to go for a ferry ride in the evening, I had been invited over to Manly for a meal but managed to miss my ferry so ended up with Hungry Jacks (Burger King to you and me). I still went over to Manly and met up with Kay, mum and dad for drinks before managing to catch the last ferry back to the city at 11.40pm. The city lights are fantastic at night and my camera cannot really do the scene justice, however when up close I managed to get a couple of shots of it's most famous assets:
Sunday was spent and I got back to my apartment well after midnight, but I had to be up early in the morning, as I was going to visit Sydney Fish Market with mum and dad. The market is fascinating, with fish from all over the world as well as locally caught. I had never seen so many different types of crab all in one place but by far the most impressive sight was the swordfish that was being cut straight from the carcass which lay on a bed of ice. The fish had it's head and tail removed but was still a good 6 feet long and about 18" in diameter, each steak had to be portioned into 3 or 4 to make them normal sized!! The fish market was great and I'm glad we went, especially as it was pouring with rain - and our family friends had gone to climb the Harbour Bridge.....
Also at the Fish Market were various eateries and other shops, probably the most impressive was the immaculately stacked fresh produce in one store. Being the sad person that I am I took lots of photos of displays of produce, I wonder if we can get Sainsbury's looking this good:
Anyway, that's it for now. I have one full day left in Sydney and am really looking forward to being back at home and seeing my beautiful wife and boys - but first I'm off to the Koala Park.....
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