Another totally brilliant day in Sydney. Really enjoyed our time here and could easily stay much longer. Another place I could imagine living in very happily. Lucy would love it here. It embodies all the wonderful things about London ie theatre, arts, nightlife, amazing shopping, even more amazing food but in a more manageable size plus with the considerable assets of fantastic weather and beaches on hand. Some parts are like a sort of Clapham with Sunshine LOL.

Anyway, we got off by about 845 and went to Starbucks for the wifi. It was rather overcast at this point but warm and the forecast was good. Had a skype with Daisy and a fb chat with Lu. It is odd that they are on the point of going to bed on Friday night and we are about to begin Saturday.

After that we bought Hop on Hop Off bus tickets and - absolute result - we both got Senior Discounts!!!! Pretty good route with 34 stops going out as far as Bondi in the east and lots of stops around the central area. We had a very good tour around and were impressed with the mix of super modern buildings and the protection and preservation of historic areas which added a lot of character. We stayed on until we got to Central Station and then walked through Chinatown and went to a Saturday market there. Really excellent selection of mostly clothes and shoes. Bob bought two pairs of cotton shorts, very nice indeed. I got two pairs of leather sandals, the sort I just LOVE which are super comfortable for my wide-highinstepped-hoofs. … ok… hobbit like feet…… I had a pair in green that went with me everywhere, India twice and to California and Nevada. So very comfy and with good grippy soles, much better than sneakers for my feet. Finally had to throw them away last summer and have failed to replace them. Till Today!!!!! The very shoes and at a major discount, so I got two pairs. One pair of white (not for India!!!) and one pair of red.

Got back on the bus and on with the route. We rode it round and got off at the Fish Market for lunch. The Sydney Fish Market is the largest in the summer hemisphere and a place of wonder. Just a huge huge area given over to wholesale fish sales plus retail and fish restaurants. Inside the area with the retail fish sales and restaurants it was pretty chaotic. It felt like we were in Hong Kong because it was crammed with hundreds, maybe thousands, of Chinese and Japanese people, buying fish and seafood and eating en famille style great enormous platters of gorgeous stuff. We were a bit dazed by it all at first. In all honesty I could have just eaten everything I saw until I burst. It was incredible. And very reasonably priced. We had a dozen natural Pacific oysters which were delicious and a bargain at £10. Then we had 400g of sashimi New Zealand salmon which was just divine. Finally, I couldn't resist and had 2 Emmanthal oysters. I once had these in a fantastic fish restaurant in Grimsby that a wonderful business friend took me too. Have never found them again and they are absolutely THE BEST. I mean, I love natural oysters just in their salty juice. But if not that way, then with Emmanthal or Gruyere is the best. Forget horrid sherry peppers or vinegar or even Kirkpatrick or god forbid with runny Cheese sauce. Just a natural raw oyster in its juice, covered with a melty cheese, maybe a little bit of minced garlic and then flash grill just until the cheese melts. The oyster underneath will be warm but not cooked. Divine.

By the time we left there, the sun was properly out and it was boiling. We were going to get off at Darling Harbour and have a mooch around there but time had accelerated and we wanted to spend more time exploring The Rocks area which we knew also had a Saturday street market. It was practically next to the ship so Bob took our purchases back and left them on board and we just cut uphill to The Rocks. This used to be a very rough area, one of the original settlement areas of Sydney and got totally derelict. However it has been restored and gentrified and it is now a warren of lovely Victorian streets with quite a lot of period cottage houses remaining. Some of them are now shops but quite a few are still residential. The street market was really great, full of food, arts and crafts, funky fashions, jewellery. We really enjoyed wandering around and bought a few things here and there. Could have bought a lot more. Got a bit tired so we stopped at a German beer bar and I had a nice cold glass of Hunter Valley Sauvignon and Bob had half a litre of Lowenbrau Dark which was simply delicious.

Finally, we could put it off no longer and had to go back to the ship. We had managed to be too late for the lifeboat drill!!!! We've done three now so I think it is pretty clear how to put the jacket on etc. Lots of people got off today - about 700 and not sure how many new ones got on. A lot I should think. It will be good to see some new faces.

Sydney has undoubtedly been one of our favourite ports. A beautiful city with a great atmosphere and so much life. Would definitely plan to return and spend some time here if we can. It would be an easy place to just stay and enjoy. No downsides at all as far as I can see other than the long flights…..

About 6pm we went along our deck to the rear open part and found the sailaway underway. Sailaways come in many different flavours from the classical to the full-blown Land of Hope and Glory flag waving here we go here we go here we go all out spectacular. This was the latter and we blundered out of our corridor into the full glare of it with pretty much all 1800 other passengers assembled above us around the tiered rear decks swigging champagne, waving union jacks and bidding farewell to Sydney. The entertainments staff were giving it their all in front of us and leading the singing and dancing and we were instantly absorbed into a rabble rousing chorus of Delilah in concert with Sir Tom Jones. About half way across the deck, I encountered Mick, a camp fellow all world rounder, just at the point where the song goes "she stood there laughing" and naturally we gave the assembled company our added highlight of "A ha ha ha ha ha!!" Anyway, it went on for about 45 minutes while Aurora backed out of the dock and into the Bay. A fabulous sailaway with the sun setting behind the bridge which was right above us more or less. I can't imagine what the inhabitants of the nearby multi million dollar dwellings made of it all, but we felt we'd shown Sydney the appropriate amount of love….

Sad to say goodbye to Sydney. Another place we wish we'd discovered younger but we will definitely be back.

Had a nice dinner and managed to go to the late show of a Celtic guitar and electric fiddle husband and wife duo. They were very good but I was utterly distracted by the fact that the husband/guitar player was the spitting image of Freddy Kruger ie Nightmare on Elm Street. I mean… it was him! I just couldn't get past this at all and may have been too enthusiastic in my applause for each song as a result. I noted he gave me a definite nod of approval in his curtain call and I now fear to sleep in case he comes shooting up through the mattress snapping his metal finger nails…..

Ok, possibly I shouldn't have had 2 cups of double espresso after dinner…..