We woke, a little stiff, to an announcement that we were arriving in Sydney Central in 5 minutes. We'd found out yesterday it was the Mardi Gras parade today in Sydney so there was no room in the hostels. We got off the train, grabbed our bags and headed for the toilets for a wash. Once our teeth were gleaming we got a coffee and looked up accommodation. We found a room for $220 in the leisure inn... Sold. We just wanted to throw our bags in but when we got there the room was ready so we could get a shower too. A little luxury!
We left our (window-less) room and headed for the city. We went back to central station and jumped on a free bus to the circular quay. We found the harbour bridge and the Opera house. It started raining so we grabbed a coffee and muffin and sat and people watched. When the rain eased off we went to 'the rocks' were there was a little market and cute little cafes. We wondered through then headed for the bridge. It was too windy to climb the bridge plus you wouldn't have much of a view so we climbed the tower instead.
We were feeling a bit peckish after our climbing and picture taking so we bought some bread, cheese and crisps and made some butties. We eat them outside the biggest iMax cinema in the world... (We couldn't go in because it was closed)
We were about to continue our leisurely walk around Darling Harbour when Lee realised he'd lost our room key. I said don't worry it's not like its got our room number on. Lee looked at me wide eyed and started marching towards the hotel... Lee.... Lee told me he'd left the key in the paper with our names, hotel and room number... I could see the worry in his eyes (he'd left his iPad in the room)! We got back to the room, a brisk walk later and everything was there. We got a wash and headed back into the city to the sky bar.
We'd booked in the sky bar earlier but arrived late so missed our booking. We decided to head to Hyde park to watch the start of the Mardi Gras Parade.
There were people dressed in all kinds of attire. Some were on leashes some butterflies, some were super heroes. I found the red power ranger! No superman though for Lee.
Motorbikes zipped past with men wearing leather shorts and string vests. People were hanging out their balconies waving the rainbow flag. It was a beautiful colourful parade!
We found a bar, in the Surry Hills area, that had a rainbow in the garden! They did Ameretto cocktails and mojitos!
After a few we went back out for the end of the parade and saw the finale floats. One float was playing the song; Rome wasn't built in a day... 'You and me, we're meant to be, walking free, in harmony' that was my favourite.
There was a huge white love heart float with 2 scantily clad men kissing. Both men must work out...
After some fireworks we called it a night.