I don’t know why but I was awake at 6.30am, I guess that’s a bit of a sleep in for us. Managed to stay in bed til just before 7 but thought I may as well get up and showered and ready for the day. Rodd was awake by the time I got out of the shower so we had a quick cuppa while I typed up the blog for the previous day then we headed out to find some breakfast.



Was a bit peeved as the only reason I’d selected the City Hotel was that it was a fair bit cheaper than anything else and breakfast was included in the room rate…. Breakfast however turned out to be a voucher for Oportos, not really my idea of breakfast!! Anyway we went for a nice wander and ended up at the QV Bar and Café which was a lovely, if rather expensive, place for a meal.



Then back to the hotel to check out and wander down to the Meriton Serviced Apartments on Kent Street where we were booked for the next two nights. I had booked this months ago when I’d found an awesome deal on the internet, $97 a night. I booked the 16th and 17th Dec at that rate and then a while later we decided to go a day earlier and the going price was $350 a night!!! Which is why we ended up at the City Hotel for our first night in Sydney, even so we paid $159 for the night there and it’s not nearly as nice as the Meriton.



Bags dropped off we made our way down to Circular Quay to meet Brittany ( my niece ) and then we were off on the ferry for our day in Watsons Bay.




It was nearly 11.30 by the time we got there so of course the first port of call was the pub for a quick refresher…. That done we headed off up Cliff St, not really knowing where we were going but heading in the general direction we knew the cliffs are… we took one wrong turn and took the scenic route but eventually found the path that winds along the headland past the lighthouse. It was a really lovely walk, not too far or strenuous and only took about an hour to get back down to the pub opposite the ferry where we had a few more drinks and a couple games of pool.




The plan then was to go back on the ferry to Circular Quay but before that ferry came the Manly Fast Ferry arrived so we decided it might be nice to go over to Manly for lunch. As we were coming into the wharf we saw some people parasailing and all decided we’d like to have a go at that but unfortunately they didn’t have any spare time slots so we’ll have to go back and do that another day!



We walked up the Corso to the Hotel Steyne and had a nice lunch over there, it’s a great place for a meal if you’re ever over in Manly. By this time it was 4pm so time to start back for Circular Quay, not much more to tell about that, a ferry then the free 555 shuttle bus from there to the corner of George and Liverpool and a quick walk around the corner to Kent St.

We needed a bit of a nap cos it had been a pretty full day with lots of walking… as always… that’s all we seem to do when we’re on holidays! About 7pm we walked around to the monorail station at World Tower on Liverpool street and for $5 each got a ticket to Harbourside where we got off and walked about 3 mins to the Star City Casino.



My original plan had been to find a nice restaurant at either Cockle Bay Wharf or Harbourside for dinner but we had lunch so late and neither of us were hungry so we just went straight to the casino. There followed about 4 hours of great entertainment… roulette and the chocolate wheel ( don’t know what this is really called but that’s what we call it ) ,drinks and a salad for dinner, at one of the cafes in the casino, we ended up spending about $100... I reckon that’s a cheap night out!!

Around 12 midnight we decided to call it a night and walked back to our abode.. It only took about 15-20 mins.. I think once again we took the scenic route! It was soooo windy I was nearly blown off the Pyrmont Bridge but at least it wasn’t cold. There’s a little convenience store around the corner so we stopped to buy a lemon for our morning tea… always a nice way to start the day.