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Another filling breakfast of eggs, toast, and bacon started off my day. Dana went for another run as we were going to be in the car for a 5 hours or so on the drive to Sydney. No more cattle work today. Just packing up, loading the bikes and and getting the bags into the truck. The last four days here were wonderful — enjoying Stephen’s hospitality (though he claims to hate people, he’s really a sweetheart), meeting Tic, John, and Lily, lending a hand when we could, and basking in New South Wales’ abundant sunshine.
So, it wasn’t without some sadness that we said good-bye to Stephen’s place and headed out on the road to Sydney. It was not a short trip, and it appeased Dana somewhat that after he dropped us off in Sydney, Stephen was going to his old business to the west of Sydney for a couple of days to knock out some projects he’d been putting off.
An hour and a half on, we made a stop at Merriwa Cakes & Pastries to get some coffee and wandered across the street to the “Hot Spot”, The Merriwa Tourist Welcoming Centre, advertising (in uppercase) “COTTAGE INDUSTRY – ARTS & CRAFTS, GIFTS, PRESERVES, SOUVENIRS, FARM MEMORABILIA, [and best of all] CLEAN TOILET FACILITIES.” It was a mini museum of old vehicles and farm equipment, but also everything above. Stephen had never been there, so it was fun to introduce him to something new. Another 2 3/4 hrs of driving and we were all ready for another break and Stephen pulled into a rest stop. We all used the facilities at Hungry Jacks (Burger King to us) and Stephen and I got some more coffee while Dana stretched her legs.
The motorway into Sydney was quite beautiful in itself. Yeah, it was a busy, fast, highway, but at least the designers and builders took the time and money to make it somewhat artful, with murals and patterned brickwork on the sound walls, and in the tunnel into Sydney, a ceiling light show — reminded us of a disco bar.
In Sydney, we found our hotel which was in the Potts Point section, within walking distance to the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Circular Quay (pronounced Key), the Opera House and more. We hauled our bags and bikes up to our room (it was a hostel, but we had a private room with bath). Turns out the office man was from Chicago, and he moved us from the room that was assigned to us on the first floor to the quieter 2nd floor (and even more steps to carry stuff up). After we got settled, we moved Stephen’s truck from the 1 hour parking on our street to a 4 hour spot. We walked around the Botanical Gardens, posing for pics at Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair. On the way back to the truck, we stopped in a bar and had a happy hour beer, then said our good-byes and thanks to Stephen. We hope to see him on his 2nd trek across Canada this summer — maybe at Niagara Falls in August. If he can convince his Canadian riding partner to at least make a small dip into the US, they might even stay with us in PA. Fingers crossed all goes well.
We went back to Potts Point and walked around looking for a restaurant. At least here, they didn’t close at 7:30. We finally decided on a Thai place that was two doors down from the hotel. Very good, and we went to bed with full bellies, and psyched for a ride around Sydney the next day.
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