A Rainy Day Thursday 2/28/08

We have a choice of things to do today. We are either going to take the ferry to Paramatta which is as far inland in the bay as you can go and then a bit up river, or we are going to visit the neighborhood across Darling Harbor, Pyrmont, which includes the big commercial fish market. We discuss this over bacon-egg-muffins while watching it rain and recognize that we will have to walk a mile in the rain to get to the 11:00 ferry to Paramatta…scratch that. Instead we dodge drops to get across the street to the convenience store/internet café and spend an hour catching up on bookkeeping, blogs and emails. Still raining so we call Bro Joe with good wishes for his birthday which he will not celebrate until tomorrow but we have already started.

The rain is letting up a bit so we mosey down to the King Street Wharf and find a Wagamama for lunch. Wagamamas are noodle shops that we found in London and Dublin and are being introduced in Boston. Big volume and pretty good chow. John has a shrimp tepan yaki and Mary has a chicken/fried rice/soup combo and we share chicken dumplings. It is now just dripping, so with umbrellas up we walk across the bridge to Pyrmont on our way to the fish market. About 2 blocks short of our target it starts to pour and blow and our little brollies are no match for the weather. We duck into an entryway of a closed building just in the nick of time. About thirty seconds later, eight Chinese folks and one baby stroller that we assume also includes a little Chinese folk, barrel into the same doorway and pin us against the locked door. Mary thinks four generations are present. We don’t seem to share a common language so we all nod and try not to make eye contact for about 20 minutes while we watch it rain. Anything that wouldn’t happen in Pine River is an adventure, so this would qualify.

It continues to rain lightly but we make it to the fish market and browse among the sea creatures for a while. At 5:30 AM every morning they have a fish auction with over 65 ton of fish and bleachers for the public to watch. Tokyo has just closed its fish market to the public because it was being overrun by tourists but these guys seem to be able to deal with it. It’s still raining slightly so, lo and behold, there is the big casino and what better place to stay dry on a rainy day. We get some free plays along with other cheap tricks that we fall for, and Mary manages to make a few bucks while John evens things out. It is 5:00 PM when we get back to our apartment so we think we made the most of a rainy day.

Our farewell Sydney dinner is tonight and we have booked a 7:30 table at "Est," which is one of Sydney's best and only about a 6 block walk for us. We walk into the bar, easliy the size of a supermarket ( a big supermarket) that is throbbing with hundreds of young folks, almost all of whom are dressed in some form of black and white business attire. This is obviously the ultimate Sydney afterwork meeting, greeting and hustling center. We fight our way to an elevator that takes us up one flight to the restaurant that is certainly peaceful by comparison. Our server last Saturday is dating the manager here so we mention her name and they give us a nice table where we can watch the action. We share some grilled scallops to start and Mary has the John Dory, John has the Lamb Ribeye, we get an extra bowl of veggies and the whole thing is very, very good.

At an adjacent table there are two bald men sharing a chair. No wait, it is a slightly plump young woman with the low-cut/push-up, tight dress thing going on. She has had a beverage from the champagne cart, has ordered a bottle of wine from the not-cheap wine list and is now enjoying a $40 appetizer before her main course. Her boyfriend is a little seedy and seems very out of his element, and he is beginning to realize how much it will cost him tonight to meet those two bald men. A valuable life lesson.

Still raining and we stop for one last pint in Sydney at a pub a couple blocks from our apartment. Without spending a lot more time here, we decide that we have had a very good introduction to the city and have a good sense of its personality. Still raining but good sleeping weather.

Today's local headline: Not a drop to drink, this is Australia Sydney Morning Herald (Drought in the north central has leached chemicals from the gound contaminating any remaining water)