Two Ships Passing Sunday 2/24/08

Our appetite has returned this morning and we indulge in Sunday morning egg-muffins for a little taste of Lake Ada. It is yet another perfect day and as we work our way towards the harbor we drop in at St. Patrick’s for a thank you for all of our good fortune so far. It is a smallish church that has eleven masses on Sunday and four on Saturday for a total of fifteen opportunities to do your duty—no excuses. Apparently there is no shortage of priests in Sydney.

With a perfect weather day and the presence of the Queen Vic tied up, the harbor is packed. We decide that this is a good opportunity to grab a ferry over to Manly for the middle part of the day, and what seems like a good idea to us also appeals to a few thousand other folks. We just make it on the noon ferry for the half-hour trip across the harbor and out to the Pacific coast. Manly is on a narrow strip of the east coast that separates the ocean from the harbor and it is only a half mile across at the heart of town. It is known for its laid back attitude with a nice harbor beach on one side and a kickin’ surf beach on the other. We check out the beaches and with the temps in the 80’s and bright sun it would be difficult to find a place to spread a towel on the sand. The water is also packed with surfers and swimmers on the ocean side and little kids and old folks on the bay side.

There is a rare shady sidewalk table available at a café across from the ocean beach, which we grab and order lunch (Mary Caesar salad with a poached egg on top, John the steak sandwich). The show begins as a little Asian lady, maybe in her thirties, at a nearby table starts screaming at her husband (?). This goes on for quite some time and is getting more and more intense and while we can’t understand what she is saying, her tone has a certain barking quality that is making her point. He is embarrassed and says nothing. After listening to this for at least 15 minutes, a female sever approaches her about settling down a bit. Here we go! After another five minutes of screaming a male server now joins the fray and it all escalates until the husband (?) is finally persuaded to drag her out of there, still screaming. Our food, obviously slowed by the show, now arrives and just as we take our first bite the fire alarm goes off. Since our fire risk sitting on the sidewalk is minimal and since there is obviously no fire inside, we keep eating. About ten minutes later the fire truck pulls up at our table and the crew rushes in and are able to re-set the alarm just as we finish. We thank the staff for a very entertaining lunch.

There is a street market in town that we cruise for a bit and then explore some on the bay side before deciding to try to catch the 3:15 ferry back to Sydney. When we arrive we find out that the Queen Vic is scheduled to leave at either 6:30 or 5:36 depending on whom you ask. It is now approaching 4:00 and there is another street market here so we decide to kill a little time and wait for the big ship show. The market is the usual collection of odds and ends of the craft world, and we think a beer might help us fill the rest of our intermission. A fellow from Northern Ireland (20 years in Sydney) asks to share our table that has a good view of the soccer match on the telly, and we get the lowdown on the teams, the game, life in Sydney, a certan lady in Spain and mass transit. An Irishman can always help kill an hour.

There are thousands, maybe tens of thousands of folks around the harbor and lining the bridges to see the departure of the Queen Victoria as it continues her maiden voyage, followed by the arrival of the QE II on its final tour. The Vic backs out at 6:05 (right between our estimates) and does the two point u-turn in the harbor before heading past the Opera House and out to sea. Just as it passes the Opera, it is met by the QE II on her way in, and the two ships blast their horns in salute to each other. It is a goose-bump sort of experience and a lifetime memory.

After finding our way back to our digs we think "easy" is the right idea for dinner. There is a little pub, P.J. O'Briens, a block away where we order at the bar (Mary a burger and John the roast chicken) and grab a couple of pints while tryhing to make sense of the big cricket match on the big screen. We're getting closer to understanding and are happy when the Aussies knock off the hated India side. John finds a new perfect food on his plate of roast chicken and mashed potatoes--a deep fried ball of stuffing. Sort of a stuffing fritter. Brilliant!

A block back to bed.

Today's local headline: PM told to get real on climate change The Australian (The Prime Minister-appointed climate change advisor recommends cuts of up to 90% of carbon emissions by 2020. A PM spokesperson suggests that the advisor has not taken economic considerations into account)