Sadly, my last day in Sydney was largely a waste. I slept in again, which was nice, but woke up feeling like I was starting to come down with something. I just missed the free shuttle downtown, so rather than wait around for the next one I decided to wander Chinatown for a bit. Most of my time there was spent in a gigantic mall-type area, where, much like Portabello Road, anything and everything a chap can unload could be found. Unfortunately, either my camera or my general demeanor (or being obviously non-Chinese) identified me as a tourist, and I had at least three different places try to rope me in for an "Asian massage." I ended up just buying a t-shirt and a few souvenirs for folks back home, then dropping them back by the hostel before heading back downtown.
Since I didn't pay attention to my map and didn't realize how much cool stuff was around Darling Harbour, I decided to go check out the Sydney Observatory. After walking there from Circular Quay (not too far, but lots of uphill) I got out my camera to take a picture... and discovered that my camera no longer liked my memory card. I tried restarting the camera and ejecting/reinserting the memory card, but no dice; I had to go back to the hostel and format the card. Luckily I had just backed up my pictures the night before, so I didn't lose anything, but it was still quite annoying.
Attempt number two at the observatory was slightly more successful. I got there slightly before 15:00 and realized I had a bit more time to kill before the next tour at 15:30, so I wandered back down a few blocks to where some street vendors had set up food stalls; they weren't much less expensive than the actual restaurants, but I ended up getting a good deal on what turned out to be a pretty darn delicious lamb sausage on a roll. I made my way back up to the observatory and sat around for another 20 minutes or so, at which point I realized I'd misread the sign out front: entry was free, but all the official tours included a stop in their video room... which cost $10. I was feeling pretty cheap at this point in my trip, so I decided to just explore as much of the building as I could--most of it, luckily--without being part of one of the tours, and then heading back to the hostel. It was after the cutoff time for the free shuttle to and from downtown, so I once again made the trek across town on foot. I did pick some beer on my way back though, and that helped make things not quite so bad.
The early evening was spent getting everything repacked so I'd be ready to head out the next day. Around 18:30 I joined a couple other guys for dinner (steak & fries for under $10... not the best I've ever had, but fairly good, and incredibly cheap for Sydney) and then Godzilla in 3D at the biggest IMAX screen in the world. It was really cool getting to see it on such a big screen, but it definitely needed more Godzilla.
Since I didn't pay attention to my map and didn't realize how much cool stuff was around Darling Harbour, I decided to go check out the Sydney Observatory. After walking there from Circular Quay (not too far, but lots of uphill) I got out my camera to take a picture... and discovered that my camera no longer liked my memory card. I tried restarting the camera and ejecting/reinserting the memory card, but no dice; I had to go back to the hostel and format the card. Luckily I had just backed up my pictures the night before, so I didn't lose anything, but it was still quite annoying.
Attempt number two at the observatory was slightly more successful. I got there slightly before 15:00 and realized I had a bit more time to kill before the next tour at 15:30, so I wandered back down a few blocks to where some street vendors had set up food stalls; they weren't much less expensive than the actual restaurants, but I ended up getting a good deal on what turned out to be a pretty darn delicious lamb sausage on a roll. I made my way back up to the observatory and sat around for another 20 minutes or so, at which point I realized I'd misread the sign out front: entry was free, but all the official tours included a stop in their video room... which cost $10. I was feeling pretty cheap at this point in my trip, so I decided to just explore as much of the building as I could--most of it, luckily--without being part of one of the tours, and then heading back to the hostel. It was after the cutoff time for the free shuttle to and from downtown, so I once again made the trek across town on foot. I did pick some beer on my way back though, and that helped make things not quite so bad.
The early evening was spent getting everything repacked so I'd be ready to head out the next day. Around 18:30 I joined a couple other guys for dinner (steak & fries for under $10... not the best I've ever had, but fairly good, and incredibly cheap for Sydney) and then Godzilla in 3D at the biggest IMAX screen in the world. It was really cool getting to see it on such a big screen, but it definitely needed more Godzilla.
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